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(05-29-2024, 01:36 PM)Drunk Monk Wrote:
Eric
That didn’t start at all like I thought it would. It’s depressing to start - Benedict is an alcoholic puppeteer and his wife hates him. He created a kids puppet show that is failing. Then their kid goes missing, and things get grimmer. Sketchy supporting characters, jaded cops, a seedy nightclub. Eric doesn’t appear until the very end of the first ep.
So I’m in for another just to see what Eric is about.
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This has been on the maybe list for quite some time.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
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I like Benedict. He plays another narcissist here, a role he's good at. Not sure where it's going yet. The addition of Eric is a game changer.
Eric is the invention of his missing son. One of the changes in the puppet show is that the producers want to add a rapping puppet to reach a wider audience. Benedict, the creator, is hard lined against that. When Eric materializes (and I'm guessing only Benedict sees him as part of his alcoholic hallucinations), he's a foul mouthed motivator for Benedict to get off his self pitying ass and find his son. If this show has a happy ending, the kid will be found and Eric will be the new addition to the show. But they've already found the son's bloody shirt and the implication is that he's been kidnapped by sex traders at the seedy bar nearby.
The jury is still out but I'll watch another ep to see how it goes.
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We watched ep 1 and weren't inspired to watch more. Cumberbatch's "American" accent seems to always be a New Yorker thug grumpy and abrupt. I can imagine him imagining chewing gum while doing his American accent.
--tg
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2 more eps in. It’s more of a character study and there are some decently complex characters. The cop whose lover is dying of AIDS reminds me of Chevy from AFS. Benedict’s character Vincent has a history of mental illness (or at least his domineering parents medicated him from childhood) so that and his alcoholism makes Eric more of a symptom of his madness. And Lennie (who I finally recognized as Kowalski from Fantastic Beasts so HP factor 1) has this closet gay thing going on as well as a criminal record. There’s actually surprisingly little of Eric which is somewhat disappointing.
I was getting into the whodunnit aspect of it until e3 when they reveal the culprits. That spoiled it for me. Not sure if I’ll continue now that the mystery is somewhat solved. It’s like 6 eps.
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The tone from ep 1 kinda reminded me of his character from Patrick Melrose which I also only watched the first ep. I probably should give them both another chance...
--tg
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I dunno. I might tune in for e4 or I might bail.
I’ve been kinda hoping that Benedict was the perp (he was under suspicion) but now that the real perps have been revealed, the mystery is gone.
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After bailing on My Lady Jane I came back to this as background as I affixed locking pin backs to all my pins on my cap brims, RM jackets, and a new setting for my new fest gear, the ESB buttpack Tara got me at Disneyland. I tried it at Cali Roots and was very pleased with its performance so I’m planning to take it to Shaolin et.al. in July. I added a Lion of Judah pin that I used to have on my laminates. I have a lot of pins. Anyway, one of my Dragon Crew at TCEC turned me on to locking pin backs and they’re great. They’re a bit challenging to affix because the lock screw is tiny and my ability to do fine work has sorely decreased with age due to fading fine motor control and failing vision, so it required a lot of attention as I have dozens of hats with pins.
I was 2 more eps deep by the time I finished locking down all my pins, so I figured I might as well finish this.
It came together well in the end. There were many layered story arcs and they wove tightly into a satisfying conclusion. I’m glad I saw it through because the payout was ok. It all falls into place. Benedict’s Vincent gets an undeserved redemption because he’s a drunk asshole through almost all this (I related to the tortured creative genius cliche, but he’s too reprehensible to forgive despite the abuse from his parents). The police drama was good and overshadowed the Eric hallucinations - that was such a subplot despite my impressions from the trailer. And even that ended up nicely, if not predictably so.
Ultimately what put me off was Eric. The giant puppet hallucinations misled me to think this was a completely different kind of story. It’s more of an exploration of addiction, homelessness, bad cops, crooked politicians, race, homosexuality, and parental neglect.
Not really D00M recommended tho, unless your into a gritty trudge through those topics.
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