Eric (Netflix Limited Series): Inner conflicts in New York's Landscape
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” – Leo Tolstoy
The quote from the last episode of the series captures the show essence.
The first few episodes start slow, are a bit hard to swallow, but the payoff in the last two are worth it. They’re a pure work of art.
Eric might seem like a show that captures the difficult of 1980s New York when it comes to crime, corruption, violence and homophobia. In some ways, it is.
In other ways, it captures the recurring daily battles of the human psyche.
- How do you live as a father when you know you prioritize work first?
- What do you do if your gay but it’s not socially acceptable and you change yourself?
- What do you do if you’re know a bad partner but can’t change yourself?
- What do you do if you love your dad but are simultaneously afraid of him?
- How do you enforce the law when you know you need to break it to manage it?
These are all nuanced but you get the idea. New York is the landscape but the story is in the people. It’s a deep battle within oneself. It’s like pulling out Arthur’s sword from deep within.
Benedict Cumberbatch and McKinley Belcher (Detective Ledroit) were two separate primary characters who only intersected a handful of times. It was amazing to see both stories evolve in parallel but almost independently.
Cumberbatch’s acting is very loud. The actions, the worlds, the movements, the fluctuations. It’s colorful, extreme, scary and intense.
Belcher is a lot more subtle. The emotional fluctuation is the same, but he acts with his eyes, with his nose, with his lips and with his body. It’s not vocal, but it’s equally as powerful.
The series starts off slow, with many branches, but momentum continually builds. To reiterate, the last couple of episodes are a pure masterpiece of storytelling and filmography.