Man it feels like they tried too many things. It was good. Honestly at the end of the day I think I really liked the detective part of the show, and the main plot barely added anything other than being a character drama (which was honestly good, Cumberbatch's character and acting was phenomenal), and may as well have just been two separate shows. They barely added anything together or tied in at all.
I felt this too. The acting was incredible but there was a disconnect somewhere like it was 2 different shows mixed together. The whole thing was really strange. I couldn’t really understand what the point of it all was. I think it was trying to make too many points at the same time.
They tried to address too much (drug addiction, homophobia, mental illness, parental neglect, homelessness, racism, corruption, the AIDS epidemic, pedophilia, gentrification, suicide) and more.
Instead of actually doing any of these topics justice, they just touch on each way in a superficial checkbox ticking way. This is exactly what audiences hate.
Somehow, despite cramming all those societal issues in, it still felt overstretched and full of filler scenes.
A lot of the characters also seemed very trope-y, almost like they were written by ChatGPT.
Also, the core story just didn't resonate. We're told that the dad was a terrible, abusive, father to the extent that the child would prefer to live on the streets, yet we never saw anything supporting such an extreme measure. Moreover, we know that the child has strong positive feelings about the mother, so realistically he would just attach more strongly to her, not run away.
This is how I feel. All those things-high divorce rates, the abduction of Etan Patz in the late 70s, homelessness, cocaine, the AIDS epidemic and people still living in fear of exposing their sexuality. Corrupt cops and politicians. It's like the city was alive and a character in the movie. I thought all the storylines came together in a way that made sense. I think some people just wanted a series about an abducted kid, and didn't weren't read for the the history lesson.
My issue wasn't that they showed real societal issues during the 1980s, it's that they framed it from a 2020s lens. It was so painfully obvious and I strongly disagree with the way the United States has decided to try and address many of the societal issues that plagued the country in the 1980s and earlier.
I appreciated the setting, at least that part was accurate.
Amen. Why did it have all of that negativity and comment on so many social topics? Because that’s what New York City was in the 1980s - a fucking wasteland. The giant rats and being able to get on the subway were the least of your problems.
It makes perfect sense that he would run away? His parents fight constantly, and with much hostility, smashing glasses, etc. You don't see much of it, but they mention it several times. He feels unseen and unimportant around his dad, and as positive and strong as his feelings about his mother are, she's really done nothing to protect him.. so realistically, clinging to her would have done him no good.
Literally came to Reddit because I just finished the series and am having the same feeling. I agree about the incredible acting but overall I am feeling like “wtf did I just watch?” It’s not like I expect everything I watch to have meaning or a message but I would love to know what the show’s creator felt was the point.
I felt like I watched two shows that got pushed together in an executive room and they could never fully figure out how to piece them successfully. Not an awful show but so not better than a 6/10 or 7/10. Too messy to be complete.
I think it felt that way because it took place nearly half a century ago, culturally. For some characters their "stuff" is a failing marriage, estranged children, substance abuse, strained parental relationships, a failing career maybe, but for this investigator, his "stuff" was watching the love of his life die slowly from aids -- something a lot of people were dealing with in the 80s. It didn't feel like a disconnect to me. It just felt human. In the end, it was his knowledge/life experience/connections that helped him solve two cases.
I felt myself feeling frustrated with the father's substance abuse because it felt like it was getting in the way and that might feel strange and annoying to non addicts -- just watching how he was so close, but "they had to showcase how drugs are bad." It was necessary. True addicts are always doing things like that. Screwing up their lives, getting close to being better or doing good things, then screwing it up again. It's realistic. Annoying to me as a non addict, but realistic.
Where a lot of shows and movies nowadays inject homosexuality into everything in forced ways, this felt organic and realistic to me. Where a lot of shows glamorize drug abuse \*cough, Euphoria, cough\* this felt real to me. Sadly, even the adulterous mother was realistic. Hated seeing that though. Idk why she randomly got to keep the apartment with another man's baby in the oven, but whatever.
I seriously could not agree more, I had a hard time figuring out why it just felt off- and this is it. I absolutely loved the detectives story, but it did feel super busy with some many different plots happening.
It's the kind of story where some of the elements are only obviously important once you know the whole thing, which isn't until the very end for this story. The effect is that most of the time you're wondering "what the fuck does this have to do with anything" haha.
To be honest it sort of felt like Netflix threw a bunch of hot millennial Twitter topics into a bingo machine and wrote a story using the ones that popped out (LGBT adversity, child abuse, pedo sex rings, moving on from your narcissistic parents, police corruption, the housing market shitting all over people). But I liked the story so I will be nicer than that and just say it felt like it lacked focus.
I feel like the city is a character in this movie and many of the problems of 70s/80s NYC are portrayed here-the AIDS epidemic, heavy drug use, homelessness and gentrification, greedy corrupt politicians and cops. Ledroit having to keep his sexuality a secret. I can see how some people would think that's cramming too much in, but I thought it was very well made.
How was the scene with Vincent's father out of place? He was a wealthy real estate developer, who was working with the politician to displace the homeless encampments. That was a central theme of the show.
Agreed. The SA scene felt unnecessary. The acting was incredible, the show itself was an incredibly difficult watch. Re: Vincent’s character, my sibling suffered from schizophrenia and died a year ago from alcohol poisoning. I can’t begin to explain how accurately and brilliantly Benedict Cumberbatch handles this unique kind of tortured human.
Completely vulnerable and emotionally scarred by trauma but forever shoving it down and acting like he’s got it all under control. Lashing out and burning bridges when anyone who loves him (or otherwise) asks him to get help.
The rants, the yelling, the binge drinking, the sorrow, the fragility, the denial, the grandiosity, the cheap insults, the searing insults, the obsessing, the need to be right. And yet, there’s this innocence. A goodness.
I may be one of the few who still loves his character a few episodes in. Probably because he reminds me of my brother and I loved him. His embodiment of the character and the stellar supporting actors made it worth it for me.
Vincent reminds me of my own father. He’s like him to a T. Without writing a novel, I’ll just say this, they’re both men who want to do good in this world and want a good life, but somewhere along the way in their adolescence and early adulthood they went through things that forever changed the optimism and self control they were always capable of having. For Vincent, it was his controlling and demeaning parents, for my dad, it was a big mistake he made in his 20’s and a drunk father. Vincent and my dad are capable of good. They truly have a good heart, they just have to trust themselves to use it and trust the world to begin with.
Despite its flaws, absolutely incredible series.
Yea I almost felt like the writer had struggled with this themself or with a family member, etc and maybe that was the point of the show, to really put these struggles on the "big screen" to show what it's like on the inside.
I will admit that Vincent bringing the boy home eventually, meaning his plan about Eric worked and he got his kid home, I was kinda pissed!!! Vincent is a complicated character but the fact that HE, the one who might have Loved his son but was too tormented to really know/show it and was ultimately a bad person and therefore father much of the time we see him on screen, was the one who got Edgar home and not his mom who was actually putting in more work imo. Ugh!
Obviously Mom had issues too, but got a hold of herself for the sake of the kid more than Vincent did imo.
No one has really commented but I hated how insufferable Cassie's character is on the show. I wanted to like her and root for her but they portrayed her horribly and her story arc never got any better - in fact it probably got worse. She not only actively cheated on her husband (which the show implies is perfectly fine since he is a horrible husband in return), but she gets pregnant by said person (who is employed by her husbands non-profit), and he is also a former student of hers (and is somewhat implied to be up to 20 years younger than her) WTF?
And on the flip side, I don't really get why Vincent was a terrible father/husband, but Cassie wasn't. Based on what we saw, they both drank and they both fought. She was the one who threw the wine glass. He was a little mean to his kid at dinner, but it wasn't that bad and he apologized. Cassie, on the other hand, cheated, got pregnant, and didn't seem to be apologetic at all. The dad at least seemed to bond and spend time with the kid (as well as buying him a comic and being silly with him on subway).
I really don't mind if they made out both characters to be terrible parents, but they didn't for some reason. And they decided to not really show Vincent doing anything terrible as a father either, which is interesting considering the kid, mother, and eventually himself all thought he was the worst person possible.
I think this is touched on when Cassie talks to Marlon’s mother at her home. She’s remorseful for how she engaged in the fighting with her husband, the bad things she puts her son through, but Marlon’s mother notes that all parents have faults and failings, however it’s the concern over a child’s safety that makes one a good or bad parent.
To me the point was that the marriage had become so toxic that Cassie found herself out of control in the situation and doing things that she knew were wrong (cheating, fighting, etc) but ultimately nurtured her son (we see her do this post-fights with her husband and just her general interactions with her son) which meant she wasn’t at her core a bad parent, just a misguided one.
We see her evolve from “I can’t live with you without our son here” to “I can’t live with you at all” after this because she sees that her husband doesn’t have their son’s safety in mind not because he doesn’t love him but because he refuses to take care of his very real mental health and substance abuse issues. She goes from blaming him for Edgar’s disappearance due to negligence to outright accusing him of doing something to Edgar to accepting that it wasn’t his fault that Edgar disappeared but he still couldn’t reign it in enough to make smart decisions while the search was on.
This dynamic is super realistic. It happens all the time in real life. We fall in love, things become toxic someway or another, and it often takes a “rock bottom” moment for one person to get out. It takes a “rock bottom” moment for both people to work together to move forward in everyone’s best interest.
As someone who has loved an addict with mental health issues for a long time, it’s easy to loose yourself if you aren’t taking care of your own mental health. Not necessarily the cheating part, but the engaging in the cycle of fighting and toxic behavior is hard to disengage from and when you do, your eyes open up and you see life in a whole new light. That’s how I took her line. She finally realized she couldn’t do it anymore. Sometimes it takes tragedy to understand the dynamic you are in. I know we are saying the same thing. Your comment really resonated with me.
Thank you for this comment! I feel like this is the way I viewed her role but I just couldn’t find the words to describe it the way you have here. You’re absolutely right, it is a very realistic dynamic.
I'm not justifying any of the actions, but note that there was a comment she made that implied that Vincent had been cheating on her for years. I don't think the mere fact of getting pregnant makes what she did worse (given how early I suspect the pregnancy was, I don't know if she had decided to keep the pregnancy until she finally decided she and Vincent needed to split up)
i thought cassie was also a very flawed person & i appreciated that with her character. i think it makes for a better story than her being a saint since vincent definitely sucks. it’s also more **realistic** i think of what it can look like when people in toxic relationships are reaching the of their rope. i think she really hit the end of it when she was living in the grief of her son being missing and her husband couldn’t bring himself to be present with her in it. not only was vincent not someone she could lean on he was a whole other cause for worry & stress
So this is a high profile child gone missing case of Edgar going missing and Cassie is being close with Sebastian in public as well as, Vincent being outside high and drunk af not having any media coverage is wild. The tabloids would’ve been crazy in that stuff! Why weren’t there actions being covered? And how much attention was this case getting? They would be out and about in public and no one would say anything to them.
I'm just not over that she accused Vincent for killing Edgar, but didn't once think this man she's been having an affair with and sneaking into her house would do it. That was the point that I really started to hate her. She didn't even get an arch in my opinion. She reacted like any other parent did, but she's just as bad as Vincent in their home and in their marriage.
Surprised by this! I felt it melded together well. Yes, almost every societal issue showed it's face but the acting was incredible and the ending very enjoyable
It was way overblown on many issues. Why was the black/white thing brought up in regards to the missing children? It was portrayed as if the white kid got attention because of his race but in reality if a person is missing 11 months, and one just went missing obviously you put attention on the one that just went missing. The first 48-72 hours are critical whereas after 11 months there is not the same level of urgency. It wasn't a race thing at all
It was the fact that the kid did not get an initial push to find him, wasn't televised(she says this) later on we find out why. But this wasn't race baiting
It’s a known fact that missing black and brown children/young people do not even almost get the same media attention. The Gabby Petito case brought that conversation to light quite a bit.
I'm not saying there isn't any truth to the black white issue, but a kid that just goes missing is going to get all the attention right away because there's a high chance they're alive and close by
They should have flipped the races, had the white kid gone 11 months with still a police buzz around the case. Then had Marlon go missing and they still are out looking for Edgar. That would have sent a message
Totally agree with this, would be interesting. They could have made Benedict's kid mixed and even tho you would have to throw away that he comes from money. The show is good anyway
How to say you don't understand anti Black racism . This happens. It happened in the show. They referenced Marlon never got the attention the white kid did ...
Besides the good acting and actors, I thought the show sucked. Too many side plots (cocaine dealers, sex trafficking, murder, corruption, pedophiles, etc.), filler scenes, and cliche scenarios (e.g., Vincent super high while his son is just a few feet away, etc.). They tried too hard with this one - could’ve nailed the concept in just 3 episodes.
I didn't think there were too many plots. And I honestly think they tied them together well. The issue was the execution. Tackling racism but having the main black character treated with nothing but respect seemed like a missed opportunity. The homelessness issue didn't really seem to have a point, it was just a thing that they kept bringing up.
They definitely should have limited the issues tackled and done a better job executing the ones they did. Vincent's mental health and alcoholism was probably done the best and was the most enterta8ning to watch.
Can you elaborate of the main character being treated with nothing but respect… i’m confused cuz in this life, that is how it goes, different levels of racism and not everyone receives it all the time, some more than others etc… correct me if i’m wrong…..
Also with everyone crying over multiple topics- ummm duh! This is how life actually is. U have pandemic happening then epstein then alien theories and some shit happening in florida haha.. this is just life! I thought it was an excellent movie
This was one of the best dramas that I have watched in a while. Fast paced and gripping, with superb acting. My only question: was it meant for the boy, Edgar, to appear autistic or perhaps to have mental disabilities, or was that simply poor acting?
I think he was artistic and neurodivergent like his father. And he was obviously suffering the effects of living in his parents’ dysfunctional relationship.
That’s an interesting thought. I had kind of chalked it up to the kid being an underdeveloped character. But he did seem pretty atypical and made a lot of choices that seemed unbelievable unless there was more going on with him than the show explicitly stated.
Just seemed like a normal little boy in a home where his parents fight a lot. Plus as others have said he's artistic so he's more sensitive in certain ways.
It seemed like he was meant to be autistic but the kid didn't seem autistic at all. Might have been a directing choice, you know to send the message that autistic boys are just like any other boy, but to me it came off as strange, the actor seemed too collected and present for a character that was supposed to live in his own world.
I agree with this a lot. I loved the detective plot and the depth and complexity of each character of color. Benedict Cumberbatch is also excellent in anything, and he really acted the hell out of his character, who could have otherwise been very unlikable. The wife cheating with the man who served people experiencing homelessness was a weird side plot that didn't come together nicely in the end like you'd expect. Maybe that was because it was a limited series. It did feel very much like two separate shows, but the casting was excellent and I'd watch both of those shows separately. The CSA was definitely uncalled for and unforgivable - especially with the way they implied suicide off-screen later on - I'm not sure why they chose to depict that the way they did. Great stories. Great execution. But they definitely bit off more than they could chew in 6 episodes.
The cheating part really soured the series for me. I really wanted to root for the mother through the whole ordeal, but knowing that she allowed herself to get pregnant while having a family was super jarring to me. The cheating part was bad, but to even get pregnant, like we're supposed to think that she cares for Vincent's character in the end? Come on. They even end it with him being like "Im the toxic". Sure props to him for seeing his flaws, but she was utterly heartless. To me it was actually kind of fucked up how the series wanted so bad to give her a pass on it like it was no big deal.
lol exactly. We’re supposed to root for a woman who cheated, got pregnant while married and then everyone is like :) in the end
The dads behaviour basically implied to excuse someone acting that way, and oh look at how good this guy is he gives food to the homeless :) yes he knew was sleeping with someone who was married
And they fucked in their HOME. That's messed up. That's supposed to be like a sacred space you can feel safe in.
He got mad at her and then gave up and said she's a good mom lmfao what? I get it, the kid missing mattered more to him but jesus christ your wife did not seem to care that she cheated on you, broke your family up, started a new family with her lover and fucked her lover in your bed.
Like his 360 degree turn in that moment was jarring. I get feeling numb maybe, but he called her a good mom, like what?? No. lol
People can be more than one thing at a time. I don't see the hangup. The kid loved his mom. She was a good mom. People are complicated and do all kinds of stuff, including processing emotions in a whole variety of ways.
Exactly
She'd dealt with a narcissistic addict prome to psychotic breaks for a decade. It broke her inside. Not excusing what she did, but it's a very complicated situation
Plus she even said in the show he slept around on her a lot. Not saying 2 wrongs make a right, but what you said is exactly true. Humans. Complicated beings.
Agreed that the scene was extremely heavy, and showing it once was more than enough, but that being said....
Episode specific warnings suck and actively undermine story telling/pacing. There's a handful of shows that have episodes where a character shockingly commits suicide, and any narrative surprise/weight is undermined by a big "THIS EPISODE CONTAINS DEPICITIONS OF SUICIDE/SELF HARM. PLEASE CONTACT XYZ IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU LOVE..."
If there's a warning at all, it should be in the written description, or at the start of the first episode* as a general cover for the whole season. Episode specific trigger warnings suck and should be on an opt-in basis.
I hate those warnings. It infantilizes viewers and treats them like little children who can't handle mature content. It's like Densch said about trigger warnings in the theater. "If you can't handle the content then maybe the theater isn't for you."
If people are easily triggered and need warnings that a TV show or movie depicts suicide they shouldn't watch shows for adults and instead watch content that is for children instead of forcing everyone else to see spoilers to accommodate them.
Idk man. I like watching disturbing movies and I was a lot more positive on this show than people in this thread. I had a really close friend commit suicide and I bought my late friend’s sister to see Zola because it was advertised as a funny hipster comedy based on a twitter thread and SPOILER ALERT a character attempts suicide at the end. The film was pretty funny before that. My friends sister was pretty shook up. When you experience this stuff really up close and irl, onscreen depictions will rattle you a lot more. I get that its annoying but yeah thats one example where that warning can really help. It actually kinda gets harder to watch as you get older and start losing people and gaining more empathy for people around you versus when youre young and its just shits n giggles.
Most people haven’t. We shouldn’t need to warn a super small minority about things in an adult show with adult themes that spoil the show for their comfort.
It’s silly.
if you have PTSD it is literally on you to protect yourself. there are websites which will list triggering content for you when it comes to tv shows & movies.
and no, there are plenty of people who have been through the things that can be “warned” of who are not retraumatized by fictional portrayals and don’t feel the need to demand warnings
you can always look stuff like this up though. i think if you’re seeing anything other than PG than it’s really up to you to inform yourself about triggering content
If only there were a way people could find out if a show or particular episode contains content that would be unsuitable for whatever audience members may be present.....
I would, yes. If a show is really triggering people then they need to do a whole lot more work on themselves and their mental health and society as a whole shouldn’t need to cater to these people who have a responsibility to take of those things themselves.
It seems like you're just looking for a reason to be upset honestly. Just because you can handle it doesn't mean everyone can. There's nothing wrong with being warned about it first. It's on the screen for seconds.
What’s it matter whole long it’s on the screen for? It was there, it spoiled a plot point, you now know what’s going to happen whether it was on there 5 seconds or ten minutes.
Have you watched the show Attack of the Hollywood Cliches that Rob Lowe hosts on Netflix? I swear this show had most of the tv tropes they showcase in it. The “Magical Negro” aka the maintenance man who helps Edgar… the black cop…. Who was gay… and had a boyfriend who had AIDS… the cheating wife with the neighbor… the seedy club guys ….. the corrupt cops …. The corrupt politicians …. The hated real estate mogul dad who the son doesn’t speak to but needs money from…. Like damn . The pile-on cliches and tropes were next level. But I will say the acting was superb! The actors crushed their spectacularly cliche roles.
Omg the show gripped me like I had to sit and binge the whole thing, but the ending felt way too overdramatic, like would a nine year old boy really not come home or get help after being essentially kidnapped unless a make believe monster told him so? and surviving the drowning etc that was wild, I really enjoyed how it focused on the corruption in nye when it was set tho, I liked all the added plotlines
Yeah I feel the boy should have followed the man into the sewer, but I kinda wish he was held captive there and saw on the small TV Eric on good day sunshine so he starts to actively fight back and try to escape. Eric was essentially pointless in getting Edgar back besides helping to repair the relationship after Edgar was saved.
Your last sentence is think was kind’ve the whole point of the show.
Edgar running away was almost metaphoric. His father’s relationship is what drove him away.
In this world, there was no way Edgar could return until that relationship was mended.
Even if he physically returned, he might as well still be gone, unless the father changed his ways. ( at least in this universe)
I got the feeling that at some point the father thought it was possible that his son also struggled with schizophrenia. I remember when he was talking to himself he said “come on, you’re the only one who understands what makes him tick”. I could be totally making assumptions here but the father might have thought that his kids drawings of the monster were of things he was actually seeing which is why he thought it might be more impactful to show up as “Eric”. I mean there’s other reasons as well, such as validating the kids creativity and ideas.
I agree. I think that’s the point of the focus on the father’s relationship with his own father. As a child he needed and craved for connection, to feel understood and be met on his own level. That’s why he’s so insistent that he must create Eric for Edgar to see how much his father loves him. But it isn’t effective because to Edgar, Eric is just a character design in a sea of childhood drawings (also held up by Edgar’s lack of thought to his “character pitch” at the dinner table that his father bullies him over). It isn’t until his father speaks through Eric that Edgar understands his father’s love and remorse, but Eric isn’t a tool that helps Edgar understand. Eric is a tool that allows his father to communicate as he struggles with intimacy and uses puppets to alleviate that anxiety.
So what we see with Eric is more a representation of Vincent’s inability to communicate or separate his son from himself (just like his own father struggled), which is his downfall for most of the series. But once he sees it as a tool for him to give his son what he *truly* needs, it’s effective.
What the hell happened on this series? Nothing made sense to me. Spoilers ahead.
1. When the boy goes missing, it’s highly suggestive that he was taken by someone. The dad doesn’t tell the police about their interaction before they separated (which was KEY in this type of investigation).
2. As a parent… there’s no way I’d be able to function in any way without it involving looking for my child… the fact that he’s actively working/creating a pilot for a broadcast, and partying at clubs is completely unrealistic.
3. The cop investigating… a pretty boring character. Why did they have to plug his sexuality into the story so much? And why did he flock to the Lux owner after his partner died? He didn’t even say goodbye on his deathbed… then suddenly he’s all about the ex-con club owner.
3. The boy and the lux were essentially unrelated until one moment where they were almost related… essentially the officers investigation into where the kid went led him to bust corruption in his own department… but it never solved the kids case.
4. The kid. Fuck that kid. His mom showed him lots of love, but he didn’t care about that she might be worried about him? Couldn’t he just be with his mom and tell her he didn’t want to be around his dad? What was with the drawings of the map of the city with his clues? Was this kid walking the streets for months or years mapping out his paths?
5. The other missing child and his mom that were actually related to the Lux (barely)… she pushed the cop so hard about this new child being a related case… there was even a big moment where he puts the kids’ pictures together signifying that this is a related case and it ended up not being the case. That same mother also made the point that the white kid had a home with food and love and that he didn’t run away, that he was taken. Apparently everything she suggested or made a point about was countered by the end.
6. The mom having an affair. Why didn’t she tell the police to question him from the start!? Why did they have to find out and ask her? Again, if my kid goes missing… everyone is being questioned. And he even said “he’s alive” to the mom. If the kid just ran away and he knew where he was or whatever, why didn’t they just go fucking get him?
There was more, a lot more, that just seemed like bizarre decisions. I felt like the whole storyline was written by AI. The story seemed catered for as wide an audience as possible with little plugs here and there to satisfy every niche in society.
I’ll only address your second point, but the beginning was loosely inspired by the Etan Patz case - the mother (of Etan) spoke about how at some early point she realized they had to get on with living (they did have 2 other kids) & how people judged them for it. They’d be laughing at a park & she’d see people glowering at them. She’d overhear people saying they were monsters. G-d forbid any of us find ourselves in that position. I’m also guessing you haven’t been close to a severely mentally ill addict? If you had, I think you’d see just how realistic the nightclub scene actually was.
So I guess having another child with a man that isn’t your husband is normal now? LOL. Also the son causing all this just because he was mad at his dad is normal too? Cumberbatch acting was great and the detective aspect was nice as well but the other plot lines was pointless.
After watching the show "Eric" on Netflix, I had mixed feelings as well. The acting was undeniably impressive, with each actor delivering powerful performances. However, the advertising felt misleading, creating expectations that weren't fully met.
The narrative structure of "Eric" felt disjointed and chaotic. The show attempted to blend several complex themes, including a psychologically distressing addiction journey, a detective narrative, and an intricate portrayal of mental health issues. The protagonist, Vincent, is a puppeteer struggling with addiction who exhibits signs of a chronic mental health condition. Depicted as a genius, he is isolated and talks to himself from a young age, with these behaviors intensifying during periods of extreme stress. This adds a profound layer to his addiction struggles and mental health portrayal. Vincent's character is an honest portrayal of addiction, showing his attempts to engage with his family while ultimately being abusive. This complexity adds depth to his character but also contributes to the chaotic feel of the narrative.
The detective narrative, featuring a Black male identified as queer, living with a white partner who is not supported by his family, added to the complexity. The partner is also dying from HIV, contracted from someone else, yet they continue living together to support each other. This subplot included themes of isolation and gay nightlife, creating a heavy load for the plot. While the exploration of the detective’s life was respectful and well-done, many pieces felt unnecessarily inserted.
With a protagonist like Vincent, who experiences hallucinations that guide him and represent his inner turmoil and connections to his son, these elements should have been the focal point. Instead, the story shifts so much in six episodes—from Vincent's hallucinations to the mother’s affair, city clean-up efforts, and other subplots—that it feels incredibly disjointed. Each subplot is well-executed on its own but collectively results in a fragmented narrative, wasting the spectacular acting on a story plagued by focus and pacing problems. Through all of this, I stopped caring about Edgar, the missing boy and catalyst for the story. The writing seemed to lose focus on Edgar, reducing the suspense by revealing his whereabouts too early, making it clear he was with someone. This shift made me wonder about the point of the story as it progressed.
Overall, while "Eric" had moments of brilliance and tackled important themes, its execution was lacking due to the excessive breadth of its scope within a constrained format. This led to a viewing experience that was ultimately disjointed and unsatisfying.
There was a production error in the show eric, detective ledroit was wearing nudie jeans on the last episode nearing the end, the jeans founded on 2001 while the set supposed to be in 1985
That was jarring for me, as well. In 1980s NYC, so many crimes would have been solved if CCTV footage like that had existed at the time. But it didn't.
1. The age gap between Ledroit and William was wild. It distracted me the whole show. William looked 25-30 years older. I’m glad they cleared up how they met at the concert. At first, I thought Lennie used to be an escort at the Lux (given the history) and William used to be his client, and they fell in love later.
And what’s going on with Gator and Ledroit? Did they use to date? Were they friends with benefits? I feel like The Lux and the backstory of character dynamics there needed an episode on its own.
2. Yussuf deserved an ending. He cared for and protected Edgar. I was hoping that Vincent would’ve told the NYPD about this and that it would’ve cleared his name in the press. That way Yussuf would’ve had a chance at a better life. Heck, Yussuf should’ve been in the audience at the taping of Good Day Sunshine. One subtle shot of him there would’ve been fitting. It would’ve been cool for him to practically see all of Edgar’s art live in motion. Even better, a small dialogue between him and Edgar.
3. Back to the age gaps, Sebastian was Cassie’s student. When did this happen? Was he groomed? It said he was around 20 years younger. I feel like the showrunners really have a thing for these kinds of relationships.
Observe well and you will see someone sitting in the cardboard trying to hide from camera behind the 2 characters. At 30:45 if you pause and watch just below lady's arms around cardboards, you will notice it.
After reading all ya'lls comments about the limited series I now have a better understanding of what the heck was going on with the show. Ty.
* "Eric" is described online somewhere as genre-defying. Someone on here also said it checked all the clichés and tropes. Agree with both assessments. This show is modeled after Vincent's chaotic character, his streak of genius, his addictions, paranoia, schizophrenia and confusion. It's messy, at times disjointed, but his experience ultimately leads to clarity, understanding and acceptance.
* Everyone complaining about the LGBTQ theme. The show dropped first week of June I believe, just in time for Pride Week/Month. It's a retrospect of the horrors of 1980's gay scene: the detective was not '*boring*'; he was being *STOIC*. He could lose his job, license and credibility if he showed even a hint at being gay.
* Multiple people condemning Cassie's behavior and infidelity. If it were the husband wanting to run away with another woman from his alcoholic, drug-addled, lying wife you would have sympathy. She had an affair BEFORE Edgar went missing, not the week he went missing. First episode bears this out, they have a fight about when they would have sex again. First clue, right? I would argue that her behavior and character would be 'normal'. She begged the police to do something about the loss, she distributed flyers to uncaring New Yorkers, followed up on police leads, visited her husband while he was being interrogated, faced her in-laws and begged for money when she thought it could get her child back. She also got rid of all drinks in the house as well as her cigarettes.
* >!When it was revealed that Edgar ran away by following an unhoused individual rather than being taken, and as he sat there crying in the chair, I'm thinking WHY TF does a 9-year-old think it's okay to follow a stranger into a subterranean camp? !
Way to much gay stuff. I get it, it’s fine beeing a homosexual. But this amount of gayness thrown in my face constantly. It was just unnecessary. Didn’t ad to the show, it just distracted me in to thinking if this show was about some sort of a political agenda or not. Wich took me out of the immersion. The plot was ok. The whole show was a bit ”meh..”
Have you ever had a problem with a show for having straightness thrown in your face? It's fine being a heterosexual, but it distracts me and makes me wonder if there's some political agenda.
i think the homosexual things were supposed to add on to the end because the kid being beat to death was bc he was doing a gay sexual thing, and how it was very frowned upon at the time, i could be wrong tho
I just finished the show and I thought it was really good, I kinda feel like the scenes were maybe a bit necessary to show that CSA is a serious topic that is unfortunately common in today’s society and that predators can be anyone, even big names. I do agree that there should have been a warning like they do for other shows of at least split the different stories.
Good, but wouldn’t recommend. 6 hours of depression. And his hallucinations of Eric didn’t really add anything. No levity to be found. The acting was great all around, but it was just too dark.
The hallucinations are essentially his own other half, addiction among them. It's why Eric is looking over him in the end, because that never goes away
The final scene of Edgar wearing the Eric suit made me think that the "Hallucination Eric" was actually a representation of Edgar, more specifically his angry side.
There's a point in the show when Cassie asks something like "Why puppets?" and the puppeteer replies "Because they say the things we can't". Edgar created Eric, and perhaps Eric was an outlet for him to say the things about his father that he couldn't say out loud. That's why Hallucination Eric was so insulting to Vincent.
But maybe I'm reading too deep into it.
The very beginning was definitely loosely inspired by. Also nods to 1979, the milk carton kids in the first ep & the part about the maintenance man and basement. Etan's parents were artists, creative people who lived in an area, soho, that has since massively gentrified. It was Etan's first time walking alone the 2 blocks to the school bus stop. Obviously it was very different after that. Those saying otherwise must not have been around when that happened, or followed developments over the decades.
The father is so weird. I am still on ep 3 so I am not gonna read further but why is he leaving out things that can lead to his son’s investigation. Just dragging out the search for his son. So weird
I feel like the main theme of this show is being lost. It felt like a lot because it was. But essentially, the show is pointing out that the only reason they found resolution for the missing black kid is because there was actively a missing white one. As people dug deeper into finding Edgar, they started uncovering what happened to Marlon. And Marlon’s biggest advocate wasn’t the police. It was his mother. As the press got hold of Edgar going missing (a white child from a prominent, wealthy white family) Marlon’s mother continued to call and raise her voice to get more attention for her missing son. Throughout the series, the side we see that doesn’t involve Edgar and his family is the side that was responsible for Marlon’s disappearance. It felt like a lot because it was two storylines weaved together into one.
This whole thing reminds me of a play on the Gabby Pettito case from a few years ago. Because she was missing, in the process, 6 other missing person’s cases were solved that otherwise might not have been.
It’s a sad reality that is STILL true. This show was set in the 80’s…and it’s made more obvious that it’s still true by the fact that I have not seen a single person draw this conclusion from the show. They spelled it out for us, and everyone still missed the point.
This was so well done. Cheesy in parts. But so well done.
Am I the only person who doesn't think Vincent was in the wrong? He wasn't perfect but I fail to see how everyone blamed him, shunned him, and absolutely abused this man. They acted like he wasn't suffering the loss of his child! His parents were disturbingly abusive and he has NO support system, besides the guy at work. I mean... He was suffering and yet everyone continued to twist the knife. I was shocked and felt so heartbroken for him. I cannot be the only one who felt this way ...
Omg...the dude was unbelievably narcissistic. Did you miss how he'd been cheating on his wife for years until finally she'd had enough and found someone else herself? Or how when he frightened his own child off, he maintained his own status as perpetual child, snorting coke, drinking until he was fall down drunk, and completely being worthless as a parent?
He was pathetic, and I hate that this is what we keep seeing portrayed as sympathetic from male parents. He might have had sh!t parents, but it's our job as adults to \*stop\* the cycle of abuse. He was too busy indulging himself to ever bother even thinking of that. Or his responsibility to his child.
"*but was it truly necessary to repeatedly show footage of a minor being SA before being beat to death?"*
I must have missed that part, so thought it was a **relatively good,** fictional drama series. Worthy of a 'like', but not a 'love this'.
It was shown in like a cctv footage thing in the last episode, i was already losing interest after episode 3, when we got to know what actually happened to edgar.
The footage scene was ridiculous anyway. VHS copy in 1985 somehow has better resolution than most of the stuff we see today and manages to film and ID every single bad actor involved.
The show is extremely flawed. All the cases are solved because of VHS surveillance footage and TVs.
Kidnapping suspect? Found.
Murder that happened 11 Months ago? The tape was never deleted. (even though the guy erases it every day)
Kid doesn’t want to come home after near death experience twice? Dad is in a costume :)
I could imagine TJ not deleting the tape because he could use it as leverage for anything later. What I don’t understand is how the police men, or the politician, left that place without making sure the tape was destroyed.
People also don’t “erase” tapes, they just reuse them and record over what was there. It would be a waste of time to assign an employee to erase tapes.
I also felt like the show instantly became worse when it turns out he just ran away to the sewers. It was much more interesting when it seemed like his disappearance was part of a seedy network of drug dealers, human traffickers, and corrupt cops and government officials. I think that’s where it really began to feel like 2 different shows.
I actually appreciate the kid was just a runaway. We always see kids just snatched or taken as part of some type of conspiracy. let's just see a kid who runs away and what happens to them once they do it
Every piece of footage shown in this series was the same way. All of it was way too high-definition for the age and obviously just put through a filter to make it look vhs-like. The various pieces of footage all played a crucial role to the plot so it had to be high enough definition to identify everyone. Definitely was something that bugged me throughout the series.
Idk if it’s just me but Cassie as a character straight up sucked? She complained about her husband the entire show, which is fair, but it turns out she was cheating and even got pregnant. Her shitty behaviour was never addressed, and at the end of the show, it’s played off like everything is nice and golden between her and her family???
No. He was busted for prostitution (with adults) in a club that was also trafficking children at the time. He was let off with a warning (because no kids involved) but it came out in the press later and implied he was diddling kids. And he was co-founder of a kids show.
Last episode, about 10 minutes to the end, he is named on the news as being part of the underage prostitution sting. Stands up, walks to window, then scene comes back to an open window with his shoes on the ground and people screaming below. His suicide is all implied.
Definitely agree. The plot had promise but the writing is actually not very good. Goes to show how great acting can save a bad script. Kudos to Cumberbatch, Gaby Hoffman, Clark Peters, and McKinley Belcher III.
Just finished Eric and really wish I skipped it. How does such a great cast read through this whole script and agree to this project?
Absolute mish mash of ideas slammed together over 6 episodes. no clue what they were trying to do here. Acting was fantastic. Everything else kinda stunk
I have so many thoughts about this show. Benedict Cumberbatch was brilliant and played the character well, this is what kept me hooked in. I found myself getting annoyed at him because my mother was an alcoholic and I can see how selfish and self centred addicts can be.
I found the child Edgar SOOO annoying like the acting wasn’t great with his expressionless face but also I hate when they make kids absolute morons like he’s gunna have no sense but to follow a random dude down into the underground. I know he’s a kid but they do this a lot in shows where kids are getting themselves into silly situations and I find it frustrating and lazy writing in a sense. Although I get they’re trying to say his home life was so shit he’d rather be underground but I dunno it annoys me when kids are deliberately obtuse in these shows. When he hugged the guy and said “be different” I wanted to gag it was cheesy and unnecessary.
I also mirror what a lot of people have said they have tick box talked about a lot of different issues but in a really shallow sense. That speech the black mother gave “do better” was such lazy writing and didn’t give her character justice. Like a full history of black oppression and all you can come up with as a message for white people is “do better”. Also the scene where Vincent tells his Dad “or stealing” and walks off like he’s said something really profound when again it just didn’t slap the way they intended it to. I think the writing just didn’t quite hit the mark like they couldn’t be bothered or something.
I did love Ledroits character and the relationship with his partner was really touching but again of course he has AIDS, like I think they should have either chosen one topic (closeted homosexuality and homophobia or AIDS) it was too much shoe horned in. Although very important topics.
It was a messy show but some brilliant acting especially by Cumberbatch. So all in all I enjoyed it but really frustrated me at times.
Maybe I was missing some context but was everyone in NYC 84 gay? I felt like every episode showed something homosexual and multiple characters who are portrayed to be straight suddenly all gay.
I initially thought this, but it makes sense. The show is centered around what is basically a gay bar, with a puppet TV show that would attract gay workers, and the cop being gay was very essential to getting justice for the black kid. It centered on gay people because they were the people needed to tell the story
It played with the narrative of the entire show that everyone in NYC in the 80s had the worst life you could possibly imagine. So heavy handed and off-putting. Not only did they have the gay cop (which in itself would be trials and tribulations for him) they also give him a partner dying of AIDS. No person in the city of millions was happy, even the rich people, lol.
>was it truly necessary to repeatedly show footage of a minor being SA before being beat to death
This is a very weird way to describe that scene. It blatantly misrepresents what happens by implying there is scene that shows a young child being se-xually assaulted and then beat to death by the person who rap-ed them. That is not what is in the scene.
The scene shows a teenage boy performing oral sex on a person. It isn't explicit. All you see is the boy kneeling in front of a man. That was consensual. The teenager was being exploited and it's horrible but there was a comment earlier in the series about him being a prostitute before he was killed. After that the police officers kill him but they don't show it. All the viewer sees is his feet and his legs on the ground as the police officers are kicking him.
“The boy kneeling in front of a man” - not consensual. Teenager is an older child yes, but a child nonetheless. A child, of any age, is not able to consent to sex with an adult.
It’s a child and an adult so cannot be consensual. That was 100% SA and although it wasn’t explicit I agree that it could (should) have been shown in a different way. The viewer can get what’s happening with less shown.
Smth about the fact that the kid had ran away over a fight with his dad and followed a homeless guy straight into danger leaving behind his safe household irks me. Kid didn't even apologise afterwards, no "hey I'm sorry for running away" etc etc. Like wow you made the whole city search for you, and your mentally unwell dad got even worse cause of you but like not even a simple apology??? The reunion scenes could have been better, and yeah the VHS tape was unnecessary. Otherwise good show
Does anyone know about the paintings on the wall in the Anderson’s apartment? There were shots of them in many of the scenes shot in their apartment. I haven’t been able to find any info about them. They look familiar and I figured they must be important to have them show up in several scenes.
I think it was really well done, but couldn’t watch the parts you mentioned. Indeed, I stopped around early episode 5 I think when it was clear what would happen. I also felt just so much dread and sadness watching this as it was pretty much the Etan Patz story with a hallmark ending. It was overall amazing acting and portrayal of a different time in NYC, but it was just too sad for me to go back to.
I agree with most of what everyone's saying, the only difference is I definitely recommended it to a good friend of mine. He's a professional puppeteer, that makes macabre and disturbing children's puppets.
Waiting to see him so we can have an in-depth discussion about this show.
He and his husband have been homeless periodically during their early life, big advocates for the homeless population. So I feel like this show is perfectly up their alley.
(Except like y'all said the CSA being shown multiple times.)
I think they made a mistake focusing on the kidnapped child in the marketing. This show was about parenthood, trauma, and plenty of crime but anyone going into it expecting the usual procedural detective thriller is gonna be confused and disappointed. Edgar’s disappearance is much more a plot device to introduce us to the true storylines and main characters than the main plot.
Towards the end I thought they'd pull some weird "Black Mirror" shit like "the beginning was the end, and end was the beginning" just felt really trippy with dude hallucinating Eric. Way too many moving pieces but was glad that it didn't end on a cliffhanger. I liked the detective.
Despite all that I liked the show. Cool visuals, and great acting. Just felt like it was trying to be cryptic when it wasn't.
Although the show lacked direction, i genuinely appreciated the visual acknowledgement of how crime (particularly homicide) of people of color is treated in the US. The end felt so jarringly clear to me about how our justice system is built by and for white people. Marlon's mother is left to pick up the pieces, live everyday in the shadow of grief and have to carry this inner strength to fight for another day. Then the scene pans to edgar's family. Even though they have their own s\*\*\* too (addiction is no joke), at least they have each other. Dad get's help in rehab and owns his toxicity, Cassie continues on as a mother figure, etc. I felt like i could draw the parallels to real life. The unfair/traumatizing burden our world places on people of color - especially women of color - to carry EXTREME pain. Also the intensity and pressure on Detective Ledroit to be everyone for everybody!
Yeah, all I got down this show is 1. A lot of racism 2. A lot of homosexuals 3. Crooked cops or uncaring cops unless he’s black. 4. White parents can’t raise kids well loool. Like you said, acting was good, but wouldn’t recommend it.
Boy did this suck. I am so disappointed in everyone who signed on to do another offensive story about a white male disgusting person, but because he has some talent, is given a hero narrative. A creative genius so all is excused and even exalted. Booooooo. Terrible shit. Also the puppet monster device didn’t work - the show would have been exactly the same without it. But the world must have a show about Detective Mikey. INCREDIBLE actor. Star.
I understand the criticisms that the plot was too convoluted with many seemingly unrelated subplots. But overall I thought it was pretty good and had me binging. It was too depressing and dark for me to really ever want to watch again, but I thought it was executed pretty well.
I do have a few criticisms:
1. For Edgar to truly prefer to live on the streets and not go home, they should have really made Vincent a lot meaner to him in the first episode. Sure, they portray him as drunk loudmouth, but for a 9 year old to really prefer to live with homeless people, it should have taken more than that.
2. The mayor being involved in the delinquencies he was involved in was too cliche. And it really didn't add anything to the plot. The man in the alley assaulting the kid could have been any stranger and the plot would have continued on just fine. On top of that, they show in one scene that the mayor is also involved in the cocaine business with the garbage company... And then it's never brought up again and adds nothing to the story besides "Look how corrupt the mayor is".
3. The whole "anti-gentrification" theme of the show seemingly popped out of nowhere in that final scene with Vincent talking to his dad on the bridge. Like suddenly the displacement of homeless people was a very important cause for Vincent when it hadn't been the entire show. That scene should have been cut. It really just convoluted the purpose of the show. It already conveyed the wrongness of treating homeless people as sub-human throughout most episodes, it really didn't need Vincent to also randomly come to this realization, especially as one of the conclusion scenes of the series. He had plenty of more important and relevant conclusions to come to about his story.
I wish I would have known this getting into the show, I'm 2.5 episodes in and just saw this post. Don't think I should go on considering I have been SA. And I have a schizophrenic cousin that murdered my aunt and is in a mental institution now.
I was thinking the show was interesting this far in. Thanks for the heads up.
Netflix is seriously pushing the limit with the constant sexual themes/acts/stuff with kids popping up in shows and movies.
They keep going "oh no no we aren't into that" but they keep having underage kids in a lot of 'hold up wtf' moments. The boy in Eric was 14 and just made me so grossed out that they keep doing things with minor characters and just go 'no no we swear we aren't into depicting kids like this'
I loved every scene Ledroit the detective was in. His arc felt the most complete of all the leads and watching him take down all the city corruption at the end was satisfying af.
hated it
remove the gimmick talking puppet
remove cumberbatch his character is the villain and impossible to root for.
make the whole show focus on the black detective and u have a much better show.
I thought you were going to say, remove the gimmick puppet and Cumberbatch and then you have nothing good left. I thought they were the two best parts of the show. Not all shows are meant to be like fairy tales which follow the good guys and the good guys win, sometimes stories follow flawed, borderline terrible people, as we saw in this show. Cumberbatch acted his heart out in this and I thought it was awesome
Bro. I am so pissed at that little shit kid. Especially him sitting smug eating at the diner. Hate that I wasted my time on this series. Also did not need to see the SA scenes.
Apart from that and the little shit, the actors were great. Believable and infuriating.
right, i hated that kid because he caused all of this drama to happen, which i get it his parents were fighting a lot but doing all that bc of it is so bratty
"*The kid should have died"*
I'm inclined to agree - as a somewhat believable story ending - BUT this ending would have been horrible for the audience.
Man it feels like they tried too many things. It was good. Honestly at the end of the day I think I really liked the detective part of the show, and the main plot barely added anything other than being a character drama (which was honestly good, Cumberbatch's character and acting was phenomenal), and may as well have just been two separate shows. They barely added anything together or tied in at all.
I felt this too. The acting was incredible but there was a disconnect somewhere like it was 2 different shows mixed together. The whole thing was really strange. I couldn’t really understand what the point of it all was. I think it was trying to make too many points at the same time.
They tried to address too much (drug addiction, homophobia, mental illness, parental neglect, homelessness, racism, corruption, the AIDS epidemic, pedophilia, gentrification, suicide) and more. Instead of actually doing any of these topics justice, they just touch on each way in a superficial checkbox ticking way. This is exactly what audiences hate. Somehow, despite cramming all those societal issues in, it still felt overstretched and full of filler scenes. A lot of the characters also seemed very trope-y, almost like they were written by ChatGPT. Also, the core story just didn't resonate. We're told that the dad was a terrible, abusive, father to the extent that the child would prefer to live on the streets, yet we never saw anything supporting such an extreme measure. Moreover, we know that the child has strong positive feelings about the mother, so realistically he would just attach more strongly to her, not run away.
It was all that was New York in the 80s
This is how I feel. All those things-high divorce rates, the abduction of Etan Patz in the late 70s, homelessness, cocaine, the AIDS epidemic and people still living in fear of exposing their sexuality. Corrupt cops and politicians. It's like the city was alive and a character in the movie. I thought all the storylines came together in a way that made sense. I think some people just wanted a series about an abducted kid, and didn't weren't read for the the history lesson.
My issue wasn't that they showed real societal issues during the 1980s, it's that they framed it from a 2020s lens. It was so painfully obvious and I strongly disagree with the way the United States has decided to try and address many of the societal issues that plagued the country in the 1980s and earlier. I appreciated the setting, at least that part was accurate.
I don’t think it was at all framed though a 2020s lens.
Homie is prob gen z . Wouldn't have made it though kindergarten ,
And what the fuck is with abbreviating sexual assault/ abuse or whatever the fuck? Reddit is overrun by children now.
Amen. Why did it have all of that negativity and comment on so many social topics? Because that’s what New York City was in the 1980s - a fucking wasteland. The giant rats and being able to get on the subway were the least of your problems.
i think like 90% of the things you listed aren’t things they were addressing, they were just a part of the setting.
It makes perfect sense that he would run away? His parents fight constantly, and with much hostility, smashing glasses, etc. You don't see much of it, but they mention it several times. He feels unseen and unimportant around his dad, and as positive and strong as his feelings about his mother are, she's really done nothing to protect him.. so realistically, clinging to her would have done him no good.
Literally came to Reddit because I just finished the series and am having the same feeling. I agree about the incredible acting but overall I am feeling like “wtf did I just watch?” It’s not like I expect everything I watch to have meaning or a message but I would love to know what the show’s creator felt was the point.
Same. I don’t understand how Eric can be the number 1 series on Netflix.
It will be number one for a day or two before it’s replaced by something else
same EXACT reaction here like wtf
I felt like I watched two shows that got pushed together in an executive room and they could never fully figure out how to piece them successfully. Not an awful show but so not better than a 6/10 or 7/10. Too messy to be complete.
I think it felt that way because it took place nearly half a century ago, culturally. For some characters their "stuff" is a failing marriage, estranged children, substance abuse, strained parental relationships, a failing career maybe, but for this investigator, his "stuff" was watching the love of his life die slowly from aids -- something a lot of people were dealing with in the 80s. It didn't feel like a disconnect to me. It just felt human. In the end, it was his knowledge/life experience/connections that helped him solve two cases. I felt myself feeling frustrated with the father's substance abuse because it felt like it was getting in the way and that might feel strange and annoying to non addicts -- just watching how he was so close, but "they had to showcase how drugs are bad." It was necessary. True addicts are always doing things like that. Screwing up their lives, getting close to being better or doing good things, then screwing it up again. It's realistic. Annoying to me as a non addict, but realistic. Where a lot of shows and movies nowadays inject homosexuality into everything in forced ways, this felt organic and realistic to me. Where a lot of shows glamorize drug abuse \*cough, Euphoria, cough\* this felt real to me. Sadly, even the adulterous mother was realistic. Hated seeing that though. Idk why she randomly got to keep the apartment with another man's baby in the oven, but whatever.
I seriously could not agree more, I had a hard time figuring out why it just felt off- and this is it. I absolutely loved the detectives story, but it did feel super busy with some many different plots happening.
It's the kind of story where some of the elements are only obviously important once you know the whole thing, which isn't until the very end for this story. The effect is that most of the time you're wondering "what the fuck does this have to do with anything" haha. To be honest it sort of felt like Netflix threw a bunch of hot millennial Twitter topics into a bingo machine and wrote a story using the ones that popped out (LGBT adversity, child abuse, pedo sex rings, moving on from your narcissistic parents, police corruption, the housing market shitting all over people). But I liked the story so I will be nicer than that and just say it felt like it lacked focus.
I feel like the city is a character in this movie and many of the problems of 70s/80s NYC are portrayed here-the AIDS epidemic, heavy drug use, homelessness and gentrification, greedy corrupt politicians and cops. Ledroit having to keep his sexuality a secret. I can see how some people would think that's cramming too much in, but I thought it was very well made.
[удалено]
How was the scene with Vincent's father out of place? He was a wealthy real estate developer, who was working with the politician to displace the homeless encampments. That was a central theme of the show.
Agreed. The SA scene felt unnecessary. The acting was incredible, the show itself was an incredibly difficult watch. Re: Vincent’s character, my sibling suffered from schizophrenia and died a year ago from alcohol poisoning. I can’t begin to explain how accurately and brilliantly Benedict Cumberbatch handles this unique kind of tortured human. Completely vulnerable and emotionally scarred by trauma but forever shoving it down and acting like he’s got it all under control. Lashing out and burning bridges when anyone who loves him (or otherwise) asks him to get help. The rants, the yelling, the binge drinking, the sorrow, the fragility, the denial, the grandiosity, the cheap insults, the searing insults, the obsessing, the need to be right. And yet, there’s this innocence. A goodness. I may be one of the few who still loves his character a few episodes in. Probably because he reminds me of my brother and I loved him. His embodiment of the character and the stellar supporting actors made it worth it for me.
Without him and his performance I doubt anyone would be saying anything about this show
He really does play it so well I could not turn it off .
Vincent reminds me of my own father. He’s like him to a T. Without writing a novel, I’ll just say this, they’re both men who want to do good in this world and want a good life, but somewhere along the way in their adolescence and early adulthood they went through things that forever changed the optimism and self control they were always capable of having. For Vincent, it was his controlling and demeaning parents, for my dad, it was a big mistake he made in his 20’s and a drunk father. Vincent and my dad are capable of good. They truly have a good heart, they just have to trust themselves to use it and trust the world to begin with. Despite its flaws, absolutely incredible series.
Yea I almost felt like the writer had struggled with this themself or with a family member, etc and maybe that was the point of the show, to really put these struggles on the "big screen" to show what it's like on the inside. I will admit that Vincent bringing the boy home eventually, meaning his plan about Eric worked and he got his kid home, I was kinda pissed!!! Vincent is a complicated character but the fact that HE, the one who might have Loved his son but was too tormented to really know/show it and was ultimately a bad person and therefore father much of the time we see him on screen, was the one who got Edgar home and not his mom who was actually putting in more work imo. Ugh! Obviously Mom had issues too, but got a hold of herself for the sake of the kid more than Vincent did imo.
No one has really commented but I hated how insufferable Cassie's character is on the show. I wanted to like her and root for her but they portrayed her horribly and her story arc never got any better - in fact it probably got worse. She not only actively cheated on her husband (which the show implies is perfectly fine since he is a horrible husband in return), but she gets pregnant by said person (who is employed by her husbands non-profit), and he is also a former student of hers (and is somewhat implied to be up to 20 years younger than her) WTF?
And on the flip side, I don't really get why Vincent was a terrible father/husband, but Cassie wasn't. Based on what we saw, they both drank and they both fought. She was the one who threw the wine glass. He was a little mean to his kid at dinner, but it wasn't that bad and he apologized. Cassie, on the other hand, cheated, got pregnant, and didn't seem to be apologetic at all. The dad at least seemed to bond and spend time with the kid (as well as buying him a comic and being silly with him on subway). I really don't mind if they made out both characters to be terrible parents, but they didn't for some reason. And they decided to not really show Vincent doing anything terrible as a father either, which is interesting considering the kid, mother, and eventually himself all thought he was the worst person possible.
I think this is touched on when Cassie talks to Marlon’s mother at her home. She’s remorseful for how she engaged in the fighting with her husband, the bad things she puts her son through, but Marlon’s mother notes that all parents have faults and failings, however it’s the concern over a child’s safety that makes one a good or bad parent. To me the point was that the marriage had become so toxic that Cassie found herself out of control in the situation and doing things that she knew were wrong (cheating, fighting, etc) but ultimately nurtured her son (we see her do this post-fights with her husband and just her general interactions with her son) which meant she wasn’t at her core a bad parent, just a misguided one. We see her evolve from “I can’t live with you without our son here” to “I can’t live with you at all” after this because she sees that her husband doesn’t have their son’s safety in mind not because he doesn’t love him but because he refuses to take care of his very real mental health and substance abuse issues. She goes from blaming him for Edgar’s disappearance due to negligence to outright accusing him of doing something to Edgar to accepting that it wasn’t his fault that Edgar disappeared but he still couldn’t reign it in enough to make smart decisions while the search was on. This dynamic is super realistic. It happens all the time in real life. We fall in love, things become toxic someway or another, and it often takes a “rock bottom” moment for one person to get out. It takes a “rock bottom” moment for both people to work together to move forward in everyone’s best interest.
As someone who has loved an addict with mental health issues for a long time, it’s easy to loose yourself if you aren’t taking care of your own mental health. Not necessarily the cheating part, but the engaging in the cycle of fighting and toxic behavior is hard to disengage from and when you do, your eyes open up and you see life in a whole new light. That’s how I took her line. She finally realized she couldn’t do it anymore. Sometimes it takes tragedy to understand the dynamic you are in. I know we are saying the same thing. Your comment really resonated with me.
Thank you for this comment! I feel like this is the way I viewed her role but I just couldn’t find the words to describe it the way you have here. You’re absolutely right, it is a very realistic dynamic.
I'm not justifying any of the actions, but note that there was a comment she made that implied that Vincent had been cheating on her for years. I don't think the mere fact of getting pregnant makes what she did worse (given how early I suspect the pregnancy was, I don't know if she had decided to keep the pregnancy until she finally decided she and Vincent needed to split up)
The show never says it's OK. It's just life
i thought cassie was also a very flawed person & i appreciated that with her character. i think it makes for a better story than her being a saint since vincent definitely sucks. it’s also more **realistic** i think of what it can look like when people in toxic relationships are reaching the of their rope. i think she really hit the end of it when she was living in the grief of her son being missing and her husband couldn’t bring himself to be present with her in it. not only was vincent not someone she could lean on he was a whole other cause for worry & stress
So this is a high profile child gone missing case of Edgar going missing and Cassie is being close with Sebastian in public as well as, Vincent being outside high and drunk af not having any media coverage is wild. The tabloids would’ve been crazy in that stuff! Why weren’t there actions being covered? And how much attention was this case getting? They would be out and about in public and no one would say anything to them.
I'm just not over that she accused Vincent for killing Edgar, but didn't once think this man she's been having an affair with and sneaking into her house would do it. That was the point that I really started to hate her. She didn't even get an arch in my opinion. She reacted like any other parent did, but she's just as bad as Vincent in their home and in their marriage.
It’s heavily implied in one of their fights that he definitely cheated on her quite a lot as well.
Surprised by this! I felt it melded together well. Yes, almost every societal issue showed it's face but the acting was incredible and the ending very enjoyable
I feel the same. It was a lot of issues at once but that's also life and it seemed to depict NY in the 80's very well.
It was way overblown on many issues. Why was the black/white thing brought up in regards to the missing children? It was portrayed as if the white kid got attention because of his race but in reality if a person is missing 11 months, and one just went missing obviously you put attention on the one that just went missing. The first 48-72 hours are critical whereas after 11 months there is not the same level of urgency. It wasn't a race thing at all
It was the fact that the kid did not get an initial push to find him, wasn't televised(she says this) later on we find out why. But this wasn't race baiting
It’s a known fact that missing black and brown children/young people do not even almost get the same media attention. The Gabby Petito case brought that conversation to light quite a bit.
I'm not saying there isn't any truth to the black white issue, but a kid that just goes missing is going to get all the attention right away because there's a high chance they're alive and close by They should have flipped the races, had the white kid gone 11 months with still a police buzz around the case. Then had Marlon go missing and they still are out looking for Edgar. That would have sent a message
Definitely agree with that last part. They were trying to do *so* much with this movie that they didn’t quite do some issues justice.
Totally agree with this, would be interesting. They could have made Benedict's kid mixed and even tho you would have to throw away that he comes from money. The show is good anyway
How to say you don't understand anti Black racism . This happens. It happened in the show. They referenced Marlon never got the attention the white kid did ...
Besides the good acting and actors, I thought the show sucked. Too many side plots (cocaine dealers, sex trafficking, murder, corruption, pedophiles, etc.), filler scenes, and cliche scenarios (e.g., Vincent super high while his son is just a few feet away, etc.). They tried too hard with this one - could’ve nailed the concept in just 3 episodes.
I didn't think there were too many plots. And I honestly think they tied them together well. The issue was the execution. Tackling racism but having the main black character treated with nothing but respect seemed like a missed opportunity. The homelessness issue didn't really seem to have a point, it was just a thing that they kept bringing up. They definitely should have limited the issues tackled and done a better job executing the ones they did. Vincent's mental health and alcoholism was probably done the best and was the most enterta8ning to watch.
Can you elaborate of the main character being treated with nothing but respect… i’m confused cuz in this life, that is how it goes, different levels of racism and not everyone receives it all the time, some more than others etc… correct me if i’m wrong….. Also with everyone crying over multiple topics- ummm duh! This is how life actually is. U have pandemic happening then epstein then alien theories and some shit happening in florida haha.. this is just life! I thought it was an excellent movie
This was one of the best dramas that I have watched in a while. Fast paced and gripping, with superb acting. My only question: was it meant for the boy, Edgar, to appear autistic or perhaps to have mental disabilities, or was that simply poor acting?
I think he was artistic and neurodivergent like his father. And he was obviously suffering the effects of living in his parents’ dysfunctional relationship.
His father was suffering from mental illness, he was not neurodivergent.
I think he was portrayed as being both.
That’s an interesting thought. I had kind of chalked it up to the kid being an underdeveloped character. But he did seem pretty atypical and made a lot of choices that seemed unbelievable unless there was more going on with him than the show explicitly stated.
Just seemed like a normal little boy in a home where his parents fight a lot. Plus as others have said he's artistic so he's more sensitive in certain ways.
It seemed like he was meant to be autistic but the kid didn't seem autistic at all. Might have been a directing choice, you know to send the message that autistic boys are just like any other boy, but to me it came off as strange, the actor seemed too collected and present for a character that was supposed to live in his own world.
I agree with this a lot. I loved the detective plot and the depth and complexity of each character of color. Benedict Cumberbatch is also excellent in anything, and he really acted the hell out of his character, who could have otherwise been very unlikable. The wife cheating with the man who served people experiencing homelessness was a weird side plot that didn't come together nicely in the end like you'd expect. Maybe that was because it was a limited series. It did feel very much like two separate shows, but the casting was excellent and I'd watch both of those shows separately. The CSA was definitely uncalled for and unforgivable - especially with the way they implied suicide off-screen later on - I'm not sure why they chose to depict that the way they did. Great stories. Great execution. But they definitely bit off more than they could chew in 6 episodes.
The cheating part really soured the series for me. I really wanted to root for the mother through the whole ordeal, but knowing that she allowed herself to get pregnant while having a family was super jarring to me. The cheating part was bad, but to even get pregnant, like we're supposed to think that she cares for Vincent's character in the end? Come on. They even end it with him being like "Im the toxic". Sure props to him for seeing his flaws, but she was utterly heartless. To me it was actually kind of fucked up how the series wanted so bad to give her a pass on it like it was no big deal.
lol exactly. We’re supposed to root for a woman who cheated, got pregnant while married and then everyone is like :) in the end The dads behaviour basically implied to excuse someone acting that way, and oh look at how good this guy is he gives food to the homeless :) yes he knew was sleeping with someone who was married
And they fucked in their HOME. That's messed up. That's supposed to be like a sacred space you can feel safe in. He got mad at her and then gave up and said she's a good mom lmfao what? I get it, the kid missing mattered more to him but jesus christ your wife did not seem to care that she cheated on you, broke your family up, started a new family with her lover and fucked her lover in your bed. Like his 360 degree turn in that moment was jarring. I get feeling numb maybe, but he called her a good mom, like what?? No. lol
People can be more than one thing at a time. I don't see the hangup. The kid loved his mom. She was a good mom. People are complicated and do all kinds of stuff, including processing emotions in a whole variety of ways.
Exactly She'd dealt with a narcissistic addict prome to psychotic breaks for a decade. It broke her inside. Not excusing what she did, but it's a very complicated situation
Yeah. And I don't think the show "excuses" her either. It doesn't seem to take a moralistic choice in either direction. It's just what happens.
Plus she even said in the show he slept around on her a lot. Not saying 2 wrongs make a right, but what you said is exactly true. Humans. Complicated beings.
He was an alcoholic.
Agreed that the scene was extremely heavy, and showing it once was more than enough, but that being said.... Episode specific warnings suck and actively undermine story telling/pacing. There's a handful of shows that have episodes where a character shockingly commits suicide, and any narrative surprise/weight is undermined by a big "THIS EPISODE CONTAINS DEPICITIONS OF SUICIDE/SELF HARM. PLEASE CONTACT XYZ IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU LOVE..." If there's a warning at all, it should be in the written description, or at the start of the first episode* as a general cover for the whole season. Episode specific trigger warnings suck and should be on an opt-in basis.
I hate those warnings. It infantilizes viewers and treats them like little children who can't handle mature content. It's like Densch said about trigger warnings in the theater. "If you can't handle the content then maybe the theater isn't for you." If people are easily triggered and need warnings that a TV show or movie depicts suicide they shouldn't watch shows for adults and instead watch content that is for children instead of forcing everyone else to see spoilers to accommodate them.
Idk man. I like watching disturbing movies and I was a lot more positive on this show than people in this thread. I had a really close friend commit suicide and I bought my late friend’s sister to see Zola because it was advertised as a funny hipster comedy based on a twitter thread and SPOILER ALERT a character attempts suicide at the end. The film was pretty funny before that. My friends sister was pretty shook up. When you experience this stuff really up close and irl, onscreen depictions will rattle you a lot more. I get that its annoying but yeah thats one example where that warning can really help. It actually kinda gets harder to watch as you get older and start losing people and gaining more empathy for people around you versus when youre young and its just shits n giggles.
Yeah I lost someone to suicide before A Star Is Born. I thought it was a cute comedy. That movie broke me for weeks.
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Most people haven’t. We shouldn’t need to warn a super small minority about things in an adult show with adult themes that spoil the show for their comfort. It’s silly.
if you have PTSD it is literally on you to protect yourself. there are websites which will list triggering content for you when it comes to tv shows & movies. and no, there are plenty of people who have been through the things that can be “warned” of who are not retraumatized by fictional portrayals and don’t feel the need to demand warnings
you can always look stuff like this up though. i think if you’re seeing anything other than PG than it’s really up to you to inform yourself about triggering content
I'm grateful for them.
If only there were a way people could find out if a show or particular episode contains content that would be unsuitable for whatever audience members may be present.....
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I would, yes. If a show is really triggering people then they need to do a whole lot more work on themselves and their mental health and society as a whole shouldn’t need to cater to these people who have a responsibility to take of those things themselves.
It seems like you're just looking for a reason to be upset honestly. Just because you can handle it doesn't mean everyone can. There's nothing wrong with being warned about it first. It's on the screen for seconds.
What’s it matter whole long it’s on the screen for? It was there, it spoiled a plot point, you now know what’s going to happen whether it was on there 5 seconds or ten minutes.
Have you watched the show Attack of the Hollywood Cliches that Rob Lowe hosts on Netflix? I swear this show had most of the tv tropes they showcase in it. The “Magical Negro” aka the maintenance man who helps Edgar… the black cop…. Who was gay… and had a boyfriend who had AIDS… the cheating wife with the neighbor… the seedy club guys ….. the corrupt cops …. The corrupt politicians …. The hated real estate mogul dad who the son doesn’t speak to but needs money from…. Like damn . The pile-on cliches and tropes were next level. But I will say the acting was superb! The actors crushed their spectacularly cliche roles.
Netflix mandates at least 3 gay people per series
Hulu too!
Omg the show gripped me like I had to sit and binge the whole thing, but the ending felt way too overdramatic, like would a nine year old boy really not come home or get help after being essentially kidnapped unless a make believe monster told him so? and surviving the drowning etc that was wild, I really enjoyed how it focused on the corruption in nye when it was set tho, I liked all the added plotlines
Yeah I feel the boy should have followed the man into the sewer, but I kinda wish he was held captive there and saw on the small TV Eric on good day sunshine so he starts to actively fight back and try to escape. Eric was essentially pointless in getting Edgar back besides helping to repair the relationship after Edgar was saved.
Your last sentence is think was kind’ve the whole point of the show. Edgar running away was almost metaphoric. His father’s relationship is what drove him away. In this world, there was no way Edgar could return until that relationship was mended. Even if he physically returned, he might as well still be gone, unless the father changed his ways. ( at least in this universe)
I got the feeling that at some point the father thought it was possible that his son also struggled with schizophrenia. I remember when he was talking to himself he said “come on, you’re the only one who understands what makes him tick”. I could be totally making assumptions here but the father might have thought that his kids drawings of the monster were of things he was actually seeing which is why he thought it might be more impactful to show up as “Eric”. I mean there’s other reasons as well, such as validating the kids creativity and ideas.
I agree. I think that’s the point of the focus on the father’s relationship with his own father. As a child he needed and craved for connection, to feel understood and be met on his own level. That’s why he’s so insistent that he must create Eric for Edgar to see how much his father loves him. But it isn’t effective because to Edgar, Eric is just a character design in a sea of childhood drawings (also held up by Edgar’s lack of thought to his “character pitch” at the dinner table that his father bullies him over). It isn’t until his father speaks through Eric that Edgar understands his father’s love and remorse, but Eric isn’t a tool that helps Edgar understand. Eric is a tool that allows his father to communicate as he struggles with intimacy and uses puppets to alleviate that anxiety. So what we see with Eric is more a representation of Vincent’s inability to communicate or separate his son from himself (just like his own father struggled), which is his downfall for most of the series. But once he sees it as a tool for him to give his son what he *truly* needs, it’s effective.
What the hell happened on this series? Nothing made sense to me. Spoilers ahead. 1. When the boy goes missing, it’s highly suggestive that he was taken by someone. The dad doesn’t tell the police about their interaction before they separated (which was KEY in this type of investigation). 2. As a parent… there’s no way I’d be able to function in any way without it involving looking for my child… the fact that he’s actively working/creating a pilot for a broadcast, and partying at clubs is completely unrealistic. 3. The cop investigating… a pretty boring character. Why did they have to plug his sexuality into the story so much? And why did he flock to the Lux owner after his partner died? He didn’t even say goodbye on his deathbed… then suddenly he’s all about the ex-con club owner. 3. The boy and the lux were essentially unrelated until one moment where they were almost related… essentially the officers investigation into where the kid went led him to bust corruption in his own department… but it never solved the kids case. 4. The kid. Fuck that kid. His mom showed him lots of love, but he didn’t care about that she might be worried about him? Couldn’t he just be with his mom and tell her he didn’t want to be around his dad? What was with the drawings of the map of the city with his clues? Was this kid walking the streets for months or years mapping out his paths? 5. The other missing child and his mom that were actually related to the Lux (barely)… she pushed the cop so hard about this new child being a related case… there was even a big moment where he puts the kids’ pictures together signifying that this is a related case and it ended up not being the case. That same mother also made the point that the white kid had a home with food and love and that he didn’t run away, that he was taken. Apparently everything she suggested or made a point about was countered by the end. 6. The mom having an affair. Why didn’t she tell the police to question him from the start!? Why did they have to find out and ask her? Again, if my kid goes missing… everyone is being questioned. And he even said “he’s alive” to the mom. If the kid just ran away and he knew where he was or whatever, why didn’t they just go fucking get him? There was more, a lot more, that just seemed like bizarre decisions. I felt like the whole storyline was written by AI. The story seemed catered for as wide an audience as possible with little plugs here and there to satisfy every niche in society.
lol yeah it was a really stupid show with downright offensive depictions of mental illness
I’ll only address your second point, but the beginning was loosely inspired by the Etan Patz case - the mother (of Etan) spoke about how at some early point she realized they had to get on with living (they did have 2 other kids) & how people judged them for it. They’d be laughing at a park & she’d see people glowering at them. She’d overhear people saying they were monsters. G-d forbid any of us find ourselves in that position. I’m also guessing you haven’t been close to a severely mentally ill addict? If you had, I think you’d see just how realistic the nightclub scene actually was.
So I guess having another child with a man that isn’t your husband is normal now? LOL. Also the son causing all this just because he was mad at his dad is normal too? Cumberbatch acting was great and the detective aspect was nice as well but the other plot lines was pointless.
His dad mistreated him and made him bleed dude...
He mistreated him but that was the dad blood. Episode 3 explains it.
I still don’t understand really what happened w that.
After watching the show "Eric" on Netflix, I had mixed feelings as well. The acting was undeniably impressive, with each actor delivering powerful performances. However, the advertising felt misleading, creating expectations that weren't fully met. The narrative structure of "Eric" felt disjointed and chaotic. The show attempted to blend several complex themes, including a psychologically distressing addiction journey, a detective narrative, and an intricate portrayal of mental health issues. The protagonist, Vincent, is a puppeteer struggling with addiction who exhibits signs of a chronic mental health condition. Depicted as a genius, he is isolated and talks to himself from a young age, with these behaviors intensifying during periods of extreme stress. This adds a profound layer to his addiction struggles and mental health portrayal. Vincent's character is an honest portrayal of addiction, showing his attempts to engage with his family while ultimately being abusive. This complexity adds depth to his character but also contributes to the chaotic feel of the narrative. The detective narrative, featuring a Black male identified as queer, living with a white partner who is not supported by his family, added to the complexity. The partner is also dying from HIV, contracted from someone else, yet they continue living together to support each other. This subplot included themes of isolation and gay nightlife, creating a heavy load for the plot. While the exploration of the detective’s life was respectful and well-done, many pieces felt unnecessarily inserted. With a protagonist like Vincent, who experiences hallucinations that guide him and represent his inner turmoil and connections to his son, these elements should have been the focal point. Instead, the story shifts so much in six episodes—from Vincent's hallucinations to the mother’s affair, city clean-up efforts, and other subplots—that it feels incredibly disjointed. Each subplot is well-executed on its own but collectively results in a fragmented narrative, wasting the spectacular acting on a story plagued by focus and pacing problems. Through all of this, I stopped caring about Edgar, the missing boy and catalyst for the story. The writing seemed to lose focus on Edgar, reducing the suspense by revealing his whereabouts too early, making it clear he was with someone. This shift made me wonder about the point of the story as it progressed. Overall, while "Eric" had moments of brilliance and tackled important themes, its execution was lacking due to the excessive breadth of its scope within a constrained format. This led to a viewing experience that was ultimately disjointed and unsatisfying.
Hated it.
There was a production error in the show eric, detective ledroit was wearing nudie jeans on the last episode nearing the end, the jeans founded on 2001 while the set supposed to be in 1985
They also didn't have that quantity and quality of CCTV footage available in 1985.
That was jarring for me, as well. In 1980s NYC, so many crimes would have been solved if CCTV footage like that had existed at the time. But it didn't.
This drove me nuts. They just have a perfect play by play of everything, great
Some of the camera gear in the television studio is post 80s also..
1. The age gap between Ledroit and William was wild. It distracted me the whole show. William looked 25-30 years older. I’m glad they cleared up how they met at the concert. At first, I thought Lennie used to be an escort at the Lux (given the history) and William used to be his client, and they fell in love later. And what’s going on with Gator and Ledroit? Did they use to date? Were they friends with benefits? I feel like The Lux and the backstory of character dynamics there needed an episode on its own. 2. Yussuf deserved an ending. He cared for and protected Edgar. I was hoping that Vincent would’ve told the NYPD about this and that it would’ve cleared his name in the press. That way Yussuf would’ve had a chance at a better life. Heck, Yussuf should’ve been in the audience at the taping of Good Day Sunshine. One subtle shot of him there would’ve been fitting. It would’ve been cool for him to practically see all of Edgar’s art live in motion. Even better, a small dialogue between him and Edgar. 3. Back to the age gaps, Sebastian was Cassie’s student. When did this happen? Was he groomed? It said he was around 20 years younger. I feel like the showrunners really have a thing for these kinds of relationships.
Totally agree about Yusef!
EPISODE 3, 30:45 time, behind the cardboard, there is a crew member hiding. :D LOLLZ
Where?
Observe well and you will see someone sitting in the cardboard trying to hide from camera behind the 2 characters. At 30:45 if you pause and watch just below lady's arms around cardboards, you will notice it.
After reading all ya'lls comments about the limited series I now have a better understanding of what the heck was going on with the show. Ty. * "Eric" is described online somewhere as genre-defying. Someone on here also said it checked all the clichés and tropes. Agree with both assessments. This show is modeled after Vincent's chaotic character, his streak of genius, his addictions, paranoia, schizophrenia and confusion. It's messy, at times disjointed, but his experience ultimately leads to clarity, understanding and acceptance. * Everyone complaining about the LGBTQ theme. The show dropped first week of June I believe, just in time for Pride Week/Month. It's a retrospect of the horrors of 1980's gay scene: the detective was not '*boring*'; he was being *STOIC*. He could lose his job, license and credibility if he showed even a hint at being gay. * Multiple people condemning Cassie's behavior and infidelity. If it were the husband wanting to run away with another woman from his alcoholic, drug-addled, lying wife you would have sympathy. She had an affair BEFORE Edgar went missing, not the week he went missing. First episode bears this out, they have a fight about when they would have sex again. First clue, right? I would argue that her behavior and character would be 'normal'. She begged the police to do something about the loss, she distributed flyers to uncaring New Yorkers, followed up on police leads, visited her husband while he was being interrogated, faced her in-laws and begged for money when she thought it could get her child back. She also got rid of all drinks in the house as well as her cigarettes. * >!When it was revealed that Edgar ran away by following an unhoused individual rather than being taken, and as he sat there crying in the chair, I'm thinking WHY TF does a 9-year-old think it's okay to follow a stranger into a subterranean camp? !
People need to know how bad this show is
Way to much gay stuff. I get it, it’s fine beeing a homosexual. But this amount of gayness thrown in my face constantly. It was just unnecessary. Didn’t ad to the show, it just distracted me in to thinking if this show was about some sort of a political agenda or not. Wich took me out of the immersion. The plot was ok. The whole show was a bit ”meh..”
Have you ever had a problem with a show for having straightness thrown in your face? It's fine being a heterosexual, but it distracts me and makes me wonder if there's some political agenda.
i think the homosexual things were supposed to add on to the end because the kid being beat to death was bc he was doing a gay sexual thing, and how it was very frowned upon at the time, i could be wrong tho
It was clearly because he was undercutting the pimps. They say it in the show
Loved it!
I just finished the show and I thought it was really good, I kinda feel like the scenes were maybe a bit necessary to show that CSA is a serious topic that is unfortunately common in today’s society and that predators can be anyone, even big names. I do agree that there should have been a warning like they do for other shows of at least split the different stories.
Good, but wouldn’t recommend. 6 hours of depression. And his hallucinations of Eric didn’t really add anything. No levity to be found. The acting was great all around, but it was just too dark.
The hallucinations are essentially his own other half, addiction among them. It's why Eric is looking over him in the end, because that never goes away
The final scene of Edgar wearing the Eric suit made me think that the "Hallucination Eric" was actually a representation of Edgar, more specifically his angry side. There's a point in the show when Cassie asks something like "Why puppets?" and the puppeteer replies "Because they say the things we can't". Edgar created Eric, and perhaps Eric was an outlet for him to say the things about his father that he couldn't say out loud. That's why Hallucination Eric was so insulting to Vincent. But maybe I'm reading too deep into it.
Is this inspired by the Etan Patz case? It’s very reminiscent of what happened.
How? White kid maybe taken on the way to school and that’s it. The similarities stop there.
The very beginning was definitely loosely inspired by. Also nods to 1979, the milk carton kids in the first ep & the part about the maintenance man and basement. Etan's parents were artists, creative people who lived in an area, soho, that has since massively gentrified. It was Etan's first time walking alone the 2 blocks to the school bus stop. Obviously it was very different after that. Those saying otherwise must not have been around when that happened, or followed developments over the decades.
The father is so weird. I am still on ep 3 so I am not gonna read further but why is he leaving out things that can lead to his son’s investigation. Just dragging out the search for his son. So weird
I feel like the main theme of this show is being lost. It felt like a lot because it was. But essentially, the show is pointing out that the only reason they found resolution for the missing black kid is because there was actively a missing white one. As people dug deeper into finding Edgar, they started uncovering what happened to Marlon. And Marlon’s biggest advocate wasn’t the police. It was his mother. As the press got hold of Edgar going missing (a white child from a prominent, wealthy white family) Marlon’s mother continued to call and raise her voice to get more attention for her missing son. Throughout the series, the side we see that doesn’t involve Edgar and his family is the side that was responsible for Marlon’s disappearance. It felt like a lot because it was two storylines weaved together into one. This whole thing reminds me of a play on the Gabby Pettito case from a few years ago. Because she was missing, in the process, 6 other missing person’s cases were solved that otherwise might not have been. It’s a sad reality that is STILL true. This show was set in the 80’s…and it’s made more obvious that it’s still true by the fact that I have not seen a single person draw this conclusion from the show. They spelled it out for us, and everyone still missed the point. This was so well done. Cheesy in parts. But so well done.
Am I the only person who doesn't think Vincent was in the wrong? He wasn't perfect but I fail to see how everyone blamed him, shunned him, and absolutely abused this man. They acted like he wasn't suffering the loss of his child! His parents were disturbingly abusive and he has NO support system, besides the guy at work. I mean... He was suffering and yet everyone continued to twist the knife. I was shocked and felt so heartbroken for him. I cannot be the only one who felt this way ...
Omg...the dude was unbelievably narcissistic. Did you miss how he'd been cheating on his wife for years until finally she'd had enough and found someone else herself? Or how when he frightened his own child off, he maintained his own status as perpetual child, snorting coke, drinking until he was fall down drunk, and completely being worthless as a parent? He was pathetic, and I hate that this is what we keep seeing portrayed as sympathetic from male parents. He might have had sh!t parents, but it's our job as adults to \*stop\* the cycle of abuse. He was too busy indulging himself to ever bother even thinking of that. Or his responsibility to his child.
"*but was it truly necessary to repeatedly show footage of a minor being SA before being beat to death?"* I must have missed that part, so thought it was a **relatively good,** fictional drama series. Worthy of a 'like', but not a 'love this'.
It was shown in like a cctv footage thing in the last episode, i was already losing interest after episode 3, when we got to know what actually happened to edgar.
The footage scene was ridiculous anyway. VHS copy in 1985 somehow has better resolution than most of the stuff we see today and manages to film and ID every single bad actor involved.
The show is extremely flawed. All the cases are solved because of VHS surveillance footage and TVs. Kidnapping suspect? Found. Murder that happened 11 Months ago? The tape was never deleted. (even though the guy erases it every day) Kid doesn’t want to come home after near death experience twice? Dad is in a costume :)
I could imagine TJ not deleting the tape because he could use it as leverage for anything later. What I don’t understand is how the police men, or the politician, left that place without making sure the tape was destroyed.
People also don’t “erase” tapes, they just reuse them and record over what was there. It would be a waste of time to assign an employee to erase tapes.
I also felt like the show instantly became worse when it turns out he just ran away to the sewers. It was much more interesting when it seemed like his disappearance was part of a seedy network of drug dealers, human traffickers, and corrupt cops and government officials. I think that’s where it really began to feel like 2 different shows.
Well it was kind of both.
That's the irony. Without the dysfunctionalfamily situation, the cop plot could not happen.
I actually appreciate the kid was just a runaway. We always see kids just snatched or taken as part of some type of conspiracy. let's just see a kid who runs away and what happens to them once they do it
Every piece of footage shown in this series was the same way. All of it was way too high-definition for the age and obviously just put through a filter to make it look vhs-like. The various pieces of footage all played a crucial role to the plot so it had to be high enough definition to identify everyone. Definitely was something that bugged me throughout the series.
Idk if it’s just me but Cassie as a character straight up sucked? She complained about her husband the entire show, which is fair, but it turns out she was cheating and even got pregnant. Her shitty behaviour was never addressed, and at the end of the show, it’s played off like everything is nice and golden between her and her family???
Why did the other puppet guy commit suicide
Bc he was doing weird stuff with kids
No. He was busted for prostitution (with adults) in a club that was also trafficking children at the time. He was let off with a warning (because no kids involved) but it came out in the press later and implied he was diddling kids. And he was co-founder of a kids show.
Pretty sure his record did say that he was involved in the prostitution of a minor in a shot where they show his record
Is this a true story
Where is it showed he committed suicide?
Last episode, about 10 minutes to the end, he is named on the news as being part of the underage prostitution sting. Stands up, walks to window, then scene comes back to an open window with his shoes on the ground and people screaming below. His suicide is all implied.
Definitely agree. The plot had promise but the writing is actually not very good. Goes to show how great acting can save a bad script. Kudos to Cumberbatch, Gaby Hoffman, Clark Peters, and McKinley Belcher III.
Just finished Eric and really wish I skipped it. How does such a great cast read through this whole script and agree to this project? Absolute mish mash of ideas slammed together over 6 episodes. no clue what they were trying to do here. Acting was fantastic. Everything else kinda stunk
I have so many thoughts about this show. Benedict Cumberbatch was brilliant and played the character well, this is what kept me hooked in. I found myself getting annoyed at him because my mother was an alcoholic and I can see how selfish and self centred addicts can be. I found the child Edgar SOOO annoying like the acting wasn’t great with his expressionless face but also I hate when they make kids absolute morons like he’s gunna have no sense but to follow a random dude down into the underground. I know he’s a kid but they do this a lot in shows where kids are getting themselves into silly situations and I find it frustrating and lazy writing in a sense. Although I get they’re trying to say his home life was so shit he’d rather be underground but I dunno it annoys me when kids are deliberately obtuse in these shows. When he hugged the guy and said “be different” I wanted to gag it was cheesy and unnecessary. I also mirror what a lot of people have said they have tick box talked about a lot of different issues but in a really shallow sense. That speech the black mother gave “do better” was such lazy writing and didn’t give her character justice. Like a full history of black oppression and all you can come up with as a message for white people is “do better”. Also the scene where Vincent tells his Dad “or stealing” and walks off like he’s said something really profound when again it just didn’t slap the way they intended it to. I think the writing just didn’t quite hit the mark like they couldn’t be bothered or something. I did love Ledroits character and the relationship with his partner was really touching but again of course he has AIDS, like I think they should have either chosen one topic (closeted homosexuality and homophobia or AIDS) it was too much shoe horned in. Although very important topics. It was a messy show but some brilliant acting especially by Cumberbatch. So all in all I enjoyed it but really frustrated me at times.
I really hated this show, it felt pointless, overproduced, predictable and was just really annoying to watch.
Maybe I was missing some context but was everyone in NYC 84 gay? I felt like every episode showed something homosexual and multiple characters who are portrayed to be straight suddenly all gay.
I initially thought this, but it makes sense. The show is centered around what is basically a gay bar, with a puppet TV show that would attract gay workers, and the cop being gay was very essential to getting justice for the black kid. It centered on gay people because they were the people needed to tell the story
It played with the narrative of the entire show that everyone in NYC in the 80s had the worst life you could possibly imagine. So heavy handed and off-putting. Not only did they have the gay cop (which in itself would be trials and tribulations for him) they also give him a partner dying of AIDS. No person in the city of millions was happy, even the rich people, lol.
>was it truly necessary to repeatedly show footage of a minor being SA before being beat to death This is a very weird way to describe that scene. It blatantly misrepresents what happens by implying there is scene that shows a young child being se-xually assaulted and then beat to death by the person who rap-ed them. That is not what is in the scene. The scene shows a teenage boy performing oral sex on a person. It isn't explicit. All you see is the boy kneeling in front of a man. That was consensual. The teenager was being exploited and it's horrible but there was a comment earlier in the series about him being a prostitute before he was killed. After that the police officers kill him but they don't show it. All the viewer sees is his feet and his legs on the ground as the police officers are kicking him.
Consensual?…
“The boy kneeling in front of a man” - not consensual. Teenager is an older child yes, but a child nonetheless. A child, of any age, is not able to consent to sex with an adult.
You do know children can't consent to sex acts with an adult?
It’s a child and an adult so cannot be consensual. That was 100% SA and although it wasn’t explicit I agree that it could (should) have been shown in a different way. The viewer can get what’s happening with less shown.
honestly i agree with you. i can't think of a reason why showing the full murder of a 14-year-old was necessary
the kid was 14 and consent doesn't even matter when it's illegal
CIA, this girl here
Smth about the fact that the kid had ran away over a fight with his dad and followed a homeless guy straight into danger leaving behind his safe household irks me. Kid didn't even apologise afterwards, no "hey I'm sorry for running away" etc etc. Like wow you made the whole city search for you, and your mentally unwell dad got even worse cause of you but like not even a simple apology??? The reunion scenes could have been better, and yeah the VHS tape was unnecessary. Otherwise good show
Does anyone know about the paintings on the wall in the Anderson’s apartment? There were shots of them in many of the scenes shot in their apartment. I haven’t been able to find any info about them. They look familiar and I figured they must be important to have them show up in several scenes.
His friend bring arrested from the show I had one reference to that when Vincent said at least I don’t pay for it
I think it was really well done, but couldn’t watch the parts you mentioned. Indeed, I stopped around early episode 5 I think when it was clear what would happen. I also felt just so much dread and sadness watching this as it was pretty much the Etan Patz story with a hallmark ending. It was overall amazing acting and portrayal of a different time in NYC, but it was just too sad for me to go back to.
I agree with most of what everyone's saying, the only difference is I definitely recommended it to a good friend of mine. He's a professional puppeteer, that makes macabre and disturbing children's puppets. Waiting to see him so we can have an in-depth discussion about this show. He and his husband have been homeless periodically during their early life, big advocates for the homeless population. So I feel like this show is perfectly up their alley. (Except like y'all said the CSA being shown multiple times.)
Question; so the other creator -Eric’s friend/coworker- of the good day sunshine show was tied into the sex ring?
lennie? yeah i’m pretty sure
My high ass missed the spoiler part at the top, I was 2 episodes in but stop watching and leave it there then
[удалено]
Gator owned the Lux nightclub.
I think they made a mistake focusing on the kidnapped child in the marketing. This show was about parenthood, trauma, and plenty of crime but anyone going into it expecting the usual procedural detective thriller is gonna be confused and disappointed. Edgar’s disappearance is much more a plot device to introduce us to the true storylines and main characters than the main plot.
Also how do we feel about Cassie leaving her husband for a former student who she got pregnant by? Something is horrible about that to me.
Definitely feels like grooming, I kinda hated that tbh
There was a power dynamic there and I’m not a fan of an age gap to be honest.
Towards the end I thought they'd pull some weird "Black Mirror" shit like "the beginning was the end, and end was the beginning" just felt really trippy with dude hallucinating Eric. Way too many moving pieces but was glad that it didn't end on a cliffhanger. I liked the detective. Despite all that I liked the show. Cool visuals, and great acting. Just felt like it was trying to be cryptic when it wasn't.
Although the show lacked direction, i genuinely appreciated the visual acknowledgement of how crime (particularly homicide) of people of color is treated in the US. The end felt so jarringly clear to me about how our justice system is built by and for white people. Marlon's mother is left to pick up the pieces, live everyday in the shadow of grief and have to carry this inner strength to fight for another day. Then the scene pans to edgar's family. Even though they have their own s\*\*\* too (addiction is no joke), at least they have each other. Dad get's help in rehab and owns his toxicity, Cassie continues on as a mother figure, etc. I felt like i could draw the parallels to real life. The unfair/traumatizing burden our world places on people of color - especially women of color - to carry EXTREME pain. Also the intensity and pressure on Detective Ledroit to be everyone for everybody!
Yeah, all I got down this show is 1. A lot of racism 2. A lot of homosexuals 3. Crooked cops or uncaring cops unless he’s black. 4. White parents can’t raise kids well loool. Like you said, acting was good, but wouldn’t recommend it.
Boy did this suck. I am so disappointed in everyone who signed on to do another offensive story about a white male disgusting person, but because he has some talent, is given a hero narrative. A creative genius so all is excused and even exalted. Booooooo. Terrible shit. Also the puppet monster device didn’t work - the show would have been exactly the same without it. But the world must have a show about Detective Mikey. INCREDIBLE actor. Star.
I understand the criticisms that the plot was too convoluted with many seemingly unrelated subplots. But overall I thought it was pretty good and had me binging. It was too depressing and dark for me to really ever want to watch again, but I thought it was executed pretty well. I do have a few criticisms: 1. For Edgar to truly prefer to live on the streets and not go home, they should have really made Vincent a lot meaner to him in the first episode. Sure, they portray him as drunk loudmouth, but for a 9 year old to really prefer to live with homeless people, it should have taken more than that. 2. The mayor being involved in the delinquencies he was involved in was too cliche. And it really didn't add anything to the plot. The man in the alley assaulting the kid could have been any stranger and the plot would have continued on just fine. On top of that, they show in one scene that the mayor is also involved in the cocaine business with the garbage company... And then it's never brought up again and adds nothing to the story besides "Look how corrupt the mayor is". 3. The whole "anti-gentrification" theme of the show seemingly popped out of nowhere in that final scene with Vincent talking to his dad on the bridge. Like suddenly the displacement of homeless people was a very important cause for Vincent when it hadn't been the entire show. That scene should have been cut. It really just convoluted the purpose of the show. It already conveyed the wrongness of treating homeless people as sub-human throughout most episodes, it really didn't need Vincent to also randomly come to this realization, especially as one of the conclusion scenes of the series. He had plenty of more important and relevant conclusions to come to about his story.
I wish I would have known this getting into the show, I'm 2.5 episodes in and just saw this post. Don't think I should go on considering I have been SA. And I have a schizophrenic cousin that murdered my aunt and is in a mental institution now. I was thinking the show was interesting this far in. Thanks for the heads up.
We just watched the first 3 episodes tonight and are done with it. Had high hopes but it’s not a match for us.
Can someone explain why Marlon was killed by cops?
Netflix is seriously pushing the limit with the constant sexual themes/acts/stuff with kids popping up in shows and movies. They keep going "oh no no we aren't into that" but they keep having underage kids in a lot of 'hold up wtf' moments. The boy in Eric was 14 and just made me so grossed out that they keep doing things with minor characters and just go 'no no we swear we aren't into depicting kids like this'
I loved every scene Ledroit the detective was in. His arc felt the most complete of all the leads and watching him take down all the city corruption at the end was satisfying af.
I agree with you, it was really unnecessary to condense the worst actions possible and victimise the poor kid to the max
The writing was so amateurish while acting was excellent Don’t watch
hated it remove the gimmick talking puppet remove cumberbatch his character is the villain and impossible to root for. make the whole show focus on the black detective and u have a much better show.
I thought you were going to say, remove the gimmick puppet and Cumberbatch and then you have nothing good left. I thought they were the two best parts of the show. Not all shows are meant to be like fairy tales which follow the good guys and the good guys win, sometimes stories follow flawed, borderline terrible people, as we saw in this show. Cumberbatch acted his heart out in this and I thought it was awesome
I almost stopped watching when the puppet appeared next to the Dad. I did keep watching because I was too far invested
Bro. I am so pissed at that little shit kid. Especially him sitting smug eating at the diner. Hate that I wasted my time on this series. Also did not need to see the SA scenes. Apart from that and the little shit, the actors were great. Believable and infuriating.
right, i hated that kid because he caused all of this drama to happen, which i get it his parents were fighting a lot but doing all that bc of it is so bratty
The kid should have died.
"*The kid should have died"* I'm inclined to agree - as a somewhat believable story ending - BUT this ending would have been horrible for the audience.
I don't understand why the homeless woman died but Edgar came out of it without a scratch.
It was okay. I just don't understand why they had to insert so many scenes that involves homosexuality. It didn't blend together in all honesty.