Eric

Matt Roush says...

The grittiness of New York City in the 1980s, including an underground culture living in the squalid subway tunnels, is the most authentic aspect of Abi Morgan’s strained six-part limited series. Benedict Cumberbatch stars, giving it his all in an impossible role as Vincent, an arrogant, self-pitying master puppeteer who alienates everyone on the staff of his popular children’s TV show. And that’s before his 9-year-old son Edgar (Ivan Morris Howe) suddenly goes missing, leaving behind drawings of a large fuzzy blue monster named Eric, who begins haunting and taunting Vincent. Scenes in which a spiraling Vincent talks back to Eric in public earshot come off as silly rather than disturbing, throwing off the tone of an overlong and relentlessly dark urban panorama of civic corruption, racism, homophobia and general dysfunction. The strong supporting cast includes Gaby Hoffman (Transparent) as Vincent’s distraught wife and McKinley Belcher III as a closeted missing-persons detective looking for Edgar, tying the case to that of a missing Black boy whose earlier disappearance garnered far less media and police attention.

What's Worth Watching (May 30)