The Essex Serpent

Matt Roush says...

Claire Danes (Homeland) stars in an atmospheric six-part adaptation of Sarah Perry’s novel as the newly widowed Cora Seaborne, who’s a step ahead of her Victorian times as she pursues her passion of natural history by leaving London with her withdrawn young son to investigate claims of a mythical sea serpent among the mist-shrouded marshes of Essex. Her admirer, pioneering London surgeon Luke Garrett (Fear the Walking Dead’s Frank Dillane), tries to understand her fascination with the possibility of a “living fossil,” while local vicar Will Ransom (Loki’s Tom Hiddleston) tries to dissuade Cora’s curiosity, dismayed when his congregation succumbs to fear and superstition after a local girl goes missing. There’s nothing quaint about this unsettling, beautifully produced Masterpiece-style drama.