User Reviews

I just completed watching this limited series and I'm left a bit confused. Most every character in this series is unlikable. The only likable characters are the cop who investigates the missing kids, the kid himself, and the homeless graffiti artist that helps the kid. Every other character in this series is either Bland or completely unlikable. The storyline also doesn't make sense where is the correlation between the two missing kids their stories are completely different and they don't disappear under similar circumstances at all. I don't understand how they tied these two stories together because there's no common thread. Only in the very last episode do we see any kind of redemption of one of the main characters other than that I find the writing to be kind of weak and disjointed and convoluted. Though I will say that the acting in this series is really good it's just the writing and the storyline that detracts.

There's a lot of important messages here, and it's constructed quite well, showing the darkest pits of humanity through the lens of the young, innocent, insane and heroic.

At the end we are left with a great reminder that there is no rush in preparing the youth for the trials and tribulations of the world, and one should cherish and protect who they are while still innocent.

But what does strike me as very peculiar is the baseline that this series tries to sell to the audience. At no point in time did I find Vincent intimidating or scary. Childish, yes, an alcoholic, yes, a bit too persistent with some of his lessons, sure, but it seemed so overbearing and wild to me that he somehow deserved the punishment he went through this series, and completely ridiculous that a 9-year old would enter the NY underground and willingly spend so many nights surrounded by complete unhinged madness and danger rather than go home to his dad and mom, because dad is supposedly just that scary.

Also, as someone who got scared as hell one night when waking up to mom kicking the bath-tub so hard that it broke and spent many evenings as a kid being therapist to a single-mom, I can promise that Cassie smashing a wine glass in an enraged state and then proceed to come into Edgars room drunk crying and using him as a support animal while cryptically complaining about how awful life is, would be much more of a trigger to escape to the sewers, but she's apparently just nice and smells of coffee (while getting pregnant with another dude behind Vincent and Edgars back) and isn't to blame for anything nor in need of any real character development.

This type of writing and thinking is so common these days that it's really worrying, and it becomes kinda obvious that the only redeemable white man in this series has to go through hell to become redeemable, meanwhile the other "good guys" that were allowed in this series is a gay black man and a homeless black man. Nothing inherently wrong about that at all and makes a fair bit of sense considering the time period and place, and I found Michael's story to be interesting and excellently weaved into the main story, but this cliché is seemingly everywhere in entertainment these days and I very much understand why this has become off-putting to many viewers.

Imagine a monster alter ego who becomes the iconic salvation of the main character is pretty nice, almost a genius trick.

It starts great, with an intellectual family torn apart and their gifted son becoming the unseen victim of them.

But the developing is really annoying and chaotic; the cop character misses profoundness and meaning, he just wanders between his troubled personal life and the faults he makes in his quest for Edgar. They try to make him evolving, but we just see him wandering from one fail to another.

Also, the sub-plot of City Hall corruption is not credible, not enough developed and pathetic.

Somehow, the final scene with the kid and the father is a great one, almost saving the series; but overall it's a failure.

There are so many things done incorrectly in this show that have made it such a mess. I believe the overall main story is quite good and could have been a big hit but it fails due to two major reasons:

1. Too Many Side Stories: the main subject here is a father who is trying to find his lost son using a puppet that his son has created. That's where the title of the show comes from. This is what the focus of the show should be on. However, so many irrelevant and uninteresting subplots are added that make it hard to appreciate the relationship between the father and Eric. For example, what was the point of the detective's old and sick boyfriend who dies after 4 episodes and has nothing to do with the story or even the detective's character development. Actually, his personal life is so irrelevant and uninteresting and doesn't add any depth to the story. Even his being gay.

2. Very Slow Pacing: at times it gets really annoying how slowly everything occurs. I think one episode worth of runtime could have been cut. Why does it take the detective so long to watch the CCTVs?! Episode 3 takes place one week after the disappearance and yet he hasn't watched the first 50 seconds after Edgar leaves the apartment. Moreover, the episodes, especially the first three, do not provide enough information. What has actually happened to Edgar and what he is doing should have been revealed much sooner, probably at the end of episode two. Same with the father's personal search for Edgar.

Benedict Cumberbatch's performance is probably the only thing in the show that is great from start to finish. His fight with Eric in the final episode was the only scene in the whole show I found fascinating. Everything else is a let down. The story of the 14 yo kid is also interesting and a nice add but I think it is not shown in the best way which lowers the effect of it.

All in all, there some good ideas displayed in Eric; the relationship of a father and his son that leads to him running away, the father's struggles after that, the creation of Eric in the father's mind, and the story of an African American kid been killed by the police. If the focus of the show was completely on these concepts and everything else was put aside and the storytelling was improved, I think we would have witnessed much higher ratings and more positive reviews here.

A short note on the bad storytelling; one major issue here is supposed to be the fact that in the kid's eyes, the real monster is his dad based on his behavior but that's not what is shown in the beginning. Their relationship seems very good and they have great with each other. Also, if this is in fact the main issue, then adding another big one like the coverup of the murder of an African American kid by authorities is a mistake. The show is indeed a mess in storytelling. It's like the writers had 5 important but different issues to display and made a mess in combining them. It is really such a shame that they didn't stick with the first priority and wasted such good performance by Cumberbatch in such messy show.

SPOILER ALERT (if you call it a spoiler) This is the first review I've written on IMDB so I apologise in advance for the lack of interesting words and phrases. To put it lightly - this show is excruciating. Or at least I found it to be. It's 6 hours long (though it could all be done in 3 max). It's drawn out and all the characters are unlikeable (I normally love BC as I think he's a great actor).

After 5 hours you realise he didn't even get kidnapped, he just ran off which is a total waste of time with no drama to it. The homeless guy was interesting to watch , although he tries to obtain a ransom - even though the kid doesn't want to go home and had many chances to go. It's terribly written !!!

The mother is frustrating to watch and the main kid is even more frustrating to watch with no emotion.

Sorry but I should've washed my hair instead of watching this. Acting by BC and the main detective as was the only good part. 4/10.

Maybe it's just me. But how can you enjoy a show when you dislike everyone in the film? I'm not talking about the actors. The characters are just flawed human beings. The father is an obnoxious drunk who hates everyone at his job. His parents are wealthy jerks who dont even like him.

Eric's Mom is having sex with a previous student who's 1/2 her age. The lead detectives have no character building, which you know nothing about, and zero social skills.

I dont get it. I've only made it past three episodes, forcing myself to watch something with zero entertainment value. The parents yell and hate each other. This is not good TV. Good acting, maybe. But it's just dull to watch. Perhaps it reminds everyone of their childhood when their parents argued a lot. Safe yourself some grief and pick something better.