My Takeaways - SERIES [Archive]

ANTILO

09-19-23, 08:34 PM

THE ALIENIST SEASON ONE 2018 - REVIEW

https://fangirlnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/alienist.jpg
This series started off promising and interesting, with good acting, visuals and costume design, yet it ultimately falls short of achieving anything else than being a letdown. This series would have been better had it only been 4-5 episodes long at most, yet as the season progresses its story starts feeling drawn-out and needlessly convoluted.

PROS: Let's begin with the easy stuff. As mentioned beforehand, the acting is superb...from most of the characters (we'll come back to that), the costume design is absolutely gorgeous, as are most of the sets (except for some occasional repetitions in some houses' interiors), the cinematography is fantastic (with some minor exceptions) and the CGI (for the majority) holds up very well for being a tv series. The premise of having an alienist using psychology to understand the motive(s) of a killer is genius, but i feel like this praise should go to Caleb Carr, the writer of the novels which this series is based on.

CONS: First of all, Dakota Fanning's character and acting, I am sorry to say that most of the other reviews' bashing of Fanning's performance are mostly true. I don't know if the script demanded a deadpan performance, but unfortunately, that is what we got. Her facial expressions barely differ from circumstance to circumstance, which is quite jarring to say the least. I understand that the environment in which her character finds herself in would require her to be bold and stone-faced, however i do believe that showing more emotion would help in making her character more palatable and less...annoying, for lack of a better word.
Speaking of characters, i was fed up with most main characters by the 6th episode due to their utter incompetence and borderline suicidal decisions. I mean you would think that having elements such as:
- the police being extremely lenient in their modus operandi and harboring ill feelings towards them
- investigating and pursuing a man who has killed and mutilated multiple children while also demonstrating physical prowess
- being harassed and physically assaulted MULTIPLE TIMES by an ex-officer and other shady people acting outside of the law
would have our group of heroes take precautions in case any danger was to befall them...right? Yet, to my utmost exasperation, the characters find themselves running (again MULTIPLE TIMES) into active crime scenes COMPLETELY UNARMED AND UNPREPARED, only for them to be easily overpowered while the culprit simply runs/walks away.
The tension is nonexistent. The show tries (in multiple instances) to create a ticking clock effect by having the killer kill his victims periodically, yet it falls short when the main characters spend most of their time bickering endlessly (we'll get to that in a second) and go to events and bars in a carefree manner while children are dying around them. As a viewer, i can't get invested in trying to prevent a murder if the characters themselves show little concern.
The drama and tension between said characters is superficial and ultimately jarring in its lack of importance. Luke Evans' character (John Moore) is particularly unbearable when it comes to it. Most disagreements with the titular Alienist are poorly fabricated and end with Laszlo (the Alienist) giving him backhanded comments or dismissing him completely, only to have them later act like the greatest of friends despite no accountability taken by Laszlo.
Contrary to his obvious counterpart (and probable inspiration) John Watson from Sherlock Holmes, John Moore isn't a man of action, even though he clearly has the physique for it. The immediate thought would then be that his character would provide useful insight into the killer's psyche, or bring some other perspective to the investigation, but that's basically every main character. So then, what even is his purpose?
The titular alienist is more of a psychic than an alienist, having him come to conclusions solely because the plot needs him to in order to advance, while demonstrating little use of empirical evidence and overall competence, which ultimately causes the acquired information to feel unearned. Hell, in the last episode he goes full psychic and can somehow revisit a crime scene as if he was there when it happened!? There is only so much i can suspend my disbelief for.
The heroes' incompetence is only rivaled by the antagonists' stupidity and lack of substance.
- People don't like the Alienist...but why?
- The police don't like/respect their own commissioner...but why?
- The killer kills children and mutilates them horribly...but why?
- Powerful people are impeding the investigation...but why?
Some story beats and characters are simply dropped by the final episode, with no satisfying resolution:
- The hitman who tails them, chloroforms John and almost kills John and Laszlo while riding a carriage? Dropped
- J.P. Morgan (who's there for no other reason than to have an important figure make a cameo in the series it would seem) and his control of the police? Dropped
- The rich family whose pervert son was killed by an antagonist and whom we are told are definitely going to find out about it? Dropped
- The involvement of an ex-police chief in a big police corruption subplot? Dropped
While the series tries to make a happy ending for season one, it simply leaves a bad taste in your mouth, since so many elements are left unresolved.

Overall, this series was disappointing due to the promise of how great it could have been, had there been a clearer direction as to where the story was going and actual competent characters with deeper drama and higher stakes.This series gets a 1.5 from me and i definitely would not recommend it if you are unable to turn your logic meter off.