I'm sure I'm older than you. At no point did this world feel like the 80s. They don't speak like we did in the 80s. They don't think like we did. Really, only Edgar's outfit feels like the 80s. Meanwhile, the plot goes nowhere, it makes no sense. It's deus-ex-machina after deux-ex-machina. There were no real stakes. There were no redeemable characters. The 'real' monster Eric looks like garbage. Honestly the 'disappointing' puppet and the imaginary one are not so different from each other. Truly, the whole thing was garbage.
I'm 45 and I didn't get it. This show could have been a lot of things, mystery, psycho thriller, dramedy, social commentary, but it was kind of all over the place because at the beginning everyone had a complicated backstory and everyone was suspicious and then they just told us where Edgar was and drew it out for 3 more episodes until the very unrealistic ending. The only consistency there was that it was consistently depressing. The plot: aggressive addict Dad loses son, gets followed around by the Gruffalo, everyone notices he's psychotic but even the police choose to ignore it, the other main characters have other stuff to deal with, let's introduce 10 more additional characters who don't get a back story, bam happy end.
That’s my biggest issue with these shortened seasons. They’re still writing them like 20 episode seasons. It’s harder to write a good 6 episode season b/c of this
@@DisabledDoll I also think this could have been either a good movie with a lot less characters and side quests or a show with several seasons that properly develops all the narratives. The reason why Netflix favors limited series these days is that they killed off so many great shows for not doing well enough in terms of viewers, many people dont want to start new shows anymore, which in turn brings numbers down. It's a pity but that's where we are
You articulated EVERYTHING I found wrong with the show. Thank you for your honesty. Some popular review channels on RU-vid were making me feel crazy calling this a good show.
I would also add that I found the script full of cliches as were a lot of the characters. The dialogue was also pretty amatuerish and at times pretentious. Did we need Tolstoy mentioned more than once? C'mon man.
I honestly think this was a really great show, if you look deeper into it it’s about fighting your inner demons. Especially if you’re a dad and you blame everyone but yourself. There is a scene where Vincent fights Eric , it shows you he’s had enough bullshit and wants to takeover and finally be free to realize he is the problem. Mental health can a be a takeaway as well. I mean he was taking medication when he was younger. I would recommend this tbh. It may seem boring to some but its really interesting
The show is good. But it's a blatant rip off of another show called Happy. Yet somehow less dark but more serious. Both shows revolve around a children's tv show, follow a junkie dad forced to face his demons due to the abduction. The dad in both shows is accompanied by an imaginary character dreamt up by his son and delve into child SA and pdf files. Happy is definitely better though and gets pretty batshit insane
Wow you mean the monster could be a metaphor for the dad's internal struggles? That's deep man wow how did you look at it like that? You must read Tolstoy or something 😮
For any black people in the audience, this show understood representation in period pieces to a T. Often times you can feel the writer's biases or ignorance when handling POC isssues in shows like this especially when the main protagonists are white, the racism and or discriminiation showcased feels very shallow and unimportant to the story. Like its their just to be there but we never think about it again. This time it really felt like the race of the character was entergral to how the story played out and was something that was approached with seriousness and felt like it actually mattered to the writing team which is a feeling u dont get much, at least for me. Nothing feels stranger than watching a show set in the 80s with pin point accuracy, only for the one of the characters to be black and absolutely nothing about him being black seems to affect his life or the plot lol(stranger things eg). Or worse there's a random racist comment/ encounter in the movie/show for us to build empathy for the character just to never be brought up again lol. I think this show is a step forward for representation in these very original and creative stories in a way that i really appreciate and personally enjoy. I liked the show, not too bad. Watched the whole thing in one sitting lol
I (I'm white, if it matters) agree that it has good representation for POC, but it is also about as ham-fisted and transparent as is humanly possible. Frankly, a real sh!t show, overall.
I agree about the Cassie actress. And I don't know why another person said it was the point. She's actually a good mother, compared to Vincent. Trying to find her child instead of smoking crack in the sewer. But it was really really hard to root for her.
i didn't think i would find a review as honest as this one. you nailed it man. i would just like to add one thing, what the fuck is up with all of the damn mustaches. i know its set in the 80's but like damn man, just that was getting on my nerves as well as everything else. oh & this whole ordeal could've been avoided if Cassie walked Edgar to school instead of waiting for her side lover to come over after Vincent left for work. horrible parent.
To me, the most weird part of this show was that the kid run away from home and didn't feel scared at all, almost like emotionless robot. It's true, the first episode really got my attention and was very promising. It changed quite fast though when I figured that this is a fairy tale and at some point a comedy. Even nowadays it's so hard to get CCTV tapes and yet in the show they were able to track the kid down basing on cameras that were almost on the every street corner. When I consider plot wholes like this, I start to think that maybe the lack of reality was done on purpose, but it would only make sense if they made some sort of a plot twist in the end showing that the kid was never found and the ending was just in Vincent's head (and Eric was a giant plush-penguingg, lol). I don't feel like my time was wasted though - the show wasn't boring to me, Benedict Cumberbatch was amazing and the idea of portraying his fears with a human sized plush monster was quite original. The potential was there.
That is EXACTLY what I felt when I watched it. It was trying SO hard to hit on every social justice issue it could that not a single one stuck. It was like some weird asinine story chat gpt wrote with WAY to many “idiot” plots and subplots that go absolutely no where and have nothing to do with the actual story. Genuinely I feel like someone told AI to write a story that is an amalgamation of all of the plots of top grossing movies/shows and fit it in to one series.
OMG!! I thought I was the only one that felt this way !! I really couldn’t finish it after I found out Edgar was alive. Like what was the point ? It wasn’t riveting or compelling in any way to keep me invested. A really really really REALLY big flop Netflix
I totally agree with you, these were the first ideas that popped into my mind after finishing the show. why were they trying to tackle all this issues in such a short series, and none of the sub-plots is even well written to make them interesting or intriguing. if they just focused on the son-father relationship, whether between Vincent and Edgar, Vincent and his father, and the concept of "Home" vs "Homelessness" it would have been much stronger much emotional and masterpiece. especially that the theme itself was very intriguing with the puppet as a reflection of his inner monster. Unfortunately, a wasted opportunity.
Thank you. I’m amazed at how critics shower it with praise. Yes, the first episode is really good that actually got me excited. Then it just felt like a very poorly written story put together in a single night. How could a whole team of people see it and okay all this mess is amazing to me. I can’t wrap it around my head. It’s just so bad. True Detective Night Country level of bad.
yeah this show pissed me off lol that scene where the parents FINALLY see Edgar again just to be a 3 second scene and it time jumps to like a day later
I agree with you so much. The script was pretty weak and I found all the characters unlikable. It tries to speak on topics but doesnt go enough in depth on any of them. Some plot holes i noticed: 1) what happened to yuusef? 2) when the underground caves were being cleared why was vincent not kicked out as well? 3) who left the detective the note with the homophobic slur? 4) how did william get aids and not give it to the detective? 5) why is vincents recovery so simple and if he feels he should apologize to everyone for his behavior why is his dad the enemy? 6) how did edgar survive the fall? 7) did the mayor, and the co creator of the kids show know that they were soliciting minors? Or did they just think they were soliciting sex work? I feel like that is important 8) why did the trash guy keep the jersey? 9) in previous investigations why did the detective never ask for the tape of june 12th, when the first kid went missing? Seriously why was the tape JUST recovered later?
This review is 100% spot on. The show starts very promisingly but turns to absolute crap by episode 3. I was essentially hate watching it by episode 4. I was openly laughing at how ridiculous and cringy it was by the last 2 episodes. He didn’t even mention how terrible some of the sets were. The underground homeless camp looks like a lazily repurposed set from Rent. It is completely unconvincing. Also, many of the side characters are so cartoonish it’s painful. Please do not waste your time on this.
Im so glad i found your reciew. I finished the last episode pretty furious with the program abd myself for wasting my time so thoroughly. I went to see whst kermode thought as i normally enjoy his takes and hearing him and mayo rave about it as one of the best shows of the year.. i thougut in waa losing my mind. So glad to see your video next to give me my sanity back. You articulated really well everything i felt right down to that kid actor reacting so unsurprised to see his dad dressee up as his monster on natjonal tv speaking to him. Man wtf that was so bad that scene alone was enough to stop it being a great show... But no almost every scene was stupid. What the hell were they watching ??? Its making me re-evaluate kermodes entire taste.
I think that's an excellent review! My wife and I agree 100% - we WANTED to bad to like it, but it just didn't do it for us. Some incredibly great performances were wasted here (Vincent, his wife Cassie, and Detective Ledroit) - such a shame. Well done, Marshall.
I think the writer really wanted to tell the story of the detective, but to get investors pitched the idea of the dad with a imaginary friend and missing son. The ending with the dad just seemed so rushed and uninspiring
He takes the moral high ground with his dad for being a property developer after we just watched him be the world's shortest dad for six full episodes. Not an earned scene at all.
For such a you g guy, you are very good at this. I also agree with everything you said about Eric. I too am a big Mark Kermode fan. Keep up the great work!
which i feel like the show was a little bit rushed, but i have enough ADHD that it didn't matter a whole lot for me. i would have been happy with an extra 10 minute wind down for the finale, but i could also see the benefit of extending the plotlines for all these ideas to stretch to maybe 8 episodes, and that would have been fine as well?
This show is basically a less dark but more serious rip off of another show called Happy. If you have not seen Happy go watch it; its fantastic and insane
I'm 40 years old, and this serie is a master piece and very, very well done. Is a pity that the people of your generation will never have the head to understand this kind of drama.
I’m a similar age to u and I agree with pretty much everything he said, u sound ignorant implying since he’s younger than u he doesn’t know wot he’s talking about, I thought the show was disappointing and average at best, nowhere near a master piece but that’s your opinion
@dingleedell then you don't know anything about reality, and probably you were born in a golden cradle where Christmas was always full of presents, school was good and everything was wonderful.
@@NoAlias536 wot are u going on about lol the reality is, if u think that show is a master piece, a 10/10 , u need to get your head out your ass and watch more tv shows, instead of talking complete crap and sounding ignorant tell us why u think the show is a masterpiece?
Same age as you and agreed with this kids review completely. Then Mark Kermode who is older than me completely missed all the clear terrible writing and pacing issues.
There was some really awful dialogue issues and cliche moments in the first episode that immediately turned me off to the show in the first episode. It had a lot of promise. Great cast. Looks great. Interesting take on grieving.
I really liked the show. What I feel was its biggest flaw was that it decided its protagonist was Benedict Cumberpatch's character, when the detective's story, and the whole narrative of the underworld and the shitttyness that affects youth, and was the cause of Marlo's death, was for me more prevalent. I still really liked the narrative with Eric and Edgar, but I feel like that should have been plot b instead of the other way around. I also would have really wanted to see more about the sierra, and that horrible situation. I really think though this show has a lot of good aspects in it. The only thing i actively disliked about it was the last episode mostly, as I feel it glossed over a lot of stories as it concluded them, like Marlo's mum, or Nokes and that shitty mustached police guy who was always covering for him, I needed to know more about that, did they do that often, what sort of operation did they have going on, what's happening with that ring of pervs that raya would have sold Edgar to, is there scope to uncover them? i feel the last episode should have focused on the denounment of all those stories, and we should have gotten less screen rime of Edgar and his family post the events .I am also thinking that I would love a prequel of the detective during the sierra operation, as I feel it would be a compelling narrative, but also could be a mirror to society today, as I feel this show was in its best moments, helping us think about who goes unnoticed, whos suffering goes unavenged.
I was thinking the same thing: what did Mark see in this series (other than the music choices that suit his fancy)? I don’t think Mark’s review is glowing though. When he adds many qualifiers (e.g. this shouldn’t have worked but it does) or praises music choices, I know something is off.
Oh my goodness thank you! I thought it was pretty bad but the ending was cute i guess. I think it would have been better executed in a book! I agree the relationship with william and the detective needed to be fleshed out more.
I couldn't watch more than first episode - I didn't even pick up that Benedict's character is an alcoholic. Disgusted at the black cop/old man kissing scene.
Man, you hit those points right on the nose!! I told my girlfriend that the first two episodes were GREAT!! After that, it was a boooooring 😂😂. Great review!
I stopped watching it, episode 1 when I saw the black detective making out with the older guy in bed for no apparent reason r. What was the point of that? Feels like an agenda is being forced on us through tv shows. It's not for me to consume. Same with The Last of Us and many other shows. Sad to see, I'll rather continue playing Elden Ring until something else good comes up!
If you can't follow up on a few storylines in a show, it seems like you have focus issues. You also don't seem to understand how pre and post-production work in a show. I'm pretty sure the writers would love to have more hours, but it's well done for the time they managed to get on Netflix. Describing this as the worst detective show and the most disappointing show you've ever seen makes me realize that you barely watch any shows. There's a monster inside of you that needs to find a better hobby than criticizing a kid actor. Do better.
how did this film get made, very icky . boring and miscast. weak script. why they throw in the vast homeless storyline?? gabby hoffman : viva's daughter ( of warhol fame)
It was badly written rubbish, with too many unnecessary characters, a cynically manipulative side story about another missing boy to tick the racism box, and the usual Netflix PC tropes thrown in. They had a decent premise, but the writers must have been drinking as heavily as Vincent when they actually wrote the thing. And almost exclusively 1970s music used in a series set in the 1980s.
I think this show was one of the worst iv ever seen in my life. The acting is horrendous. Including cumberbatch. Anyone who doesnt see that doesn't know the first thing about screenplays or dialogue or acting. The fake cheesy digital/film emulation is literally repulsive and cheap. Just use film or lean into digital. This fake halo glow orange teal thing is childs play and looks like an amateur short film. The story is so, SO, messy. And redundant. and vapid. Genuinely, this show's plot falls apart at a million points.
Finally someone who actually knows what they are talking about.. Truly horrendous plot structure and script dialogue. The mother character is a degenerate narcissist who's painted as a sympathetic character were supposed to empathize with.
It is amazing storytelling. It is complex and multi layered. I’ve had decades of experiences to help me “get it.” I do get it. Everything is connected. Today’s world is based on compartmentalism, and sadly too much need to be told rather than people able to observe and make the connections. So sorry that you don’t or are not yet capable of getting the depth and breadth of real life chaos. Its a great mini series.
Wow. I really like and celebrate our differences and also the genuine effort of forwarding of noble societal progression. But this film.. Its a condescending sewer dwelling redundant schlock fest. I simply find it hard to believe anyone above the age of 12 years old could seriously enjoy it. Its so very algorhythmic and unoriginal, hollow to the core. Darkness just for the sake of darkness is useless for anything more than voyeuristic, tabloid tripe. And regardless of if Joker was good or not, this show tried to excrete a similar visual style. Not only that, but parts of the story mirror similar themes.
I haven't seen this series and after your review, I don't think I'll waste my time, even though I'm a pretty big Cumberbatch fan. Having said that, the plot sounds very similar to "Happy", which is a very dark but interesting series, which I loved and thought it didn't get enough praise. Mind you, I enjoy pretty bizarre and unique movies etc. Would love you to check it out (Happy) and give a review, especially in comparison to 'Eric'. BTW, love your work and your opinions.
