Eric

I have read a few of the reviews and I'm a little disappointed at the lack of appreciation for art. Other critics have opined that they didn't like the characters; however, that's part of the story/character development. This series is meant to appeal to the side of us that wants to evolve. The side of us that is often ignored.

As far as a critique, I thought Vincent's struggle with his shadow side (Eric) was a bit overdone in the final episodes. Early on it felt like a thriller but the genre shifted around episode 3 or 4, maybe drawn out. Otherwise, this is a great series in my opinion.

As someone who experienced a bit of a personal transformation, I find this story to be touching and inspirational. We're all part of the problem, and I think that's what this series is trying to tell us.

I was reminded of the movie "Harvey" going back many, many years with Jimmy Stewart playing an alcoholic accompanied everywhere by an enormous six foot rabbit named Harvey.

Here we have Vincent, played by Cumberbatch, accompanied by Eric, a monster blue puppet originally imagined by his missing son Edgar.

There are many layers to this story, far too many which is unfortunate as they took away from the central story. Of multi-generational father-son relationships and the concept of monsters lurking underneath them.

I won't get into spoilers, but suffice to say it's all very gripping, showing the under belly of homelessness and corruption in 1980s New York.

A unique ending is satisfying and unexpected if a little too saccharine.

8/10.

A lot of what's done here is great. The 80's setting is faithfully recreated, from the overly-tagged subway cars to grainy, vintage police station.

For that reason I gave it a 5/10. There is interesting stuff here.

Problem is, you are going to hate almost every character. Most of them are insufferable bleep holes, the main character most of all, and even the puppet is incredibly unlikable.

Will it entertain you? Perhaps.

But go in knowing that this show may well annoy you way more than it entertains you.

I know for some people that's not a huge dealbreaker, but for me, I kind of wish I could get my time back.

It feels like the purpose of this show was to adress as much societal issues as possible, and weave that all into a story.

It adresses; mental illness, addiction, gay discrimination, AIDS neglect, pedosexuality, gentrification, institutional racism, parental neglect and abuse, homelessness, corruption,....and I'm sure I missed a few.

When you strip it down though, to the centre of the storyline, the boy who's missing and what's going on with him, you're left with not a whole lot of substance to that.

Whether you like the show or not, it's strength will have to be working all those societal issues into one show, one story.

For me, I would have liked more substance to central storyline about the boy, and not all the sidesteps to add moral value.

And the show is a bit too long.

I recently watched the show and found it to be a captivating and well-crafted series. The characters were well-developed, and the themes were thought-provoking. However, I couldn't shake off the feeling that the show was slightly overstretched. Could have been made atleast 2 episodes shorter..

Sometimes I felt that the pacing dragged in a few places, and some scenes could have been trimmed or condensed to maintain a tighter narrative. In each episode the sideway scenes make you do fast forwarding.

Despite this, the show's strengths outweigh its weaknesses, and I would still recommend it to fans of the genre. The acting was superb, the writing was clever, and the overall story arc was satisfying.