This review is spoiler-free; as Eric is relatively new, please use spoiler tags in the comments to be safe. I realize this may be a challenge for a show where the title character is effectively a spoiler.
Picking a TV show can be a challenge. In a world where everything is streaming all the time, how does a person decide where to start? Sometimes the cast or creative team sells it, sometimes a recommendation from a trusted source is enough. Marketing is occasionally effective. Maybe a streaming service promotes Benedict Cumberbatch having a conversation with a human-size Muppet, and that is enough to press play without doing any further research.
Make no mistake, though: Eric is far from a light romp between a serious actor and a reasonable stand-in for Sweetums from The Muppet Show. To explain their relationship in any detail would spoil much of the show, but it is safe to call Eric a serious drama. There is little humor to be found, and the characters here remain on edge until the final episode. Anyone looking for a Cumberbatch / Muppet buddy cop team up might be disappointed here.
The show follows the lead puppeteer and creative force behind a successful children’s show at work and home in 1985 New York City. There is unrest at home and in the streets. This version of NYC is dirty, troubled, and dangerous. The setting is grounded in a heightened reality, in touch with the social issues at the time though not straying far from the personal drama at its core.
Cumberbatch is the show’s star, but its cast is a strength overall. Gaby Hoffman and McKinley Belcher III are the other leads, and both acquit themselves well. The supporting cast is solid; Dan Fogler in particular brings understated humanity to his character, who serves as the grounded foil to Cumberbatch’s difficult creative genius. Ivan Morris Howe, who plays the nine year old Edgar, does very well playing against established adult actors.
The strong performances support a tense, troubled week or so in the life of these characters. A central tragedy ties them together, but each has personal issues to address. There is a mystery to be resolved, but the success of the production overall depends on spending time with these people in very troubled circumstances. This is not always easy, but the show succeeds here, mostly.
Hoffman and Belcher are easy to root for. Cumberbatch, on the other hand, plays a character who is less likable. His Vincent is smart, well aware of it, and openly poisonous to nearly everyone around him. It’s not that far from Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes, honestly, but much harder to spend time around. There are moments where Vincent is contrite and legitimately sympathetic, but mostly, he does his best to alienate even those people who hold out hope for him against their better judgment. This might make for a decent character study, or even a good hypothetical question, but it also makes for a hard watch at times.
Whether or not this drags the show down is a fair question. The overall production remains brisk at six hour-long episodes, and it moves between plot threads often enough to keep any one character or storyline from becoming tiresome. But spending so much time with a character determined to alienate his family and friends is painful, especially so in the face of serious problems. Outside of Vincent, the show is more driven by its plot than its characters, so this might not sink the production, but it definitely hinders it.
The main stories are well presented, and the general sense of unease permeates the show until the last episode. Some good music choices here help establish the place and time; there is one song by The Cure used to great effect early on. The tense mystery is almost pulp, but I think it succeeds – mostly. The last episode does wrap up the storylines cleanly, if maybe too pleasantly. There are hints that justice isn’t doled out equally across all levels of society, though the ending may be too clean given the high stakes of the storylines. Overall, though I think the show works, it just has some elements that work against its strengths, and might be a summer mystery that isn’t revisited next summer.