Eric
SimilarA Model Family, A River Runs Through It, Ashes to Ashes, Beulah Land, Chicken Nugget, Die Diplomatin, G.B.H., Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones, Herzogpark, Järnvägshotellet, Joseph Balsamo, Kamen Rider Jeanne & Kamen Rider Aguilera with Girls Remix, Krupp: A Family Between War and Peace, L'amaro caso della Baronessa di Carini, La Chambre des dames, Marco Polo, MIGNON, My Lovely Boxer, Nothing Remains the Same, Per amore del mio popolo, Perfect Murder, Perfect Town: JonBenét and the City of Boulder, Seven Seconds, Seventh Avenue, Spies of Warsaw, The Brothers Karamazov, The French Atlantic Affair, The High School Heroes, The Regime, The Sympathizer, The Woods, Thriller, Ultraviolet,
Eric is a tough sit. Whether that sit is worth the difficulty is a question I struggled with before tentatively arriving at yes.
The story begins as a tale of a missing child, Edgar (Ivan Morris Howe), the son of Vincent (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Cassie (Gaby Hoffmann). After the couple’s latest row the night before, Edgar doesn’t wait around for them to sort themselves in the morning. Instead, he walks to school on his own as his father tries to make amends with his mother. But Edgar never arrives at school that day.
Vincent is a creator and puppeteer on a formerly top-rated children’s show—think Sesame Street with no on-screen humans and only one set—with his creative partner Lennie (Dan Fogler). Edgar, aware of the show’s downturn and the need for a new puppet, has been doodling and dreaming up just the solution, the titular Eric. When Edgar disappears, Vincent’s desperate and possibly delusional reaction is to finish his son’s work on the giant felt monster. He reasons that if his son could only see the puppet on television, the boy would understand how important he was to his parents and come home. Others, confident Edgar is not gone of his accord and likely no longer alive, cannot get on board with the plan. Continue Reading →
Emily in Paris
Similar3rd Rock from the Sun, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Komi Can't Communicate, Madan Senki Ryukendo, That '70s Show,
StudioMTV Entertainment Studios,
Full disclosure: I was going to start this review with a Peloton joke given show creator Darren Star’s recent track record. Then out of nowhere, there was an actual Peloton knock-off storyline in this season of Emily in Paris. So my joke told itself. Points to you, Emily in Paris. Continue Reading →
Master of None
SimilarTaxi, The Head, The Nanny,
After a four-year absence, Master of None returns to Netflix with a new tone and new focus, but it still grapples with the same emotional beats of the first two seasons. This time around, creator Aziz Ansari focuses his efforts behind the camera, only appearing in two brief cameos in season three’s five-episode arc. Instead, all of the action is focused on Denise (Lena Waithe) and her partner Alicia (Naomi Ackie), who are rusticating in a cottagecore fantasy that not even TikTok could call sustainable. Rather than the buzz of traffic and the cramped quarters of the city, we see Denise and Alicia’s relationship develop against the bucolic splendor of open fields and towering trees. Continue Reading →