Eric (2024): A Psychological Thriller for the Ages

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Eric (2024) is a six episode upcoming psychological thriller miniseries written created by Abi Morgan, it is a drama TV series focused on the world of 1980’s New York sharing the story of Vincent Sullivan, a famous puppeteer who turns into a desperate man after his son Edgar has gone missing one day. Drama series stars Benedict Cumberbatch and focuses on moral dilemmas, love and hatred, and the unsettling reality hidden behind the suburbs.

The story of Eric (2024) is engaging and deeply touching, as it frequently deals with feelings of loss, unhappy conscience and the areas and lines between dreams and real life. In the course of the investigation by Detective Michael Ledroit, it appears that Vincent is rapidly disintegrating as every day goes by at the same time Edgar's father once had a vivid and successful career and personal life gradually goes downhill which result to his a pathway to hopelessness.

Through each episode we will see Vincent’s temper and erratic behavior get worse over time as his sole focus is to find Edgar, this serves to drive him towards Eric, whose suspicious character and bizarre behavior is in the possession of information regarding Edgar’s location, as expected this will show who the real monster is. Eric seems to be only someone that Vincent invents a part of himself, a darker side of his personality that suffers but this are the mysteries of the series that we are about to discover through each episode. Although in the first episodes of the show Tom refers to Eric as a hallucination or product of imagination, later episodes clearly imply that this man is much more than a mere puppeteer. Eric embodies Vincent’s evil self or the alter ego which takes Vincent through the dimension of the worst possible scenarios and abuses him psychologically.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16283824/

• Platform: Netflix

• Release: May 30, 2024

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Character Dynamics

Vincent’s wife for the most part is also depressing in the series the moment Edgar disappears, she is clearly and massively affected. Cassie is described as the strong wife who tries her best to keep the family together even after going through such calamity but as a result of the situation her relationship with Vincent starts to deteriorate after she realizes that she is unhappy and frustrated with her current emotional state, who wouldn't, and with life in general it feels that she starts to blame Vincent for not getting any results even call him crazy once he starts to work on Eric his new puppet. Employing exceptional acting and reliable narration of the series, the emotion of this terrible event impacts and illustrates how a family feels and deals with grief and hopelessness after losing their loved one.

The most striking parts of the series, are the shifting between the worlds of reality and fantasy as Vincent interact with Eric can often be extremely dream like, which might raise the viewers doubts on whether they are real or just a figment of Vincent’s imagination. This aspect creates tension in the movies forcing the audience to try and figure out the true story behind all the events presented.

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Visual and Cinematic Elements

Not only the series is characterized by a complex and engaging plot, the techniques of shadows and low lighting make a scene uncomfortable, an implication of suspense, well suited to the plot of the story, generating that perfect 80's crime investigation theme show. In the context of the movie, the bachelor’s party scenes are probably the most enchanting and at the same time eery and symbolizing Vincent’s feeling of being a puppet master.

Having the production that came from Alex Holmes, the work of styling all the actors, and the set designs paid a lot of attention to details based on the entire 80, which put the viewers into the time of the story, also the matter of music by Keefus Ciancia and the camerawork by Benedict Spence add up to the show atmosphere.

The Making of "Eric"

Eric (2024) was developed by Abi Morgan, who is famous for writing “The Hour”, “Shane”, and “The Iron Lady” which are Emmy winning series. Eric (2024) was a creation that Morgan has based on her life experiences and time living in New York City during the 1980’s, one of the aspects that caught her passion was the differentiation of the different layers of the society within the city and the concept of a boy lost in this urban jungle. Morgan’s vision of the show was realized by the director Lucy Forbes who worked before on ‘The End of the F*ing World,’ ‘In My Skin’ and ‘Cheat.’ Forbes directed all six episodes of the series providing the audience with the smooth and intense feeling of this universe

The filming process for the production of “Eric” happened in November and December 2022, and the shooting locations included Budapest, Hungary, and New York, United States, the selection of these filming locations were essential to reflect the dark and moody setting characteristic of 1980s New York with its social crises on full display, not related to their characters but very precise in the production design and period style by Alex Holmes, the film depicted the period in detail, from costumes worn to pieces of set design.

Vincent Sullivan, role played by Benedict Cumberbatch, acted as an Executive producer for this series as well, this is a very dark and raw position for Cumberbatch to get into after his shiny performance as Mr. Strange in MCU and as a detective Holmes. This eccentricity of his character leads to total madness as he obsesses over a puppet his son made with the intention of bringing back Edgar as Eric. As for the cast, Cumberbatch has a wonderful support in Gaby Hoffmann and McKinley Belcher III playing Cassie Anderson and Detective Michael Ledroit, Ivan Morris Howe as Edgar.

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Critical Reception and Audience Expectations

TV series “Eric” has also garnered considerable amount of interest among the critics as well as audiences; most of who are anxious waiting for this show to come on air. Created and written by Paul Lipman, the show is based on the life of Vincent Sullivan, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, a puppeteer whose life turns turbulent after his son, Edgar goes missing. It is touted to be an enthralling drama with a dash of suspense and emotions rooted in New York city of the 1980s. This was described by many as a psychological thriller, a deceased woman’s ghost as the protagonist, exploring grief and guilt and fantasy and reality.

It has been noted that the series has had an extremely popular premise to bring to the public and cast members who have been doing an excellent job. Benedict Cumberbatch, who you might have seen in ‘Sherlock’ and various Marvel movies, will also feature in the movie as Vincent, a man who is solely determined to find his son. Also promoted for the performances have been Gaby Hoffmann who plays the role of Cassie Anderson and McKinley Belcher III who portrays Detective Michael Ledroit and the fact that he excellently portrays a man who is trying to solve a mystery while dealing with his problem.

The show has been acclaimed for its complex plot and the manner in which the writer and creator, Abi Morgan, address social themes in the show include matters like how racism operates in American society, the tragedy of AIDS, and the decay that occurs within and in the search for a lost child, which helps to make the story more layered.

The series has also received praises for its instrumental and set decoration, the fact that puppetry in particular is brought up as a major element was also made noticeable in recent releases and has been praised as a new and interesting addition to the series, making it more surreal. The expectations from the show “Eric” are high and these people will be waiting for deeper emotional concern and psychological satiation which the series provides. The trailer is great with the use of the loud version of the ABBA song “S. O. S. ”; there are so many comments with people saying how good the trailer looks and looks very intense. The live character of Eric, a blue monster puppet Vincent thought would assist him in finding his son; the sense of pretend still somehow felt entirely believable.

Honestly this is a series I'm willing to watch now, been that Benedict Cumberbatch plays the main character, many just know him from the MCU but he has a career full of success playing multiple type of characters as he did in The Imitation Game playing Alan Turing, besides having the remarkable Gaby Hoffmann, this is a series set for success with the classic New York 80's vibe this bring back so many memories of that era, that very specific crime / investigation type of series with twisted characters. At first everyone in the audience will most likely think Vincent is the monster with a double personality who did something fatal to his son but when his personality switch back he does not remember, probably having some sort of mental illness or some addiction that flips the on and off switch on his alter ego but the question remains is he really the one to blame?

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