The Alienist

In terms of genre, such a pure and honest period detective story that I couldn't have hoped for more – and yet I still remain slightly disappointed. The excellent cast and its reputation for being the dark horse of the season raised my expectations so high that I needlessly hoped for a long time that The Alienist would turn out to be a new Ripper Street (also given the mismatched trio of main characters). The atmosphere of dirty New York of course does its part, with so many shady elements that only a viewer can remember, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that all the character storylines reached exactly where I expected them to. To my greater satisfaction, the character of a relentless member of the local unit, who ruins so many things for the heroes and is responsible for so much bad, would have to be eliminated. He annoyed and distracted me too much from the precise visuals or Luke Evans excelling in the role of a lifetime. Paradoxically, the series remains the strongest in the episodes where the last thing I remember is pondering over the identity of the killer. (09/03/2018)

A quality series. I like period detective/crime series and the atmosphere of nineteenth-century New York was great. I reveled in the total desolation of the slums. I was pleased with the excellent acting performances of the central three protagonists, and I was surprised that Luke Evans somewhat overshadowed Daniel Brühl (in my view). Perhaps it was because the character of John Moore had more layers and seemed more intriguing. It’s a shame that the creators didn’t manage to avoid some current trends. I don’t think I would come across certain issues in 1896 New York, or even in 1956 New York, or even later than that. Too bad, it made me give a lower rating. (10/05/2018)