Watching The Alienist

[breakinglight11]

I started watching the TNT miniseries The Alienist, a psychological crime drama set just before the turn of the 20th Century. I am enjoying it; it seems to be well written— the dialogue actually manages to capture the diction of that period! —and the production values are beautiful. Though so far I'm thinking it's pretty good, I would say it doesn't exactly feel fresh in the particular lurid sort of focus it has. I am familiar with a LOT of Victorian literature, both that which was written in the time and only set in the time, and it is VERY common, particularly for the modern rearward-looking stuff, to be about the same concepts— sexual hypocracy, the implication that societal repression leads to deviant behavior. I confess it's not my very favorite perspective to take; you'll notice my own Victorian story is about prudes, goody-goodies, and asexuals. But you can't really like this sort of literature without having a tolerance, so I don't really mind.

It's a murder mystery, involving a serial killer, which is definitely up my alley. I like Daniel Bruhl as the lead, the alienist Dr. Kreizler, who has an interesting psychology, though perhaps a slightly too modern level of compassion towards people of alternative lifestyles. I find Luke Evans to be very charismatic in the role— the Victorian bearing and attire suits him —but I don't really understand what's going on with his character. He seems put off by the dark depths of human nature that Kreizler's work makes him stare into, and yet he also pursues investigation of the murders with a zeal that seems at odds with that, so he doesn't totally make sense to me. Dakota Fanning's acting has not particularly impressed me, and her character seems to be a fairly standard forward-thinking girl who is driven by a desire for agency in the world. If I have a real critique, it's that I don't know what they're trying to say with it, unless it's the same thing every other "Victorian underbelly" story has to say.

Generally I subscribe to the belief that ideas are cheap— execution is what really matters. I don't think originality is an inherent virtue, just something that can create interest and innovation to prevent staleness; an old idea, well done, can still be powerful even if it's a different version of something else. However, the key to that is it has to be done right— something interesting, fresh, meaningful, and relevant has to said with it. I'm not sure this has achieved it yet, but I'm only partway through. And frankly I'm enjoying it watching it anyway, so perhaps there's an argument for it right there.