Mini-Series Review: Eric

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For whatever reason, 2024 has started to turn into the year of depressing puppet stories. Prime Video struck first with the excellent feature film Mancuso. Then Disney+ gave us Jim Henson Idea Man which isn’t that depressing, but there’s quite a bit about a successful puppeteer trying to keep his family and career together. Now, Netflix is giving us a six-part dramedy about a successful puppeteer that kicks off with trying to keep his family and career together only to transition into a story about manic depression! Gotta love Hollywood!
In the new mini-series Eric, puppeteer Vincent clings to his missing son’s drawings of a blue monster puppet named Eric, convinced that if he can get Eric on TV then his son will come home. And while the series is produced in the UK, we get several American tales that take place in 1985-era New York City set against the backdrop of the aforementioned whodunnit. Films like Philadelphia, Where The Wild Things Are, Fight Club, and even American Gangster all get blended in a six-hour ordeal that thankfully gives us swell, if not cliched, payoff for sticking around.
Right off the bat a lot of Eric’s focus is Benedict Cumberbatch and, to be honest, it was needed. Whilst watching the series I tried my best to figure out who the hell else could pull off and the list wasn’t very long, and I think that speaks to Ben’s brilliance. He’s surrounded by a more-than-serviceable cast as his character “Vincent” devolves into a downward spiral, a shade of depression that I think a lot of artists can certainly understand. While Ben searches for the whereabouts of his kid, Ozark’s McKinley Belcher III takes on the role of Michael Ledroit on the hunt to try and solve a nearly year-long cold case.

It’s certainly clear that writer/creator Abi Morgan has a number of somewhat modern-day beats check lists from most other Netflix series that she’s following here. Civil rights, a murder whodunnit, even having an animated character at the center of it all, will all help this one get a good amount of press, but the series isn’t devoid of truly beautiful cinematography that helps shore up the more shallow moments of the series. Watching McKinley and Mark Gillis enjoy their final days together, Mark showcases all of the attributes of Abi’s book This Is Not a Pity Memoir, even if the story beats have done before (Philadelphia comes mind). Gaby Hoffmann is excellent as “Cassie”, though I’m sure it didn’t hurt that Gaby is one of the NYC-born stars of the series, still though, her sequences with Ben were constructed so well and should be commended as such. Likewise, watching Ben traversing through the depths of hell is a sight to behold and was so good I think some BAFTA talk is going to come with it.

The irony is this entire premise could have been done without its titular character. Eric, as a character, is rather one-note and poorly constructed. While I’m glad the series didn’t go the CG route, the puppet itself comes out a little worse-for-the-weary. In fact, there’s a scene where Ben is talking about terrible-looking a competing puppet to his own design and I couldn’t help but agree in both respects. Imagine if someone crossbred Sully from Monsters Inc with Rahzar from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Secret of the Ooze, and you have a good idea of what this thing looked like. Possibly more annoying than helpful at any time, I laughed with glee when Ben has enough of this thing’s shit and goes nuts on it.

Even with some gripes, Eric is a rather compelling watch. The cast and dialogue are pretty strong, the intertwining plots are indicative of the genre, but someone should take that big blue bastard out back and leave him in the sewer where he belongs.