Anyone visiting my place can see that I love books, as evidenced by the shelves upon shelves of them in my living room. And though I do read a faster clip than most, I have a massively long ‘to-be-read’ pile of books. One of those said books is The Alienist, the 1994 novel by Caleb Carr. For one reason or another, it kept getting pushed down the list, and never seemed to be my priority. Unfortunate for me, because I’ve heard nothing but great reviews of it.
Fortunately, though, that means that the book did not tarnish my viewing of the new show of the same name, starting tonight on TNT. This ten episode mini-series has a long history of making its way to our screens; it was optioned for film before the book was ever released, and for one reason or another, never made it to any screen. But here we are now, almost 25 years later, and it is here. Was it worth the wait?
The show’s title is based in historical fact; Alienists were early psychiatrists who believed that the mentally ill, including criminals, were “alienated” from their rightful nature, hence the name. In this case, the alienist in question is Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Daniel Brühl), a serial killer hunter in Manhattan 1896.
Dr. Kreizler is brought in by police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt (Brian Geraghty) because mutilated corpses of male prostitutes are being discovered throughout Manhattan. Though the unlucky dead are not much interest to the powerful men and police force, Roosevelt wants to put a stop to it.
Kreizler enlists the help of John Moore (Luke Evans), a New York Times illustrator, and Sara Howard (Dakota Fanning), a police secretary who one day hopes to be a detective…despite the contempt all around her for that. In its own right, they remind me of a turn-of-the-century CSI task force, one that uses all sorts of new-fangled technology (like fingerprint collection) to get to the root of the crime.
After watching the premiere episode, I found it perfectly serviceable for what it was. In this day and age, with of all sorts of criminal investigation teams gracing our television screens, The Alienist is not fantastic, but not too bad either. There is not much that separates it from the rest of the pack, but is a fine period piece when it comes to police work.
There is a pretty interesting “gore” factor for horror hounds, though. While not entirely realistic, it doesn’t shy away from showing some of the grossing stuff (such as empty eye sockets in close up). It’s an interesting look at forensic history, sure, but after the first episode, the story didn’t grab me in a way I wanted it to.
Overall, the show is not a bad way to kill an hour, but it may not be something that you make sure you’re there to watch every week, unless you’re a fan of the book. If you’re into CSI: 1896, then this is for you.
The Alienist airs Mondays on TNT.
