User reviews

It feels like the purpose of this show was to adress as much societal issues as possible, and weave that all into a story.

It adresses; mental illness, addiction, gay discrimination, AIDS neglect, pedosexuality, gentrification, institutional racism, parental neglect and abuse, homelessness, corruption,....and I'm sure I missed a few.

When you strip it down though, to the centre of the storyline, the boy who's missing and what's going on with him, you're left with not a whole lot of substance to that.

Whether you like the show or not, it's strength will have to be working all those societal issues into one show, one story.

For me, I would have liked more substance to central storyline about the boy, and not all the sidesteps to add moral value.

And the show is a bit too long.

I was reminded of the movie "Harvey" going back many, many years with Jimmy Stewart playing an alcoholic accompanied everywhere by an enormous six foot rabbit named Harvey.

Here we have Vincent, played by Cumberbatch, accompanied by Eric, a monster blue puppet originally imagined by his missing son Edgar.

There are many layers to this story, far too many which is unfortunate as they took away from the central story. Of multi-generational father-son relationships and the concept of monsters lurking underneath them.

I won't get into spoilers, but suffice to say it's all very gripping, showing the under belly of homelessness and corruption in 1980s New York.

A unique ending is satisfying and unexpected if a little too saccharine.

8/10.

Truly Truly amazing Series. I am terminally ill and unfortunately dying the slow and miserable death. My only form of entertainment is my premium channels and I have seen over 2,500 series and over 5,000 movies. I would definitively say that Eric is definitely one of my five favorite series that I have watched. The acting was phenomenal the storyline was beyond words. I do wish that it had more episodes however each and everyone of them did their part so perfectly it made the series a must binge Watch. I banged out the entire series in one sitting it held my interest. As I stated everyone did a phenomenal job however Benedict Cumberbatch went over the top. I must watch.

I recently watched the show and found it to be a captivating and well-crafted series. The characters were well-developed, and the themes were thought-provoking. However, I couldn't shake off the feeling that the show was slightly overstretched. Could have been made atleast 2 episodes shorter..

Sometimes I felt that the pacing dragged in a few places, and some scenes could have been trimmed or condensed to maintain a tighter narrative. In each episode the sideway scenes make you do fast forwarding.

Despite this, the show's strengths outweigh its weaknesses, and I would still recommend it to fans of the genre. The acting was superb, the writing was clever, and the overall story arc was satisfying.

This is an absolutely gorgeous, dark, hard hitting brilliantly created series about an alcoholic puppeteer whose son Edgar, goes missing on his way to school, and a detective who uncovers corruption while searching for the boy.

Cumberbatch's Vincent is a very unpleasant man who pretty much alienates everyone at work and at home with his abrasive behaviour and vulgar abuse. But while his character Phil in the Power of the Dog was violently sadistic, Vincent is simply utterly clueless as to how he affects everyone - due to the vileness of his cold, privileged parents, and their complete lack of understanding of mental health. If you are not embraced with the basic needs of love and support as a child, what chance have you got later in life?

Detective Mike Ledroit, a black gay cop in charge of finding missing people, must conceal his sexuality and love for his partner, a much older man dying of AIDS and he is pressured by a lot of angry frustrated people to find young boys that continue to go missing.

The world-building that Abby Morgan has created is truly phenomenal. When a show runner/director brings you full throttle into a completely different world with some similarities to our world, it's a winner. She really has captured the roughness and the griminess of the 1980s.

It's certainly not an easy watch, especially for those who have children. But it is an important one. It's really about the toxicity of fathers and how that affects their children. About being true to oneself and fight for justice rather than just stand by and ignore everything.

I honestly don't usually bingewatch series all in one go as I love to pace myself while watching them. But with this one, I just couldn't stop. It was THAT addictive.

Frankly, I don't understand the mediocre reviews.

It can be a product that some might not like and deserve a poor rating based on personal taste, or it can be liked and then be a true rare gem.

There are very few standalone series like this, so well narrated, that can boast such a good performance from all the characters involved. Therefore, it definitely cannot be considered a mediocre product deserving of a 5, 6, or 7 rating.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays a character with whom it's really difficult to empathize; all the characters are so human that it's hard to see them as purely positive, all with their light and shadow.

Try it, it's a special series.

A really bizarre series. Seems to swing wildly from plotline to plotline and genre to genre... and not in some kind of clever artistic way.

It feels like a dozen writers were given a task of writing something and they kind of smooshed the results together even though they didn't necessarily make sense.

It's not horrendous but in some way it is.

There are some ropey CGI effects throughout. It's seems unclear what time period they want to be set in as fashions and themes seem inconsistent.

Eric feels pointless to me. I don't feel like it was a necessary part of the story and feels tacked on as though they wanted to make this stand out by having an "interesting" twist.

Imagine if the creator of Sesame Street drank too much, fought with everyone, and lost his son, and the detective investigating the case is caught between a rock and a hard place as a gay, black man in the corrupt 1980s NYPD.

I enjoyed that Cumberbatch wasn't the entire show. The detective and his search for the missing boys was also engaging and interesting and he did well. I'd say I was even more engaged in his storyline than Cumberbatch's. There were a lot of layers to this story too.

Eric was an interesting part of the story, but also not the entire story. He wasn't overplayed and Cumberbatch sold it.

I am conflicted. It's not a bad show, but I feel like it's been misleading in its advertisement, at least. When I read the premise, I expected something like a look back at father-and-son bonding experience, and the affect of separating the two due to cruel circumstances. But it does not really have much (if any) of that.

Other has pointed this out, that it tries to cover a lot of social issues. The issues covered are absolutely valid, they are important, and it may, indeed, be a good idea to cover them in a good show. But the way the show does it is very shallow and narrow. Even Vincent's mental illness (and anguish) is... Just too obscure, too wishy-washy and, in the end, somewhat pink-glassed. And Vincent's and Edgard's relationship is not described at all besides a few inconclusive scenes in 1st episode. I get it that lack of true connection between them could be the point, but it and both sides' reaction to it is just not believable. A short story "Father Dearest" I wrote a decade or so ago is about the same thing, and it is way more detailed and believable, and I am not a professional writer.

The second main storyline was way more interesting for me, because it was a detective work, and Ledroit felt way more human to me. It genuinely felt like he is an honest, but not perfect cop, that wants to really help the world. It might have been a bit cliched at times, but still good. It also worked nicely in terms of introducing little threads here and there and then converging them all at the end to show bigger picture. Predictable to an extent, but still good and satisfying.

But even this storyline, human connections felt... Underdeveloped. And this is the ultimate blow to this. The actors are amazing here, the way they bring the characters to life gives those characters weight, like there is a big background story behind each and every one of them. Those background stories are not tapped into, though. I get it, that in some cases it's done for the sake of "suspense" and mystery, and in some - to make things feel more "natural", but I feel, that if they stretched the show just for 1 or 2 more episodes by leveraging flashbacks, they could have enriched the characters and made them more relatable.

Unfortunately, that's not the case. You can definitely enjoy the show thanks to the actors, and you probably will be satisfied with the end of the investigation here, but the overall ending of the show will probably leave you somewhat empty.

I have read a few of the reviews and I'm a little disappointed at the lack of appreciation for art. Other critics have opined that they didn't like the characters; however, that's part of the story/character development. This series is meant to appeal to the side of us that wants to evolve. The side of us that is often ignored.

As far as a critique, I thought Vincent's struggle with his shadow side (Eric) was a bit overdone in the final episodes. Early on it felt like a thriller but the genre shifted around episode 3 or 4, maybe drawn out. Otherwise, this is a great series in my opinion.

As someone who experienced a bit of a personal transformation, I find this story to be touching and inspirational. We're all part of the problem, and I think that's what this series is trying to tell us.

The 'Good Day Sunshine' puppet TV show is the successful brain child of creative genius Vincent Anderson (Benedict Cumberbatch). However, though the show has been successful in the 70's the network says it is badly in need of an update. Vincent is a narcissist and control freak, frequently abrasive to all around him, so he is not dealing with this well. Add to this that he is prone to schizophrenia (which his wealthy mother keeps patronising him about - "I think it's time to take your pills again Vincent") and alcoholism and you have the backdrop for the disappearance of his 9 year old son Edgar (Ivan Morris Howe).

Eric is essentially a drama about dealing with the open wound that a missing person (particularly a child) leaves behind. In this respect it is a darkly comic watch because of the juxtaposition of the pain (arguments, anger, profanity, alcoholism) against the child like muppet show style characters. The titular monster muppet Eric (who is reminiscent of 'sully' from Monsters Inc) is the 'Mr Hyde' alter ego of Vincent - imagined by his long suffering son - but manifested (literally) by the father. That's the central contrivance or 'Eric' - and it works well.

At one point the distraught mother, Cassie - brilliantly played by Gabby Hoffman as an emotional wreak - asks a family friend - "What is it about puppets Lenny?" To which he replies "They can say the things that we can't" And that's one of the key themes - using avatars to express the best and worst of our dreams and desires.

Add to this mix uber cool 'lost people' detective Michael Detroit (Belcher) - who rarely gets mad or breaks a smile - but is also strong, handsome and romantically sensitive with his dying partner. However - his investigations seem to move at a snail like pace as he spends most of his time being hounded by grieving parents to do more (or work colleagues to 'get a life / wife').

There are some great 'needle drops' - I won't spoil the surprises but they make you smile and they are well chosen and timed.

I've got to say - this is a promisingly refreshing and creative production. The characters are very well acted and surprisingly three dimensional. Despite its nostalgic 80's setting it has a comic book vibe about it - almost 'super-real'.

The one criticism I do have is that it did seem to me to be a little sluggish in its plot and pacing. I kept coming back for more because the characters and story were so engaging and compelling - but I have to admit, the lack of action was a bit frustrating sometimes. So I think this would have worked better as a four episode series - however - if you can 'go with the slow flow' it really is worth the watch in the end.

Great cast, great script and New York as its wonderful moody self.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Gabby Hoffman are particularly great as a young boys parents. It shows all the darkness of many triggering subjects, so be warned. It's also slightly funny, touching, troubling and potentially traumatic for some. Very good acting, very authentic in everything and has a few twists and turns, but ultimately, it's the tale of relationships and what we do to each other, what it is to be human in all its glory or not. A few non-humans star to, which makes it an interesting unique way of sharing the subject matter.

I binged it., couldn't stop watching...

Absolutely zero levity ... which is absurd for a show that includes Muppets. Instead, you get a trite story that feels glazed over top of a script that originated with one social issue per episode and just got added onto over time.

I don't object to those kinds of stories, but wow, this was so overloaded. And because of that, it really failed to properly hit home with any of them. It felt like the show had no personality of its own.

Added to that, the tone was all over the place, and still not once did anything make me smile. So it became a laborious watch ... which again ... is quite an accomplishment when you include puppets!

Speaking of the puppets ... they made no difference in the story AT ALL. You would think magic realism would lead a certain way, but it really does come off as a gimmick and nothing more. Vincent's Eric could just as easily have been his own voice in his head and nothing would have been different. You could swap his job out for any other and have no measurable change in the story. If Vincent were a baker and Edgar had designed a cake that Vincent made to make amends, nothing would change ... which is very annoying because it's a massive missed opportunity.

Overall decent and a commendable effort that is reasonably well acted but disjointed in tone and personality leading to an overall disappointing and tedious watch, especially when binge watching.

I agree with mostly all of the low reviews.

It's long, and it might become tedious.

The characters are unlikeable.

The unwinding of the plot point seems to be a middle finger to the viewers.

There's way too much going on to even make it into the agenda.

Nobody seems to care or noticed the bad CGI, or the incongruence of ambient.

It's supposed to happen during the mid 80's but everything looks as the 70's in the beginning and then of the 90's by the end.

And there's something called perspective, you can't have building far away looking as clear as the objects nearby.

Those are 6 hours that I will consider a long nap, just because I don't want to be upset.