When I write a review, I’m usually pretty indecisive. I worry about whether I can trust my opinions, because I’m worried that I could be being influenced by something other than the show at hand. It’s not hard to imagine that having a bad day could skew my review, or having a few drinks, or listening to my favorite music; I worry constantly that I’m not in the right frame of my mind to put out an objective piece of work. Sometimes, I even worry that I’m too stupid to understand a show.
That’s how I feel right now. That’s how I feel about this episode of The Knick. My brain and my gut are screaming at me, telling me that they didn’t like it, but I’m hesitant. I feel like I’m missing something; it’s like I’m in class and I looked down to check my phone and when I looked up again the class is doing an assignment. I just-
Here, let me try to explain.
I thought much of the actions of this episode were out of character. I didn’t think that much of made it sense in terms of what he had seen before. I’ve been willing to overlook the jump from “Thackery the user of cocaine” to “Thackery the raving lunatic addict” because I believed it was presented very well. But this episode took it to levels that don’t make sense. Thackery has his drug back; his erratic behavior was due to withdrawals, not use. So now that he has his drug, he’s a sociopath? I don’t understand.
Also, Elkins, after loving her new cocaine-infused vagina, is all the sudden against Thackery taking drugs. When did this happen? When did she worry about Thackery’s health in such a way? She’s suddenly reluctant to shoot him up.
Or, how about Algernon: after Cornelia gets the abortion (smart, prudent move that saved both of their lives) Algernon tells her that Cornelia never wants to act realistically.
???????
Never act realistically? This is a dude who willingly went along with unprotected sex, then wanted to keep a racially mixed baby, and he has the gall to call her unrealistic? That’s pretty funny.
Now you could argue that he said that emotionally and didn’t really mean it, but I think differently because the show presented him in such a way that made his perspective seem right. If that was their intention, then they’ve lost the thread of Algernon yet again. Algernon was a character who was all about practically and realism; he gave up his discoveries and inventions to Thackery for a seat at the table. He has been portrayed as practical for most of the season, then the last episode he turned into some irrational, and now he’s practical again?
Bertie is the only person who comes off as realistic. He finally gets a chance to be angry and hurt and he seems like a real person. He wants to do good work for the sake of good work (which, apparently, Thackery no longer does even though that is a guiding tenet of his personality). Bertie is jealous and more than a little snide but at least he is real about it. I don’t buy much else of this episode.
Barrow’s story also comes to a conclusion: He has Wu kill Collier to help wipe out his debt. Wu goes ninja on Collier and his men (which seems kinda racist), and then takes over Barrow’s debt. He is his new master blah blah blah you get the idea.
One horrifying sidenote: Gallinger’s wife is in the asylum and the quack doctor pulled out all of her teeth as a way to stop brain “infection”. Dude is a psycho. Gallinger is losing his mind and he attacks Algernon in frustration. There is some babble about Thackery abandoning Gallinger or something but its kind of dumb so whatever.
In the end Thackery goes to rehab and Cornelia gets married and Algernon gets beat up. Harriet and Cleary perform Cornelia’s abortion and the scene between Harriet and Cornelia is one of the few things that I didn’t hate.
So, yeah. That concludes the first season of The Knick. Kind of weird. It got here and then it was gone. I’ve been pretty negative on the season but I do have hope for the series. Hopefully season two works out the bugs.
See you then, friends.
[Photo via Cinemax]
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I feel like I missed a lot. I don’t understand why Algernon got beat up. I totally agree that he was being ridiculous with Cornelia…he said he wanted to be there but “just couldn’t”…it was Cornelia’s child too and she had to actually experience it, and he has no sympathy whatsoever. I lost respect for him. But it didn’t seem like that whole mess had anything to do with the beat down, so I’m not sure what that was about.
“Wu goes ninja on Collier and his men (which seems kinda racist)”
Describing a Chinese gangster’s actions as ‘ninja’ seems a bit more racist, an overtly so, to me.
I described it as ninja because that’s exactly how they wanted him to appear. They wanted some sort of Asian exoticism in the way that he fought, like the stereotypical portrayal of a ninja.
I pointed out it was ironic you claimed the show was a little racist for the portrayal and used a word for an entirely different nationality (and claim it over something like the portrayal of the ‘those are some nice shoes’ man as an uneducated black man is not?).
I agree with this ‘They wanted some sort of Asian exoticism in the way that he fought….’ but nothing else you just said. Wu is Chinese and the owner of an opium den..he is a stereotype. It is historical. He was agile and skilled with knives and a throwing ax. I don’t think that is exclusively or stereotypical ninja – which would include stealth and acrobatics. Again Id agree with Asian exoticism over ninja.
The irony was intentional; I was using that term to draw attention to the way that they did the scene. I would not have said it was out of character for Wu to shoot up the place or fight like a boxer because nationality or ethnicity doesn’t determine fighting style.
Fair enough, I didn’t read the irony in your article or in your original reply, so that was lost on me. I think some of my points didn’t come through as well so Ill leave at that, to agree to disagree.
One more thing. Read a blurb from the show (AttheKnick) about Ping Wu. In the late 1800s – early 1900s the Tong Wars involved numerous chinese gangs, some of them wore chainmail. Bravo to the show!