It feels like Netflix has just consistently been dropping absolute bangers this year.
From Fool Me Once being one of its all-time top shows to Baby Reindeer dominating the TV chart, its latest series is currently in the number one spot.
But viewers are warning that the ‘brutal’ new show starring Benedict Cumberbatch is ‘not for everyone’.
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Created by Abi Morgan and directed by Lucy Forbes, the series also stars Gaby Hoffmann and McKinley Belcher III and landed on Netflix on Thursday (30 May).
Eric is set in 1980’s New York and follows a desperate father whose nine-year-old son disappears one morning on the way to school.
Vincent (Cumberbatch) is one of the city’s leading puppeteers and the creator a popular kids’ TV show, ‘Good Day Sunshine’.
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The dad struggles to cope with the loss and clings to his son Edgar’s drawings of a blue monster puppet, ERIC. And Vincent becomes convinced if he can get the character on TV then his son will return.
“As Vincent’s progressively destructive behaviour alienates his family, his work colleagues, and the detectives trying to help him, it’s Eric, a delusion of necessity, who becomes his only ally in the pursuit to bring his son home,” the synopsis adds.
Morgan told Tudum that the show is a deep dive into the time period as it is 'grappling with rising crime rates, internal corruption, endemic racism, a forgotten underclass, and the AIDS epidemic, exposing the divisions rife between parents searching for their child, a detective battling with a system that is broken, and a lost boy who may never come home - and asks where the real monsters lie. With puppets … lots of puppets'.
Viewers on X called it a ‘difficult watch’ and they reckon Cumberbatch will win ‘all the awards’ for his ‘outstanding’ performance.
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Another added: “#Eric on @netflix is dark, emotional, and captivating. Definitely recommend. Limited series includes themes of alcoholism, drug use, sexuality, family issues, and delusion. Phenomenal performances by entire cast.”
And one echoed: “Just finished Eric on Netflix. F**k it hits f**king hard. It's not going to be for everyone, addiction, child abduction. It's brutal. Some of it is hard to watch.”
Others called it ‘heartbreaking’, ‘wild’ and ‘quite touching’ as some called it ‘one of the best series I’ve ever seen’.
One viewer simply wrote: “If you watch anything this week. Dear God please watch this show called Eric on Netflix.”
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But keep those warnings from fans in mind as some don’t recommend watching the 15-rated series ‘back to back’ as it’s so heavy.
You can watch Eric on Netflix now.
Topics: Netflix, TV, TV and Film, Benedict Cumberbatch
Jess Battison