I loved Penny Dreadful and am enjoying The Alienist, so the period drama The Frankenstein Chronicles appealed to my taste perfectly. It started as a very gritty early 19th century police procedural, with an investigation of a strangely mutilated dead child led by Thames River police inspector John Marlotte (Sea Bean). It quickly became something much more. It intertwines many timeless themes, including guilt and redemption, the corrupting influence of power and greed, science versus religion, and the nature of the afterlife. Literary references and themes are liberally added, with glimpses of Frankenstein author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly and poet/visionary William Blake.
The lead actors inhabit their characters completely and heartbreakingly. Sean Bean's Marlotte is a decent man drawn into the most extreme and horrifying circumstances, who maintains his humanity even when it is taken from him by force. A new actor to me, Richie Campbell, plays Marlotte's smart and ambitious partner with great depth. A little surprisingly given the period of the show, a number of fine women actors play more than decorative parts in the series, including Vanessa Kirby (The Crown), Maeve Dermody and Eloise Smith.
The show's tone is very dark; sadness (and lots of blood) permeate each episode. There is not much humor or lightness to leaven the seriousness, but this show is a nightmare trip worth taking if you enjoy the cerebral and the macabre.
The lead actors inhabit their characters completely and heartbreakingly. Sean Bean's Marlotte is a decent man drawn into the most extreme and horrifying circumstances, who maintains his humanity even when it is taken from him by force. A new actor to me, Richie Campbell, plays Marlotte's smart and ambitious partner with great depth. A little surprisingly given the period of the show, a number of fine women actors play more than decorative parts in the series, including Vanessa Kirby (The Crown), Maeve Dermody and Eloise Smith.
The show's tone is very dark; sadness (and lots of blood) permeate each episode. There is not much humor or lightness to leaven the seriousness, but this show is a nightmare trip worth taking if you enjoy the cerebral and the macabre.