Eric - The Monster maketh Man

Eric 

Drama
6 episodes (approx 50 mins)
Netflix

Spoiler Alert - Recurring theme of Alcohol and substance abuse. There is an undercurrent of under age abuse as well.

The  undeniable reason to watch this was Benedict Cumberbatch (the world knows him as Sherlock and/or Dr Strange). 

Cumberbatch plays Vincent, a puppeteer/show runner for a very popular American morning show. His rather unhappy marriage to Cassie (played by Gaby Hoffman, who is already looking to move on) - is barely held together by the love for their sweet and talented son Edgar. 

Vincent is supremely talented, but a foul human - egoistic, vile, drunk , always high and unhinged. Edgar inherits his father's talent and sketches a monster in blue who he calls "Eric", his connection to his father. One fine morning Edgar goes to school, never to return ..and over the next 6 meandering episodes, we are to discover if he is found.

What could ideally have been a emotional 100/120 min movie about how his son's disappearance catalyses a father's soul searching journey of  redemption, turns into an almost 6 hour mini series with a parallel story of politics , corruption,  greed and high handedness, racism, child abuse in 1980's New york city. 

The acting is absolutely top notch by Cumberbatch - It is an award worthy performance  and would actually be cool to have Sherlock (Cumberbatch) and Moriarty (Andrew Scott, for his fabulous turn in the BEST SERIES this year - Ripley ) fight it out at  the Emmy's  or the Golden Globes as well! 

Cumberbatch is absolutely riveting - as a man who continues to drown in the quicksand of his misgivings..) His voice acting is  brilliant during the puppet scenes (especially when he recreates "Eric" for his show -  hoping that would help him bring his son back!). 

Mckinley Belcher as LeDroit , the lead detective on this missing persons case (turns out another teenage boy has been missing for many years as well) is a picture of stony resilience as he tries to find the boy(s) while trying to hide a few skeletons of his own - excellent performance.

It is a pity that such staggering performances are wasted in the needless 1980s NYC exposition of race, drug, sexuality. Watch it only for Benedict Cumberbatch.