The Alienist

TNT | Release Date: January 22, 2018

7.0	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 26 Ratings

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JRjrOct 29, 2020

Having enjoyed the first season I was looking forward to the second only to be left disappointed by it.
The show is supposedly about an Alinest, hence the name The Alienist, but in fact the lead character was a female private investigator whoHaving enjoyed the first season I was looking forward to the second only to be left disappointed by it.
The show is supposedly about an Alinest, hence the name The Alienist, but in fact the lead character was a female private investigator who was totally unconvincing. Then they tried to re-write history, having African Americans integrated into society in the late 19th century, owning businesses, working as journalists etc. This I'm afraid makes it look as though they'er trying to deny the reality of what black Americans went through in that era.
Besides the confusion of why it was called "The Alienist" and the disrespect shown to American Black history the story was laboured, the acting poor and generally a very unsatisfying watch.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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TheKZOShowNov 2, 2020

This review is based on Season 2

Season 1 was a very good showing on how to do a late 1800's/early 1900's crime series that isn't Peaky Blinders. The setting in New York and the entire cinematography is done really well in both seasons andThis review is based on Season 2

Season 1 was a very good showing on how to do a late 1800's/early 1900's crime series that isn't Peaky Blinders. The setting in New York and the entire cinematography is done really well in both seasons and the casting is in general very well done. Daniel Brühle is amazing as Laszlo Kreidler, Ted Levine is, like always, believable in being a hardnosed cop/ass, Dakota Flanning is a nice counterpart to Brühle and Luke Evans as John Moore who also does a good job Eventhough I don't beleive the man can act. The story was compelling and you never knew what to expect. Season 2 on the other hand is to me a complete failure.
Gone is The Alienist. Laszlo is no longer the main character of the show but we've shifted onto Sara Howard, now a private detective with a staff of woman at her disposal. That at the start makes no sense since the show is called The Alienist. A woman being a private detective in the late 1890's in itself is completely unrealistic. That, being teamed with Black Americans owning a bar and being Journalists is completely unbelievable but in this second season Sara Howard can do whatever she wants with no consequences. She is a nobody of name and status but can get in where she wants and if she's not trying to ruin John Moore's upcoming marriage she's busy figuring everything out on her own. Laszlo is only needed to give small inputs and hypnotize the mother of a kidnapped baby, so the Alienist is not an integral part of The Alienist: Angel of Darkness. The kidnapped baby takes us to the story or the crime and that is a fine storyline for 6 to 7 episodes. A woman is executed for having killed her own child, but there is no body to be found and she's wrongly executed. There's a baby killer on the loose we find out and Sara is on the case. She does everything by herself, is the only person in town with a gun but still needs John to follow here everywhere, all her actions have zero consequences and all while doing this Dakota Flanning has either her open mouthed slightly scared look or puffed up cheeks dead eyes look. She can't carry a show like this called The Alienist where stupid decision on stupid decision is piled up while the investigation goes on. They find stuff and don't check it out until it's to late or just in the nick of time, Policemen forget how to fight baddies, some of them can't shoot and the killer keeps getting away in the most moronic fashions. & or 7 times during the last to episodes I was yelling "Shoot her/him!". They have loaded guns pointed at people threatening to cut peoples throats and all they do is start crying while they talk. John Moore gets overpowered by a 100 pound young woman, they miss clues by actually seeing them and talk about them but not investigate and it's so predictable. Even when the show tries to take you for a spin so you don't know who's where or when, you see right through it. On top of all that this is a complete Female Empowerment project where everything is done by, to or for women. All these bad men with money do horrible things to poor women and Sara saves the day like only she cans and the mystery completely disappears at times. Laszlo gets a love interest but it's not important. Daniel Brühl carried the first season as The Alienist and John and Sara helped him out while becoming more and more important to the story and to Laszlo. They needed each other to solve the case in season 1 but Laszlo was the main focus because Daniel Brühle is capable of carrying a show with that character. Everything is different in season 2 and it ruins it. It's feminist propaganda in a way and off course you need strong female characters but it's called The Alienist..... It's about Laszlo Kreidler The Alienist not a female detective. I hate the stalemate ending, the subplot of a hospital doing bad stuff in the shadows is completely dropped and it felt like they ran out of time so a ton of stuff has been left on the editing floor. It's not the worst show I've seen but I hate that it's not The Alienist anymore and that it's completely flipped over and become a show that is unrealistic in its historical core and has become a female empowerment piece of trash. Go watch season 1 instead. At least it lived up to the name.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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ukrScorpionNov 15, 2020

First season are awesome!
But second season so bad....
The main character(Alienist) was almost cut out,
the creators went into an alternative history, starting distort history
added a lot of melodrame elements

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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