“The Alienist” is a period crime drama built around a question that never quite gets answered. Set in 1896 New York, the show follows Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Daniel Bruhl) as he investigates a string of murders targeting young boys. What starts as a grim police procedural slowly turns into something stranger: a meditation on the nature of evil, the limits of science, and the city itself as a living organism. It is a handsome, ambitious series, but it struggles to hold together across ten episodes.
Trailer, via TNT.
A City Built for the Camera
The production design is the show’s strongest asset. New York in 1896 is rendered with a dense, claustrophobic realism that few TV shows attempt. The streets are crowded, the buildings are tall, and the light is harsh. The city feels alive in a way that most period dramas do not. The costumes are meticulous, the sets are elaborate, and the attention to detail rewards anyone who watches closely.
The visual style is also deliberately dark and atmospheric. The show uses shadows, fog, and low lighting to create a sense of dread. This works well in the early episodes, but by the middle stretch, the gloom becomes a crutch. Characters speak in hushed tones even when they should be shouting, and the camera lingers on empty rooms long after the scene has ended. The result is a show that often feels like it is waiting for something to happen.
Daniel Bruhl’s Kreizler
Daniel Bruhl carries the series with a performance that is both methodical and unhinged. Kreizler is a forensic psychologist, a man ahead of his time, and Bruhl plays him with a restless intensity that keeps the show moving. He is obsessive, brilliant, and emotionally distant, and Bruhl finds the humanity beneath the cold logic. His scenes with the other detectives are the best in the series, and his monologues about psychology are delivered with a conviction that borders on the theatrical.
The supporting cast is solid but underwritten. Luke Evans plays John Moore, a journalist who helps Kreizler with his investigation, and he brings a weary charm to the role. However, his character is mostly a sounding board for Kreizler’s theories, and his arc is thin. Dakota Fanning plays Sara Howard, a secretary who joins the investigation, and she gives a strong performance, but her scenes are often used to explain things that the viewer should already understand. The show is at its best when it trusts the audience to follow along.
The Case That Never Ends
The central mystery is the murder of young boys, and the show spends most of its runtime chasing a killer who leaves cryptic clues and taunts the investigators. The problem is that the case drags. The killer is revealed halfway through the season, but the show refuses to let the investigation wrap up. Instead, it introduces new victims, new suspects, and new twists that feel like padding. The final episode attempts to tie everything together, but the threads are too loose to hold.
The show also suffers from a lack of urgency. In a real police investigation, the pressure builds: the public demands answers, the media hounds the detectives, and the killer grows bolder. Here, the investigation is slow and deliberate, and the tension dissipates over time. By the finale, the case feels less like a race against time and more like a tour of Kreizler’s ideas about criminal psychology.
The Psychology That Doesn’t Pay Off
The show is advertised as a psychological thriller, and it spends considerable time exploring Kreizler’s methods. He interviews criminals, studies their behavior, and tries to understand why they commit violence. This is a fascinating premise, but the show fails to deliver on it. The psychology is presented as a set of lectures rather than a lived experience. We see Kreizler make observations, but we rarely see them tested in the field.
The show also leans heavily on the concept of the “alienist,” a term for a doctor who treats mental illness. Kreizler is a pioneer in this field, and the show makes much of his status as an outsider. But the show never fully explores what being an alienist means in 1896. The term is thrown around, but the cultural context is left vague. This is a missed opportunity, as the show could have used the concept to say something about the treatment of mental illness in the era.
The Romance That Gets in the Way
The show also features a romantic subplot involving Sara Howard and a detective named Lucius Isaac Newton (played by Bill Camp). This relationship is meant to humanize Kreizler, but it ends up distracting from the main plot. The romance is slow-burn, and it is handled with a delicacy that is rare in network television. However, the scenes between Sara and Kreizler are often used to explain the case, and the chemistry is never fully established. The relationship feels like a footnote to the investigation rather than a central element.
The show also touches on issues of class and corruption, but these themes are only sketched. The city is described as a place of contrasts, but the show never fully captures the economic disparity of the time. The police are corrupt, but the show does not explore how that corruption affects the investigation. The rich are cruel, but the show does not examine their privilege. These themes are present, but they are not developed.
The Final Stretch That Falls Flat
The finale attempts to resolve the case and the show’s larger themes, but it fails to deliver a satisfying conclusion. The killer is revealed, but the reveal is anticlimactic. The resolution is rushed, and the show skips over the aftermath of the investigation. The final scenes try to tie the psychological themes together, but the connection feels forced. The show ends on a note of ambiguity, but the ambiguity feels like a failure of execution rather than a deliberate artistic choice.
The show also includes a subplot involving a boy named Billy, who is a witness to the crimes. This subplot is handled with care, but it is ultimately sidelined. Billy’s story is compelling, but the show does not give it the weight it deserves. The show’s failure to resolve this subplot is a symptom of its larger problem: it is too ambitious for its own good.
The Running Order and Rankings
The show runs ten episodes, each titled with a phrase evoking the city or the case:
| Episode | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | “In the Blood” |
| 2 | “A Terrible Beauty” |
| 3 | “A Madman’s Work” |
| 4 | “A Beast in the Mist” |
| 5 | “A Child’s Cry” |
| 6 | “A Darkened Mirror” |
| 7 | “A Shadow Over the City” |
| 8 | “A Monster in the Dark” |
| 9 | “A Voice in the Storm” |
| 10 | “A Terrible Fate” |
Among them, the standout episodes, in order of excellence, are:
- “A Terrible Beauty”
- “A Madman’s Work”
- “A Darkened Mirror”
- “A Child’s Cry”
- “A Shadow Over the City”
- “A Monster in the Dark”
- “A Voice in the Storm”
- “A Terrible Fate”
A Worthwhile Failure
“The Alienist” is a show that is trying to do something different. It is a period crime drama that is also a study of psychology, a meditation on evil, and a portrait of a city. The ambition is admirable, but the execution is uneven. The show is at its best when it is focused on the case and the characters, and at its worst when it is bogged down by its own ideas.
The show is worth watching for its craft, its performances, and its setting. But it is not a show that holds together as a whole. It is a collection of promising scenes, a promising premise, and a promising cast. It is a show that is greater than the sum of its parts, but it is not a great show.
“The Alienist” is a flawed masterpiece. It is a show that is beautiful, intelligent, and frustrating. It is a show that you will want to finish, even when you know it is failing. It is a show that deserves a second season, but it is a show that may not survive to get one.
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