Cinemax series upends the medical procedural by setting it in 1900
In 1900, surgery as a profession was dicey to say the least. Blood-soaked hands, inefficient instruments, and a tense group dynamic all combined to make operations perilous, a danger at the core of Cinemax’s dark new series The Knick.
In the series, Clive Owen plays Dr. John W. Thackery, a frenzied surgeon in the nascent era of his field. He is compulsively obsessed with his profession. Rather than portraying the fancy-living, financially stable dream of many young, pre-med students, Owen’s character is fiendish, helplessly consumed by medicine as an art and a science. He is haunted and reclusive, in stark contrast to the charismatic ideals that make up many television doctors. His passion for such a critical field as medicine does not reward but remains admirable. Stability and his life hardly intersect. In the opening scene of the show, he awakes from a shady opium den in some cellar of New York City. The character is “House” taken back a century, supplanting a painkiller addiction with cocaine as he is, after all, a Freudian contemporary.
Like AMC’s “Mad Men,” “The Knick” does not ignore the darker parts of American History. Someone as educated and constructive as Dr. Thackery is still blinded with racism and misogyny. The most interesting tension of the show is that the main character has the greatest potential for doing good in the world, yet he is the vilest individual on screen. The other characters are positive and committed, yet they have neither the daring, nor the expertise that Thackery has.
Despite the dark surroundings and vices of the main character, the creators of “The Knick” sprinkle in plenty of promise amongst its gloom. Thackery, who is as eloquent and idealistic as he is tragic, declares “we live in a time of endless possibility.” He vows to “not stop pushing forward into a hopeful future.” Owen creates excellent representations of manic characters and this figure combines both reason and madness in an extraordinary way.
The melancholia of the show manifests itself through dark colors and stern attitudes but ultimately the vision of the characters is sublime. Portraying surgery in this way shows that one of today’s most respected professions takes plenty of trial and error. The show hones in on the error and how it effects medical staff.
Unfortunately, Cinemax’s new show is not yet binge-watchable on a hazy, Netflix weekend, nor is it watchable on the six HBO affiliates provided to on-campus residents. However, the first episode is available on YouTube and it runs for about fifty-five minutes, so if you need a new-semester breather, queue it up and experience a darker time.