Netflix's Limited Series 'Eric' is Too Much Chaos Muppetry

What if Mr. Rogers was an unhinged alcoholic on the verge of a nervous breakdown? That’s basically the premise of the new Netflix limited series Eric. But it’s also about missing children, corrupt cops, the AIDS epidemic, the homeless crisis in New York City, underage sex rings, dysfunctional families, childhood trauma, and I’m sure I’m forgetting something. It’s fitting that the six-episode series’ nondescript title gives no indication what the show is about because Eric is all over the place.

Vincent Anderson (Benedict Cumberbatch) is the creator and star of the popular New York-based children’s television show Good Day Sunshine. One morning, after Vincent and his wife Cassie (Gabby Hoffman) have a horrific fight, his nine-year-old son Edgar (Ivan Howe) walks to school by himself and never makes it there. Detective Michael Ledroit (McKinley Belcher III) is assigned to the case. He’s up against his boss, Matteo Cripp (a nearly unrecognizable David Denman), who doesn’t want him asking too many questions, cops who protect their own, and a system that values a missing white child over a missing Black one.

While sympathetic to what he’s going through, Vincent’s co-workers, including the show’s producer Lennie (Dan Fogler), are frustrated by his constant lack of sobriety and loose-cannon behavior. Vincent’s parents are nightmares, His mother Anne (Phoebe Nicholls) medicated her son early and often and is eager to do so again. “You need to stop blaming everyone else for the problem and see that the solution is in yourself,” she tells her distraught son. His father, Robert (John Doman), views the unhoused as an obstacle to his real estate empire and can’t even be bothered to watch his son’s TV series. Ledroit’s partner is dying of AIDS. His childhood friend runs a questionable nightclub. There’s a lot going on.