I am never a fan of a one case analysed in the entire series. But this series hooked me till end. Honestly I was able to finish in 2 days. I didn’t get to watch Season 2, but Season 1 is a must watch. The way they paced towards in finding the murderer is like an artist working on a blank sheet who was able to paint a beautiful portrait. Alienist is an archaic term for psychiatrist or psychologist.

Story

The first season is set in 1896, when a series of gruesome murders of boy prostitutes happen in New York city. Newly appointed police commissioner Teddy Roosevelt calls upon Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a criminal psychologist and John Moore, a newspaper illustrator, to conduct the investigation in secret. Joining them in the investigation is Sara Howard, Roosevelt’s headstrong secretary, as well as twin brothers Marcus and Lucius Isaacson, both detective sergeants in the NYPD.

The team finds opposition within the police department and from the rich people who run the brothel. The victims are mutilated and the eyes are pulled out. Based on the clues, they try to figure out the murderer and his connection with the dead prostitue boys.

The series consists of only 10 episodes. It showed how the people of New York at 1890’s lived. I was really impressed how they took a keen amount in showcasing how the people lived around that time. The recreation of the costumes, streets and statue of liberty. It certainly makes the series a good watch. They were able the figure out the killings happened around the Christian holidays. It is like race against time to catch the murderer before the next Christian holiday.

I suggest this series a good watch. But I lost my appetite while watching some grisly scenes. Either way it is a good series to watch in Netflix. Please comment if you like this series and keep on checking my blog for further updates.

CAST

Daniel Bruhl as Laszlo Kreisler

He is working on children mental illness and was interested to take the case as to understand why people do bad things. He is from a well-off family Hungarian family. He has a lame arm. To understand the murderer better, he meets with sadistic people throughout season 1.

Luke Evans as John Schulyer Moore

He is a New York Times cartoonist and illustrator, as well as a society man who attended Harvard with Kreizler and Roosevelt. He lives with his grandmother, and is estranged from his father following the drowning death of his brother. He is handsome and charming, but is an alcoholic and frequenter of brothels, and remains unmarried after his fiancée left him for another man.

Dakota Fanning as  Sara Howard a young society woman who becomes Roosevelt’s secretary and the first woman employed by the NYPD. She spent time in a sanitarium after the death of her father. She is composed and determined to not allow her male colleagues to bully her. She gets involved with the team as a liaison at the start but ended up being a vital part in investigating the murderer. Later part of the series, when Dr.Laszlo went away from investigation after death of his employee, Sara was able to find the murder name and his whereabouts. She is a good detective skills and is determined to catch the murderer to avoid further killings.