For Deb: The Alienist

The information about teeth being colored by mercury came from the dentist's patient. The dentist had to "translate" the patient's garble speech. This scene is just a way for Moore to learn a clue. I doubt that we will see either the dentist or the patient again.

The restaurant scene, as Kreizler said out loud, indicates that the killer is, and has been, watching them. The killer is now toying with them, playing a game with them, as is frequently the case in stories like this. How many movies have you seen where the psychotic villain is taunting a particular cop for some reason? I think it's clear that Mr. Silver Smile is the killer. Who he is, however, is not clear at all.

A detail a costume professional (might have been Molly) couldn't miss - - while Kreizler is walking to the restaurant, a man wearing an Inverness style overcoat bumps into him on the street. Later, we see Mr Silver Smile wearing an Inverness coat when he is trying to pick up a boy. Same man?

If I were to speculate, based on nothing but having seen 800 million movies, I would guess that the killer is a former patient of Kreizler.

I must have been multi-tasking at that point where the silver smile guy appeared --which is why I don't like watching this kind of stuff on TV. I looked at it online, and I see now that the guy didn't appear at the dentist. I think I just saw the very last part where he was smiling. So, there goes my ideas. That was a good observation about the coat. And I do remember thinking about when Kreizler was bumped into by that man, the first thing I thought was his wallet was maybe stolen. But, yes, it's possible that the killer was a patient of the doctor's. But wouldn't you think that a past patient would have occurred to Kriezler, especially someone as weird as that? I don't know, I'm getting nowhere with this. 

So, the coat that the man with the silver teeth was wearing at the end, that's the same coat you're talking about? 

I looked at parts of this latest episode and I found where the guy with the cape bumped into someone. But it was Moore he bumped into, not Kreizler.  I wonder if this means anything. I did try to find the caped man in the restaurant scene, but didn't see him. 

Anybody still breathing here? 

2/19/2018

Tonight's Episode --WARNING SPOILERS

It was, as my husband put it -- skipping all over the place. So I can't say that there was very much in terms of plot advancement -- except in the sense that certain themes were touched upon which could be applied to the overall framework of the story.

The basic discovery items included the fact that the murders all took place on "Holy Days" of the church. And that the killer is "known" to upper level society politicians (as represented by the mayor, and presumably others of his caliber) and being protected by them. Roosevelt (the police commissioner) is told to look the other way (in not so many words). He does not intend to follow this directive. However, he is betrayed by the police chief in a "raid" which he hopes will net the suspect -- a wealthy young man who had some ties to a religious institution. (These ties were discovered by sleuthing on the part of the secretary).

Oddly....although the psychologist turned over the name of this "suspect" to Roosevelt, he said he didn't think he did it. (This part, I found confusing -- as if his theory about the killings occurring on church Holy Days is true -- it would seem more likely someone who has ties to the church would be a more likely suspect). The doctor, however, dismisses this on the basis of social class being an important factor. I did not grasp his reasoning here.


In other areas --- I began to wonder if the doctor is a little off his rocker himself. He had an over the top reaction when the secretary suggests a mother angle to the killer's motivations. It made me wonder if the doctor himself has "mother issues" by the vehemence with which he replied.

Meanwhile the fellow with the silver teeth (who I am sure will ultimately turn out to be the killer) is shown cavorting with a transvestite young boy. At the approximate same time as the police "raid" on the "wrong" location (Roosevelt presumably falsely led there on purpose by a compromised police chief)the fellow with the silver teeth is interrupted in his "play" by his mother and a man who spirits away the transvestite leaving the guy with the silver teeth to talk to his mother.

His mother tells him he has to go away for awhile --- but does it in a rather creepy (and far too intimate manner for a proper mother/son relationship). The young man jumps off the bed where they have been sitting and protests (one gets the impression it's both at the subject matter and the inappropriate touching).

I'm thinking there is some weird incestuous thing going on between the silver teeth guy and his mom -- or rather there has been in the past that's really screwed this guy's head up. So I think the secretary's guess about a mother angle might be correct.

in addition --- at one point the doctor makes the remark he might not know as much as he thinks he does. This comes after visiting a convict who he once interviewed (also a murderer of children).

Overall -- the episode was geared toward setting tone rather than advancing plot.

--Debutante

I'll have to watch the episode again before I report my thoughts on it. I've been doing everything on the fly this week and I need to refresh my memory. 

Last night's show, Episode 6: "Ascension," completes the subplot about Willem van Berger. He is not the killer, and has himself been killed and dumped off of the scaffolding at the Williamsburg Bridge construction site into the East River by (former) Captain Connor and his son. Willem's body might wash up somewhere and be found, but it could be gone forever "without a trace."

A man who is seen only from behind enters the brothel, speaks with Stevie who is playing the role of the bait, and then moves off. The implication is that this is the killer, but it could be another false lead. Isaacson chases the man, and shoots at him several time, but he escapes. A confusing scene occurs next on the roof across the street from the brothel. Cyrus is found unconscious, presumably attacked by the man who escaped from Isaacson. Moore gets an insight from this, and they look across the street at the brothel building where they see Stevie and Sara in one room and an open window in the next room. Does this mean anything at all? Do they think the killer was in the next room? Do they think he entered or left through a third (fourth?) floor window with no fire escape?

There are maps at alienist.com which specify various locations in the show. The brothel is located at 6th Avenue and 3rd street.

At the end of the episode another murdered boy is shown at the Statue of Liberty, which is on an island about 1.6 miles southwest of the southern tip of Manhattan at Battery Park, and was accessible only by boat in 1896. (Today it's boat or helicopter.) This indicates that the killer owns, or has the use of, or could steal a boat that he can use without being seen. Is he a sailor? A dock worker? The southern edge of Manhattan is about 2.2 miles from the brothel (measured along streets, not in a straight line). So, if the killer picked up this latest victim at the brothel, he had to move him at least 3.8 miles over both land and water (shortest route), killing him somewhere along the way. Not impossible, but not easy. Maybe the killer found this boy not at the brothel, but at the docks on the Hudson River or near the Battery, which would let him get out on the water quickly, where there would be no witnesses.

Four episodes to go, and still no suspect identified.

I never quite understood what Kreizler meant about why the killer could not be Willem.  It just buzzed by me too fast. 

Yeah, isn't that interesting. And it does seem as if he hates his mother. I wonder if Doctor Kreizler really didn't really like playing the piano, and felt forced to continue by his mother. Maybe they got into an altercation and he his arm got injured. Or perhaps, he might have done it to himself so that he could get out from under his mother's control. 

This is finally getting quite exciting. And next week's previews seem to show it will be getting even more so. 

Actually, Fred, the reason you don't want to see "Murder . . ." is because it's a really bad movie. All talk and no action. And don't get me started on what's wrong with the sets or the preposterous way the locomotive is put back on the track after it derails.

==========

We have now seen 6 out of 10 episodes of "The Alienist" - - 60% of the story - - and I am wondering if we have met the killer yet. As you said, the killer in mysteries is typically introduced early, and is revealed as the killer toward the end. This is usually a secondary character, but one who is seen enough to be noticed and remembered by the audience. I don't see any such character in "Alienist."

- One of the policemen? The only cop we really know is Captain Connor. Unlikely.
- Someone at the brothel? We haven't really met anyone except the boys.
- Someone wealthy? Well, it's not Willem, and we haven't really met any fictitious rich people. None of the historical characters are candidates.

Alternately, the killer is sometimes a major character "hiding in plain view." Here, the main characters are Kreizler and team, all of whom (SPOILER ALERT) appear in the second Kreizler novel, "The Angel of Darkness," which rules them out. Captain Connor? I don't think so. Who else is there?

I will be very annoyed if the killer is only introduced in the last episode.

Yeah, "The Frankenstein Chronicles," featuring Mary Shell herself and starring Boromir of Gondor - - I mean Eddard Stark of Winterfell - - I mean Sean Bean as John Marlott, a reanimated corpse of a policeman.

Far too many daydreams or nightmares or hallucinations, or whatever they are supposed to be, as Marlot learns what it's like to be the new undead version of himself. Unsatisfactory. But at least the villain gets what he deserves at the end.

Frankenstein Chronicles is next on my Netflix list after I watch the last episode of the first season of American Horror Story.

eta--looking forward to new Gotham tonight. Love that show.

Lily,

I'll say neither. The docs got some bats in his belfry and there's some weird undefined relationship with his housekeeper [Panty sniffing in her room? Sure, buddy, and all the while looking at other people like they're the ones with all the problems? Right!]

So I'm guessing that the doc has too much pathology to overcome.

The artist? I don't think she sees him as enough of a challenge.

So this will end I think with her perpetually pining for what she can't have [The doc] as being that she seems a stubborn sort.

That would make more sense too if this is taken from a series of books. You could drag unrequited love on indefinitely as she tries to overcome aspects of his "tortured" soul.

The artist is just not screwed up enough to intrigue her.

-- Debutante