Review: 'The Alienist: Angel of Darkness' is Stylish and Sensuous
The limited series "The Alienist: Angel of Darkness," sequel to the first series (simply called "The Alienist"), imagines procedural investigation beside 19th Century law enforcement. In the late 1800s, what we now call forensics was burgeoning around the world, but scientific thinking was rarely used at a crime scene. Modern ideas of criminal psychology were also in their infancy. Since the mentally ill were thought to be alienated from their own true natures, the people who studied them were called alienists. This period crime drama explores the kinds of criminology possible, if not necessarily probable, at the time.
This stylish and sensuous season picks up where its predecessor left off, an ad hoc team of criminal investigators, employing techniques ahead of their time, seek the identity of another serial killer loose in the streets of late-Victorian New York City. As in the first season, the monster lurking through the morally corrupt metropolis is a child killer of layered psychological complexity. This time the murderer kills infants, replacing the crib-snatch babies with mutilated dolls, staging the actual corpses in toy store displays and poisoning the victims with toxic breast milk.
Our beloved team is the same. The first women employed by the New York Police Department, Sara Howard (Dakota Fanning), now on her own as a private investigator, is discreetly hired to find the kidnapped baby of a prominent Spanish diplomat. While Dr. Lazlo Kreizler (Daniel Brühl), the alienist, a pioneer in criminal psychology, works to clear the name of a mother wrongly accused of murdering her child. The Isaacson brothers (Douglas Smith and Matthew Shear) employ brilliant forensic concepts in their police investigations, but are not respected by the rest of the force because of their religious background. And ultimately, it's the New York Times crime reporter, John Schuyler Moore (Luke Evans) who can help tie all the crimes to a conspiracy involving law enforcement, the media conglomerate of William Randolph Hurst and Spanish-American War.
This is one of the few series where the extraordinary production design is every bit as compelling as the lurid plot. Once again, the production team traveled to Budapest, Hungary to recreate a long forgotten New York City--from the finest restaurants and the most elegant parlors to the grittiest, crime-ridden slums. And this season, the costume design is even more opulent and detailed than before. Though the changes are nearly indistinguishable, Miss Howard's wardrobe and coiffer is stronger and less dour this time around.
"Angel of Darkness" is so satisfying that it leaves the audience wanting more, but this season was adapted from a novel by Caleb Carr, as was the previous season, and although the novel series has three books at this point, only two of them are set in the 19th Century. Will "The Alienist" continue? Don't give up hope, two new novels in the book series are set to be published.
As with last season's DVD collection, there are a number of compelling special features. Luke Evans once again walks us backstage, behind-the-scenes of the production. And in other features we look at the production design and costumes in particular.
"The Alienist: Angel of Darkness," hits the streets May 18.