Eric Season 1 Episodes 4-6 Review: A Bittersweet Conclusion in Turbulent Times

After establishing its deeply flawed protagonist, Eric Season 1 Episodes 4-6 takes Vicent to new lows in his search for his son. While that plot eventually avoids tragedy, any happy ending is dampened by the bleak realities facing most of the characters.

After ending the first half of the miniseries with the revelation that Edgar, the missing son of Vincent and Cassie, is alive, Eric picks up by explaining that he chose to run off to the streets in the wake of his parents’ continued conflicts.

To answer the biggest question, the final shot of the final episode shows father and son sitting and talking quietly together, the later offering an olive branch with wisdom beyond his years, the former choked with emotion and remorse.

A happy ending, right? In this one specific sense, yes. But there’s no doubting Vincent is making his way up from rock bottom—or that that still leaves him far more fortunate than the more marginalized characters who surround him.

Though Cecile begins to garner some attention for both her own missing son and other missing children (forgotten because they are older or aren’t white), she still has no answers and seems resigned now only to the hope of recovering Marlon’s body.

After William dies offscreen, Ledroit is left with crushing grief he can’t express in public. He continues to dig into his cases while faced with the ignorance of his personal and professional peers, eventually breaking down alone.

In the background of all this, corruption reigns as politicians expel the homeless population of the city and additional crimes are left with little coverage when their victims are vilified. Bigotry is a punchline for jokes, facing few true consequences.

Event Vincent himself is nearly destroyed by Eric via his own mind, the monster now far different from a “Good Day Sunshine” counterpart. He gets his son back in the end, but his marriage to Cassie is over and his path to recovery is long.

The final three episodes of Eric manage to build on the groundwork of the first while avoiding some of the “gimmicky” elements that had been present in its title character. Plotlines are drawn out and a hard lens is turned on society.

This isn’t to say Eric himself becomes any less unsettling. His role as a manifestation of Vincent’s subconscious is clearer than ever, both saving and nearly destroying his creator. His imperfect puppet version later becomes an indication of a father’s slow path to betterment.

The plotlines given to minor characters are also expanded considerably, and with enough depth that they become the driving force of the show’s message about the complex and change-driven time that it’s set in.

In the end, the story is split almost evenly between Vincent’s and that of the world surrounding him. It takes several episodes to find that balance, and a longer series may have expanded the growth further, but we wind up somewhere more poignant than were we started.

For a show in which the primary conflict has a positive resolution, Eric is as sobering as it gets. Everyone here faces she harsh realities of the world, and we’re left to sit with who gets out– and who doesn’t.

 

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All episodes of Eric are now streaming on Netflix.

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