The Alienist Review: A Fruitful Partnership (Season 1 Episode 2)

On The Alienist Season 1 Episode 2, “A Fruitful Partnership,” Dr. Kreizler assembles his team to investigate the grisly murders.

After this second episode, something begins to crystallize in regards to this series: it is, without a doubt, technically well-made and shows a lot of potential for dazzling visuals for the future, but, more importantly, it’s one that is simply not terribly engaging or interesting.

The biggest problem with “A Fruitful Partnership” is that it falls into the same trap that so many freshmen series do where its second episode is little more than a retread of the first, rehashing the pilot in a slightly different form in an attempt to buy itself time.

In that sense, there’s not a lot of momentum to be had here. This episode, more than anything else, feels like a holding pattern for the show, saving up anything truly of note for the next episode where the ball will really get rolling and pick up speed.

“A Fruitful Partnership” has one goal in mind and that is to bring all of the characters together to become a team of sorts, and while that’s all well and good, the way that it’s executed feels like the most tedious way possible.

Again, the show itself isn’t all that engaging, but what propels it the most are the strong performances throughout.

Dakota Fanning continues to be the bright star of the series, delivering a quiet strength to every scene with a character where you can see the mental machinations happening just behind her veneer.

Daniel Bruhl gives perhaps the flashiest of any on the series and it works extremely well. He possesses a certain gravitas that gives the series an excellent feel, like if Sherlock Holmes was a psychologist and had a team.

This is in stark contrast to Luke Evans, who feels like he’s settling nicely into the role. He gives a bewildered look here and a snarky remark there and that’s all that’s truly required of him, but, at the same time, he’s particularly good in that mode.

A bit of slack has to be given for this episode because it certainly feels like the series is holding itself back for just this episode until it can start telling the story that it truly wants to tell. With any luck, this fully realized product will be the examination of the psychology of the time that we wish it can be.

For now, a good deal of its strength comes from the vibe and look of the late-nineteenth century New York and, for this episode only, that’s enough. That will hardly be enough to sustain it going forward, however.

Ultimately, the most we can hope for is that this is not indicative of the way that the series will function in the future: solid, but uninteresting.

What did you think of this episode of The Alienist? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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The Alienist airs Mondays at 9/8c on TNT.

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