The Alienist Review: Silver Smile (Season 1 Episode 3)

On The Alienist Season 1 Episode 3 “Silver Smile,” the team gets introspective as they investigate another death.

As it stands, The Alienist has one problem above any other: it is unbelievably boring. While it is no doubt a deficiency on the show’s part, it uses that to its advantage with small sequences that demonstrate how mind-numbingly boring it can exist in a portion of society that demands politeness and chit-chat.

In two separate scenes, one involving Moore and the other with Sara, it demonstrates wonderfully with terrifically understated performances from Luke Evans and Dakota Fanning the monotony and frustration that can exist in a circle like that when you want nothing to do with it.

Speaking of Sara, we have to talk about her specifically in relation to the rest of the cast.

In theory, it’s not a problem that Sara has romantic or sexual tension with Moore and Kreizler, the latter in particular. It’s not even a huge sticking point in this particular case, even though the age difference between Fanning and Evans is fifteen years, but it is indicative of a trend that shows no signs of slowing where female characters are paired off with counterparts that are significantly older than them.

Again, The Alienist would hardly be the first in this regard to be guilty of this, but it is still disappointing.

Also disappointing is the series giving us another example of on-screen sexual assault, this time presented in a way that isn’t normally seen. In this case, Moore is the one that was roofied and implicitly sexually used by a child prostitute, a violation in every meaning of the word.

What’s even more frustrating is how the series expects the audience not to be upset about it or even question what exactly happened in the scene. Moore himself can’t remember what happened and this is obviously teasing a series-long mystery, but, if that’s the case, the audience and Moore himself deserve to have that knowledge.

On a more positive note, the Hannibal-ness of the series continues to work really well, when it allows itself to work as such. A scene in particular on a rooftop revolving around Kreizler and Sara firing psycho-babble back-and-forth works very well, more so than it rightly should.

Its Hannibal is also a way in which the show is still holding itself back. It still seems like a show with definite influences that leak through, such as House and a need to treat the surrounding cast as a puzzle in need of being solved. At a certain point the series will need to move past this, but for the moment it’s fine.

The Alienist isn’t particularly plotty and instead is still relying very much on a turn-of-the-century mood and vibe that can ultimately only take you so far.

Hannibal was able to do this because the visuals and the score were so dazzling. The same can’t really be said for this series. Eventually (hopefully soon), it’s going to need to find another layer in itself.

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 10/9c on TNT.

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