Margaux and I are once again floored by a great episode of The Knick.
Trevor: Things are not looking so good for John Wilkinson Thackery. “The Golden Lotus” was about as effective an anti-cocaine PSA as I think I’ve ever seen.
Margaux: By the end of “The Golden Lotus” (and you know what EXACTLY what scene I mean by “end”) I looked at my dog Murray and said, “never ever do cocaine.” Thack and Nurse Elkins make coke look and seem like just about the most unsexy thing I’ve ever seen.
Trevor: You gotta hand it to Clive Owen – who, it should be noted, looks like Clive Owen – for committing to such an unglamorous episode. This is like a good version of House, a comparison I hate to make. “House is so edgy, he’s caustic and he takes pills!” Well, John Thackery will break into a pharmacy to steal cocaine.
Margaux: Ugh, that was hard scene to sit through too, and it was the cold open! Thack commits a little B & E in the dead of night to steal some cocaine from a hospital that has some but gets arrested in the process. His shoes, already off to shoot up. The Knick it just keeps getting bleaker.
Trevor: The set must be an absolute mess of microphones, because Soderbergh and Owen drop them in pretty much every scene.
That opening was tough for me too. I figured out what was happening as soon as I heard the glass break, and it was a real Oh no, Thack moment. It’s tough to watch him fall so far, so hard, and take Lucy with him.
Margaux: Lucy seems like a smart enough girl but for some reason is totally missing the direct correlation between Thack “liking her” and the times she’s able to produce cocaine for him. The depths of which she sinks in this episode, for a drug addiction that truly is not hers, was hard to watch too. Especially when Lucy and Bertie have a quick exchange at the hospital, not only does Bertie refuse to believe that Thack is so horribly addicted to cocaine that he’d break into a hospital to steal some. But he’s still trying to holla at Lucy, it’s getting pathetic. Bertie, dude…friend, that ship has sailed.
Trevor: As bad as I feel for Bertie, at this point I might actually feel worse for Everett Gallinger. Fuck that guy has a rough storyline. His daughter dies of meningitis, then he adopts a girl whom his crazy wife Shutter Islands almost immediately. I did not see Grace’s death coming. My heart sank when they showed the baby in the stroller.
Margaux: You didn’t see Grace’s death coming? I CALLED THAT LAST WEEK – I CALL EVERYTHING.
Poor Gallinger, it’s like sure, the guy is a bit of a racist who makes people’s lives slightly harder at work but shit, when will he get a fucking break? When he sends his wife off in a straightjacket, I was praising the Cinemax Gods for casting John Hodgman as the lead straightjacket-putter-on-er cause that scene would of been doubly unbearable if there wasn’t a familiar, funny face. Seriously, if Gallinger doesn’t kill himself by the end of this season, I’ll be fuckin’ surprised.
Trevor: I won’t say I didn’t see Grace’s death coming, but I was surprised it happened in “The Golden Lotus,” because the misery was already being piled so high. For instance, we haven’t even discussed Lucy prostituting herself or Algernon coming close to aborting the child he and Cornelia conceived. In any other show, these would be the main plots. The Knick is confident enough to make them B-plots, and it’s well-executed enough to make them engaging.
Margaux: This is going to sound weird but I was actually happy that Lucy got something for herself out of this whole ordeal, even if she had to put her foot in a creepy old man’s mouth. She got one hundred Yankee dollars, don’t you know. And fuck, I cannot even think about Algie and Cornelia’s love child abortion, I nearly cried. It’s a heartbreaking and gut wrenching plot line that gets to (and should be/needs to be) explored in this episode. When a woman’s right to choose is still a controversial topic, Cornelia is a fucking bad ass to make the decision so quickly and effectively. But you know it’s not easy, and that’s expressed beautifully on Andre Holland’s face, he is a master class of facial acting.
Trevor: You’re right about Cornelia – it’s so forward-thinking of The Knick to leave the decision entirely in her hands, which says some fucked-up things about the way women are treated on television, considering The Knick takes place 114 years ago.
Margaux: I’m constantly stunned at how fucking progressive The Knick is, especially when you pause and remember, this show takes place at the Goddamn turn of the century – it blows my mind. And the writing is fucking sharp and witty and again, heart breaking at times. I’m not ready for this show to be over next week.
Trevor: Soderbergh is on a different artistic plane than most directors. I’ve become so invested in and wrapped up in this show that I am in no way prepared to say goodbye to it. Goddamn, “The Golden Lotus” was a great episode – and it was about ten minutes shorter than a usual Knick episode! That’s how confident Soderbergh is in the story. When it’s over, it’s over. The Knick doesn’t pander.
Margaux: So true, but I do think co-writers and creators, Jack Amiel and Michael Begler deserve a lot of credit too. It’s so rare TWO men can write more than ONE “strong woman” character AND not big a deal about it to anyone who cares to listen. Sister Harriet is one of the most perfect examples of that. Even though she didn’t have too much to do in “The Golden Lotus”, and this is another example of The Knick never pandering, the moment Harriet shares with Cornelia after it’s discovered baby Grace has passed. You know that on the surface, they are talking about Gallinger and Grace – obvs – but also, Cornelia is trying to get a feel of Harriet’s mental space to see if she could call on her for the abortion procedure. Or at least, that’s the vibe I picked up the ladies were putting down.
Trevor: Most of the time, “strong woman” gets translated to “relentless bitch,” which is a terrible thing to see (I’m thinking of the show Body of Proof, since we’re talking about abortions – ZING!). It’s rare that a male writer can write a strong female character, and The Knick has three! Again, very progressive for a show set in the days when NURSES WORE CAPES.
Margaux: Haha. Anytime someone wants to complain about the TV landscape in relation to seeing minority faces being well represented, just watch the fucking Knick, ya asshole. It proves it is not hard to be inclusive, NO MATTER THE TIME PERIOD OR MATERIAL, you just have to want to make that point in your writing. Basically, if no one gives The Knick all the Emmys, I’m creating my own Knick-based award show. Period.
Trevor: With any luck, the Emmys will be primarily Knick-based next year.
What are you thinking for star count? I’m leaning towards four and a half, for all the reasons listed above.
Margaux: Well, The Knick quickly out-paced my now 2nd favorite show of the year (True Detective) so I’ve got high Emmy hopes for them and super thankful they got a second season – this story is so very far from over.
“The Golden Lotus” is making me have a Stefon moment, it.had.EVERYTHING. Four and a half stars.
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