The Knick gets better every week, and Margaux and I cannot get enough of it.
Trevor: Are you fucking kidding me with this show? Every scene of The Knick is so masterfully acted, shot, directed, written, and scored. The level of confidence on display is frankly stunning.
Margaux: I don’t even know where to start with this episode, so much happened! But “Start Calling Me Dad” had one of the most chilling closing scenes between Cornelia and her future father in law. That scene could of been very different but the restraint made it more chilling – I cannot stop having nightmares about it.
Trevor: My heart dropped when he came into the room, I was legitimately scared for Cornelia.
But let’s back up, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. How great was that opening scene? The first shot, that static shot of the phone, was amazing, and then Thack and Bertie working on a procedure with their, um, companions was funny and fascinating. A lot of the medical talk goes over my head (obviously) but that doesn’t make it any less riveting.
Margaux: “They work by the hour…our budget doesn’t allow for pregnant prostitutes,” welp…no s there Dr. Thack. Bertie’s face when he meets Thack for his “experiment” whilst in the middle of Thack’s three-day coke bender was pretty priceless. I was most surprised by Bertie’s willingness to jump right there and help out, no questions asked. Obviously why Thack called him, I mean, besides the fact that Gallinger is dealing with his own family problems.
Trevor: The Gallinger subplot actually broke my heart. Gallinger is a less sympathetic character because he’s always been one of the more overt racists at the Knick, but you’d have to have a heart of stone not to feel for the man. There’s a possible light at the end of the tunnel, though, as Sister Harriett suggests adoption. Good timing, too, because I was worried we wouldn’t be getting any Cleary & Harriett, which is probably my favorite part of this show.
Margaux: I’m curious how Cleary and Harriett’s side business will go, so far they’ve had one successful operation and a lot of conversations about their faith. Will never complain about Cleary calling the nuns who raised him “wicked cuntables” though, classic Cleary! Back to Gallinger though, I agree with you, it was the hardest scene to watch since the pilots botched c-section. When Gallinger sliced open Lillian’s leg in a last ditch effort to save her, I had to turn my head – they stayed on the shot of blood trickling out her leg for so long, it was gruesome.
Trevor: Gruesome but not exploitative. It wasn’t Soderbergh killing a baby to show how edgy he or his show is, it was just the real ramifications of bringing meningitis home with you. The moral of the story is: stop rat-stomping, people in 1900.
Margaux: Not exploitative at all, if anything, it really helped fuel Gallinger’s wifes denial of what has happened/happening to her family. Not only is your husband not the life-saving doctor you thought he was but he also brought home meningitis that killed your baby. Harriett’s timing of bringing up adopting a baby was good (and glad that D storyline of the abandoned baby isn’t being swept under the rug) but not sure if the Gallingers will ultimately go for it which, makes me even more nervous about that families future – that is pretty bleak, as it stands.
Trevor: I like that everyone pretty much has their own shit going on, and it sometimes dovetails with other storylines. Edwards has his clinic, Gallinger his baby woes, Cornelia the typhoid investigation, and so on. Bertie is still kind of a free agent.
I loved the Typhoid Mary tie-in. Nice historical touch, and very cool. Also, we got to see an Irish woman scream “You’ll never take me alive!” before being tackles by Cornelia, which is just great.
Margaux: It’s a nice historical touch without it banging you over the head with it, I loved that Cornelia totally smashed perceptions of her “society lady” exterior by tackling Mary to the ground.
Margaux: Another relationship I enjoy watching play out is the one between Cornelia and Edwards, you do get the feeling they’ve been friends since childhood. I loved how Edwards ribbed her about her “affair” with Pastrami Sandwich-Health Inspector. But when Edwards admits to Cornelia that he doesn’t know where Thack “gets the energy” to work as hard as he does, I wonder how long it’ll be until Edwards uncovers some Thack secrets of his own. Especially since they’ll be teaming up together post-Thack’s discovery of Edwards’ basement clinic.
Trevor: Yeah, that was bound to happen, and it was a great scene. I love the straightforward way Thack asks Edwards, “Have you lost your fuckin mind?” The Knick is a bloody show, but outside of Cleary characters don’t really curse, so lines like that are really impactful.
And I like how quickly Thack’s anger turned to curiosity when he saw Edwards’ vacuum setup. He ends the scene agreeing to put his name on a paper that Edwards wrote! That’s how you defuse a tense situation, well done, Algernon.
Margaux: Regardless of race, if anyone were in Thack’s position and walked into Edwards clinic – their reaction would have (and should have) been exactly the same – it looked like a 3rd world airport in there. I’d suppose, in the same breath though, it’s not much different than Thack and Bertie’s “research.”
It’s also why Edwards, despite being close with Cornelia, omits this side activity when he tells her briefly what he’s been up/why he looks so tired. But it was a forgone conclusion that once Thack dropped his preconceived notions of Edwards, and whatever strange power play he was going for, that they would eventually see eye to eye. They are both intelligent men, after the same thing. It was so pleasant to see mutual respect finally happen between these adversaries, “may I officially welcome you to The Knick” – I think that’s the most open minded thing Thack has said to Edwards since they met.
Trevor: I think so too, and with that gesture I think we’ve officially entered the second act of this season. Also, when Thack referenced Edwards’ “duplicity,” do you think that was a Clive Owen reference? Cause he was in that movie Duplicity with Julia Roberts? It probably wasn’t, but I like to think that everyone is as big a shithead as I am.
Margaux: Haha I highly doubt it, I’m pretty sure Clive Owen would like us to forget about that movie – which, I had until you just brought it up.
For an otherwise downer of a show, we did get a little bit of a happy ending – or as happy as it gets on The Knick. The first successful Christiansen-Thackery-Chickering section, or C-section for short.
Trevor: It was so nice to see a successful surgery! And very nice of Thack to give Bertie credit.
I’ve noticed, and I’m sure you have too, that everyone on this show, regardless if they’re an amoral creep like Barrow, actually cares about medicine. No one’s there just picking up a paycheck. To wit, Barrow is seen negotiating for that used X-ray machine (I laughed out loud when the salesman was going to take his X-ray and told him it would take an hour).
Margaux: First of all, Barrow is a horrible negotiator, he only talked the guy down $500. No wonder he owes so much money to the mob. And secondly, what are the chances that hour-long X-ray gives you cancer? Roughly…100%?
I did appreciate the circus-ish salesman, trying to cash in on Thack’s name for a cure-all ointment, Thack should of been happy he wasn’t trying to tie his name to “female pills.”
But it drove home the point (and your aforementioned point): no one is there for the money or to get rich.
Trevor: I appreciated the Dr. Pepper reference. I wrote it in my notes as – let me see – “LOL Margaux.” This is why I get the big bucks.
Readers, Margaux hates Dr. Pepper. Probably cause she’s a terrorist.
Margaux: I’m so glad you haven’t let me live that down for the last 15 years, really keeps me humble.
So, can we talk about Cornelia’s near rape at the hands of her gross-out father-in-law? I’m literally traumatized.
Trevor: It made my skin crawl, and gives a much creepier dimension to the title. Honestly it seemed like it came out of left field because we haven’t seen any indication that Mr. Showalter is some creepy rapist, but to be fair we haven’t seen much of Showalter at all, so maybe it’s totally in character. I’m gonna go ahead and assume that The Knick knows what it’s doing, all the time.
Margaux: I watched that scene through my fingers like it was the fucking Walking Dead. I know we haven’t seen much of Mr. Showalter, other than his appearance at the Robertson’s party an episode or two ago, so I felt like this was his real introduction. I’m struggling to figure out if this spells trouble for Cornelia’s future and life or if this only fuels her fire to, most likely, call off the engagement.
Trevor: Yeah, she does not seem to be into Philip Showalter, especially because he’s so gently, patronizingly controlling. It’s a tough call, though, trying to think of what she’ll do. This is 1900, remember, and women don’t have a ton of agency, and telling her fiancee about his father’s behavior would probably land her in hot water, everything was so ass-backwards back then.
Margaux: Philip is such a douche, “she’ll always have the most wonderful stories to tell her lady-friends.” Don’t worry Cornelia, I threw up in my mouth FOR you. Whadda dick. But you’re right, if women still get shit NOW for being unmarried and career-focused, Cornelia is totally fucked. There aren’t not many women in the turn of the century that are like her, or, have the opportunity/social standing to even attempt to think that women like her are out there in 1900.
Trevor: I’d like to talk star count. I’m tempted to go the full five. This was a fucking amazing episode.
Margaux: I’ll give it the full five, “Start Calling Me Dad” doesn’t have the right to be such a great episode.
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