Look on the bright side. It’s not 1900 and you probably don’t have syphilis… or if you do, at least your nose hasn’t fallen off. The Knick kind of likes to revel in how miserable life could be at the turn of the 20th Century (for rich and for poor) and, as if to prove that point, Dr. Thackery’s old flame Abigail Alford (Jennifer Ferrin) shows up at the beginning of episode 3 with a hole where her nose used to be.

As Thackery pokes and prods the crater in her face and describes to her the rather horrible and difficult process of grafting a flap of skin from her arm to her nose, Abigail gives us a few more glimpses into Thackery’s romantic past and personality. He was her first love, blah blah blah, but his dedication to his work was too crazy-making, yadda yadda yadda, and she chose to marry a more stable, less exciting fellow… who gave her the raging case of syphilis that destroyed her nose (cue Price is Right losing horn). It’s pretty obvious character development of Thackery as a man who chose work over love and has hardened into a lonely, bitter man. It’s this kind of unsubtle, kind of predictable writing that has been The Knick’s main weakness so far, but Seven Soderbergh (as director and as cinematographer “Peter Andrews”) orchestrates and shoots the whole thing with such subtle energy and class that it all seems much smarter than it really is.

Continue reading “The Knick: A Little On the Nose”