Having Claire Danes on the technical sheet is enough of an excuse to give play to a series or movie, or because there is nothing that this woman does not do well… until now. It’s a word of honor that even writing these letters breaks my heart, but I should have immediately suspected from the synopsis that this was going to go wrong.
“The Essex Serpent” – whose first three episodes are available on Apple TV + from this Friday, May 13 – is set in 1893 and focuses on Cora (Claire Danes), who has just been widowed (or, in fact, just got rid of she). her abusive husband). Not knowing what to do with her time and money, she searches for a passion that gives life meaning and finds it in the pages of a newspaper. In Essex there is a supposed snake, which attacks and kills, tormenting the locals. In less than two seconds, Cora packs her bags, takes her son and her maid, leaves London and puts everything on the train. Address: Essex.
So far, all of this can be given the benefit of the doubt. Mythological or fantastically murderous creatures are nothing new. They work on many shows (“Game of Thrones”, “Stranger Things”, etc.). This time it doesn’t work. However, it is not precisely because of the animal itself, it is because of the whole environment, which bothers from the first minute.
The landscape of the rural context is beautiful and the fog, which creates a certain mystery, is a constant presence. But it would have been more effective to take advantage of it to bring D. Sebastião back (tip, Apple TV +) than to get involved in a narrative that lulls us to sleep from start to finish.
[o trailer de “A Serpente do Essex”:]
Love, death, faith and science are mixed in this adaptation of Sarah Perry’s book. Cora is a fervent defender of science, she is focused on understanding whether or not such a snake exists, what creatures walked there before humans, how all this explains and influences the terror that exists in the town. On the other side is the priest, Will (Tom Hiddleston), a man of faith who can’t help but question many things he should blindly believe. You can already see what will happen between these two, right? A forbidden passion, of course: the vicar is married. But, forget it, this is also not where the story gets exciting. Between Claire Danes and Hiddleston I don’t see an iota of chemistry, their gaze always seems forced in a kind of approval that should be fascinated but never quite.
And now we come to the part that hurts: Claire Danes. What is this? Was it necessary to add this to the curriculum? So that? Wasn’t there a better project to do? In short, it was betting on a new season of “Homeland”, that any lukewarm reboot would be better than this one. First, the accent. The Americanness of the Danes does not lie and their British accent is a bit embarrassing. The character is supposed to be super smart, way ahead of her time, but she always seems dizzy, having no idea what it’s like to walk into a community and reality that isn’t her own. As if sounding fake wasn’t bad enough, she was given an orange wig (that’s not her hair, she didn’t let me fool), straight out of those dye-at-home ads. Yes, I said claim. If this series can smell musty, I can also say claim it.
Everything is too forced and slow. There are narrative arcs that last forever and have no relevance. The characters who get away with it are the son, an introverted boy whose relationship with her mother is cold and distant and conveys palpable discomfort, and the maid, who acts as a confidante and is more realistic than Cora. Tom Hiddleston just walks by, strutting his six feet and the charm of him, but even that isn’t flashy.
Then there is a doctor, another man in love with Cora. Luke (Frank Dillane) is focused on pioneering heart surgery, though at the time it feels like they’re in the carnage. There are no gloves or masks, the means are rudimentary and quite fascinating. An operating room is, in reality, an amphitheater where dozens of spectators gather, applauding and cheering on the surgeons. Everything is basically experimental. Whether this is interesting? Not here, nothing at all. To see something like this in good condition, there is “The Knick”, with Clive Owen. “The Essex Serpent” leaves everything to the surface, it’s slow and boring. I already said that, didn’t I? If the series can be repetitive, I give myself the same right.
At the end of the day, if someone finishes the first episode and feels like moving on to the second, it’s a miracle. It’s just that I remembered several times an initial scene, where a bastard is lying on the operating table waiting to be a guinea pig, and because I wanted to be me in that place. Lying peacefully, sleeping soundly so as not to have to watch another minute of this.
Source: Observadora
