The new Netflix series Eric has an urgent mystery at its core: What happened to Edgar (Ivan Morris Howe), the young son of Vincent (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Cassie (Gaby Hoffman), when he disappeared on his way to school? As with a lot of sprawling crime stories, Edgar’s fate is both simpler and more complex than it initially appears, and the series draws connections (if ultimately more thematic than plot-based) between the story of this individual child and a broader story about the state of New York City (and the U.S. at large) in the mid-1980s. But to explain these dynamics, we need to walk through a spoiler-laden account of what literally happens in the sixth and final episode of Eric. ERIC ON NETFLIX: PLOT SUMMARY It’s established earlier in the series that Edgar wasn’t actually kidnapped by sex traffickers, as some of the characters suspected or feared – but is very much in danger of that happening before he can make his way home. Fleeing yet another vicious argument between his parents on that fateful morning depicted in the first episode, Edgar tracked down an unhoused graffiti artist living in subway tunnels, which is where he had been staying, not exactly captive. But a raid on the unhoused population in the New York subways during the fifth episode sent him scrambling, separating from his friend Yuusuf (Bamar Kane) and threatening to put him in the hands of desperate sex traffickers. As the final episode opens, Vincent has just missed his son in the tunnels, and after scuffling with himself (in the guise of Eric, the walk-around puppet he’s been hallucinating in an addiction-fueled haze), he has a brainstorm. He rushes back to the studio of Good Day Sunshine, the Sesame Street-like program he co-created and was fired from, dons the Eric costume – which Edgar designed – and rushes to a televised rally protesting the anti-homeless raid. His speech, and promise to do better as a father and a man, kinda-sorta applies to both his kid and the broader city issue at hand. Edgar, who the police are worried has been killed after finding his torn jacket, has escaped the sex traffickers threatening him at the end of the previous episode, and sees the message, which convinces him to finally come home. Meanwhile, Ledroit (McKinley Belcher III), who has been leading the search for Edgar and becomes convinced that it connects to the recent disappearance of teenager Marlon Rochelle in the same general neighborhood as Edgar, sees a security tape that reveals what happened to Marlon. He was essentially trafficked at a local club, where he was made to perform oral sex on Richard Costello (Jeff Hephner), the deputy mayor who spearheaded that big raid. Cops showed up and beat Marlon to death, and Costello let them dispose of the body via a sanitation truck. So, two disappearances, with two very different fates: The white boy is safe and sound, while it’s too late to save the Black boy. The show then jumps forward a few months and checks in with both families. Vincent has apparently sought help for his addiction issues – revealed to be more severe than alcoholism, though not exactly specified further – and is back at his TV show, happier and healthier, though his partner (Dan Fogelman) commits suicide after being implicated in the sex-trafficking ring at the club he attended as a closeted gay man. (This horrifying tragedy does not appear to have shaken Vincent much.) Edgar visits him on-set, and although the relationship between the two is clearly still a bit tentative (presumably not least because Vincent and his wife Cassie have divorced), a bond is formed when Edgar dons the Eric costume and begins talking to his father in-character. Wiping back tears, Vincent is moved by his son’s playfulness, and plays along. ERIC ON NETFLIX: ENDING EXPLAINED Again, the show presents a less overtly hopeful set of circumstances: Intercut with the final scenes on the set of Good Day Sunshine, we see Ledroit visiting Marlon’s mother Cecile (Adepero Oduye) and bringing her some groceries. He looks into her living room and spots Cecile’s grandson, watching Good Day Sunshine. Ledroit is clearly thinking of Marlon, the young life cut short and failed by the system, even if his killers were caught. The happy, healthy childhood depicted in Good Day Sunshine doesn’t apply equally to all kids in the city. It’s juxtaposition worth exploring, though not necessarily one that Eric explores particularly well. The actual mystery that requires solving and prosecution in the final episode is Marlon’s sad fate; Edgar, it turns out, was only really in danger by coincidence. But the episode spends a lot of time with Vincent, belatedly learning that he needs to be a better father, while a lot of the actual details of Edgar’s return are chalked up to coincidence. Episode five ends with Edgar and a potential trafficker slipping and plunging into the darkness of the sewer; the sixth episode reveals that, whoops, the bad guy died and Edgar didn’t! Then, Edgar happens to be in the right place at the right time to see his dad’s televised message, one of several bizarre leaps of faith Vincent is rewarded for taking (the other being his bizarre interpretation of Edgar’s map that turns out to be correct, leading him to where Edgar went to find Yuusuf, even though Edgar didn’t know that he was actually looking for Yuusuf). Is this better parenting, or is this just acting erratically in a different direction? Maybe Eric is trying to make a point about what groups are “allowed” these lucky breaks and second chances, as opposed to the minorities and other underprivileged classes who are often either ignored or mistreated by city authorities – like the unhoused population that’s going to be abused for the sake of a PR campaign by the mayor’s office. But it’s the show, not real life, that’s giving us these unlikely turns of events and rushed, coincidental happy endings for the white family at its center. There’s a fine line between telling the story beneath the story, and making both stories at hand ultimately seem phony and arbitrary. Eric crosses it repeatedly. Jesse Hassenger (@rockmarooned) is a writer living in Brooklyn. He’s a regular contributor to The A.V. Club, Polygon, and The Week, among others. He podcasts at www.sportsalcohol.com, too.
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