"We have learned more about the human body in the last five years than was learned in the previous 500 years."
So declares Clive Owen's Dr. John "Thack" Thackery near the beginning of Cinemax's new original series "The Knick."
This statement perfectly sets the tone for what's to come, as the series' stock in trade is its setting: a time of great experimentation in medical treatment, when doctors' notions of what's possible or even appropriate have been blown wide open.
Set at the Knickerbocker Hospital in New York City at the dawn of the 20th Century, "The Knick" concerns itself with the lives of the complicated men and women who staff the facility.
Leading man Owen commands every inch of the screen whenever he's on it with a confident, effortless performance and a convincing American accent. As the Knickerbocker's Chief of Surgery, Thackery is a brilliant surgeon with a fine bedside manner. He's frequently eloquent and capable of inspiring those around him — though he spends much of his time emphasizing his own ego or feeding his desire for fame while berating others' mistakes. He's got the skills to back up all that pomposity, but he's hiding a dangerous cocaine addiction. Thackery uses the drug to numb his own pain, just as he uses it on patients to numb theirs, but the pilot never explains what internal anguish he's trying so hard to hide. Perhaps this mystery will be revealed in future episodes.
Surrounding Owen is an intriguing cast that's highlighted by Andre Holland as embattled Dr. Algernon Edwards, a talented surgeon who's discriminated against by the rest of the staff because he's black. Juliet Rylance also grabs instant notice as the empathetic Cornelia Robertson, a moral-minded social welfare worker who chairs the hospital's board of trustees on behalf of her wealthy father. Perhaps these two stand out because they must constantly battle the perceptions of others. The rest of the cast is equally talented, from the street-wise nun who runs the hospital's orphanage to the callous ambulance driver who expects kickbacks for bringing patients to the Knickerbocker.
This being cable, "The Knick" doesn't hold back on explicit content, though most of it is found in the realistic depictions of rather gruesome surgery. The premiere opens with a nerve-racking C-section conducted in a full operating theater, where it becomes quickly apparent that the surgical staff is just as interested in employing experimental procedures to keep learning about the human body as they are in saving their patients. The era in which they live has a remarkably high mortality rate, where the average lifespan never exceeds 47.
Big-screen director Steven Soderbergh films the pilot in his trademark pseudo-documentarian style that feels like eavesdropping on real events. Viewers hoping for fast-paced operating room excitement may be disappointed; this isn't "Grey's Anatomy" in the year 1900. But Soderbergh's lush, leisurely shots lure you in, vividly bringing to life an American era that feels alien, at times almost like watching a science fiction show set in another time with its own rules, lingo and norms. The setting itself is practically a character, and it's just as fascinating as the flesh-and-blood actors.
I can't call "The Knick" must-see-TV quite yet, though it's certainly an engrossing period piece. The ingredients are all there for genuinely compelling character drama — Owen's Dr. Thackery in particular is a ticking bomb — but the first hour is purely about setting the board. If it can keep up this level of quality, though, and audiences are willing to stick with its slow simmer, then Cinemax likely has a winner on its hands.
