Whether or not we lived in NYC in the 1980’s or watched TV shows like Sesame Street, or even ever talked to an imaginary friend as children (or adults), there is something about the miniseries created by Welsh screenwriter Abi Morgan and directed by Lucy Forbes that strikes a chord — a musical chord.

Eric, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, cool girl forever Gaby Hoffman and McKinley Belcher III is cool. I won’t give away any spoilers, will just put the show on your radar by saying that the story of a boy gone missing in 1985 NYC and the subsequent waves of revelations that disappearance brings to light felt very personal to me. I lived that NYC and experienced first hand that corruption. Except mine, my experience with the rotten part of the Big Apple went on until the early 2010’s. Until I left the City.

When 9-year old Edgar goes missing, after a fight with his dad, the parents are understandably besides themselves, while the police officer assigned to their Missing Persons case, Det. Michael Ledroit (Belcher) begins to descend into his own rabbit hole of deceit, corruption and coverups. Not his own, well some are his own, as he hides his own secret, also part of the landscape of the 1980’s in America. Vincent, Edgar’s dad and the creator of Good Day Sunshine, a puppet TV show a-la Sesame Street, begins to obsess over Eric, a puppet that his son wanted to pitch to add to the show. Cumberbatch as Vincent is only outperformed by Hoffman as his wife Cassie and his vulnerability, while he deals with his own demons and begins to talk to Eric as he searches for his son, really sells the show.

That the show is created and directed by non-Americans, non-New Yorkers shows. It’s the one sour note in an otherwise sublimely entertaining watch and a trip down memory lane which will make even the most jaded New Yorkers tear up with nostalgia. That part shows in the re-imagined NYC, with buildings that look more like East London than East Harlem and apartments that are way too big, too lit and large to inspire the real memories of actual New Yorkers — used to living in closets that double as studio apartments.

Nevertheless, the acting, costumes and soundtrack more than make up for the limited series’ shortcomings. And Eric really does deserve a good watch, to not only look at how things used to be, but also decipher how things are now. The City, and the world around it, may have lost one aspect of its corruption, but it has gained another. Make that a hundred fold more. Corruption is as old as NYC and it is what makes the place the sublime chaos it is. One that, no matter how far away you go, or how long you’ve been away, keeps tearing at your heartstrings forever.

And that Eric gets right. In every way.

In case I don’t have your attention yet, here is the soundtrack for the show, from all six episodes. Songs include Rodriguez’s ‘Crucify Your Mind’, CAN’s ‘Vitamin C’ and Joan Armatrading’s ‘Love and Affection’. Told you, the soundtrack of our lives!

And you can watch Eric on Netflix.

Image courtesy of Netflix, used with permission.