The Knick is Cinemax’s newest television series that looks into the professional and personal lives of the New York Knickerbocker Hospital staff during the early part of the twentieth century. The series was created and written by Jack Amiel (Raising Helen) and Michael Begler (Raising Helen), who also serve as producers and executive producers. Clive Owen, Steven Soderbergh (Traffic; Ocean’s Eleven), and Michael Sugar are also executive producers. It premiered on August 8th, 2014. The ‘Knickerbocker Hospital’, a fictional hospital, functions as the epicenter around which the lives and struggles of the protagonists revolve. In addition to getting a look into one of New York’s unique hospitals, viewers also get the opportunity to see life outside of the hospital: immigrants living in horrible sanitary situations, young children working in coal mines and factories, and deep social tensions and racial prejudices running within society.
It’s the year 1900 in New York City, the ‘Knickerbocker Hospital’ employs a staff of innovative surgeons, nurses and staff who must overcome numerous medicinal inadequacies,[i.e. alcohol-soaked knives, sterilized saws that are also to cut open pig cadavers, and make-shift hand-cranked suction pumps and vacuums] to keep their patients alive and the hospital up and running. Despite literally struggling to keep the lights on, the hospital attempts daily to draw in a wealthy clientele, without having to sacrifice quality healthcare.
The staff of Knickerbocker Hospital includes new lead surgeon, Dr. John Thackery (Clive Owen) who is largely based on historical figure William Stewart Halsted (1852 – 1922)[i]. Owen’s performance as Dr. Thackery is electrifyingly scary as he depicts this innovative turn-of-the-century physician. In this newly appointed position as the chief of surgery, Dr. Thackery must battle his cocaine and opium addictions. We also find that although he is a conflicted surgeon, losing patient after patient sometimes for the sake of experimentation; his passion pushes him to go beyond the existing boundaries of surgical methods and techniques with hopes of new medical discoveries and gaining a solid reputation among his colleagues and staff.
Compared to Owen, the supporting cast may not be as well known, but they are in their own ways notable and worthy of attention. Consider Dr. Algernon Edwards (Andre Holland; 42 andBride Wars) who is a cultured, Harvard-educated, European-trained African American surgeon (partially based on the historical figures Marshall Taylor and Louis T. Wright)[ii] who must fight for respect within the all-white-populated hospital, as well as the racially-charged city. It should also be noted that Dr. Edwards in his physical appearance and demeanor can be likened to that of sociologist and civil rights activist W.E.B DuBois. Dr. Edwards also offers a complicated and layered, yet intriguing, plot to the storyline. To add to this complexity, there’s Herman Barrow (Jeremy Bobb; The Wolf on Wall Street) the hospital administrator with more greed than common sense. Then we have the daughter of the hospital benefactor Cornelia Robertson (Juliet Rylance; Sinister) who provides a strong female lead role in the show. The remaining doctors and staff include Dr. Everett Gallinger (Eric Johnson; Flash Gordon), Dr. Bertram ‘Bertie’ Chickering Jr. (Michael Angarano; The Forbidden Kingdom) and Nurse Lucy Elkins (Eve Hewson; Enough Said) who round out a fantastic supporting cast.
Along with the stellar casting and writing, one of the film’s strong points is the cinematography: it presents an old, rustic yet gory look that pleasantly and curiously pulls viewers into its wicked plot. Picture entering into ‘The Knick’ hospital as the staff prepares to operate on very ill pregnant woman. Right from the start, the operation is reminiscent of a fighting action sequence – but bloodier. Before the woman takes her last breath before being put under we hear her cry “Please save my baby!” Immediately the mask is placed over her nose and mouth and one of the doctors begins to pump. The next hand we see is that of Dr. Thackery as he makes an incision from one side to the other, wiping up blood as he cuts. He then calls for the vacuum, which connects to various jars that begin to fill up with blood. The next scene is Thackery pulling out the baby and handing it to the nurse, who transports it to another cart to begin pumping air into the mouth. Each moment crescendos as the doctor’s work desperately to keep the mother and child alive. But as the procedure ends and the last drops of blood fall into the jar, the nurse does not hear a pulse from the baby. As the camera zooms to her, she just shakes her, “No”, and all we are left with is the mother’s deflated stomach, and tubes and wires hanging on the flaps of the mother’s skin. In those few minutes, we witness one of the most thrilling medical operations on television. It’s like riding “The Intimidator 305” at King’s Dominion Amusement Park.
So not only are you visually stunned, but the detailed writing also helps to establish a sense of realism that we as viewers rarely get to witness in television shows (or films) illustrating this particular era. With each episode we see that a lot effort, time, and commitment has come from the production staff as it is clear that they have gone to great lengths to provide an accurate portrayal of everyday life in turn-of-the-century New York in ‘The Knick’. Imagine Owen’s character dressed in a bowler hat with frazzled hair and disheveled sunglasses shading his eyes staggering out of an opium den. In some ways he is reminiscent of a rising rock star packed with attitude as he tersely directs a cab to take the long way to the hospital. Upon his arrival, he has sufficient time to inject himself between the toes with an unidentified cocaine solution. With each of his movements, the camera fluidly catches every step that leads up to his impending tragedy. The vision of director Steve Soderbergh is quite distinct as the cinematography is indeed intricate and dark, so to showcase the elaborate and pristine costumes, and the historically accurate and vintage props. One might even say the hospital is much like an ‘electric circus’ considering all of the madness that takes place day in and day out.
When one thinks of new television series, the heavy-hitter networks that come to mind include ABC, NBC, HBO, and Fox However, Cinemax is beginning to make its mark known from behind the shadows and making its presence known in the primetime realm. Since 2011, Cinemax has begun to offer more mainstream original programming in order to compete with sister channel HBO, and rivals Showtime and Starz. The channel has also changed its focus to compete with other movie services such as Netflix and Hulu. Many of these new program like The Knick (as well as Banshee, Hunted, and Strike Back) have helped to change the Cinemax’s image from a channel that has been mostly known for its late night adult programming.
All in all, The Knick is an engrossing and accurate portrayal of life and death in and around this New York hospital (after only three episodes, the series has already been renewed for a second season). In each 60-minute episode, the city of New York is transformed and meticulously recreated, to show every busy street corner, alley or candle-lit room making it feel authentic and have you coming back for more. The Knick is not your typical hospital drama like ER or Grey’s Anatomy, and definitely steps away from the comedy of Scrubs. Put it like this, the incisions a far more sophisticated, grittier and meaty (pun intended), the surgery scenes are beyond graphic, and all with a twist of entertaining character development, and chilling drama.
Catch The Knick every Friday on Cinemax at 9 p.m. EST/ 8 p.m. CST.
[i] William Stewart Halstead was a pioneer of scientific surgery who opened a surgical school at Johns Hopkins University. In 1885, Halsted developed conduction anesthesia by injecting his own nerve trunks with cocaine, a substance to which he subsequently became addicted (though later cured).
[ii] Louis T. Wright (1891 – 1952), a brilliant African American surgeon who was active in the New York NAACP in the first half of the 20th century. Both Wright and the fictional Edwards studied at Harvard Medical School and graduated at the top of their class. Wright became Harlem Hospital’s first African American surgeon in 1921, two decades after this show takes place.
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