Into the Darkness: Systemic Failure and the Search for Light in Abi Morgan’s "Eric"

This essay analyzes "Eric" (2024), exploring themes of systemic corruption, trauma, and justice through its complex characters and narrative. Through its portrayal of complex characters and institutional failures, the show offers a layered narrative that invites reflection on the social forces shaping crime, identity, and empathy in contemporary media.

Eric (2024) [TV Mini Series]. IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16283824/mediaindex/.

Introduction

Abi Morgan’s Eric (2024) is a six-episode limited series that follows Vincent Anderson (Benedict Cumberbatch), a gifted puppet-maker living with mental illness and struggling with alcoholism, and his imaginative young son Edgar (Ivan Howe), who vanishes into the subterranean tunnels of 1980s New York in an effort to escape his father’s unpredictable behavior. Edgar’s disappearance triggers a citywide investigation that ultimately exposes entrenched political corruption, institutional neglect, and intergenerational trauma. Running parallel to Vincent’s emotional unraveling is the narrative of Detective Ledroit (McKinley Belcher III), a Black, gay police officer seeking justice for Marlon Rochelle, a 15-year-old Black teenager whose death is not only concealed by the NYPD but directly tied to the actions of powerful city officials. The cover-up—intended to protect a high-ranking lawmaker engaged in the sexual exploitation of minors—reveals not just systemic bias, but a willful conspiracy within the police force to suppress the truth and shield perpetrators of violence. Through these intersecting storylines, Eric argues: (1) that racism, homophobia, and a lack of mental health support are deeply implicated in the roots of crime and societal breakdown; (2) that meaningful responses to harm require both structural accountability and individual compassion; and (3) that the series’ depiction of violence spotlights the historical and ongoing marginalization of vulnerable communities.

Structural Causes of Crime

Throughout Eric, Morgan explores how the misattribution of crime to marginalized individuals distracts from deeper, structural causes. George Lovett (Clarke Peters), Vincent’s landlord, becomes a primary suspect in Edgar’s disappearance despite a lack of substantive evidence. Although George’s past legal record includes a charge of child molestation that was ultimately overturned, law enforcement fixates on his presumed guilt. His defense attorney, Ms. Clark, directly critiques the racially biased investigation, stating: “You wanna know how to spell racist? NYPD” (Eric, episode 2, 21:57). Morgan thus illuminates the ways in which law enforcement agencies often scapegoat individuals based on race, sexuality, or past accusations, rather than addressing root causes of violence.

More broadly, Eric positions crime not as the result of isolated deviance but as a consequence of untreated trauma, generational dysfunction, and institutional neglect. Vincent, for example, is consumed by guilt, addiction, and unresolved familial estrangement. He expresses his emotional struggle through the puppet Eric, stating: “I guess I took a wrong turn somewhere. See, the thing is it’s so dark underground, but I was scared to come up… And nobody told me that sunlight could be so… pretty” (episode 3, 38:49). In analyzing Eric’s daunting and familiar presence in Vincent and Edgar’s life as a metaphor (along with the themes of the underground unhoused encampments in the sewers of New York), Eric’s statement reveals an additional cause of crime within society can be one’s own experience with darkness: that being physically, psychologically, and emotionally in darkness without an obvious or realistic way out.

Ludovic Robert/Netflix

Responses to Crime and the Role of Justice

Detective Ledroit’s character offers a compelling depiction of ethical law enforcement, challenging both external corruption and his internal struggle. In moments of compassion, Ledroit comforts victims’ families with empathy and restraint. For instance, after discovering Edgar’s bloodied shirt, he gently advises Edgar’s mother: “As hard as it may be, please don’t draw any conclusions yet. We remain hopeful” (episode 1, 9:18). Conversely, when confronting the truth of institutional complicity in Marlon Rochelle’s murder, Ledroit states: “I’m afraid I’ll do damage until I can’t stop. I got rage so deep inside of me I can’t push it down no more” (episode 6, 7:20). This duality reflects the psychological toll of working within a system that is both a tool for justice and a mechanism of oppression.

Rather than presenting a monolithic view of policing, Morgan offers a more complex critique. Through Ledroit, she gestures toward the need for systemic transformation rather than wholesale abolition. While the series acknowledges the failures of the justice system, it also posits that morally conscious individuals within it can act as catalysts for reform. In contrast, figures like Deputy Mayor Richard Costello symbolize political complicity. His public remarks—“It’s wonderful to have the Hudson Sanitation guys out in force, cleaning up our streets and making this city great again” (episode 4, 9:10)—echo contemporary populist rhetoric and obscure the violence underpinning his actions. Morgan’s juxtaposition of Ledroit and Costello underscores the dangers of performative governance and the necessity of accountability at every level of power.

Ludovic Robert/Netflix

Representations of Violence and Social Marginalization

Morgan’s depiction of violence—especially against youth and unhoused individuals—is unflinching and intentionally discomforting. In a particularly disturbing moment, a nightclub patron references a “10 year-old bourbon” while Ledroit wears a wire during an investigation into child sex trafficking (episode 1, 46:21). This moment, in conjunction with Edgar’s age and disappearance, evokes the specter of exploitation and the commodification of children. The series’ climax reveals the murder of Marlon Rochelle by Deputy Mayor Costello and undercover vice officers (episode 6, 4:09), a brutally honest representation of the disproportionate violence inflicted upon Black youth by state actors.

The sewers—where Edgar finds temporary refuge and where many unhoused individuals reside—serve as a powerful visual metaphor for society’s literal and figurative underworld. As law enforcement forcibly evacuates these tunnels, viewers are prompted to consider the broader consequences of displacement and criminalization of poverty. Morgan’s narrative raises important questions about how modern societies respond to homelessness, addiction, and mental illness—not with care, but with erasure. The show does not offer prescriptive policy solutions but instead advocates for an ethos grounded in compassion, community, and human dignity.

Conclusion

In her essay “Quality Control: The American Police Procedural,” Sue Turnbull writes of The Wire: “The individual, good or bad, can do very little in light of the moral corruption that underpins the entire city, and that underpins American society in general” (Turnbull 94). Abi Morgan’s Eric echoes this sentiment, portraying a world in which systemic injustice persists not because of individual malice alone, but because of the collective failure to address structural harm. Through its raw depiction of violence, corruption, and redemption, Eric invites viewers to reconsider their assumptions about crime, justice, and community. It suggests that meaningful progress lies not in punishment or denial, but in the courage to listen, to act justly, and above all, to care.

“Be good. Be kind. Be brave. Be different.”— Good Day Sunshine

Works Cited

• Morgan, Abi, et al. Eric, created by Abi Morgan, season 1, episode 1–6, Netflix, 30 May 2024.

• Turnbull, Sue. “Quality Control: The American Police Procedural.” The TV Crime Drama, vol. 3, no. 16, 23 June 2014, pp. 68–96. 11, doi:10.1515/9780748678181-006.