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The Knick, Ep.1.06, “Start Calling Me Dad”: Placenta surgery, prostitutes, and child death

This week’s episode begins with Thackery living up to his more whacky reputation, calling Bertie into work in the middle of the night to ramble on about his new coke-induced placenta surgery ideas. Oh, and he’s got two high-priced sex workers there to keep him company for the past two days while he experiments on them: “Our budget won’t allow for pregnant prostitutes, so we’ll just have to make due with what we have here.” It’s absolutely bonkers, but the amazing thing is how easily the audience can buy into it. Of course Thackery would do this. The previous five episodes have been insisting how “renegade” Thackery is by referring to his antics – his coke addiction and radical ideas – but this is the first time the show really delivers on how insane yet brilliant Thackery is. Now this is how you open an episode. Naturally the episode doesn’t stay at that height of ludicrous antics, as not everyone at the hospital is spending their time testing revolutionary placenta surgery methods on sex workers, but what a great moment of triumph it is to see Thackery and Chickering’s surgery actually work! It’s completely predictable, but in the moment the success of their new approach, the fact that they finally pull it off, is astonishing.

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‘Sinister’ has its moments, but leaves many of its shadows unexplored

Sinister Directed by Scott Derrickson Written by Scott Derrickson and C.Robert Cargill USA, 2012 A box of Super 8 home videos are the object of obsession in Sinister, a slightly different, but often familiar found footage horror film by director Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose). While Derrickson’s film is generally agreeable for most …

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