The Best TV Series Of The Decade (That You Didn't Watch)
There's so much more to life than Game Of Thrones and Breaking Bad, you know.
It's been a great decade for television. The 2010s has provided us with many masterpieces, such as Stranger Things, Godless and The Night Of. For the first time in history, television has achieved a level of legitimacy historically reserved for cinema, and may even have surpassed it in some ways - with many respected writers and directors turning to the small screen in order to tell deeper, larger stories that can't be contained in a paltry 2 or 3 hours.
Unfortunately while some shows - such as that one with the dragons and copious sex scenes - garner near universal acclaim, there are many equally if not more deserving works that fail to get much recognition. Whether their appeal is too niche or their airtime clashes with more popular programming, these series frequently end up cancelled prematurely or at the very least remain under-appreciated.
One such example is Steven Soderbergh's period medical drama The Knick - a title which invariably results in blank looks and shrugged shoulders when mentioned despite fact that it is undoubtedly and legitimately the greatest TV series of the last ten years.
Don't believe me? Read on and you'll hopefully be convinced...
4. The Cast Is Stunning
Set in and around The Knickerbocker Hospital in New York City in 1900, The Knick centres primarily on a team of pioneering doctors and medical professionals led by maverick chief-of-surgery John Thackery, played with ferocious determination by a swaggering, pencil-moustache sporting Clive Owen. Thackery works tirelessly to push the limits of medical science, all the while trying to manage a debilitating cocaine addiction and keep it hidden from his colleagues and superiors.
When the hospital's board of directors appoints Algernon Edwards, a talented African American surgeon who has trained and seen success in Europe, as assistant chief of surgery, tensions flare up. Thack is unconvinced, owing partly to his own prejudices but concerned more with maintaining status-quo, whilst his trusted assistant and unapologetic racist Everett Gallinger is incensed at the prospect of losing his position to a black man.
Whilst Thack is most definitely the show's protagonist, it's Edwards' story which carries the most weight. Played by André Holland, he is faced with endless hardship as he is stonewalled and undermined at every turn, and is forced to set up a secret after-hours clinic for African American patients in the hospital's basement. Holland portrays Edwards as a man of great grace and dignity, but with a simmering resentment and rage beneath the surface constantly threatening to rear its head.
The entire supporting cast is also stellar, with no character feeling underdeveloped or one-dimensional. Of particular note are Jeremy Bobb's conniving hospital manager Herman Barrow and his constant schemes to skim the hospital's funds and clear his debt with local crime bosses, and Chris Sullivan's boorish ambulance driver Cleary, who forms an unlikely partnership with Cara Seymour's Sister Harriet, a Catholic nun running a clandestine enterprise of her own.
The characters and their respective arcs address many complex issues including institutional racism, medical ethics and wealth inequality. It's a difficult watch from start to finish, but if you can stomach the opening scene - a brutally bloody placenta previa procedure - you'll likely make it through the rest.
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