The difference between the film and its equally expensive contemporaries is Luc Besson’s playful, childlike naïveté.
The premise is undermined by the film’s tendency to soft-pedal the dangerous situations it sets up.
The chickens of gilded-era capitalism come to roost in as many configurations as are possible.
Just how soap-operatic are Soderbergh and writers Jack Amiel and Michael Begler willing to go?
This episode sees its characters ground up especially in the gears of their own patriarchal systems.
Visually, the episode’s centerpiece is the Knick’s much-alluded-to charity ball, played at once as a sprawling comedy of manners and a jawdropping pictorial spectacle.
The Knick’s second season has seen Soderbergh turn his camera on different strains of pedagogy afforded by the turn-of-the-century milieu.
Steven Soderbergh’s camera seamlessly stitches the hospital’s constituent parts together in what appears to be real time.
“Wonderful Surprises” is so over-stacked as to make each scene work purely as exposition.
A clear effort is being made by Jack Amiel, Michael Begler, and Steven Soderbergh to make the new season as dense as possible.
Slant is reaching more readers than ever, but as online advertising continues to evolve, independently operated publications like ours have struggled to adapt. We're committed to keeping our content free and accessible—meaning no paywalls or subscription fees—so if you like what we do, please consider becoming a Slant patron:
You can also make a donation via PayPal.