The Alienist 1×9 Review: Requiem

Considering what happened in the penultimate episode of The Alienist titled ‘Requiem,’ it would have been awesome if TNT decided to give us a two-episode finale. Anyway, let’s see how Team Alienist fares next week and where our characters will go if this series continues.

I was provided a review screener of Requiem. The opinions are my own.  

While I’m still disappointed that Mary was murdered in the previous episode, it was good to see her death have an impact in ‘Requiem.’ Killing her off does serve as a way to feed Kriezler’s man-pain (ugh!), but at least it was handled well instead of being an afterthought and having Kriezler dive into the investigation as soon as possible. We got to see a very closed off Laszlo this week, and I’m looking forward to seeing what urges him to work with Team Alienist again.

With Kriezler moping about, Sara (Dakota Fanning) took the reins and continued the investigation with John (Luke Evans) and the Isaacson twins. I appreciated the show telling the audience that Sara’s really invested in catching the murderer and doesn’t see the current investigation as a way to grow her career in the police department. I also liked how ‘Requiem’ had her stick with John and the twins even when the team traveled to dangerous areas. The writers could have easily had her sit things out, and I’m glad they didn’t.

I mentioned how it would have been better if we got a two-episode finale because nothing much happened in ‘Requiem.’ It just set things up for the upcoming final episode set to air on March 26, 2018, without giving us much in terms of the killer’s identity. Yes, we got a deeper look into why Japheth selected certain kids (they all hate their fathers) and how he got close to them, but we still haven’t seen his face!

Some thoughts and questions:

• I get that Sara is an independent woman. But there’s a difference between being independent and being careless. The scene where Connor threatened Sara when she’s getting ready to walk home alone was unnecessary (unless it’s hinting at an upcoming scene in the finale). Team Alienist knows Connor is a threat (he beat up John and murdered Mary). I want the team to be more careful. Why are they walking home alone at night? Even I don’t do that unless completely necessary. Sara and her team members should know better.
• I really wanted Cyrus to kill Connor.
• Joseph needs to survive!

Feel free to share your thoughts about ‘Requiem’ with us.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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