As the 2nd episode begins, Laszlo Kreizler (Daniel Bruhl) visits a local morgue of sorts. He asks the man if any children are brought there. He is told that the poor ones are. He asks about tongues and such being removed from the corpses. The man denies it. However, he insists the boy on the bridge would have deserved it. Meanwhile, Captain Connor (David Wilmot) rough up Mr. Santorelli. Afterwards, Connor tries to visit Roosevelt (Brian Geraghty). Instead, he freaks out Sara (Dakota Fanning). She doesn’t let him bother her. During this time, John Moore (Luke Evans) draws a woman. He runs into Sara on the street and learns that she wants to get involved more. Moore agrees to take her to the Santorelli’s house.

They speak with the dead boy’s family. They learn that Giorgio wasn’t like the other boys. His father beat him and called him a girl. They also discover that Mr. Santorelli was attacked by two policemen and a Holy Joe. Meanwhile, Marcus (Douglas Smith) and Lucius (Matthew Shear) discover what the murder weapon might be. Marcus also spots a girl and seems attracted to her. Laszlo meets with a young patient. Then, he is harassed by a holy man outside. He tells the man to get out of his clinic. At the office, Sara looks through unresolved homicide files. Then, she enters Connor’s office and breaks into his desk drawer. There, she finds information about two murdered boys. Connor watches her as she exits his office.

Sara takes the information to Laszlo. One of the victims worked at a brothel called Shang Drapers. Then, they turn their attention to Santorelli. The doctor learns about the beatings. A young boy wakes up. A man tells him to come closer. The boy asks what is wrong with the man’s mouth. Laszlo speaks with John about Sara. He learns that Sara was in a sanitarium after her father’s death, which might have been a suicide. John insists he doesn’t have feelings for Sara. Meanwhile, Sara gets held choosing out clothing for her meeting with Laszlo. John and Laszlo attend the opera. They spot Roosevelt with J.P. Morgan (Michael Ironside). Marcus and Lucius leave their house, after blowing out the candles for their mother. After the opera ends, Laszlo speaks with Mayor Strong (Peter McRobbie). He eventually turns his attention to Roosevelt.

Laszlo tells him about his suspicions. He also admits he wants to conduct his own investigation. Roosevelt doesn’t want to talk about it in front of JP Morgan and the others. Meanwhile, Marcus and his brother meet with Sara. Before too long, John and Laszlo join them. They begin going over the evidence. Marcus and Lucius pull out the knife, which is referred to as an Arkansas Toothpick. They also discuss fingerprints. The brothers reveal that they’ve found a fingerprint on the back of a timepiece. Laszlo tells the group that he wants their help tracking down the killer. He warns them that it could be dangerous. Afterwards, John urges Laszlo not to get Sara involved. Laszlo manages to make John even angrier. Outside, John, Marcus and Lucius go their own ways. Laszlo joins Sara in the carriage.

Laszlo tells Stevie to follow John. Marcus attends a socialist party meeting and finds the girl, Esther (Daisy Bevan), from earlier. Soon, they sleep together. Sara and Laszlo discuss the plan on the ride to Sara’s place. It appears that they have an interest in one another. Meanwhile, John heads to Paresis Hall. He speaks with Biff (Falk Hentschel) and tries to get information about Giorgio. Biff puts drugs in his drink. Biff tells John that the boy’s clients wanted to be told that they were worthless. Then, Sally lures John to a private room. John requests information about Giorgio once again. John learns that Giorgio had a client with a silver smile. The boy insists Gloria never left her room. Eventually, the drugs become too much. Sally takes John’s wallet.

At the end of the episode, John is surrounded by Biff and his comrades. They contemplate what to do with him. Biff calls in his girls.

 

The Alienist Review

This episode of The Alienist was pretty decent. However, it is definitely tinkering on the edge of becoming a pedo erotica. Now that Laszlo has put together his team, we can begin digging into the evidence and trying to track down the killer. At this point, Laszlo isn’t even close to having a possible suspect. What will Biff and the others do to John? I enjoyed the episode much more than the opener. It scores a 7 out of 10. Catch up with previous recaps of The Alienist now!