A sharp Oliver Twist spinoff
You remember Oliver Twist, right? A novel by Charles Dickens. A poor orphan boy begs the workhouse guard for more porridge in English cries. Are you making everyone angry by saying, “I just want to eat something?” Even if you’ve never read the book, seen the musical version of Oliver!, or even grew up watching Disney’s Oliver and Company, you’ve probably heard this line before. . To spoil the whole 19th century novel, Twist is just a good kid who keeps having bad things happen until later on when his true parentage is revealed and he is adopted by a kind and wealthy benefactor. Jack Dawkins, nicknamed “The Artistic Dodger,” is a supporting character, a cool, street-smart kid who befriends the boy and teaches him to pickpocket along the way. (In the Disney version, Billy Joel plays a puppy who wears a hot dog chain around his neck like a scarf, wears sunglasses, and sings “Why should I worry?/Why should I care?”). ) Now, “The Artful Dolleder,” a new eight-episode limited series premiering on November 29, is the story of Dodger. And it’s definitely not Disney, so get ready.
You know, Dodger gets arrested before the book ends. He ended up in prison and was never heard from again. The series begins in his 1850s, 15 years after this incident. After Dodge (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) is released from prison, a man impressed by his nimble pickpocketing skills trains him to be a military doctor. few. Dawkins discovers his true calling and begins practicing at an Australian hospital. And ladies and gentlemen, the surgeries at this hospital are outrageous. By chance, men would come in from the street and see people being cut up and stitched up. We see a leg amputation right out of the gate. It’s a character-defining moment for old Jack, though. As he’s being a good little showman for his weird, shouting crowd, bragging to them about how fast he’s gonna stitch this guy, he leans over to the patient and quietly advises him on how to bear the pain, assuring him how quickly it will be over, revealing that the swift stitching isn’t purely some cool jock move, but a compassionate act as well. This is our guy.
But do you know what else this guy does? gambling. Apparently, a surgeon’s job at the time only paid for room and board. He needs to make real money elsewhere, and he makes it by being a bad boy. When Dodge is cheated at a card game, he suddenly finds himself in debt of about twenty pounds that he cannot pay, and as punishment for not coughing up the money, he immediately has his hand cut off. Fortunately, Norbert Fagin, Dodger’s former mentor and the main villain of Oliver Twist (presumably hanged in the original), takes Dodger’s place on the ex-con mission. It turns out. At the time, British prisoners are being sent to the Australian colonies, and Dodger and Fagin (David Thewlis) are reunited. Fagin assumes the role of Dodger’s servant and persuades his former protégé to return to thievery to pay off his debts. There is a premise. It’s silly, but the writing is tight, the dialogue is crisp, the acting is solid, and it’s an entertaining watch. And we haven’t even talked about Lady Belle yet.
Belle (Maia Mitchell) is the governor’s daughter, an aspiring surgeon, a bookworm, obsessed with The Lancet, interested in surgical innovations such as ether and carbolic acid, and averse to the irritating suitors her father keeps sending her. I’m not interested. What we actually meet is a terrible wannabe poet. Wordsworth’s Stan, seemingly unaware that the other poets are present, appears to provide comic relief, much to the annoyance of the indifferent Belle and Crazy’s sister Fanny. Her love scene with the boy. Belle is a great character, she is quick-witted and smart, a contrast to Dodge, a young boy who is blackmailed into becoming a surgeon, a profession only open to men at the time.
And can we say there’s serious tension between the two?The four episodes shown to critics barely touch on them. But even when I’m treating the burn on her leg, it’s steaming. There’s a lustful tension from them when he says she’s better now that he helped her with her surgery. Who would have thought that the boy from Love Actually would one day play a role like this? The dynamic between Fagin and Dodge is also rich. Fagin relies heavily on the “I’m basically your father” card, which Dawkins completely rejects as he leaves him to rot in prison and elsewhere. Oddly enough, Fagin is…lovable? He seems to care about Jack, even though he could very well be betrayed again at any time. It kind of looks like Yondu/Peter Quill. Somehow. I think we’ll see where things go from here, but it’s touching to see Fagin stand up for Dodge in a meaningful way, even though we know he’ll remain a bastard forever.