# The Knick (2014)

> In 1900 New York, a brilliant but addicted chief surgeon pushes the boundaries of medicine at the Knickerbocker Hospital.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/54421

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 20
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: drama
- Created by: Jack Amiel, Michael Begler
- Network: Cinemax
- Cast: Clive Owen, André Holland, Jeremy Bobb, Juliet Rylance, Eve Hewson, Eric Johnson, Michael Angarano, Cara Seymour
- TMDB rating: 8.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2937900/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: dense
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: gritty, harrowing, claustrophobic, intense, moody

## What critics say

Audiences broadly acclaim The Knick for its meticulous period recreation of early twentieth century surgery and Clive Owen's commanding, morally complicated lead performance.

## Synopsis

The Knick (2014-2015) is a Cinemax medical period drama created by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler. Clive Owen plays Dr. John Thackery, the brilliant but drug-addicted chief surgeon at the Knickerbocker Hospital in downtown New York in 1900, a man who pioneers risky new procedures even as his dependence threatens his career and the patients under his care. Around him, André Holland plays Dr. Algernon Edwards, a Black surgeon fighting for recognition in a segregated institution, while Eve Hewson's Lucy Elkins and Jeremy Bobb's Herman Barrow navigate money, ambition, and the hospital's rigid hierarchy. Each episode is built from the daily grind of operating rooms, emergency wards, and makeshift experiments, with the drive to advance medicine colliding against the limits of knowledge, funding, and prejudice. Shot with a grimy, candlelit palette and rough industrial textures, the two-season series is a moody, harrowing portrait of a city and an institution changing faster than its people can. Its tone is unflinching, claustrophobic, and intense. Fans of Boardwalk Empire, House, and period dramas about flawed genius will find resonance here.

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