The Netflix show with Benedict Cumberbatch is a beautiful journey with a precise meaning: let’s explore Eric and its ending scene together.
Netflix promoted it weeks before its release, and understandably, it immediately became one of the most popular series of the year after it landed on streaming: Eric is an intense tale full of meaningful lessons for old and young generations. The TV show with Benedict Cumberbatch faces pivotal keys of our society: poverty, gentrification, grief, relationships, parenting… however, above all, the show wants to raise awareness about children’s points of view.
For six episodes we followed the story of Edgar, a smart kid who mysteriously disappears in his own neighborhood in New York, triggering the police investigation. Vincent, his father, feels guilty and responsible for the kid’s state of mind the day he disappears: he will face a terrible period during which he will lose his job and his relationship with his wife. Alone, facing his addictions, close to madness, he will start his search for his son, helped by the vision of Eric, the puppet he created after his son’s ideas.
The show’s first half plays on the mystery: what happened to Edgar? Did someone kill him, is the father really involved? After the show enters the second half, we start understanding the truth: nobody killed or kidnapped Edgar, the kid was upset that morning and followed a homeless graffiti artist up to New York’s underground tunnels. Once he got there, the homeless guy kept him there, trying to understand what to do, developing a relationship with the kid, and taking care of him in his personal way. After many adventures, Edgar is found, with the decisive help of his father Vincent, who sends a message to him on TV in Eric’s costume.
Among the many aspects worth exploring in Eric, the ending scene is highly symbolic. Let’s examine it together.
Eric on Netflix: the meaning of the ending scene
In Eric’s final scene, we see Edgar sitting in the crowd with his mother, watching his father’s puppet show. Apparently, it’s the first time he sees Eric face to face, and it’s an exciting moment for him. Right after the show, the kid is supposed to spend some time alone with his father, but he walks out of the scene, leaving Vincent puzzled. After the mom leaves, Vincent looks for Edgar, and we understand what happened: the kid is inside Eric’s costume and wants to speak with his father as Eric. The show ends with this emotional scene: Vincent talking to his son and Edgar impersonating Eric.
There are multiple symbols in the ending scene: the Netflix show Eric wants to convey a precise meaning, and it becomes crucial that we understand it. For the entire plot, we witness a communication problem between Edgar and Vincent: Vincent is very demanding with his son, and Edgar feels scared by his father’s approach. Somehow, Edgar doesn’t feel loved by his father: they speak a different love language, and while Edgar seeks acceptance and understanding, Vincent constantly pushes him to do better, humiliating his efforts.
After Edgar’s misadventures in New York’s underground, the kid becomes more aware of Vincent’s will to be a better father. The conditions to rebuild the father-son relationship are there, but starting again is always challenging. Edgar finds his personal way to re-establish the connection with his father: he doesn’t speak with him as Edgar, but he impersonates Eric, the puppet that built this new phase of their relationship. Eric becomes a shield that protects Edgar’s insecurities: the kid talks with the playful aggressivity of the monster, and that helps the communication with the father, who adopted a similar communication style for years.
At the same time, Edgar smartly uses the world of puppets as the perfect context to establish authentic contact with his father: puppets are everything to Vincent, and seeing Edgar so deeply involved in this world helps them get closer. However, it’s not just that: Eric is originally Edgar’s idea, so this is the perfect moment to give Vincent feedback about what Eric should look and sound like in Edgar’s initial inspiration. Talking as Eric, Edgar accomplishes two missions at the same time: he becomes part of the thing his father loves most, and he shows him how the real Eric behaves. Eric is their shared creature, and interacting with him can become the foundation of their new connection.
Things will undoubtedly improve between Vincent and Edgar: the kid now has no reason to think his father doesn’t love him, and the father has a stronger motivation to be a better parent. Eric is the monster inside all of us, the harsh character we all adopt when we are unable to connect with the outer world. It’s true, puppets can say what we usually can’t, and the same applies to the masks we wear daily to survive.
