The Alienist

The Alienist is an American period drama television series based on the 1994 novel of the same name by Caleb Carr. The ten-episode limited series first aired on TNT as a sneak peek on January 21, 2018, before its official premiere on January 22, 2018, and ended on March 26, 2018. The series stars Daniel Brühl, Luke Evans, and Dakota Fanning as an ad hoc team assembled in mid-1890s New York City to investigate a serial killer who is murdering street children. The series incorporates fact with fiction by including the characters that are historical figures, such as Theodore Roosevelt, who held the post of police commissioner from 1895 to 1897. On August 16, 2018, TNT ordered a sequel series based upon the 1997 follow-up novel The Angel of Darkness. The second season, titled The Alienist: Angel of Darkness, premiered on July 19, 2020.



Plot
The first season is set in 1896, when a series of gruesome murders of boy prostitutes has gripped New York City. Newly appointed police commissioner Teddy Roosevelt calls upon Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a criminal psychiatrist, and John Moore, a newspaper illustrator, to conduct the investigation in secret. Joining them in the probe is Sara Howard, Roosevelt's headstrong secretary, as well as twin brothers Marcus and Lucius Isaacson, both detective sergeants in the New York City Police Department (NYPD).

The team finds opposition within the NYPD, primarily from Captain Connor and the recently retired Chief Byrnes, both of whom are more committed to protecting the reputations of New York's high society than they are to finding the perpetrators of the crimes; as well as from the working poor and lower class citizens who distrust them for being outsiders.

In the second season, set a year later, Sara has opened her private detective agency. She, Kreizler, and now–New York Times reporter Moore team up to find the Spanish consul's kidnapped infant daughter. Their investigation puts them on a path of another elusive killer, while showcasing institutional corruption, income inequality, yellow journalism, and the role of women in 1890s society.

Labyrinth (Season 2, Episode 3)
Howard decides to try hypnosis herself before allowing Linares to try it herself. Through a friend of Moore, Ogden Gildersleeve, Howard manages to get inside the Lying In Hospital to talk to Dr. Markoe and his staff. A nurse, Liddy Hatch, reveals that Napp changed rooms before her death. She also obtains her file for Howard. Howard further discovers that the matron sometimes kept babies at her home to take care of, and a neighbour reveals that she couldn't have her own children. Lindy reassures her that the matron is unable of killing. Lucius tells Marcus about Byrnes' blackmailing. Linares has two attempts of hypnosis, the first partially failing, before Kreizler and his team call on Cecilia Beaux to assist Linares with painting what she sees. Linares notes feeling being watched, specifically by a woman, confirming the their suspicion that the killer is a woman who is possibly coping for the loss of her child. Kreizler and his team also attend Moore's bachelor party prior to his planned wedding with Violet Hayward.