Patrick Melrose

Restaurant Waiter: “Would sir care for a dessert?”
Patrick Melrose: “Care for it? How do you care for a dessert? Feed it? Visit it on Sundays?”

That was very surprising, different and special, the first and only season of Patrick Melrose. I would like to start with Benedict Cumberbatch. Although I already knew him to be a versatile actor, I had no idea how brilliant he truly could be. He proves this by playing Patrick Melrose, a British aristocratic drug addict and alcoholic who is trying to let go of his past but never really succeeds.

Patrick Melrose is a man who carries a great deal of baggage. After the second episode anyone can understand why he turns to drugs and alcohol to forget said baggage. Cumberbatch portrays a perfect imperfect Melrose who tries to live a normal life, but whose past and present won't allow him to.

Bad News

Death transforms us all, but it's not so powerful as to turn my father into a small jew. Try again!

At the start of the series, our main character is in the States where his father has died as he needs to arrange the cremation and take back the ashes to the United Kingdom. From that moment on, we witness his insane existence between waking and taking drugs. The series goes from extremely flippant to deeper than deep. It 'reads' like a psychological novel which you just can't put down.
You are fascinated by Melrose who you just can't let go.

Never Mind
When you start with the second episode, for a moment you might think you are watching the wrong series. Nothing is farther from the truth, but the colour, tone and pace of this episode is completely the opposite of the first one. From tragicomically in the first episode to profound compassion and a deep sense of powerlessness and injustice in the second.
His deeply disturbed father, very convincingly portrayed by Hugo Weaving (Seven Types of Ambiguity) - note his sarcastic smirk - and his alcoholic mother, wonderfully performed by Jennifer Jason Leigh, don't make life easy for young Patrick.

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Some Hope
After watching the second episode, you are no longer laughing and you start to feel outraged. The third episode takes you to a stately home in the Cotswolds where we see some familiar faces from the past. How very fake, shallow and frighteningly stupid this world is, immediately becomes clear and Patrick obviously struggles here. Humour is once again present in this episode, but the world of the upper classes is mainly melodramatic, empty and humourless. This is embodied by the small part of Harriet Walter (The Crown) as Princess Margaret.

Mother’s Milk
In the fourth episode we are back in France, which is not a good thing for Patrick. As a viewer, you know the awful things that have happened in that beautiful family home, but we still don't know much about his relationship with his mother. Do we even want to know? This episode focuses more on Patrick and his adult life than ever before and it remains a problematic life, in which Patrick tries to cope by drinking copious amounts of alcohol.

At Last

I think my mother’s death is the best thing to have happened to me since, well, my father’s death.

The fifth and last episode is full of irony, sarcasm, distress, grief, pain and coming to terms with your past and how to cope with all of that in the present. Forgiveness is what comes to mind and humour and denial are part of that. The colour and tone of this last episode is different, just as Patrick is different. Did the letting go work after all? Patrick made a long and difficult journey to become the man he is now and this makes the series complete, with a beautiful ending. But I would not go so far as saying a long and happily ever after.

It's Cumberbatch in particular who raises the level of this miniseries to incredible heights. I've read in an interview with the actor that this part had been on his bucket list for quite some time. He read the semi-autobiographical novels by Edward St Aubyn, on which this series is based, and ever since that his fervent wish was to play Patrick Melrose. His wish has come true and he creates something brilliant.

Cumberbatch manages to surprise the viewer with this role by imbuing Melrose with a certain honesty and authenticity. The way he walks, talks, drinks, uses drugs and pours liquor all over his head. This results in a leading part that is almost unequalled. From the way he uses drugs to the way he despises his parents, Cumberbatch is in and as Patrick Melrose at his absolute best.

Ten points for Cumberbatch, eight points for the series and an average of nine points for a series anyone who considers themselves a book and series lover should watch. If only because of the scene where Cumberbatch, completely high, stumbles about a hotel bar.

What’s the point of a f***ing window if you can’t jump out of it?