Once more unto the breach. Sean Bean returns to television in the A&E mystery crime drama “The Frankenstein Chronicles.” Bean plays neither Frankenstein nor his monster, but a third party detective attempting to discover who has been mutilating corpses.
A quick synopsis from the A&E press release:
London, 1827. After a successful operation by the Thames River Police to apprehend a gang of opium smugglers, a child”s corpse is discovered. Inspector John Marlott (Sean Bean) is horrified to discover that it”s not actually a child, but a grotesque assembly of human body parts.
The hour-long drama will run for limited 6-episode first season as Marlott descends into the seedy underbelly of 19th century London. Someone is attempting to reanimate the dead in a grotesque parody of the novel “Frankenstein.” His investigation will go from the vice ridden underworld to the sketchy behavior of the medical establishment and political forces driving scientific progress.
It”s not explicitly stated, but this series has the feel of prot-Jack the Ripper to me. The recipe looks like a dash of “Penny Dreadful” with a little bit of “Copper.” Add in some Mary Shelley and shake vigorously. What do you guys think?