History Series / TheKnick

* AbortionFalloutDrama: When Cornelia becomes pregnant after having sex with Edwards, he initially reluctantly agrees to perform an abortion so that it will be safe, but then backs out. So she goes to Sister Harriet. He isn't happy with this, but knows that being together is socially impossible, and them running away would mean giving up their lives in New York forever. People who don't know that Edwards is the father suggest that Cornelia pass off the baby as her fiancé's, which she knows [[ChocolateBaby wouldn't work]].

* TheAce: Dr. Edwards is in his prime, a graduate of Harvard University, and has worked with some of the foremost surgeons in Europe. He's at least as good a surgeon as anyone at The Knick. And yet all anyone sees is the color of his skin.

* AffectionateNickname: Dr. Bertram Chickering, Jr. is called "Bertie" by most of his colleagues, but "Bertie the Wise" by Dr. Thackery. He has to explain to his father that this is meant affectionately, not mockingly. As it happens, Dr. Thackery may have intended the sobriquet ironically, as Bertie is the youngest, least experienced, and lowest ranking surgeon at the Knick, but it turns out to be true, as Bertie is also the most mentally balanced and moral among the surgeons (and perhaps of the entire cast).

* {{Blackmail}}: Speight blackmails both Barrow and a building owner by threatening, respectively, to send city patients to other hospitals and to report his building for code violations.

* BoisterousBruiser: A negative portrayal in Cleary.

* BreakTheHaughty: The writers are merciless to Gallinger in Season 1, WordOfGod confirming it. Completely reversed in the second season.

* CoolTeacher: Christiansen to Thack. Thack idolized him, and Christiansen appears to have been Thack's mentor. He's also the man who got Thack hooked on cocaine.

* CorruptBureaucrat: New York City health inspector Jacob Speight takes bribes from building owners to let them slide on code violations, and from hospitals, so he'll steer more patients (whose bills are paid by the city) to their wards.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: A ton of it. Barrow is an enthusiastic racist and social Darwinist, while Gallinger is extremely resentful of Dr. Edwards on account of his color. The Knick's board are also casually sexist towards Miss Robertson, who has to present a signed copy of her father's proxy in order to participate in the meeting.

* GadgeteerGenius: Thack is a bit of an inventor, designing new medical devices in his spare time.

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: {{Discussed}} and mostly averted. Sister Harriet is an abortionist and reassures one of her patients that God would understand. Cleary doesn't like it, but his scruples don't stop him from extorting part of Sister Harriet's payment when he finds out that she performs them. Later, when Cornelia becomes pregnant after having sex with Edwards he initially agrees reluctantly to perform an abortion so that it will be safe, but then backs out. So she goes to Sister Harriet. He isn't happy with this, but knows that being together is socially impossible, and them running away would mean giving up their lives in New York forever. People who don't know that Edwards is the father suggested Cornelia pass off the baby as her fiancee's, which she knew [[ChocolateBaby wouldn't work]].

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: The show is tock full of them.
** Two of the biggest ones are Inspector Speight and Thomas Cleary. The pilot shows both of them willing to break laws to make a few extra bucks but subsequent episodes show that despite his demeanour, Speight takes his job very seriously. Meanwhile Cleary shows a more human side especially with Sister Harriet, forming an unlikely partnership.

* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Thack is an excellent surgeon, but an addict who while not as racist as other characters is not interested in integration either.
** [[spoiler: At least until the sixth episode of the first season when Thack discover Edwards clinic and the innovations he's been working on, and then in the next episode when Thack opens the hospital to blacks injured in the riots outside.]]

* PluckyGirl: Lucy Elkins, as seen where Gallinger dispatches her to find Thack, and she immediately sprints off, despite having no idea where he lives or her way around New York in general. Bertie helps her out.

* TheSocialDarwinist: Herman Barrow.

* ShoutOut: To ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''. See MadDoctor, above.
** Thack gets a Shakespeare quote in about once an episode.
* StayInTheKitchen: Most male characters have this reaction to Miss Robertson's exercising proxy for her father.

* VillainousRescue: [[spoiler: Ping Wu]] to [[spoiler: Barrow]].
** Averted since now Barrow owes Ping Wu the money he onced owed to Bunky

''The Knick'' is a medical drama that premiered on Creator/{{Cinemax}} in August 2014, and is set in New York in 1900. It stars Creator/CliveOwen as Dr. John 'Thack' Thackery, the cocaine-addicted Chief of Surgery at the Knickerbocker Hospital in New York City, who succeeded his mentor and the previous chief, Dr. J.M. Christiansen ([[Series/MaxHeadroom Matt Frewer]]). It also stars [[Film/FortyTwo Andre Holland]] as Dr. Algernon Edwards, a brilliant and accomplished black surgeon, who joins The Knick as assistant chief of surgery, over Thackery's objections and despite the personal disdain of much of the hospital's all-white staff. Thack's work is overseen by hospital administrator Herman Barrow ([[Series/HouseOfCardsUK Jeremy Bobb]]), a highly competent bureaucrat whose well-informed racist Social Darwinist worldview takes a back seat to his ruthless pragmatism and air of politeness. Thack and Barrow also have to contend with the wishes of the socially-progressive Miss Cornelia Robertson (Juliet Rylance), who represents her father, Captain August Robertson (Grainger Hines), who is the financially-strapped hospital's primary benefactor.

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Constantly PlayedForLaughs, if very dark ones. Probably the SugarWiki/MostTriumphantExample is [[spoiler: the final shot of Season 1 - Thack has been checked into rehab, where a doctor prepares him an ambiguous medicine to ease his cocaine withdrawal, and reassuringly tells him "It's time to start getting better". Then we see a closeup on Thack's seemingly peaceful, smiling face, and focus on the bottle of his new miracle medicine - "Heroin".]]

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Constantly PlayedForLaughs, if very dark ones. Probably the MostTriumphantExample is [[spoiler: the final shot of Season 1 - Thack has been checked into rehab, where a doctor prepares him an ambiguous medicine to ease his cocaine withdrawal, and reassuringly tells him "It's time to start getting better". Then we see a closeup on Thack's seemingly peaceful, smiling face, and focus on the bottle of his new miracle medicine - "Heroin".]]

->'''Dr. Algernon Edwards''': I’m not leaving this circus until I've learned everything you have to teach.


The Knick is a medical drama that premiered on Creator/{{Cinemax}} in August 2014, and is set in New York in 1900. It stars Creator/CliveOwen as Dr. John 'Thack' Thackery, the cocaine-addicted Chief of Surgery at the Knickerbocker Hospital in New York City, who succeeded his mentor and the previous chief, Dr. J.M. Christiansen ([[Series/MaxHeadroom Matt Frewer]]). It also stars [[Film/FortyTwo Andre Holland]] as Dr. Algernon Edwards, a brilliant and accomplished black surgeon, who joins The Knick as assistant chief of surgery, over Thackery's objections and despite the personal disdain of much of the hospital's all-white staff. Thack's work is overseen by hospital administrator Herman Barrow ([[Series/HouseOfCardsUK Jeremy Bobb]]), a highly competent bureaucrat whose well-informed racist Social Darwinist worldview takes a back seat to his ruthless pragmatism and air of politeness. Thack and Barrow also have to contend with the wishes of the socially-progressive Miss Cornelia Robertson (Juliet Rylance), who represents her father, Captain August Robertson (Grainger Hines), who is the financially-strapped hospital's primary benefactor.

All twenty episodes of the first and second seasons have been directed by Creator/StevenSoderbergh, who already announced he'd leave the show in the hands of different filmmakers should the show go forward with a third season.

The Knick is a medical drama that premiered on Creator/{{Cinemax}} in August 2014, and is set in New York in 1900. It stars Creator/CliveOwen as Dr. John 'Thack' Thackery, the cocaine-addicted Chief of Surgery at the Knickerbocker Hospital in New York City, who succeeded his mentor and the previous chief, Dr. J.M. Christiansen ([[MaxHeadroom Matt Frewer]]). It also stars [[Film/FortyTwo Andre Holland]] as Dr. Algernon Edwards, a brilliant and accomplished black surgeon, who joins The Knick as assistant chief of surgery, over Thackery's objections and despite the personal disdain of much of the hospital's all-white staff. Thack's work is overseen by hospital administrator Herman Barrow ([[Series/HouseOfCardsUK Jeremy Bobb]]), a highly competent bureaucrat whose well-informed racist Social Darwinist worldview takes a back seat to his ruthless pragmatism and air of politeness. Thack and Barrow also have to contend with the wishes of the socially-progressive Miss Cornelia Robertson (Juliet Rylance), who represents her father, Captain August Robertson (Grainger Hines), who is the financially-strapped hospital's primary benefactor.

The Knick is a medical drama that premiered on {{Cinemax}} in August 2014, and is set in New York in 1900. It stars Creator/CliveOwen as Dr. John 'Thack' Thackery, the cocaine-addicted Chief of Surgery at the Knickerbocker Hospital in New York City, who succeeded his mentor and the previous chief, Dr. J.M. Christiansen ([[MaxHeadroom Matt Frewer]]). It also stars [[Film/FortyTwo Andre Holland]] as Dr. Algernon Edwards, a brilliant and accomplished black surgeon, who joins The Knick as assistant chief of surgery, over Thackery's objections and despite the personal disdain of much of the hospital's all-white staff. Thack's work is overseen by hospital administrator Herman Barrow ([[Series/HouseOfCardsUK Jeremy Bobb]]), a highly competent bureaucrat whose well-informed racist Social Darwinist worldview takes a back seat to his ruthless pragmatism and air of politeness. Thack and Barrow also have to contend with the wishes of the socially-progressive Miss Cornelia Robertson (Juliet Rylance), who represents her father, Captain August Robertson (Grainger Hines), who is the financially-strapped hospital's primary benefactor.

Also in the mix are several supporting characters, including junior surgeons Dr. Everett Gallinger ([[Series/FlashGordon Eric Johnson]]) and Dr. Bertram Chickering, Jr. (Michael Angarano), Nurse Lucy Elkins (Eve Hewson), midwife Sister Harriet ([[Film/GangsOfNewYork Cara Seymour]]), ambulance driver Tom Cleary (Chris Sullivan) and New York City health inspector Jacob Speight (David Fierro).

* BadassBeard: Not physically {{Badass}}, but Dr. Christiansen is a pioneering surgeon and sports one of the most impressive arrangements of facial hair ever committed to film.

Also in the mix are several supporting characters, including junior surgeons Dr. Everett Gallinger ([[Series/FlashGordon Eric Johnson]]) and Dr. Bertram Chickering, Jr. (Michael Angarano), Nurse Lucy Elkins (Eve Hewson), midwife Sister Harriet ([[GangsOfNewYork Cara Seymour]]), ambulance driver Tom Cleary (Chris Sullivan) and New York City health inspector Jacob Speight (David Fierro).

* TheObiWan: Christiansen to Thack.

* BreakTheHaughty: The writers are merciless to Gallinger in Season 1, WordOfGod confirming it.

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: {{Discussed}} and mostly averted. Sister Harriet is an abortionist and reassures one of her patients that God would understand. Cleary doesn't like it, but his scruples don't stop him from extorting part of Sister Harriet's payment when he finds out that she performs them. Later, when Cornelia becomes pregnant after having sex with Edwards he initially agrees reluctantly to perform an abortion so that it will be safe, but then backs out. So she goes to Sister Harriet. He isn't happy with this, but knows that being together is socially impossible, and them running away would mean giving up their lives in New York forever. People who don't know that Edwards is the father suggest Cornelia pass off the baby as her fiancee's, which she knows [[ChocolateBaby wouldn't work]].

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: {{Discussed}} and mostly averted. Sister Harriet is an abortionist and reassures one of her patients that God would understand. Cleary doesn't like it, but his scruples don't stop him from extorting part of Sister Harriet's payment when he finds out that she performs them. Later, when Cornelia becomes pregnant after having sex with Edwards he initially reluctantly agrees to perform an abortion so that it will be safe, but then backs out. So she goes to Sister Harriet. He isn't happy with this, but knows that being together is socially impossible, and them running away would mean giving up their lives in New York forever. People who don't know that Edwards is the father suggest Cornelia pass off the baby as her fiancee's, which she knows [[ChocolateBaby wouldn't work]].

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: {{Discussed}}. Sister Harriet is an abortionist and reassures one of her patients that God would understand. Cleary doesn't like it, but his scruples don't stop him from extorting part of Sister Harriet's payment when he finds out that she performs them.

* RobbingTheDead : Cleary has no qualms about snatching some valuables on the patients he transports if they arrive dead at the Knick (because when they dead he won't have any finder's fee).

* OfficerOHara: Most of the cops on this show are, with the most notable one being Officer Sears.

* FamousLastWords: In the second season's finale, [[spoiler:Thack]] says the following right before he dies on the operating table.

** [[spoiler: Season 2 ends with Dr. Thackery attempting self-surgery and killing himself in the process, Cornelia discovering Henry killed their father, and choosing to flee to Australia, Harriet accepting to marry Cleary, who is revealed to be responsible for her excommunication, Barrow leaving all his assets to Junia and cotracting cancer, and Dr. Gallinger going to teach eugenics in Germany]].

* AbusiveParents: Nurse Elkins was clearly beaten as a child by her Father, something that continues into adulthood.

* NearRapeExperience: The interaction between Cornelia and her soon to be Father in Law in the sixth episode comes off as this.

* FunctionalAddict: Both Thack and Christiansen are dependent on cocaine, but it doesn't impact their performance. [[spoiler: However, after troubles abroad causes shortages in cocaine, Thack slowly unravels going through withdrawal.]]

* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:Christiansen]] kills himself in the first five minutes of the show. If later scenes are any indication, however, we may be treated to some flashbacks.

** [[spoiler: Season 2 ends with Dr. Thackery attempting self-surgery and killing himself in the process, Cornelia discovering Henry killed their father, and choosing to flee to Australia, Harriet accepting to marry Cleary, who is revealed to be responsible for her excommunication, Barrow leaving all his assets to Junia and cotracting cancer, and Dr. Gallinger going to teach eugenics in Germany]]

** Also Barrow, who is shown to be pocketing hospital funds [[spoiler: and trafficking corpses]]