'Genius' Season 1 Episode 3: New Anthology Period Drama Aims to Show a Multi-Faceted Einstein
Albert Einstein's name has often been associated with genius, but at the end of the day, he is, after all, only a man with less than perfect wants and rather worldly needs.
"Genius," National Geographic's new anthology period drama series, aims to present the many sides of the German-born theoretical physicist outside his stellar accomplishments as a world-renowned physicist. But ScienceNews has issued a fair warning for viewers of the series to take everything they see in it with a grain of salt, and to not forget that "Genius" is a dramatization rather than a documentary, and that it may, at times, sacrifice "science for the sensational" in its depiction of Einstein's personal life.
The series is based on the best-selling biography "Einstein: His Life and Universe" written by Walter Isaacson and goes back and forth in history, from Einstein's past as a patent clerk hard at work in his desire to gain a teaching job and a doctorate, and as an older, respected part of society. The celebrated physicist is played by Johnny Flynn and Geoffrey Rush in his younger and older years, respectively.
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Its first two episodes have wasted no time at all to reveal that Einstein struggled toward achieving his dreams, that his first love was his high school tutor, and that he married twice while keeping a string of mistresses on the side.
It has also become quickly evident that the focus of the flashback scenes will be his love affair with his eventual wife, Mileva Maric, who is played by Samantha Colley in the past and Sally Dexter in the series' present timeline. The official synopsis for the third episode teases that the young Einstein will be hard pressed on supporting his young pregnant wife, while he currently struggles to land an academic post in a world ran by rigid traditions and protocol.
"Genius" season 1 episode 3 airs on Tuesday, May 9, at 9 p.m. EDT on the National Geographic Channel.
