‘The Knick’ Season 2 Trailer: Clive Owen Feels Better Than Ever

When Clive Owen’s John Thackery says “I feel better than ever” in the new Season 2 trailer for The Knick, it’s hard to take that at face value — or any value, really. Last we saw Thackery, he was holed up in a nice rehab home for his cocaine addiction, where he was being treated with a revolutionary new drug: heroin. Hardly a promising ending for the brilliant, spun-out doctor, but whether he’s actually better or not, Thackery is back.

Steven Soderbergh’s The Knick is one of the best, most cinematic shows on television, thanks to Soderbergh’s usual commitment to working behind the scenes — he serves as director, editor, director of photography and executive producer on every episode of the series. For those unfamiliar, the series takes place at a New York hospital at the turn of the 20th century and follows Dr. John Thackery, a visionary afflicted by his addiction to cocaine, a drug used commonly back then for surgical procedures.

The end of Season 1 saw Thackery attempting to perform a blood transfusion on a young girl to horrific results, forcing him to confront his addiction and enter rehab. As we saw in the previous teaser, some part of this season will take place in San Francisco during an outbreak — conveniently the same city to which Cornelia relocated with her fiancé following the heartbreaking end to her affair with Dr. Edwards.

The new trailer also features the sort of disturbing imagery that punctuated Season 1, with blood running out of faucets and someone’s face catching fire, all of which is made more intense by Cliff Martinez’s exceptional score. If you were a huge fan of Hannibal and are mourning the loss of that series, The Knick is just as cinematic (actually more so) than that series, and offers all the breathtaking grotesquery you could ask for. The first season is currently available to HBO subscribers via OnDemand and HBO GO, and you have plenty of time to get caught up before Season 2 premieres on October 16.