Geoffrey Rush as Albert Einstein in “Genius”
One of the shows we’ve been watching regularly of late is “Genius” on National Geographic Channel, a most unusual take on the life of Albert Einstein.
The bio-drama surprises viewers because it is not at all what previous shows about Einstein have primed us to expect.
The public’s usual perception of the scientist is as a driven but dotty character who didn’t care how he looked, and thus sported his wild mane of salt-and-pepper hair, which became his “signature” hairstyle.
The stereotypical view gave Einstein a rather comedic public image, which ran counter to his many significant achievements, like his earthshaking postulation of the Theory of Relativity.
“Genius,” the new Einstein bio-drama on NatGeo, sets things right by showing that his life was no walk in the park.
Einstein lived a very dramatic life, which was charged by trials that would have made lesser men give up the fight. His tribulations included a termagant father who was impossible to please and placate.
In addition, he had a hard time convincing the “gods” of science at the time that he deserved being invited to join them in their Valhalla.
To make things worse, he was a loving but less than reliable husband and father, so his poor wife, Mileva (Samantha Colley), had to endure her own share of daunting difficulties, including the death of their first child.
As of last viewing, Mileva was so defeated that she finally left him, forcing him to come to terms with the big mess he had created.
These and other roller-coaster emotional loop-de-loops aren’t found in the usual scientific bio-drama, so “Genius” makes for an especially instructive and empathetic viewing experience.
It’s our good fortune that the young Albert is so perceptively portrayed by Johnny
Flynn, with Geoffrey Rush playing him in his senior years. Colley as Mileva is another superlative thespian, so we’re in very good hands.
Best of all, even as “Genius” plumbs the formidable depths and heights of a brilliant scientist’s life, it doesn’t lose track
of the world-changing significance of his discoveries.
Even mathematically challenged viewers like us are insightfully educated in this regard—without our feeling that we’re being lectured to. Our grateful compliments to the series’ writers and director.