When you first hear about TNT’s new series The Alienist , an 1890s serial killer mystery filled with serious men with serious grimaces, it’s easy to assume there will be no women to be found in the basic cable drama. Or, if there are any women, they will be reduced to sex objects and, as is the case in a lot of prestige TV , sex workers for our masculine heroes to use and quickly discard. But, The Alienist isn’t most prestige TV. For proof of this simple fact, you need to look no further than leading lady Sara Howard (a tensely perfect Dakota Fanning ).