Since the show was getting such a great publicity we decided to start watching it throughout the weekend. And ended up bench watching entire two seasons in two days. It was both exhausting and a great experience to dive in refreshing concept served by Netflix.
Series are exceptionally well though – and in that matter they kind of remind me of Chernobyl series. The characters are complex and interesting and series balance action, storytelling and character development very well, and very carefully – compared to modern day shows. Though there are many things that contribute to its success – some of which are not that obvious.
For instance it is extremely refreshing to watch how many characters – people with different backgrounds, gather with clear sense of purpose. Our characters are passionate about their work. They genuinely believe they can change the world with what they do. They sacrifice their personal lives for this belief – though the show does not hit us with that fact bluntly – we can see how it affects them.
When we are tired of characters personal life we quickly bounce back to interviews with serial killers. Each one different and each one introducing us to new haunting story. We are instantly drawn to each one of these stories because of the way killers are introduced to us. There is also this amazing concept that these stories not only happened but they also inspired pop culture in America for many years.
Actors playing serial killers were chosen so good that the casting manager for this show cannot get enough praise. Especially Damon Herriman who played Manson and Oliver Cooper who played David Berkowitz. They are so similar to actual killers it’s somewhat scary.
The interviews are really well written and base on killers – their history and their actual quotes “It just wasn’t their night.”. Sometimes even their behavior. Richard Speck actually kept pet bird in prison and killed it throwing it to the fan. Though he did it because he was told he couldn’t keep the bird. When asked why did he did this he replied “If I can’t have it, no one can”.
This is what makes these series so fascinating, terrifying and sickening at the same time. The series pose serious questions about our own nature, but they do it very carefully by placing objects of horrors before its viewers. In the way series makes us assess these killers – more so because our main FBI crew focus on classification. Our main protagonists rarely judge killers for their crimes, and mostly listens to them with with the same feeling we – viewers do. And that’s one damm good concept.
When viewers got tired and frankly sickened by stories of the murders, we bounce back to actual ongoing investigation. Each investigation has complex criminal story that lasts for season, or few episodes. It shows our protagonists applying their new knowledge in life and finding out how hard it is to stay idealistic and focused on their ideas confronted with hard reality.
This way the show never gets boring, it keeps us curious and invested in characters. Even though sometimes characters are actual despicable murderers.
