Becoming Evil: Serial Killers

Yikes. Ok, I truly thought this was from 2002 or earlier, and would still maintain that belief were it not for the fact that discussion about the GSK puts it at least in 2018. It's those same 3-5 white dudes you've seen in every low-budget documentary from the last 20 years, but there's this weird #notallmen vibe to it which is absolutely bananas to witness. Victim blaming, overly empathizing with the murderer, every one is a "prostitute" It's not 100% trash. It's tons and tons of original footage, they do a good job of name-checking the victims, but "50% of serial killers are black/POC" whatever they claimed with no citation whatsoever is beyond the pale. At least pretend to do the leg work, boys!

One example of the laziness, an "expert" casually says that someone named Scott Jacobs called psychopaths the "people of the lie". He was most likely referring to Dr. Scott Peck's book, People Of The Lie, which was not strictly about psychopaths. And that's just one of many small inaccuracies as an "expert" enjoys the sound of their own voice.

Despite the original idea of updating our understanding of who can be a serial killer, they go on to reinforce some outdated and disgusting stereotypes when discussing gay serial killers. They claim they aren't more prone to deviant or violent behavior but follow that by outlining horrific details of crimes by specific gay killers. Yet I can think of many details by killers such as Ed Kemper that are just as disturbing. They refer to one killer "living his gay life" as though it's a lifestyle choice.

I haven't finished the series yet and will amend this review if there's any improvement, but I'm not holding my breath...

The subject matter should be interesting however the narrator and the "experts" are insanely boring which makes it difficult to focus on what they're actually talking about. Aside from the numerous factual errors, it's difficult to listen to these people blather on about things that they seem to have picked up directly from various made-for-tv movies. Try giving "City of Angels: City of Death" a watch for a far more interesting show on serial killers. "Becoming Evil: Serial Killers" was just a snooze-fest.

The information in this series is very good. However I find it quite annoying when the "experts" continually mispronounce people's names. I don't know if people think this makes them sound smart or something, but it doesn't. Ed Gein is pronounced "Geen" not "Giyn". How do I know this, because the guy himself pronounced it as "Geen". Also most of their nick names they use have never been used or heard by anyone.....ever. Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka were never known as the "kinky sex killer buddies" . Also nobody EVER called Bundy the "Genius of Death" nobody. The best expert in this series is Katherine Ramsland, glad she's in it. The rest are questionable. Also please get the one expert some sticky stuff for his dentures.

A detailed overview of various serial killers throughout the decades, with some interesting insights from criminologists and behaviorists about aspects that they share in common or that distinguish them. The main issue for me is that same interviews are used in many, if not all of the episodes. Consequently, one episode tends to blend with the others. They could have cut this series by maybe a third by not repeating the same material across episodes. still, for people interested in the subject, it is a fascinating series.