Review by kemkomacar

Although captivating, I've always found the recent trend of serial killer stories distasteful because of the particular focus on the killers and their gory crimes. The subcategory of serial killer drama nearly turned out to be filled with prolonged torture porn that encourages sympathy for cold-blooded murderers.

This one takes a different and better approach and it almost doesn't flesh out the killer at all. As quoted in an episode, he is a "nobody" and doesn't deserve to be deeply characterized. In a similar line, the killings occur off-screen and even the bodies of the butchered woman haven't been shown. Instead, the series highlights the details of criminal investigation as well as what the victims and their relatives experienced.

The long shadow also gave important insights into the challenges of solving a case without the modern tools owned by law enforcement agencies at the moment. A similar case would be closed sooner now since there are CCTVs, plate recognition systems, big data analysis, and cell phones around. Thanks to these modern utilities, the police don't have to lean on "the gut instinct" that sometimes leads to big failures like this 70s investigation.