Episode #2.5

I have to respond to the presentation of Manson. It was so well done. Let's face it. Crazy as it sounds, the guy really understood what he was doing. His responses were out of left field but addressed the questions in his otherworldly way. I thought the guy who portrayed him was outstanding. Having seen quite a bit of footage of Manson, I thought he was captured. A word about Bill. He and the wife are coming to a major collision. He is not coming to grips with his son's problems.

That is a pity that the Manson interrogation was relatively a small part of the show, however his portrayal by Herriman was excellent. Also the make up artist did a great job of his look, he just nailed the character quite perfectly. Could not quite make a difference whether watching the real Manson or the actor, superb implementation. Would not be surprised if he won Best Supporting Actor at the upcoming Emmys. Would be disappointed if not.

That actor gave the best portrayal of Manson, out of all the dramatic portrayals I've seen on tv shows movies, etc. He almost had me convinced he wasn't guilty because he's a product of what society made him. That was a compelling performance.

The show seems to have been put through a focus group and has been watered down as a result. All the subtleties have gone. Where it used to show the parallels between the characters' every day lives and the serials killers they study, they now just make it super-obvious.

Clearly people were asked who was your favourite character? And so this season Bill Tench is the main character. That's not really a problem but without Holden to contrast and balance him out he doesn't seem as interesting.

The show was hugely interesting because it was exploring the extremes of humanity and we could see its effects on the 'normal' characters. Now it's more about the characters (who just happen to interview criminals). In shifting focus has become just like very other character drama show. It's lost its point of distinction and become less interesting.

The carefully researched attention to details are also getting less and less attention - Someone makes a point of being called 'Ms' without characters reacting to how uncommon that was at the time. Screw top wine bottles are mentioned like they were commonly in use at the time. Computers appear that haven't even been made yet (TRS-80 Model 4). Get ready for more obvious product placement too.

It's symptomatic of the changes in the whole show. The decline is subtle enough that it's not become unwatchable, it's just much less enjoyable. What was once one of the more interesting shows to watch is now heading more toward something you put on in the background. The interviews with criminals are still interesting, but that's about it.

After watching this I saw the real Manson in his first prison interview and the show's portrayal of him is more dramatic but the actor still did a good job. Is Manson as crazy as he's made out to be? The answers pretty obvious. Even Bill got the message.