Jack_Brock

I like this doc. I admit I googled the story to find out the details before I watched it, but knowing what happened actually helped with the story.

The first half is played out as a mystery with the identity of the perpetrator midway. The remainder of the doc delves into the fallout of this. The story is disturbing. The perpetrator comes across as mentally ill and in hindsight it seems the perp was living vicariously thru Lauren and her boyfriend Owen and wanting to possess and control them.

The fallout is really sad. The perp's actions left a real trail of emotional destruction that hurt all those in the story that will be felt for years to come.

Good points - the movie gives great details of the events and all of the characters reactions.

Needs improvement - The emotional damage of the victims is presented, but the viewer is left to assume that the PTSD and Stockholm syndrome are what they suffer from. The perp's motives aren't made clear, but it's obvious that there is a mental illness and no real acknowledgement of their own guilt.

This is a love it or hate it type of movie; depending on your political views, you will either enjoy it or be offended by it.

The movie takes place in a small New Mexico town in 2020 at the start of the Covid pandemic. It starts with a feud between the Mayor and the police chief when the mayor is up for re-election. The two have differing views on Covid masks requirements and the situation deteriorates fairly quickly. Thrown into this are the political ideals of America and what follows is a biting satire of American society.

Many people will be offended; many will be entertained; keep your sense of humor and you will enjoy the movie.

I liked this mini series. The acting, writing and pace of the story are top notch. Each of the four episodes seem to be done in a single take for each episode.

The best part of the series is that it doesn't question whether the son did the crime, but focuses on the why and on character development. There is a sadness to the story as the boy doesn't come across as a villain despite what was done.

The part I find odd is that the idea that children can do bad things is presented as something relatively new. There are documented cases in history that children have committed murder - check Wikipedia for child murderers; they go back to the 1700's. The concept of incels, bullying, parents not aware of what their kids are up to are as old as human history.