Dahmer (Netflix series)

[Neil]

Not sure I would want to watch this?!?!

[MinionZombie]

I watched the first episode yesterday. A good start. Evan Peters looks like he's really sunk himself into the role. Hopefully Ryan Murphy & Co don't get too carried away putting things that didn't happen into the story or the like.

[Neil]

I watched the first episode yesterday. A good start. Evan Peters looks like he's really sunk himself into the role. Hopefully Ryan Murphy & Co don't get too carried away putting things that didn't happen into the story or the like. Well, if after a few episodes you'd recommend it, let me know please.

[MinionZombie]

Well, if after a few episodes you'd recommend it, let me know please. Will do, Sir! - - - Updated - - - Okay, four episodes deep now (out of ten) and really digging it. Evan Peters is spookily good in the role, and it's so far handling its "issues" (homophobia, police racism etc) deftly and in-context (so not the usual blunt approach with an attitude of presentism), which is good. Initially when I heard this was a Ryan Murphy co-creation I was a bit concerned as he usually does things that are more ... I'm not really sure what the right word would be, but if you've seen the likes of Ratchet and American Horror Story then you get the idea ... fortunately this show is much more restrained and serious-minded about its subject matter. It's not po-faced, though, but it takes a more delicate approach while not evading more gruesome facts. It's also delving into the complexities of the Dahmer case, never excusing his crimes, but also seeing the broader tragedy that affected many other gay men at that time, often finding themselves as social outcasts unable to fit in with a society that ignored them, hated them, or was simply oblivious to them. In the case of Dahmer there's so many points, not just in terms of being gay, but also being a child of a bitter divorce and warring parents and an unstable home life, of alcoholism from an early age, or repeated failure in school, in life, and in work. Again, it doesn't excuse his crimes, certainly not, but that slow-mo tragedy of so many things that went wrong over the course of a life that all gradually pushed someone predisposed to such thoughts and acts to actually do what he then did. We'll see how it goes from here, but so far so good. The Joe Berlinger "Tapes" documentary series about Dahmer comes out October 7th as well, so that'll be a must-watch.

[MinionZombie]

Now just got two episodes left to watch. I've really been pulled right into this mini-series. There's justifiably been a lot of praise for Peters' performance, but I'll also add Richard Jenkins (playing Lionel Dahmer), who is delivering a superb performance of a hugely conflicted father racked with anger and guilt and frustration and horror. Great stuff. Even the episodes that dig deeper into the "issues" aspects still handle it well, keeping it in-context and seemingly sticking to the facts of the matter (e.g. in relation to the story of Dahmer's neighbour and how the Milwaukee police completely fucked up on numerous occasions through incompetence and prejudice and just not caring). There was only one line in a recent episode that felt 'out of context' (I don't really recall many people using the term "your truth" in 1991), but other than that the storytelling is very well done and you really get hooked into the stories of the various people who found themselves in Dahmer's orbit, so it's not just about him specifically. It balances the perspectives quite well and the show is well paced throughout. Looking forward to the last two episodes. Definitely worth checking out. Very much recommended.

[Neil]

OK, I was impressed how this was put togethor. I was expecting - it being a dramatisation of it - that it would be a pretty linear telling of events, but it put the story togethor in more interesting 'jigsaw'... Still torn by the overall material - how can you do anything by loath the lead - but it was a clever telling of the horror. So as MZ's pointed out... Next...

[MinionZombie]

OK, I was impressed how this was put togethor. I was expecting - it being a dramatisation of it - that it would be a pretty linear telling of events, but it put the story togethor in more interesting 'jigsaw'... Still torn by the overall material - how can you do anything by loath the lead - but it was a clever telling of the horror. Glad you enjoyed it. I agree with the structuring of it - interesting. It was kind of like with Chernobyl where they got the explosion done almost right at the very beginning - get to the thing straight away - and here it kicks off with him getting caught in the first episode. So it allows them and us to dip back and forth in time and unpick how and why this all happened. It made for a much more interesting exploration and, in some ways, slightly less predictable. We all know what he did and that he was caught etc, and those of us with a morbid curiosity in serial killers will know more than most, but even still the way it was put together made for a more, well, interesting watch (sorry to keep using that word over and over). I don't think you're supposed to feel sorry for Dahmer, and the show does a good job of really nailing him as a scumbag when we focus more on him in prison (how he was indulging in his personal sense of celebrity), but it also recognises the complex issues that pushed him further and further towards extreme isolation, alcoholism, fascinations with death and viscera (and it's bizarre connection with his emerging sexual desires), extreme abandonment issues etc. It's like a tragedy unfurling in slow motion, all of the red flags that were missed and so on. I thought Richard Jenkins as Lionel Dahmer really help project that whole part of the terrible tale, while Niecy Nash as Glenda was really able to tackle the stories relating to the sheer incompetence and ignorance and bigotry of the Milwaukee police department at the time. They handled that stuff well, couching it firmly in the context of the time and expressing the appropriate amount of fury at how things happened in relation to the police and their shocking failures.