The book by Elon Green that this series is developed from is a masterpiece. Beautifully written, shocking, tragic, full of humanity and life as well as being a horror story about a serial killer and those who deserved to be remembered as far more than victims. The series however is ultimately not worth watching. It tries to be a counterpoint to the grislier exploitive true-crime trash on TV and focus on the victims to the extent that it neglects the killer as an afterthought. While this is a valid strategy for doing something different, in viewpoint the show leans dangerously close to saying that society is the real killer, etc. So much time is spent on Anita Bryant's homophobic crusade of the late 1970s that one would be forgiven for thinking the killer would turn out to be a follower of hers rather than (spoilers) another gay man. Bryant was a terrible person in her heyday but her prominence as an anti gay activist was over around 1980, which makes the use of extensive footage of her with ominous music somewhat beside the point in this chronicle of brutal murders from 1991-1994. Similarly, I rolled my eyes when the series trotted out the homophobic 1950s mental hygiene film BOYS BEWARE, as if it was fuel for the murders. The series showcasing things like this (and the disco and leather gay underground of the 1980s and early 90s despite the murders having the background of tony upscale gay-friendly piano bars) makes it seem like the filmmakers are bored of the story they're forced to tell and want to make the material more "relevant" to 2020s audiences. It's a bad way to make a documentary series and the end makes the mistake of dismissing all the dead as part of the struggle for liberation. It's unfortunate and reductive, an insult to the dead, their families and loved ones, and the investigators who worked to stop the killer who caused so much pain.
