Unpopular opinion: Understanding serial killers and portraying them as multi-dimensional human beings within the context of art, is not the same as glorifying, fetishizing or making them into heroes.
For all the problems and shortcomings that Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story has, it does a few things right, namely it also humanizes the victims – they are not nameless after thoughts, indeed, there are entire episodes devoted to the victims, their families and the major racial issues which allowed this to happen.
Show runner Ryan Murphy allows many mistakes that are common to him: is everything about being gay? Really? The first several episodes, we start with the night of Dahmer’s 1991 arrest and move back and forth in time afterward, repeatedly appear to conflate Dahmer’s inner turmoil about his emerging homosexuality with his murderous thoughts. And it’s true (as with most serial killers) that there is a strong sexual component to the crimes, but Murphy, I think, keeps banging that same drum until it feels like a loop and not an advancement of the narrative.
The central performance by Evan Peters is fantastic on one level – the flat Wisconsin accent and head down slog through a life filled with failure; getting kicked out of schools and the Army, for example. But, at the same time, the character is often so mumbly-mouthed as to be uninteresting. The thing is if you go to YouTube and watch some of his prison interviews, Dahmer was much more loquacious than that, his monotone aside.
The ten-episode series feels roughly divided in half, with the first half devoted to his gruesome crimes and his uncanny ability to escape capture—over and over again. The second half delves more into the victims, neighbors and city officials – the latter of whom largely failed to apprehend a white guy whose victims were almost all black.
Did Dahmer choose his victims because they were also gay? Because being black, they were less likely to become solved crimes? The series doesn’t shy away from asking those questions and displaying the uncomfortable answers.
A shout out to the great Richard Jenkins (the best part of The Shape of Water) who plays Dahmer’s weary, conflicted father. It’s a subtle, but authentic performance. Real and truthful. Also noteworthy: Niecy Nash as the next door neighbor who could smell death, but couldn’t get anyone to listen to her.
I can understand why critics and viewers are essentially split down the middle on the series, and I’m split, too. It should have been half the number of episodes and with fewer excesses. But I have also laid out what it did right – you will decide on your own.
Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is currently streaming on Netflix | 2 ½ out of 4 Stars
