Evil Genius

It's no secret that I admire the quality Netflix has been bringing out concerning docu-series. In fact this is were my love started for this whole new reinvented genre. The biggest gems in my opinion are: "Making a Murderder", "Wild Wild Country", "The Keepers", "Flint Town",... I do believe this one had the potential to make it right in that row. But just failed in doing all things perfect. Nevertheless this is a good documentary, you do need to watch, if you are in love with this genre.

The beginning is quite spot on, and really powerful. Especially the scene where you witness the bombing of the hostage. It was raw, and portrayed in that way that immediately made you feel sick to your stomach. From that point on the story starts. Episode one is quality wise the best episode. You feel that the director is building up to some things. But the following episodes he fails on delivering, in my opinion. It has all to do with the pacing, which is so important in this genre. It's actually the building up that is not always right. It is as if the director knows what he wants to tell you, but got lost in all the details, and doesn't really know which parts of the story deliver suspense, and which just slow down the story in general. Generally this make the plots not as powerful and as surprising as they could have been made.

The second thing where it fails on delivering is really getting an understanding of the persons involved in this. The two lead criminals in this story are obviously Diehl-Armstrong and Rothstein. Every episode consists of a lot of footage of Diehl-Armstrong, who is obviously a wounded narcissist woman, talking gibberish. What's the value of this footage? It's quite clear this is a very sick woman. But it doesn't provide any added value, unless it could show another side of this person. The same goes to Rothstein. I do feel the personal relationship with Diehl-Armstrong and the director got in the way. As he believed she was the key to the truth in this story. Because of his time investment in this relationship, a big part of the story is only told by her. Without adding any more value to the story that must be told.

Because of this the plot, and the building up to the end - which should have been a real climax - goes way to fast. And all te discoveries the director make, don't feel as important as they should have felt. Nevertheless, this is a great documentary with a story full of plots that may really surprise you. And I'm happy this story got told.

I've been struggling to get into shows of late, so was happy to find myself hooked on this documentary series, watching it all in just over a day.

Its just mind-blowing. Each episode has its own strong stories that would work well as a stand-alone event, except that they are all related in complex ways and tell this insane over-arching plot. The mystery that unfolds from the bizarre SAW-like first episode is so unpredictable and twisty, right up to the very last moments.

Its fascinating watching interviews, hearing bits of pieces of information, and finding your mind folding in on itself as you try to suss people out, think about motives, all the 'what ifs' etc. There is something always eerie and atmospheric about seeing evidence, street footage of locations, news footage, tying it all together like you're a voyeuristic detective.

I thought it was brilliantly researched and edited, and never a dull moment. I'd have loved for a body language expert like Paul Ekman (or someone like his fictional protege Cal Lightman from Lie to Me) to analyse the interviews for 'tells' as they were plentiful.

With incredible true-stories like this, brilliantly told, I struggle to justify why I'd want to watch a made-up story with self-conscious actors and gimmicky direction. There's so much more to learn, and substantial food for thought from real life.

I remember my mom calling to tell me that I should turn on the news and watch this story about a pizza guy who robbed a bank. I remember an update here and there and would occasionally think of the story and google to see if there had been any developments. Upon reading an article about this documentary, I cleared what I had for the following day (today) and binged the four episodes.

I wish I had a dollar for every time I muttered "huh", or "wow" or actually laughed out loud. The director does a phenomenal job of letting the story tell itself and only gets involved to really, really dive in on the major details that make this story even more incredible than you can imagine.

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute, it's a must watch even if you're aren't a true crime buff.

A perfect storm of doc-making. You have a researcher who's spent 15 years of his life getting close to every character, you have a compelling edit that never drags and creates more twists and suspense then 99.8% documentaries, and last of all you have one of the weirdest and most dumbfounding crimes ever undertaken. Blown away by this series and a huge congrats to everyone who worked on it.

The thing is true yet is filled with twists, the ending is surprising, and it's never slow or dull. I don't understand how anyone can rate this thing below 9. In my opinion, a lot of Netflix content is subpar, but this is outstanding.