Catch and Kill: The Podcast Tapes

Not only in US, but all over the world, the showbiz and media industry has this kind of sexual coercion. The famous young actresses we see today have overcome this sexual coercion to build their careers. All the scandals in this film are premeditated.

Ronan has proven himself quite a force regarding factual story telling and this series is no different.

Some of the interviews drag a bit, especially when you've hear the information so many times you lose count, but still contains new information previously unheard.

Still relatively unsurprised at the gross, seedy underbelly of this story, and to a larger extent, Hollywood in general. So many stars/starlets have become megalomaniacs and believe themselves to be so elevated that no one can touch them. Rest assured, most always see karma come for them.

The only grievance I have is this undying need to make something into such a long, tedious view. You're initially intrigued but the sheer volume of episodes to finish make it so much of the same thing told repeatedly with slightly different angles, with no real purpose in the end.

I really enjoyed the story. Ronan did come off as a bit of a narcissist which made it a little bit unpleasant at points. I was expecting the last chapters to focus on the trials of Weinstein but instead we got a strange diversion to the spy story which didn't seem to fit with the entire piece so I was a poor finish.

I loved this series for the first 5 episodes then something went wrong. Without trying to give anything away, the ending seemed to come from another programme. Most peculiar.

In 2019 Ronan Farrow published a critically well-received book called "Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators", looking at how Harvey Weinstein was able to get away with sexual intimidation, assault and worse for DECADES. Now comes this new documentary series, which essentially covers the same ground but visualizes it.

As "Catch and Kill: The Podcast Tapes" (2021 release; 6 episodes of about 25 min. Each) opens, Episode 1 "The Wire" looks at what happened in2015 to Ambra Gutierrez, a model from Italy, when she ends up in Harvey Weinstein's atmosphere, and in particular what happened after she agrees to wear a wire on one of her encounters with Weinstein... Episode 2 "The Reporters" looks at how Weinstein was able to manipulate the press and media for decades, despite attempts by several reporters (including Hollywood Reporter's Kim Masters and the New Yorker's Ken Auletta) to the contrary.

Couple of comments: even though by now we have a pretty good understanding of how the Harvey Weinstein empire of deception, intimidation, and sexual assaults operated for years and years, it is still impactful to hear the principals talk about it. You heart goes out to someone like Ambra Gutierrez, who was new to this country and not even 25 yrs. Old when in 2015 Weinstein descended on her like the predator that he was (is). The courage that it took this young lady to stand up to that beast and all of his enablers is beyond words. All that aside, do we learn anything new from this? I don't mean to be disrespectful to Ronan Farrow or anyone else involved in this documentary mini-series, but after 2 episodes, my answer is "not really". So I'm not quite sure what the additional value of this documentary is, other than to visualize the book and of course to remind us how an entire eco-system let Harvey Weinstein get away with sexual assault and worse for all these years.

"Catch and Kill: The Podcast Tapes" premiered earlier this week on HBO and Episodes 1 and 2 are now available on HBO On Demand, HBO Max, and other streaming services. The remaining 4 episodes will air over the next 2 weeks. If you have any interest in understanding how Harvey Weinstein got away with the crimes he committed for all these years, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

*UPDATE* 7/21/21 I've now seen Episodes 3 ("The Assistants") and 4 ("The Producer"). In particular Episode 4 is strong, as it looks how NBC News "killed" the story by Farrow and his producer. Just wow...

*UPDATE* 7/27/21 I've now seen the last remaining two episodes ("The Editors" and "The Spy"), and this series simply got better and better as we moved along. I've increased my rating from 7/10 to 8/10.