Cold Case: les meurtres au Tylenol

Chicago medics are shocked when several healthy people die unexpectedly. The only link is that they'd all taken Tylenol. Investigations uncover a shocking truth: the Tylenol capsules had been laced with cyanide. Early indications are that James Lewis is the man, especially since he sent an extortion letter to Johnson & Johnson.

It's a very well-made documentary that isn't afraid to throw in a few controversial talking points, including the potential involvement of pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson.

It's chilling to think that nobody was ever caught for it, someone or some organisation quite literally got away with murder, unfortunately I don't think we'll ever learn what happened.

There are some fascinating interviews, especially the words of potential killer James Lewis. I thought Michelle Rosen was absolutely fantastic: courageous, honest, and not afraid to call out corruption where it exists.

As for James Lewis, while listening to him speak, I just don't think he has the mental clout to carry it out, especially given the deaths that occurred once Johnson & Johnson had added all of those safety precautions to their Tylenol products.

7/10.

This Netflix documentary began very well and, in the first episode, presented a fair and balanced and reasoned telling of the facts of this case.

Then, they introduced two 'reporters' with axes to grind and a relative who decided to play the true-crime game, and it all spiraled into conspiracy theories and let's bring down a big corporation.

Clearly, if Johnson & Johnson had been responsible for the contamination in the McNeil plants, thousands, or hundreds of thousands, would have died nationwide.

In addition, J&J's response is still taught in business schools and crisis management as a model for how to deal with catastrophic situations like the deadly tampering in this case.

I never cease to be amazed that there isn't a set of obvious guidelines and ground rules that documentary makers follow. One of those would be to keep the audience apprised of the timeline.

This documentary flips back and forth, mostly seemingly between 1982 and 1986, when two events occurred. Of course there was coverage after that and some from the present day. At times it was unclear what the timing was for a particular scene. This makes the story harder to follow for viewers. You can do better.

Apart from that, it was an interesting subject that I recall from my youth. I did not recall the resolution of it, such as it is, so it was interesting to get a more complete story although we still don't have the full story do we?

ABOUT MY REVIEWS:

I do not include a synopsis of the film/show -- you can get that anywhere and that does not constitute a meaningful review -- but rather my thoughts and feelings on the film that hopefully will be informative to you in deciding whether to invest 90-180 minutes of your life on it.

My scale: 1-5 decreasing degrees of "terrible", with 5 being "mediocre" 6- OK. Generally held my interest OR had reasonable cast and/or cinematography, might watch it again 7 - Good. My default rating for a movie I liked enough to watch again, but didn't rise to the upper echelons 8- Very good. Would watch again and recommend to others 9- Outstanding. Would watch over and over; top 10% of my ratings 10 - A classic. (Less than 2% receive this rating). For Lifetime Movies for Chicks (LMFC), drop the above scale by 3 notches. A 6 is excellent and 7 almost unattainable.

Once again, the FBI lets emotion override evidence, a pattern that keeps showing up in U. S. true crime cases from the '80s and '90s. As a European, I'm stunned by how unprofessional it often feels. Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders is brilliantly made, and I truly felt for the man accused based on something as flimsy as a letter. This is a must-watch for true crime fans. But if you can't see the innocence in his eyes, that's not his problem.

Even the best camera can't mask his eyes. He doesn't carry guilt... he carries the weight of a system that prefers quick answers over real truth. So, this is a must watch!

I remember the Tylenol cyanide murders from 1982 mostly as a PR case study, how Johnson & Johnson's response became the gold standard in crisis communication. But this tight 3-part Netflix docuseries goes deeper, putting faces to the eight innocent victims and examining the mystery that still hasn't been solved. It's horrifying to realize that something as routine as taking a pain reliever could lead to such gruesome deaths, and even more shocking that tamper-resistant packaging didn't exist before this. The series maintains a steady sense of dread while exploring possible suspects and theories, though it ultimately leaves you with the same uncertainty investigators still face. Insightful and unsettling, it's a fascinating look at how a random act of terror changed the way we shop for medicine and how justice remains elusive more than 40 years later.