Worst Roommate Ever

Netflix once again delivers for fans of real life crime documentaries. This five part series tells us of four different criminals, with various crimes, including fraud and murder, the only thing linking the stories, is a tenuous story about a room mate link.

The first episode blew me away, the most shocking story of the lot, the case of Dorothea Puente, it's enough to give you nightmares for a month. Talk about somebody not looking like they could cause harm to anyone.

It's a well produced series, each has some intriguing interviews, and some decent animation which helps tell the story.

I wonder if a second series will follow, I'm sure there's enough demand, and material.

You may well, like I did, watch each episode, and wonder how on earth the victims allowed themselves to be put into such situations, but when you're desperate for help, financial or otherwise, you tend to believe the best in people. Hindsight is a wonderful thing I guess.

Overall, it's a good watch. 8/10.

In truth, sociopaths have an uncanny ability to find vulnerable people and exploit them. They don't care who they hurt, and they are especially good at connecting with good hearted people. They want good hearted people because they are the ones who think the best of others.

In many of the other "Interpersonal" true crime series on Netflix, these victims are women. For whatever reason, the fact that they are exploited by men makes some reviewers assume the victims weren't that innocent because they are looking to be rescued by someone with money. Those reviewers have trouble understanding just how grim it can be to in the grips of a sociopath, whether the victim is a man OR a woman.

This series sets the record straight on who the victims of a criminal are. The stories are chilling, whether the criminal is a squatter or an attempted murderer. The victims are still shell shocked, incredibly honest and good at describing the point of desperation to which they were driven. The crimes are intensely personal, whether they took place in the victim's home or in the loneliness of a foreign country.

It's a frustrating, intelligent chilling look into what it feels like to be gutted by a friend or lover.

See it. I'm already hoping for a second season,

I enjoyed the documentary except for one thing. That last 2 episodes follow the story of a serial squatter named Jed Creek aka Jamison Bachman. I felt so sorry for everybody involved that suffered so much, but the victim, Alex Miller, creeped me more than the offender. The way she talked, the facial expressions.... (kinda sociopathic also), reaaaaaly creeped me, had to fast forward all the parts with her.

The makers get one part right - the documentary series focuses almost entirely on the victims' perspective - giving them all the time they need to articulate these real-life incidents. Every episode has its share of psychological horror and thriller-like twists, and it's ideal to go into the series totally blank. It really drives you nuts when you know that such crimes happen when digital technology is the strongest it's ever been. Also, some real-estate laws need to be revisited in the concerned states as early as possible. I feel like the makers added specific questions and moments in the interviews to heighten the overall dramatic effect. That's a downer on the part of both Blumhouse & Netflix, I'd say. Nonetheless, the series is one heck of a ride! The Bachman story - told in two parts - is the most thrilling of the lot.

Verdict: Worth the binge-watch!

I'm so sad to see disparaging remarks by other reviewers about the victims in these awful cases. They are victims not actors. Their suffering was and is very real. They don't have to look or act 'the right way' to be deserving of our understanding and sympathy.

It would be amazing to think that one of America's many millionaires might help out Sonia who was one of Jason Brachman's victims. She'd worked so hard to get her apartment in Rockaway and lost everything through no fault of her own. I hope she and the other women are managing to find peace and safety in their own homes.