Scène de crime: Les champs macabres du Texas
Original title: Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields
An overgrown field and a stretch of highway connect a series of grisly murders spanning several decades as grieving families search for answers.An overgrown field and a stretch of highway connect a series of grisly murders spanning several decades as grieving families search for answers.An overgrown field and a stretch of highway connect a series of grisly murders spanning several decades as grieving families search for answers.
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This is one of the better documentaries of past unsolved crimes. Yes, it is disturbing and sad but it is respectfully done.
It focuses on the known victims and their families. As it should. It wasn't graphic or sensational.
The series really brings home how the loved ones lives are permanently changed and they never forget their loss, nor their desire for justice so this won't happen to other young women or their families.
It also goes into the frustration and helplessness of the police and its terrifying effect on the entire area.
It is downright terrifying how often women and children are preyed upon.
It focuses on the known victims and their families. As it should. It wasn't graphic or sensational.
The series really brings home how the loved ones lives are permanently changed and they never forget their loss, nor their desire for justice so this won't happen to other young women or their families.
It also goes into the frustration and helplessness of the police and its terrifying effect on the entire area.
It is downright terrifying how often women and children are preyed upon.
Obviously a hideously horrendous story, in terms of the victims and family left behind. However, this actual documentary... I don't feel it did any of that justice.
Sooo many shots of photos on a table, random streets, woods, the sky, etc etc. Genuinely in every five minutes of screentime, three minutes of that are just random scenery shots or the exact same repeated shots of headstones/photos.
I also felt it was really quite disjointed and jumped about on the timeline and victims with no real cohesion.
A LOT of time is spent with one of the victim's fathers. Of course the viewer feels deeply for him, but so, so much time is spent with him with not a lot of information gleaned from it. He seems incredibly miserable and I wanted someone to just say to him, "you can stop." The documentary also kind of jumps over the fact that he harassed and possibly drove a person of interest to suicide as he became obsessed with him and pinning the crime on him. That was... unsettling.
In relation to that, there's very, very little actual critique of the police department and the absolute farce of so much of the initial investigations. It's again kind of mentioned then glossed over.
And a more nitpicky critique - when they're talking about the court records and it's stated that the murderer "had sex with and then murdered (victim)" - Jesus wept, he did not 'have sex with', he raped her. A huge difference.
Again; a horrific story. Just... very poorly documented.
Sooo many shots of photos on a table, random streets, woods, the sky, etc etc. Genuinely in every five minutes of screentime, three minutes of that are just random scenery shots or the exact same repeated shots of headstones/photos.
I also felt it was really quite disjointed and jumped about on the timeline and victims with no real cohesion.
A LOT of time is spent with one of the victim's fathers. Of course the viewer feels deeply for him, but so, so much time is spent with him with not a lot of information gleaned from it. He seems incredibly miserable and I wanted someone to just say to him, "you can stop." The documentary also kind of jumps over the fact that he harassed and possibly drove a person of interest to suicide as he became obsessed with him and pinning the crime on him. That was... unsettling.
In relation to that, there's very, very little actual critique of the police department and the absolute farce of so much of the initial investigations. It's again kind of mentioned then glossed over.
And a more nitpicky critique - when they're talking about the court records and it's stated that the murderer "had sex with and then murdered (victim)" - Jesus wept, he did not 'have sex with', he raped her. A huge difference.
Again; a horrific story. Just... very poorly documented.
Docuseries finally on Netflix that's worth watching, tells a coherent story and comes together in the end.
I'm not sure all 3 episodes were necessary- I think all the information could have been sufficiently parsed out in 2 episodes, but 3 isn't an overreach.
It's crazy that these producers could tell a solid story yet not interject their insane political narrative into the stories- there are some vaguely political points but they're very relevant to the telling, and while it revolves around law enforcement, it is deservedly so- what the aforementioned police department did (or rather, lack thereof effective policing) deserves a spotlight and the attention of the public eye. It's one thing to espouse the common thread amongst departments of the time and claim runaway/wait 48 hours- which was incredibly obtuse and shortsighted even then, but even now, when we all know better to not at least acknowledge you're wrong and accept public responsibility for your department failings speaks volumes about your department.
My only concern is the lack of transparency and wishing there were more transparency among the departments and accountability to the public. Naming names would be a good start to getting public attention rightly focused on this group.
My request is that someone do an extensive documentary on Tim Miller and his Equusearch group- his is a fascinating story and one worth telling. Even though he's not particularly interested in the spotlight, the amount of good he's put into the world on behalf of his daughter is invaluable and I fear he's not much longer for this world. Keep fighting the good fight Tim- this may not be the path you chose but it is your path nonetheless. You've helped so many people through one of the most incredibly difficult times in their lives with experience, care and compassion and for that you deserve our unending gratitude and support.
I'm not sure all 3 episodes were necessary- I think all the information could have been sufficiently parsed out in 2 episodes, but 3 isn't an overreach.
It's crazy that these producers could tell a solid story yet not interject their insane political narrative into the stories- there are some vaguely political points but they're very relevant to the telling, and while it revolves around law enforcement, it is deservedly so- what the aforementioned police department did (or rather, lack thereof effective policing) deserves a spotlight and the attention of the public eye. It's one thing to espouse the common thread amongst departments of the time and claim runaway/wait 48 hours- which was incredibly obtuse and shortsighted even then, but even now, when we all know better to not at least acknowledge you're wrong and accept public responsibility for your department failings speaks volumes about your department.
My only concern is the lack of transparency and wishing there were more transparency among the departments and accountability to the public. Naming names would be a good start to getting public attention rightly focused on this group.
My request is that someone do an extensive documentary on Tim Miller and his Equusearch group- his is a fascinating story and one worth telling. Even though he's not particularly interested in the spotlight, the amount of good he's put into the world on behalf of his daughter is invaluable and I fear he's not much longer for this world. Keep fighting the good fight Tim- this may not be the path you chose but it is your path nonetheless. You've helped so many people through one of the most incredibly difficult times in their lives with experience, care and compassion and for that you deserve our unending gratitude and support.
The only spoiler in this review is that there are no spoiler's because we all know how Netflix documentaries turn out. Netflix, please pull yourself together. There were at least 2 dozen victims. Episodes 1 and 2 were ok but 3 was just tunnel vision. This reminds me of the Netflix documentary with the catholic nun. There was a whole series of events with multiple victims, but the documentary goes off on some singular tangent. These documentaries are getting worse in terms of telling a story about multiple victims. The subject in these Netflix documentaries ends up changing at some point in the series. Just like their other documentaries, we are led down a path in one direction but then we are pushed off a cliff so we land in the opposite direction. Definitely worth the watch if you want to learn about the area, but do not expect to learn about more than 1.5 victims stories out of a few dozen victims.
Every now and then Netflix comes out with a good true crime docuseries. Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields is one of them and certainly worth watching if you're into that kind of documentaries. There are better ones but this one is only three episodes long so you can easily binge watch the entire season in a day. Some other reviewers thought it was too long but those are just inpatient people. What struck me the most was the incompetence of the investigating police forces. A real disgrace if you ask me. As for the justice department it wasn't much better. Obviously there will always be a difference in who's dying and/or missing. If an "important" person would be missing they would turn over every rock until they found him, which was clearly not the case here. Good interviews from all kind of people involved in the case. Worth watching.
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