Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy
Longer review here. Pardon my French throughout.
Wow. This was not at all what I expected. When I first saw the trailers and heard about the idea, I thought it was gonna be another one of those shocking, gross documentaries about a serial killer. That’s not at all the direction this went.
I can’t effectively put into words what this series is. This series is not interesting, it’s not cool, it’s not fun to watch. This series is sad, it’s emotional, it’s genuine. It’s real. I thought I wanted something, and I’m so glad I didn’t get what I wanted, because now I realize this series is what it needed to be.
It doesn’t show any of the victims being killed. It doesn’t show any of the actual trial. It doesn’t give the satisfaction of watching Gacy die by execution. The entire show is about the little things. The conversations had between detectives, parents, policemen, lawyers, and victims.
This show honors the victims the way they deserve to be honored. So often we hear about serial killers or horrific events, and we understand how horrific it is, but at the same time we don’t. In this case, we hear that 33 (and probably more) boys were kidnapped, raped, tortured, and murdered, but the real gravity of it never really hits us. This show lets that happen. Each episode of show highlights a victim, or a pair/group of victims. It shows the life they lived before their demise. The intricacies of their relationships, their interests, their flaws. And it shows the mistake they made that led them to meet Gacy, mistakes most of us could have and might have made at the time too. Things like working for him and requesting back pay, or hitchhiking, or even falling for a fake cop trick. All of these boys had lives, and none of them deserved this.
John Gacy, you absolute sick deranged fuck. Fuck you. As someone who didn’t know much about this, the perspective this show gives me is eye-opening. I’m usually someone who can stomach anything on TV, but episode 6 really made me squirm. Those poor boys, what they must have went through in their last moments, knowing they were just one mere decision away from not being involved at all. Episode 6 is the only real look we get at what went on during the victims final moments, and it cannot be overstated how uncomfortable it is. And that’s the point, it’s meant to feel. Fuck John Gacy.
And fuck the police too. There were so many signs, so many clues to Gacy. So many victims who made it out alive who could have stopped this in its tracks if the police had just listened. The incompetency of the police is truly highlighted here, and it’s unbelievable. Truly unbelievable.
The lawyers too. The defense lawyer was clearly only out to make a name for himself and his new firm. Using a situation like this to profit off of himself. And even the prosecuting lawyer, while you root for him throughout, the last episode shows what this was to him. A job. He is satisfied Gacy is dying, and that’s it. He thinks it’s case closed. It’s not case closed for all of these victims and their families. It’s all just a game to these lawyers, a job they clock in and out of, a job they check off when they’re done. They could never truly understand.
There’s also a really powerful scene in episode 8, where there are death penalty protesters outside while the families are being driven into watch Gacys execution. To me this highlights how people nowadays have no idea what they’re really protesting, and the impacts the things they’re protesting have on families and victims. How detached and sick they must be is beyond me.
Of course, it wraps up by showing the state failed the families by not letting them watch the execution, and by tricking them and not letting them know until it’s over. Just another way the state and the government failed these families. It makes me sick.
Again, this show is not entertaining. It’s not interesting. It doesn’t show anything cool, graphic, shocking. It’s real. It’s slow. It’s uncomfortable. It’s genuine.
And it’s needed.