Although Netflix’s ‘Monster’ anthology series has been universally bashed by critics online with low scores across the major sites, the first two seasons received a combined 35 Emmy nominations. The series was also a ratings powerhouse for Netflix with the first season still sitting at #4 on the all-time English TV Top 10 list. That fact may be partially due to the scandals surrounding the first two seasons, first from the families of victims of Jeffrey Dahmer’s crimes, then from the Melendez brothers whose crimes where the focus of season 2. The new season, which focused on the first celebrity American serial killer, Ed Gein, so far has not had issues of surviving relatives airing grievances due to the fact that Gein’s crimes took place decades before Dahmer’s.
Season 3 was initially supposed to be called ‘Original Monster’, but the creative team chose to revert back to the same ‘Monster’ headline as the first and second season. Season 3 is the first time that Ryan Murphy will not serve as Co-Showrunner, but series Co-Creator and Co-Showrunner Ian Brennan is still on board for the show’s third outing. Charlie Hunnam, who also Executive Produced on the series is completely transformed in this role and will likely have a lot of memes come out depicting some of his most surreal/goofiest moments. Warning, beyond this point there are major spoilers for anyone who hasn’t seen the new season of “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” on Netflix.
Charlie Hunnam, who also Executive Produced on the series is completely transformed in this role and will likely have a lot of memes come out depicting some of his most surreal/goofiest moments.”
The series opens up in the time preceding Gein’s days as a killer. The character starts off by doing his chores, but is quickly sneaking into the house of a young girl and watching her change. After he’s almost caught, Ed decides to dress up in women’s underwear and participate in a little auto-erotic asphyxiation before his mom catches him. This is a pretty straight forward of introducing the character and maybe al little bit too on the nose. We would have preferred a more subtle introduction to Gein’s perversity, but we appreciate the shock value of showing these actions early on. Ed’s relationship with his domineering mother Augusta (Laurie Metcalf) is the definition of toxic as she completely tries to control him from ever having any relationship with any women. Metcalf, who notably played Sheldon’s mom in “The Big Bang Theory” does a remarkable job of bringing back the same religious fanatic energy of her role as Sheldon’s mom and mixing it with the darkness of Norma Bates – who Augusta actually inspired. Some of the things Augusta says are beyond abusive and showing these moments server to humanize Ed to some extent, who starts to become a sympathetic character instead of a murderous monster.
The unique aspect about this season, is that the story disjointedly jumps around to the different movie killers that Gein inspired (“Psycho”, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Silence of the Lambs”) and later on, to the actual serial killers that Ed gave inspiration to. These sequences are a little strenuous to the flow of the storytelling at first but overall end up enhancing the experience. There are also sequences where Ed imagines his heroine, a real-life Nazi war criminal named Ilse Koch (Vicky Krieps) who was known as the “Bitch of Buchenwald” amongst many infamous moniker. These random scenes featuring storylines only vaguely related to Ed Gen are disorienting at first, but eventually serve to make the viewer feel the weight of Ed’s schizophrenia. The series chooses to ignore the reportedly regular abuse by Gein’s father to both Ed amd his brother, but it also doesn’t deny those allegations.
The pilot speeds through Ed’s time with his mother and she is dead from a very preventable stroke about halfway in. The series also pins Ed’s brother’s murder on Ed, something that was long suspected but never proven in real life. The series definitely takes some narrative and poetic liberties, but the things that it guesses are based at least off of some real evidence. After Ed’s mom is buried in the graveyard, nobody in town seems to be aware, which seems like a plot hole but we’ll move on from that one. Ed starts to spin out, but latches on top is relationship with fellow outcast and murder crime enthusiast, Adeline (Suzanna Son). Gein and Adeline are both fascinated by graphic images from the holocaust and other macabre visuals, which Gein later gives credit to what started his obsessions with body parts and death. The episode ends with Ed starting his career as a grave robber and sets an ominous tone for the rest of the series, but it’s worth noting this episode is devoid of random unrelated storylines and is the most cohesive.
Episode 2 introduces the making of the movie “Psycho”, with Alfred Hitchcock (Tom Hollander) speaking with the author of the book the movie was based on while Gein is simultaneously falling apart and becoming a second personality with the harsh mannerisms of his mother. These story elements are interesting on their own, but sometimes really distract from being in the moment with Gein. These flash-aways serve to show how influential the killer was in our pop culture, but personally in the earlier episodes, they do feel like a momentum killer. As Gein progresses from grave robbing and fits of schizophrenic rage, he be ethically graduates to murder.
The story takes awhile to get these, but when they do, they take liberties with Gein and do their best to make a generally low body count of 2 (proven) seem vast and ominous. Director Max Winkler and Showrunner Ian Brennan (who directed a couple himself) did a terrifying job of making Gein’s seemingly small resume become truly terrifying. Gein’s little talked about relationship with Adeline is also one of the stronger parts of Gein’s story, although the character proves to be way too self-centered at times. The final episode was an interesting prologue to such an eerie show. Ed finds some form of vindication by helping the FBI find prolific killer Ted Bundy, which seems mostly exaggerated but serves the story well.
All in all, Charlie Hunnam’s spooky performance as the “Butcher of Plainfield” is worth the cost of admission, but ‘Monster’ season 3 definitely has a lot of redeeming qualities to make up for it’s issues it’s pacing. The show also does a great job at showing how glorifying violent crimes and the people who commit them can compound those problems in society. Murphy wasn’t as missed as you might have expected, it’s clear that’s Brennan was paying attention in the first couple seasons of the series. Season 4, which will focus on female killer Lizzie Borden is expected to go into production this fall for real season next year.
What did you think? Is “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” worth binging? Is this Hunnam’s most versatile role yet? Did the show take too many artistic liberties with crimes Gein might not have committed? Will there be a separate season for Ted Bundy or John Wayne Gacy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
