‘I'll Be Gone In The Dark’ Episode 1 Review: ‘Murder Habit’ shows how Golden State Killer got the name EAR/ONS
A dark blue tinge engulfs you into its claws as ‘I'll Be Gone In The Dark’ begins and a red moon rises into the sky. Titled ‘Murder Habit’, the first episode begins on April 24, 2018, with an introduction to Michelle McNamara, a crime writer in Los Angeles. An author of True Crime Diary, her blog about unsolved crimes, the hour-long documentary delves deep into her obsession with the East Area Rapist (EAR), who terrorized California in the 1970s and 1980s, responsible for 50 home-invasion rapes and 12 murders.
He was known as the Original Night Stalker(ONS) and perhaps the best part of the episode is when she discovers he also had the acronym EAR/ONS on the Internet. However, but Michelle dubbed him as the Golden State Killer. Immersed in the graphic details of the Golden State Killer case, connecting with like-minded sleuths, trading facts, photos, and leads, she had pitched a story to Los Angeles Magazine, interviewing several EAR survivors and retired detectives who worked the case.
"Murderers lose their power the moment we see them," she confesses in her book where she says, "I had a murder habit and it was bad. I would feed it for the rest of my life." She then says, "I'm like a rat in a maze given a task." Narrated by Amy Ryan, the tale is so hard-hitting, gripping and astonishingly overpowering that it grabs you within a moment. It feels surreal how she wrote a letter to the Golden State Killer — someone she "never met" and had "never known". "One day soon, you’ll hear a car pull up to your curb, an engine cut out. You’ll hear footsteps coming up your front walk," she wrote in the final pages of her posthumously published book and it came true.
As the missing pieces of the puzzle are put together, Michelle's husband Patton Oswalt, friends and fellow citizen detectives reflect on her intoxicating tales - which McNamara calls an "addiction" - bring unsolved true crime stories to life. The series beautifully blends the powerful words written in the book with the archived footage of the real McNamara. Catching her in those frames, it feels she is still there, among us, even though McNamara passed away in her sleep in 2016. When you look at her, you feel she is real, so innocent, so full of life.
"The great tragedy for me is that it is not that well known," she says in archived footage. The stealthy scenes are ethereally shot and the series features several other interviews with detectives, multiple East Area Rapist survivors, family members, acquaintances and friends including Nancy Miller, the Los Angeles Editor, social worker Melanie Barbeau and close friends Sarah Stand and Adam Drucker. Detective Larry Crompton confesses his feeling after he walked into a crime scene. "When I walked into the place, I had a feeling. The hair on my back had lifted. And I just had the same fear the victims had and had the feeling that this was a mad man," he says and the picture is portrayed in your head. He always wore a mask, always wore gloves and spoke through windows.
One question bubbling at the back of your mind is: Why wasn't the Golden State Killer known like Son of Sam or the Zodiac Killer? Why didn't anyone talk about him? Like David Fincher's 'Mindhunter', the documentary gives you an eerie feeling that would make you jump out of your seat and it is commendable how it does so without any graphic scenes. Indeed, the power of words is wonderful. With cleverly crafted shots and brilliant frames, the story feels so real that it catches you by surprise every single time. ‘I'll Be Gone In The Dark’ premiered on June 28 at 10 pm ET on HBO.