If you are on the lookout for a new crime documentary, then Killer Inside: The Mind of Aron Hernandez might just be the right pick for you. This 2020 American true-crime documentary premiered on the 15th of January on the streaming site, Netflix. Directed by Geno McDermott, this series is divided into three parts and is a true-crime documentary. It documents the life of a convicted murderer and former professional American football player Aaron Hernandez for the murder of Odin Lloyd.
The series also explores other cases in which he was supposedly a suspect, analyzing the various happenings and factors in his life that shaped his behavior. Starring Aaron Hernandez, Susan Candiotti, and Dan Wetzel among others, this is an intriguing and compelling series. Without further ado, let us dive into -Killer Inside: The Mind of Aron Hernandez: Review
Unfolding of the series of events
The story revolves around the Famous footballer- Aron Hernandez of Bristol, Connecticut. Soon enough, Hernandez found himself on the road to fame from playing for College leagues to being selected to the National Football League (NFL) at the tender age of 20. But in 2013, fresh off of a newly inked five-year, $40 million contracts with the New England Patriots, Hernandez would become a household name for the most infamous murder case involving an American athlete.
His connections linked to the murder of Odin Llyod and two other Boston men open up a mysterious box of secretes leading to his history of substance abuse and trauma. The story is well documented in a three-part series exploring his life from start to finish and involving a series of interviews, tapes, and phone recordings of Hernandez, his family and friends, investigators, and other experts. The Mind of Aaron Hernandez meticulously examines the perfect storm of factors leading to the trial, conviction, and death of an athlete who seemingly had it all.
Diving into the details
Hernandez was sent to live in jail in April 2015. He was convicted of the 2013 homicide of a semi-pro football player (and his fiancé’s sister’s boyfriend), Odin Lloyd. Two years later, Hernandez was acquitted of the murders of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado. But just days later, Hernandez died by apparent suicide in prison.
The series is a well-documented gathering of the thoughts, observations, and feelings on Hernandez. With the first few episodes being considerably long and depicting his childhood and later rise to fame, this documentary managed to fit it all. The series showcases a lot of in-prison phone call recordings of Hernandez and his loved ones.
The series also focuses on several of his relationships with family and friends. Special emphasis was given to the relationship between him and his mother which was rather tempestuous. Several scenes focus on the swaying feelings of his mother from pride to pity to regret. The show wonderfully manages to catch them all. Not all is a silver lining as the show manages to showcase Hernandez’s struggles growing up dealing with trauma, injury, drug abuse, impulsiveness, and eventually homicide.
The series manages to dive CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy) and the effects it’s had on NFL players past and present. Hernandez, after his death, was diagnosed with a severe case of CTE. There is a focus on the life of these players behind the screen, their health, and the complete disregard thereof by the NFL team.
Reception
The overall reception of the series was good with it raking up a good rating. It managed to gather a 7.4 on 10-star rating on IMDb and a 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an overall got “favorable” or “good” reviews. The series is a brilliantly shot one, as it chronologically explains the life of Hernandez and unfolds the character development. The series is also praised for its good cinematography in which the story unfolds in a way that both followers of the story and people with no background knowledge can keep up.
Although on the surface, it may appear to be just like any other Crime documentary, this series takes it a step further by diving into his past which creates a foundation for all the events that unfolded in the years that followed in his life. The various interviews allowed us to see the entire case from not just our perspective but also with the help of the narratives of experts, his loved ones, and so on.
The series can be praised for its attention to detail and the attempt to explore the behavioral patterns of Hernandez by connecting it to his past trauma establishing a cause-effect relationship. The series also does a good job of uncovering the truth of life beg=hind stardom by digging deep into the reality of the NFL. The Netflix series presents a powerful case for a tried and true concept: what appears bright and shiny on the surface often has a dark, dirty underbelly.
Just like any other series however, this show is not free of its share of flaws and controversies. It was severely criticized for the footage of his daughter that many claims were unnecessary. Further, the series spends a considerable amount of time discussing Hernandez’s sexuality in detail which seemed rather disrespectful. There was a lot of questioning regarding the release of the private phone calls between Hernandez and his loved ones with many suggesting it was not right on the part of the show makers to air this private content.
Despite its criticisms, Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez has proved to be a captivating and enlightening series opening up our horizons and giving us a better insight into the late Footballer’s life. This series is emotional, captivating, and all that it was expected to be. As put by Bob Hohler of The Boston Globe it is “The finest video documentary yet on the Hernandez tragedy, Killer Inside is richly enhanced by archival footage”. Final Verdict of Killer Inside: The Mind of Aron Hernandez: Review- Thumbs up! It is a must-watch and you are sure to not regret it.
