Real Detective is about real-life detectives and the true cases that consume and haunt them. Every detective has one. A case that pushes them to the brink. A case that takes hold of them and won’t let go. (source: IMDB)
Every Sunday at lunch, we watch a true crime documentary and this show is our favourite so far.
In each episode, a cop is telling the story of the worst crime he had to solve, while the case is being reconstructed in an event dramatisation.
The first reason why Real Detective is so good is because the stories themselves are very interesting to follow. The suspense is very well built, from the introduction to the conclusion, you wanna know who’s responsible for the murders.
The other reason is that, thanks to a huge budget, many of the episodes star actors who, if not famous, are excellent character actors that we’ve seen many times in many films and TV shows: Michael Madsen, Mia Kirshner, etc.
This makes Real Detective perhaps the most moving and interesting of any true crime documentaries shows on television nowadays.
The first time that I heard about the Elisa Lam case was during this documentary, and it was also the least interesting part to me. After having watched all 4 episodes, I still wonder though: was it really an accident, did she kill herself or did she get murdered anyway? I guess we’ll never know.
The most entertaining was the history about the Cecil Hotel. I never knew about its’ excistence, yet a lot of things have happened there throughout the years. The place even welcomed the famous serial killer, Richard Ramirez. After having watched “The Nightstalker”, he’s now mentioned in the “Cecil Hotel”, he seems to be in a lot of things lately, a new star is born? From what I’ve read and heard about this hotel, you don’t want to set a foot in that place. Also, the surrounding neighbourhood, Skid Row (wait, wasn’t this an 80’s rock band?), seems less than uninviting… where is the L.A. that everybody dreams about? The palm trees, the beaches, the beautiful people,… I guess that Hollywood has sold us a beautiful image.
I’ve also learned a new word while watching this docuseries: websleuth, apparently it’s an internet community that is focused on crime and missing people. Well, what can I say… I don’t know who to be more afraid of, them or the criminals? I previously called them the internet police, and to be honest they seem way too obsessed with a girl they’ve never met, it’s just creepy. I mean, look at the black metal musician “Morbid”, he was falsly accused of her murder by these websleuths. They’ve shattered and destroyed his life, in my opinion, he is the true victim in this documentary. Yet, nobody ever apologized once for the injustice that was done to him.
