Soobs

I think they were selling the hockey thing as something he could do besides doing heroin. Glad he got help. He seemed calmer, less angry. His adolescent behavior was so obnoxious. And boy did he know how to hijack a nice, family dinner with sordid stories from his lame life. It's always stunning to me, all the time people lose to an addiction that they're supposed to be using to build an adult life.

It's surprising to me that the goal of the book was to solve the case rather than report on it. She had a great rapport with everyone involved (law enforcement and the victims) and in the end those relationships and her descriptions of the scenes and time period was compelling enough to make the book. I was recently reading about the dangers of autodidacticism and how the wealth of knowledge on the internet has really fed into people's beliefs that they can be self taught in pretty much any arena. There's a reason that homicide detectives have to spend years training, take tests, be extensively interviewed before they can attempt to solve cases. They also have a community around them of co-workers and a hierarchy of bosses to protect not only the public but the detectives themselves from getting overly involved and self destructing. Being a citizen detective, Michelle had none of this support and protection that's built into the system. Looking at all the terrible crime scene photos deeply effected her psychologically. She was in denial of the risks she was taking with her mental and physical health. I had to laugh when the New York literary people were being interviewed and they were like "We were fine with her missing deadlines. We were just interested in what came next." Sure, Jan. However, there's no way she would have cancelled the book deal with them. She had a lot to prove to her family and that she was more than a famous person's spouse and to the victims. I'll bet Patton Oswalt has a lot of regrets and I'm sure it wasn't easy to talk about this part of the story. Hopefully it can help others from suffering the same fate.

HBO does such a great job with documentaries. I loved the mash up with the Creature from the Black Lagoon footage with the text from Michelle McNamara's book about unknowingly escaping evil but sensing it brushing past. Also, when they played her audio in the car with the social worker and the suburban landscape slowly changed from today into the 70's. It's a really nice marriage of form and content. Even if you aren't into true crime or this case, it's spellbinding documentary making. The romance between her and Patton Oswalt was charming and beautifully normal and of course ultimately tragic. I doubt they timed this with the Golden State Killer pleading guilty this week but seeing his (barely human) face all over the news adds another creepy layer. Michelle says that when we find out the identity of serial killers, it takes the power away from them but the GSK is somehow creepier looking than I imagined. He looks wormlike to me. Every time I see him, I shiver. I'm also enjoying the true crime podcaster cameos (Karen Kilgariff, Billy Jensen) and I'm guessing Paul Holes will pop up eventually.

When I would heavy eye make up during the day my mom would say,"your eyes look like two burnt holes in a blanket!" At least I had the excuse of being a clueless teenager. Chelsea actually went to beauty school and is almost 30! She needs to learn a daytime look.

The cycle of abuse is hard to break. Hopefully, David's daughter Marissa (I think that's her name) is being cared for by someone stable. I feel the worst for her. She's seen a lot of shit, I'm sure.

I'm not really a fan but I got a lot out of this special. I was surprised that he brought up Christopher Dorner as that's a story LAPD would rather everyone forget and they largely have. I'm going to watch it again.

It's a bunch of inconsistent half measures. It's weird that they wouldn't have figured out a way to handle this when the franchise is based on people making poor decisions. Hello, those people are going to continue to make poor decisions and attract people who also make poor decisions!

Please tell me Cheyenne isn't pining for Cory specifically but more for the idea of this perfect family a lot of these women have. Corey reminds me of a guy I know who has a lot of surface charm and that's about it. Lotta side boob on her this week. Ryder was predictably adorable. Mackenzie's segment about her mom made me tear up. All the firsts are hard. It's nice she's close with her sister and dad even though they give terrible advice. I guess I'm glad for Ben (tley). I have a deep loathing for private schools and I think they should be abolished but that's neither here nor there. Tyler says he wants a boy but doesn't know why. Maybe figure that out before dropping 20k and putting your wife's precarious mental health on the line. He considers himself such a smartie pants but he has zero self reflection. They really tried hard to humanize Amber at the end, playing with Leah. Not buying it.

Cheyenne and Taylor clearly don't like each other and Cheyenne should have said no to attending. Cory needs to keep his concerns about Cheyenne being hurt to himself. It's an overshare. Cory and Cheyenne seemed confused about what healthy boundaries look like. It's almost as if Maci is trying to give her kid an eating disorder. Her whole spiel at the end about "it's the only thing he can control" was straight out of an Intervention episode. She's never come across as that controlling before. It was weird and disturbing. An eleven year old is hungry, fucking feed him, duh. Ryan was right but guess what? When you spend years being a piece of shit parent, you have no credibility even if you're right. Was Bubby low key threatening Dmitri's life at dinner? Mackenzie seemed really depressed. Those first few months to a year after losing a parent are the worst. It's good the school district is holding her accountable. Maybe it will pull her out of it a bit.

It's amazing what you can get away with if you're pretty, blonde and have money. More should have been done when her brother killed her husband and then Lori just drove the kids to school. "Hey, your uncle just killed your dad, get in the car we're late". It's like human life didn't matter to her. Did a social worker intervene at that point and question the kids? Lori's talk of demons reminded me of a bipolar relative of mine who would say he thought certain people were imposters and the real version of them was gone. It's disturbing and dehumanizing talk that can be a slippery slope to murder. My relative was not violent but I definitely avoided him until he sought treatment. I think she became mentally ill and this doomsday author capitalized on it and convinced her that the kids had to go. He's a real psychopath. The version of Lori that her mother and sister were speaking of was the healthier version and that isn't the current person she is. I saw a lot of denial and excuses there. This must be so frustrating for law enforcement. I don't know how they can prove murder unless the doomsday guy (who also probably murdered his wife) or Lori cracks and I don't see that happening. I remember watching another show about this case and they said the doomsday author's wife told a friend that someone attacked her or took a shot at her a week before she died. I can't remember what kind of attack it was but it was kind of serious and she blew it off. It's crazy that it took so long for minimum consequences and they may never face full consequences. Those poor kids. They had no one protecting them after the dad was killed.

Gary is now Amber's landlord, life coach and father figure. Absolutely, totally healthy and completely normal. I was trying to give Mackenzie and Josh the benefit of the doubt but actually telling the child,"you're my favorite, don't tell the others" was a bit much. Maybe she tells all her kids that? She does strike me as the type who kept having kids until she got her baby girl cheerleader but I don't know their birth order only that Gannon is the eldest. Cheyenne's storyline was a good example of the downside of being a single mom. No one to turn to on those lonely, long, scary nights. I doubt she has Munchausen by Proxy but as gossip that's pretty good stuff. She always has struck me as ultimately a nice and simple person. Her kid is adorable. What a great big brother/ role model Ben (I'm calling him Ben from now on) is. Whatever Maci and Taylor have or haven't done, he's a good kid. Perhaps they just got lucky. This was the most animated we've seen Ryan in awhile. Even so, he doesn't look capable of being a new dad right now. Tyler is trying to do what many before him have done: run a small business of locally produced products and keep the prices down. Good luck with that. Not saying it can't be done but you need to really know a lot more than he knows to make it happen.

Why was Mackenzie talking about how she wasn't actually going to kill herself in front of her kid? That seemed damaging. Josh has very low emotional intelligence and if he wants to be a halfway decent father and husband he needs to work on himself. This whole,"that's just the way he is" is bullshit. Mackenzie needs a grief therapist and to rely on Josh less for her emotional needs. He's just not capable at this point. She relied on her mom a lot and I'm sure her death left a big hole but Josh ain't going to fill it. Amber's new guy should not be around Leah yet. Cheyenne still has no real problems. Tyler and Caitlynn need to tell the friend to leave. Yes, they've known her for a long time but they're allowed to outgrow old friends with arrest records and ongoing drug problems. Go with her to meetings, take her to dinner, but support her from afar.

I grew up in the area and was about 10 when this happened. I have never heard of this case until this week. I do remember a case a few years after where the father on base had left the family (either AWOL or he was off on assignment) and there were many kids in the family that a young boy (12 or 13) was left in charge of. They were all going hungry and the boy feeling overwhelmed hung himself in the garage of the home. There was a lot of fall out from this and the military was accused of not appropriately supporting families. Several changes were made after this. In regards to this case, back then the stepdad could have killed her and then they moved on. I keep going back to the Southern accent. Her story made it sound like she stuck around the west. If it was really her then why did she appear independently of the parents? A lot of signs point to it being someone else but then she had the same DNA as both parents so.... I agree though that the cadaver dogs hitting on something on the base is meaningless. Homeless people have died out there of natural causes, there have also been murders and body dumps. The most well known is the murder of a young girl, Christina Williams which happened in the 90's. The killer was just recently caught and convicted through DNA. They think he probably killed more people out there as well. Even though a lot of it is a college campus today, it's a creepy place. Lots of loose ends in this case that will probably never be tied together.

If she doesn't rhyme Ryahhhnn with cryin' than why bother writing it at all?

I can't hate on Mackenzie for the money grab at the end of her mom's life. Having lost both my parents I can say that fear and grief can make you crazy and you'll grab onto anything you can to try to control the situation. I saw the house pay off as her mom wanting to continue to care for her family when she knew she couldn't and not being able to let go of that role. If it lets Mackenzie and Co. have a little relief during a terrible time, it's fine with me. She was a nice lady and so young too. If Bentley gets into private school he should go by Ben. Gary could have at least read the Wikipedia entry on Belgium. He's just sitting there not doing anything. Google it Gary!