Peanut6711

The Pros: This kept me engaged. Each episode ended making me want to watch the next. The premise was interesting, and it had a lot of potential. The Cons: The suspension of disbelief is off the charts! I couldn't decide if the author was just a sloppy writer or immature and ignorant of real-world logistics, laws, and procedures and has never heard of Waco. I mean, seriously….a minor with a pentagram carved on her back, who's escaped an insular religious cult and is likely in mortal danger, not to mention emotionally damaged and psychologically compromised, is simply brought home like a lost puppy by the hospital psychiatrist who is insensitive to her own family’s cares and concerns, particularly her middle daughter whose own safe space she disrupts. Instead of getting some serious deprograming and intensive therapy, cult girl is given her own cell phone and enrolled in a modern public high school where suddenly corn husk doll making skills are all the rage and satanic scars are the new badge of victim empowerment. This was all eye roll worthy enough, but by the time one county detective shoots another county sherif on the cult's grounds, where a massive fire, religious sacrifice, and attempted murder are also taking place, and not only have the state police still not appeared and raided the premises, but it’s weeks later till a search warrant is ready, at which point it’s then served by the newly minted cop and the detective who discharged his weapon as if internal affairs, the state police, and possibly even the FBI don't exist. Don't get me wrong, I know the detective is the good guy and I was rooting for him, but police policy and procedure and that legal good stuff. Meanwhile, the secret secluded agrarian cult who have a penchant for fire stronger than Beavis and Butthead and who are so desperate for their bounty and whatever all else their satanic wannabe Amish paradise village is lacking yet have the money, means, and power to control and pay off multiple police officers, lawyers, and judges have now quietly disappeared into the night lit by their burning church and led by their dialysis machine toting leader who they still think is groovy much like how starving North Koreans revere Kim Jong Un.

This has been driving me nuts! Where is the state police? She crossed county lines so it seems it would be under their jurisdiction. Agree! Suzanne is pissing me off. She comes off as a lousy shrink and a lousy mother to her own kids, clearly putting Mae above them. Poor Jules has had to give up her room/bed and chauffer this freaky girl around school while the older sister seems to be able to do what she wants, which is mostly being rude.

Agree, it reached a point where I knew this was another Andrea plays up the sensational elements episode. I felt bad that the victim's life was reduced to relationship drama on national TV when all along it was the skeevy neighbors that resulted in her death. Yet, she'll be remembered for all the boyfriend drama thanks in part to the local police and Andrea Canning's extensive coverage of it. Clearly, she wanted the twist ending, but more time spent on the neighbors and their revolving door of "visitors" would have been a more accurate narrative. Hell, they still never explained where the Christmas lights that bound her came from.

I thought it was ironic when the co-worker testified about how Johanna talked about the elements of a perfect murder and one was driving a nondescript vehicle, which she thought she had, except that post-market detail on her truck stood out to a witness familiar with cars. Like of all the people to notice her vehicle, the trucker was thankfully one who picked up that detail and could make the identification.

I wondered too whether she wasn't a little too attached still to him as well. It sure did seem like she needed to put more distance between them. I'm assuming she didn't cut him off completely because they were childhood friends and had a history going back before they got romantically involved. FYI, both girlfriend and wife were named Jenn. Michelle was the convicted girlfriend the week before. I got the impression that she sure worded things carefully in an attempt to avoid obstruction charges from her previous statements. I can't remember her exact words, but I kept thinking that she was sure skirting an outright admission of lying.

Agree, the parents had their heads so far buried in the sand they weren't seeing what was right in front of them. They needed a wakeup call. Their son was a real piece of crap. Wise advice! If only the firefighter would have looked closer into the weird messages he got and realized the attempts on his life were a real threat/indicator of what was to come.

Agree, it was awful how they could have solved the case correctly from the start if they'd have just done better police work. Throughout the episode, I kept saying to my TV, "Did they canvas the neighborhood? See if the neighbors saw or heard anything?" So imagine my surprise when it was revealed it was one of the neighbors. I think the police had a bite against those "river kids" and wanted to put as many of them away as they could, hence the reason they kept growing the perp list even though the evidence pointed to only one participant.

2/17 episode "The Perfect Life" Andrea's interviewing drives me nuts! I just want her to spend some time on the facts and evidence in the case and less arguing with the suspect. While I think she thinks it makes for a dramatic sound bite, it actually makes her look very immature and unprofessional. Also, what the heck is she doing with her eyebrows these days?! They looked normal in the old clips but in the current ones she looks like Groucho Marx.

This! I couldn't believe the prosecutor gave her full immunity. They should have been able to smell her involvement from a mile away with the coy and convenient statements she gave over the years. While I think he pulled the trigger, I wouldn't be surprised at all if she was the one to suggest the murder or plant the idea in his head in the first place. I had to wonder if they would have tried them together, if they would have gotten the conviction(s). Or even if they would have charged her with murder or accessory to murder and gotten her to plead to lesser charges of obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting if the jury might have been more inclined to believe her testimony at his trial. My hubs is from a military family and benefited from travel and educational experiences growing up like this (that he wouldn't have otherwise had) so I agree her kids might have too had they gone along. It certainly sounded like the daughter needed to broaden her horizons. Maybe then she wouldn't have had her head in the sand when it came to her father. Girl couldn't even make the obvious connection that if his mistress was involved, he was too. It is curious that he got a different attorney after the first one provided enough reasonable doubt for 4 jurors. Seems the key to the second trial for him might have just been playing up that kind of doubt/highlighting places where other evidence wasn't there. While I do think he did it based on the style of the murder (most people don't know how to make bombs yet alone have the chemical conveniently in their garage), I could see where the jurors might have wanted some further connections to sway them. I kept wondering if they ever traced how the box got there--did he send it through USPS/UPS/FED EX or did he just leave it there since he had keys to the business?

I completely agree with both @Annber03 and @iMonrey about the gun points. I also thought it was ironic that they had a security system but didn't use it when they were home. Instead they kept guns all over the house that I guess they though they'd have easy access to yet someone could easily break in and use one of their own guns. Or Nick could have been killed some night he was sneaking back in from getting drunk in the barn had his parents heard him and thought he was an intruder. If only! I was also kinda wondering if Nick warned the hired hitmen about the dogs and told them to take them out too. Also if Nick's dad had actually hit the hitman with his weapon first and survived, was Nick and his wife going to fork over more money to hire two more hitman???

Until he was interviewed at the end, I thought he must have just been a little psycho, but after listening to him talk, I too came to the conclusion that his actions stemmed from a spoiled and entitled life view/upbringing where he never had to work hard for anything or suffer consequences for his actions. Add in his immaturity and a warped desire to impress his new wife and give them an upscale life. She was equally as greedy and lacking morals and should have had a similar sentence. She definitely got off light. Now can you imagine the next guy who brings her home to meet his parents? 😨 What a nightmare daughter-in-law.

Friday Jan 5th's episode about Gloria: I'm left with one burning question.😁 I know he's not the killer, but what ever happened to Corpse Kisser???? 🤔 Would not be surprised at all if some point down the road he got arrested for some kind of sexual deviancy...peeping Tom, touching little girls, necrophilia. Also, while Andrea's interviewing is annoying AF, the I-just-threw-up-in-my-mouth-a little face she made when his behavior at the funeral came up was almost worth having her as the host.

Friday's (12/1) "The Day Alissa Disappeared" episode. Observation: Andrea is so annoying. Can't stand her interviewing skills. Too many redundant or leading questions. She needs more distance and less bias like Keith Morrison possesses. The father definitely suffers from paranoia and has control issues. I suspect he has more extensive mental health issues and maybe personality disorders. I theorize that he probably killed her and then convinced himself she ran away, using the old note. It seemed like he had warring impressions of her. As if a part of him saw her as his true daughter and cared about her, but the darker side of him had a sexual attraction to her (perhaps she reminded him of her mother) and at the same time was disgusted by her sexuality. He definitely exhibited some misogynist attitudes. While I think odds are he did it, I don't think there was enough legal evidence to convict him, especially without a body to prove she was even dead. The first prosecutor who didn't want to bring it to trial was probably keen enough to realize this. The second one who did likely did so out of public pressure from the sister's podcast going viral. Provided double jeopardy doesn't apply (my legal studies son says it probably doesn't) then the judge was correct to dismiss the case at that point. I'm assuming if more evidence is discovered, it could be brought to trial again with a higher confidence of conviction. Would be nice if Dateline spent a few seconds to clarify this rather than wasting it on showing Andrea ask repetitive questions. Although there really needed to be better detective work and more interviews in the early days of her disappearance to acquire more evidence than what they had. Questions to ponder: Why did Sarah not participate in the Dateline show/do an interview if she was such a public voice for the case? Was Sarah around when the convenient store phone call came in/did she also overhear it? (Since there is a phone record of the call, I'm thinking it was a wrong number and he convinced himself it was Alissa.) How much did Alissa's biological dad see her? Was surprised when he popped up since he signed off rights. Felt like there was more to the story there. What about Mike's first wife/the mother of his sons? If she was still living, what was her impression of him? Did the 3rd grade teacher sort of drop the ball on Alissa's statement about having sex with her dad? I know she [Alissa] walked it back, but still felt like a guidance counselor or someone should have followed up on that/interviewed her more extensively about the comment, especially given her mother had died (just the year before?) and she was being raised by her stepfather.

I'm left with the burning question of... why does Madeline wear those fake bangs??? Also when it comes to Freddie, Team Vera all the way.

East coast viewer here too. Kept waiting and waiting for the Zombie Hunter angle to come into play, only to miss that key part due to NBC's annoying interruptions. Like 11pm is a news hour, it couldn't wait till then? If he was dead at ten o'clock, he was still going to be dead at eleven. That was an interruption only needed in the Maine area. The rest of the east coast wasn't sheltering in place. I also thought this one fell a little flat. Can't help but think the "zombie hunter" title was only played up due to the proximately of Halloween.