S01.E05: Blood on Their Hands

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Quote

Jeff's list of victims grows longer without a full police investigation. An encounter with a teen lands him in jail. Later, he gets his own apartment.

Original streaming date 2022.09.21

[Chaos Theory]

What I found very disturbing and frustrating is that even when Jeffrey Dahmer was convicted of sexual assault on a minor the judge shined off the father of the victim because he didn’t speak good English.      I am not sure I feel sympathy for Jeffrey Dahmer’s father or not but I did like the scenes where he was talking to his wife about red flags and that he was always creeped out by his son and never really wanted to know the answer. and it switched to scenes where he asked Jeff about problematic behavior but never asked follow up questions.   
 

[casachess]

It's really horrifying seeing this -- his crimes, of course, but then seeing how the system utterly and completely failed. He should have been stopped so much sooner. 

[MaggieG]

On 9/25/2022 at 11:05 AM, Chaos Theory said:

What I found very disturbing and frustrating is that even when Jeffrey Dahmer was convicted of sexual assault on a minor the judge shined off the father of the victim because he didn’t speak good English.      I am not sure I feel sympathy for Jeffrey Dahmer’s father or not but I did like the scenes where he was talking to his wife about red flags and that he was always creeped out by his son and never really wanted to know the answer. and it switched to scenes where he asked Jeff about problematic behavior but never asked follow up questions.   
 

I agree. He tried talking to him about things but Jeff always came up with a semi plausible story and Lionel just kind of let it go. Richard Jenkins is doing a great job with the role.

The whole scene with Ron had me on the edge of my seat. I was so glad he got away and so frustrated the the police didn't seem to care. I have no idea if Jeff's grandma did that in real life but if she did I'm glad she was at least able to spare one victim. And Ron later too when he saw someone getting in a cab with Jeff. 

[gaPeach]

On 9/28/2022 at 9:37 AM, MaggieG said:

I agree. He tried talking to him about things but Jeff always came up with a semi plausible story and Lionel just kind of let it go. Richard Jenkins is doing a great job with the role.

The whole scene with Ron had me on the edge of my seat. I was so glad he got away and so frustrated the the police didn't seem to care. I have no idea if Jeff's grandma did that in real life but if she did I'm glad she was at least able to spare one victim. And Ron later too when he saw someone getting in a cab with Jeff. 

I read a book about Jeffrey Dahmer and knew he stayed with his grandmother but did not realize how many boys he brought home and some he killed there.  It was frustrating that the cops did not do more but if you look at it without the knowledge of what Jeffrey is actually doing, I can understand the cops not taking it seriously.  Jeffrey's explanation is plausible, having his grandmother there to back up the story and nothing was amiss at the home, they really didn't have much to go on.  WE know what he is doing but for the cops to make that leap with what they had to go on just wasn't an option.  And in 1991 serial killers were not as well known as they are now.  

His dad and even his grandmother knew something was off with Jeffrey and missed or ignored major red flags.  In defense of that, I am a mother and can see how easy it was for his dad to accept the feasible explanations to red flags instead of jumping to my son must be killing or hurting others.  We love our kids and try to think positively about them.  Accepting that they may be a monster would be too much.

[sugarbaker design]

On 9/29/2022 at 10:58 AM, gaPeach said:

WE know what he is doing but for the cops to make that leap with what they had to go on just wasn't an option.  And in 1991 serial killers were not as well known as they are now.  

Of course serial killers were well known in 1991.  The police were aware that JD drugged several young men.  Even in the ancient times of the '90s, drugging people was against the law.  That alone should've sparked an investigation and a search of JD's grandmother's house.  But due to white privilege, racism, homophobia, police ineptitude and laziness, Dahmer is still on the hunt.

The only mystery here is why this RM production isn't under the American Crime Story banner?

[gesundheit]

7 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

Of course serial killers were well known in 1991.  

The only mystery here is why this RM production isn't under the American Crime Story banner?

I was going to say -- serial killers were very well known in 1991! 1970-1989 was the historic peak of serial killers in the U.S. and the stories were everywhere. Anyone who grew up then looked at every threat as a possible serial killer, definitely that generation's bogeyman. People in law enforcement, if they paid attention, would've been salivating at the idea of catching one. They looked away deliberately.

I wondered that too, about the American Crime Story franchise, but I think it's just a matter of the nature of the producers and the content. ACS is on regular cable, this is Netflix. I don't think a lot of this could've been aired on basic cable, even FX. So it's part of Murphy's Netflix deal instead? That's my guess.

[Cinnabon]

I was also going to say this, lol. Serial killers had been on the radar for decades by 1991.

[Scarlett45]

On 9/29/2022 at 9:58 AM, gaPeach said:

His dad and even his grandmother knew something was off with Jeffrey and missed or ignored major red flags.  In defense of that, I am a mother and can see how easy it was for his dad to accept the feasible explanations to red flags instead of jumping to my son must be killing or hurting others.  We love our kids and try to think positively about them.  Accepting that they may be a monster would be too much.

Yes I could see that. Also there’s a big jump from “something is off” to “serial killer”. It’s not as if Lionel or Jeff’s grandmother saw him hurting other people and helped him get rid of evidence or something along those lines.