Originally posted by: return_to_hades
Unbelievable
This is a MUST SEE true-crime fiction on Netflix. The story is an almost identical retelling about a serial rapist who eluded authorities for a long time.
The show follows two parallel storylines that converge. In Lynwood, Washington, 2008, Marie Adler is raped and immediately reports the crime. She is a former foster child with a troubled past just living on her own. Her carefree demeanor post a traumatic rape makes people wonder if the attack was genuine. Minor discrepancies in her story make the cops doubt her. Eventually, she is bullied by the cops into admitting she made up the rape. Her life goes into a downward spiral after this.
In Golden, Colorado, 2011 Detective Karen Duvall appears to the crime scene to talk to a rape victim. The rape is almost identical to Marie's. By sheer luck and coincidence, Det Duvall finds out that Detective Grace Rasmussen is working on a very similar rape case in Westminster, Colorado. If Det Duvall's husband didn't work in Westminster they wouldn't have found out. The two detectives start working together and find a third rape with the same mo in Aurora, Colorado.
The two detectives realize that they are dealing with a very sophisticated rapist with an in-depth understanding of dna evidence to avoid getting caught. He also knows that precincts never share mo details with each other so he is committing the crime in different precincts to avoid the red flag of serial rape. Duvall and Rasmussen pool their resources and eventually catch the rapist.
When the rapist is caught they also find evidence of Marie Adler's rape and she is finally vindicated. She successfully sues Seattle PD for all the trauma she has had to endure due to them making her genuine rape case into a false accusation.
The first episode is gut-wrenching to watch. Watching Marie being forced to retell her story over again and her mental flashbacks will make any human's stomach turn. The detectives are cold, clinical, and aloof. It is infuriating to see them trip up Marie during their questioning and then use that against her. Watching Karen Duvall take the victim's statement in the second episode is a breath of fresh air. Immediately you see the difference between male cops and female cops. She's gentle and shows empathy. She offers comfort and goes the extra mile to ensure the victim feels safe. She doesn't press the victim for details and instead waits for her to share. Gender plays a role in how Duvall and Rasmussen deal with the case too. There is a lot of passion and righteous rage. They mull over it and are diligent with evidence because they don't want any slip-up to let the rapist elude them. On the other hand Parker, the detective on Adler's case easily dismisses a call from Kirkland calling about a similar case. Similarly another detective Harkness is dismissive about a victim who escaped by jumping off a balcony because of her new age beliefs.
There are two important takeaways from this brilliant limited series. The most important one is to believe victims. Every time a victim recants a statement, messes up facts or settles out of court people assume it may be a case of false rape. But false rapes are rare. A majority of these recants and out of court settlements occur because the entire process is so traumatic that victims have to back off. And sometimes even good cops mess up forcing a genuine victim to reconsider filing.
In fact unreported rapes are more prolific than false rape reports. We see one rapist getaway in the series. A college student reports a fellow student as a fellow suspect. He describes in detail how the student took a clearly inebriated girl upto his room for sex. Everyone present at the party knows she was incapable of consent. But says nothing. The girl had pressed charges but it was later dropped. Another genuine case dismissed as false because of toxic campus rape culture.
The other takeaway is the need for diversity in the force as well as sensitivity training. None of the male cops who messed up the case were bad cops. They simply lacked the perspective and gut instinct of the female cops. They were unable to establish rapport, get details and build a case. One turned the victim hostile and the other slapped the victim with a false accusation charge.
Toni Collette is a Rockstar as Rasmussen. Merrit Weaver supports her well as Duvall. Kaitlyn Dever is having a great year. First Booksmart and now Unbelievable.Seriously. Watch this one soon.
Transparent Musical Finale
A fitting finale to a pathbreaking show. I wondered how the series would continue without Jeffry Tambor as Maura, but they do a great job. One thing I liked about the finale is how it examined how Maura impacted her family. The family was always dysfunction, perhaps due to Maura's duplicitous past life as a cis-het-man. But Maura's coming out as a transwoman also impacted them heavily, especially her wife Shelly. It balances the trans narrative while affirming experiences of family. I was hesitant about the musical format but the music was surprisingly catchy and it all worked like a good closing movie in the end.
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