The First Reactions To I’ll Be Gone In The Dark Puts It In The God Tier Of True Crime Docos

The long-awaited docuseries about the late Michelle MacNamara‘s hunt for the Golden State Killer has finally landed on Aussie screens via Binge, and it’s truly a golden piece of true crime television. I’ll Be Gone In The Dark has come in at the perfect time when we’re all probably feeling like we’ve exhausted all our binge-watching options, and it’s sent shivers down the spines of everyone who’s already watched.

Even if you haven’t read the 2018 book detailing Michelle’s tracking of the notorious East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker from the 70s and 80s, diving in headfirst to see an obsession with solving a cold case using the power of online communities and amateur sleuthing is stunning and chilling.

Watching interviews with Michelle about her processes, piecing together this decades-old unsolved puzzle with the help of online novice detectives, actual cops, journalists, and other crime writers brings a real feeling that anything is possible if you’re passionate enough.

“I’ll Be Gone In The Dark” on @hbomax is incredible. You just have to watch it. Tonight. Now I love @pattonoswalt even more.

— Zach Braff (@zachbraff) August 6, 2020

All of “I’ll Be Gone In The Dark” was great, but a finale that focused so much on the victims was especially moving. It felt like re-setting the entire “true crime” narrative.

— Eliza Skinner (@elizaskinner) August 10, 2020

jesus the last episode of i'll be gone in the dark just laid me the fuck out

— han (@hanpersands) August 10, 2020

Almost done with the docuseries I'll Be Gone In The Dark. Can't shake the feeling of relating intensely to how Michelle McNamara's brain worked, being weighed down by the world's pain and damage, consumed by the need to work through it. Sad to think how it ended for her. RIP.

— Nadia Bulkin (@nadiabulkin) August 6, 2020

But, unlike other more clinical true crime docos, I’ll Be Gone In The Dark feels larger than Michelle, than her widowed husband Patton Oswalt, than the incredible stories of resilience and strength from the GSK’s survivors, than the eventual arrest and charging of Joseph James DeAngelo and the closure that carried.

There’s a collective heaviness, the processing of grief in all its forms, and an overwhelming feeling of sadness while exploring the nuances and intricacies of one of America’s most notorious serial rapists and killers, and how it affected everyone in his wake.

I just finished I'll Be Gone in the Dark, and holy shit, it's exactly what true crime should be: a powerful reclamation of victims' stories and voices, and not at all some sick homage to their attacker. Michelle McNamara was unparalleled, and I will always be in awe of her.

— Anne T. Donahue (@annetdonahue) August 4, 2020

HBO’s ‘I’ll Be Gone In The Dark’ isn’t just about true crime and Michelle McNamara’s efforts to identify the Golden State Killer. It’s not about her as a person or her untimely death.

It’s so big I don’t feel like I can articulate it.

But I will say, cheers to @pattonoswalt.

— Dave Mistich (@davemistich) August 3, 2020

The entire six-parter docuseries is up now on Binge, if you want to completely destroy your emotions and watch it all in one go, or give yourself time to chew through it slowly. It’s engrossing and compelling television and a gold class example of how true crime docos should be presented and explored.

And last but not least, I’ll Be Gone In The Dark has brought Paul Holes back into the front of my mind, which I will never be upset about. My Favourite Murder fans know what I mean.

Can’t stop thinking about police investigator Paul Holes on HBO’s I’ll Be Gone In The Dark

— jay (@listenupnerds) August 10, 2020

You can sign up for Binge over here, see you on the other side.