For all the true crime books, films, TV series and podcasts made by amateur sleuths and journalists alike, some of the most extraordinary contributions to the genre are those whose work actually helps to solve the case at hand and bring about justice.
One such person is the late Michelle McNamara whose reporting – first on her blog, True Crime Diary, and then in her book, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, published posthumously in 2018 – reportedly helped catch the serial killer and rapist known as the Golden State Killer.
Former policeman Joseph James DeAngelo was recently sentenced to life without parole, decades after his crimes – in part, thanks to the attention drawn to the case by McNamara’s book, which forms the basis of the HBO series of the same name, now streaming on Binge.
By the very nature of its topic, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark is at times a harrowing account of the atrocities DeAngelo periodically wrought on California over two decades, and the lasting effects his crimes had. But it is a necessary watch for these times, as both the book and the screen adaptation are part of the growing positive trend for women and survivors of crime to be centred in the stories told about what happened to them.
In the book, McNamara writes about her teenage obsession with true crime after a young woman was murdered in her neighbourhood, and about her own sexual assault years later while she was studying in Ireland. But all of the interviewees in the show are survivors in some way too. There are those who were lucky enough to survive DeAngelo’s crime spree throughout California during the 1970s and ’80s. Even the lives of the high school social worker McNamara met during her investigation, and DeAngelo’s cousin who lived with him as a young woman after being assaulted herself by someone else, have been marked by sexual assault.
The show is even able to do what McNamara couldn’t: track down “Bonnie”, whose name DeAngelo was recorded as saying during and after committing the rapes. (The title, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, too, is taken from a quote from DeAngelo, “You’ll be silent forever, and I’ll be gone in the dark,” as he threatened one of his surviving victims.) A less thoughtful series might have portrayed Bonnie, DeAngelo’s ex-fiancée, by drawing upon sexist tropes that blame women for men’s crimes, but I’ll Be Gone in the Dark has no truck with this: Bonnie is given the sympathy and understanding that is due any survivor of violence.
In this way, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark is commendable for its centring of women and survivors without being gratuitous, as so many examinations of true crime have been in the past.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark was created by Liz Garbus and the majority of the episodes, including its most powerful, are directed by women. The majority of talking heads, too, are women – this kind of representation shouldn’t feel revolutionary in this day and age, but for a true crime series, it is. The men featured on the show – such as McNamara’s widower, comedian Patton Oswalt – are really only there by dint of their relationship to the women whose stories are the priority.
The focus on law enforcement is kept to a minimum, perhaps because DeAngelo used to belong to that group himself. First aired during the resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests and calls to defund and abolish police departments, this creative choice positions I’ll Be Gone in the Dark as even more urgent and relevant. It’s a tough topic, but if you’re up for it, this survivor-centred documentary series is well worth your time.