[content warning for sexual assault, neonaticide, truly egregious Foley design]

When the subject is the Golden State Killer, the guest is Mike Dunn, who's back to talk about the first three episodes of HBO's I'll Be Gone In The Dark. Directed by Oscar-winner Liz Garbus and others, the six-part docuseries seems to struggle to integrate two narrative styles: a straight-ahead true-crime tale, and a "crimoir" about the wearing effects of researching monsters and the abysses they call home. Does Michelle McNamara's untimely death create a halo effect? Are some Capote comparisons more apt than others? And will we keep watching?

In the Cold Case section, I went looking for a Garden State case to pair with the Golden State Most Wanted section...and what I found was so hilarribly bad, tacky, overacted, and downright bizarre that I fully expected Mike to end our friendship after watching it. Murder Made Me Famous S04.E06 covers the Melissa Drexler/"Prom Mom" case in pitilessly cringey detail, including a splash neither of us will ever forget, and when we go to hell for laughing at this trash-isode, it's this show we'll have to watch for all eternity. Collect all your most irrelevant details for the voice-over: it's The Blotter Presents, Episode 149.

Filmmakers' "responsibility" to McNamara/her materials