This is part two of my conversation with Rob Henderson on the miniseries Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, covering episodes 4-7. For the video, click here. Episode 6, as critics have noted, is the most emotionally charged of the show. I argue that the ending revealed a lack of courage on the part of the producers. Episode 7 is when the series goes full woke, bringing in Jesse Jackson to heroically hold the white power structure in Milwaukee to account. Rob doubts that Jackson would’ve been woke on LGBT in 1991, and I do a bit of googling and show that he was.

We talk about the strange thing where I call the guy “Dahmer” and Rob says “Jeff” like they’re old pals.

I explain to Rob why we can’t take the explanations of Dahmer’s motives presented in the show at face value, given that a lot of the information comes from the murderer himself in talks he had while trying to establish an insanity defense for his crimes. My theory is that Dahmer simply wanted sex without the inconvenience of taking into account the wishes or desires of others. Drugging men was a way to get sex, but then he realized he had to kill the men in order to not get in trouble. By the end he may have been more of a sadist, but I think that’s how he started.

We also go over what is real and what is fiction in the show.

Links

Part I of Dahmer discussion, audio and video

“What's real and what's fiction in Netflix’s Jeffrey Dahmer series, ‘Monster’”

Timeline of murders

“How Jesse Jackson helped bring gay rights to the Democratic mainstream.”

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