Hey, it's your bestie, Melissa. What are you doing this weekend? Do you want to get together and watch the most depressing and brutal piece of television you've ever seen? No. I'm not talking about Love Is Blind. I'm talking about a show that someone literally said to me, have you watched it. It's so good. I know this person well. I know they weren't suggesting that the subject matter or the cast of characters was good. 

They were talking about how it was a documentary that was done well. It was thorough in its investigation. At least, I hope that's what they meant. I will give you that. All of it was done very well, but trust me when I tell you that the music you are about to hear in no way depicts the theme of what we are reviewing today. Today, we are reviewing The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez.

Show Notes:

• [02:15] The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez is a documentary from Netflix. It's about six episodes. Netflix is really great with their documentaries.
• [02:53] My favorite place to watch documentaries is on HBO. Even if they got rid of all of the other shows, I would keep them because of their documentaries.
• [03:10] We live in a true-crime culture. We are drawn to anything with true crime or trial in it.
• [03:28] David and I just got back from a trip to Honduras. We work with a children's poverty organization. The trip was awful. It was real, and it was sad. 
• [03:58] Sometimes it's necessary to see it, and that's what this week's show was like.
• [04:03] It was horrible and painful. I stopped it and started it 8 million times.
• [04:11] I finished this series, but it wasn't easy. One episode was more than enough for me.
• [04:21] Seeing poverty close up isn't easy. Seeing abuse close up isn't easy.
• [04:28] Watching a system fail an 8-year-old child over and over again is infuriating, but that's what happened with 8-year-old Gabriel.
• [05:54] Netflix is labeling their top 10 shows. This show was listed as number one.
• [06:45] I'm not going to give away any spoilers. You will know going in that Gabriel died, and the people who killed him weren't human.
• [08:02] What do we do when the system is broken? How do we start that change? This went through the minds of everyone who saw this.
• [08:44] I'm giving the show 1 Spanx. Netflix did a good job with the documentary, but it is heavy and depressing.
• [09:11] I'm also giving it 1 Spanx, because I'll need to be able to move around unencumbered if I ever come face-to-face with one of those social workers who failed Gabriel.

Links and Resources:

• Eat Cake. Be Brave.
• @MSMelissaRadke on Instagram
• Melissa Radke on Facebook
• [email protected]
• The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez
• Love Is Blind
• The Family
• Abducted In Plain Sight