Similar to other seasons of Monster, The Ed Gein Story suggests a central idea: we don’t have the complete picture of Ed Gein’s life, and perhaps understanding it fully would lead to sympathy rather than judgment, and a better understanding of America – its roughness and obsession with buying things. Creators Ian Brennan and Ryan Murphy aren’t suggesting they’re part of the problem, of course; they see themselves as simply highlighting how other filmmakers, police, and the media have exploited the Gein story for their own purposes. However, their criticism feels somewhat hypocritical given the show includes graphic scenes of Charlie Hunnam’s Gein engaging in sexual acts with a corpse or dancing in the snow wearing clothing made of human skin. Brennan and Murphy could have concluded the season after the fourth episode, which contains the most perceptive commentary on America’s narrow-minded view of political violence. Monster comes very close to presenting a compelling argument about how we use entertainment to deflect from our shared responsibility for failures caused by indifference and self-absorption. Unfortunately, just like Gein himself, Monster doesn’t know when to stop.
