Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez is effective because it's free of true-crime gimmicks, twists and turns

Mashable

The Netflix Aaron Hernandez docuseries from Angus Wall and Geno McDermott "details Hernandez's convictions, childhood, NFL career, various stints in prison, his psyche, sexuality, and the effects football had on his body," says Tricia Crimmins. "However, despite the complicated, intense, and fatal outcomes of Hernandez's story, Killer Inside moves carefully and comprehensively when exploring the motives behind his actions. More than that, Netflix uses Hernandez's life story as a cautionary tale and seemingly as a call for change. Hernandez's struggles are treated with a lot of care thanks to the baseline understanding by Wall and McDermott that the tight end's experiences throughout his football career — namely his internal conflict surrounding his sexuality and the chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) as a result of his head injuries — were not unique to him. In this way, Killer Inside is empathetic to those in situations similar to Hernandez's, less so to Hernandez himself. His life is not used as an excuse or worthy explanation throughout the docuseries for why he was violent and, ultimately, very dangerous...Importantly, Killer Inside is constructed in a way that acknowledges that Hernandez's story has been sensationalized enough."