I watched both seasons, – and I’m a fan.

It’s rare for something original to be produced today, but this show is exactly that. An absolutely innovative, creative, and novel series, it blends genres to create something utterly unique.

Showrunner Paolo Sorrentino is an interesting storyteller to explore in general, but what he has crafted with the first season of The Young Pope is a true masterpiece. I know, this term is often used inflationarily these days, but in this case, I think it’s fair to apply it.

The Young Pope presents so many ideas I’ve never encountered elsewhere that I wish it lasted at least for five seasons and a movie. Sadly, there are only 10 episodes, and a somewhat less intriguing second season titled The New Pope.

Jude Law plays the pope in this show, and you can never be sure if he is the good guy, the bad guy, or not even a guy at all. The show constantly shifts between drama, comedy, and surreal art. Is it making fun of religion? Whenever you’re close to saying yes, it offers you a scene that actually celebrates Christianity. Is it blasphemous? Whenever you feel that it is, it presents a scene that honors faith.

It’s a slow-paced show that takes its time. There aren’t big explosions or car chases. It’s certainly not a Game of Thrones-style backstabbing story set in the Vatican either. The only label I can give this show is the one I’ve used from the start: The Young Pope is utterly unique. Watch it if that sounds interesting to you.

The third (and final, for now) season of Monster focuses on Ed Gein. Unfortunately, it’s the weakest of the three seasons, despite having some interesting elements.

I appreciated that the show explored how Ed Gein’s crimes inspired Hollywood movies and comics. The production values remain high, the acting solid, and the music selection excellent. Charlie Hunnam is always worth watching, and the supporting cast delivers as well.

One aspect I particularly enjoyed was the show’s willingness to take risks with experimental scenes. While these didn’t always succeed, they occasionally gave the season a surreal, fever-dream quality. I personally enjoy it when a show leans into a David Lynch–style atmosphere, but in this case it made Season 3 of Monster the strangest one so far.

Many of the negative reviews likely stem from this experimental approach, as all other aspects—storytelling, acting, production—are on par with the first two seasons.

What made Ed Gein’s story fall behind Jeffrey Dahmer’s or the Menendez brothers’ for me was the lack of a clear climax. Gein remains odd and deranged throughout, with Hollywood references and dream sequences punctuating his story. Eventually, he simply dies as an old man.

Another thing that made it not as good as the first two seasons was the German synchronisation. Hunnam is way better with the original US audio.

Still, Monster remains one of the better shows on TV, and I’ll definitely be checking out Season 4 when it arrives.

The second season of Monster feels a bit lighter than the story about Dahmer. In some ways, it’s almost comical. You’re not supposed to laugh at what’s portrayed—but I did. The way the Menendez brothers hoaxed their way through a made-up story turns what should be a drama into something closer to a dark dramedy.

The soundtrack plays a big part in that. Using Milli Vanilli as the main musical motif is a clever choice—after all, those two became the poster boys for how the entertainment industry fakes fame into existence. It’s just like the Menendez brothers tried to fake their way out of prison.

The production value matches the first season. The set design, acting, and direction are all solid and well-executed.

There are still some racial undertones sprinkled in, but compared to Dahmer, they’ve thankfully toned it down. In exchange, we get a bit more of the familiar “hate the rich” narrative—criticizing how wealthy people supposedly get preferential treatment from the system over the working class. Fortunately, the message is not hammered into your head like it was in Season 1.

Overall, Monster: The Menendez Brothers was received well by audiences, though slightly less than Dahmer. Personally, though, I enjoyed the Menendez story a bit more.

Over the past couple of weeks, I watched Monster on Netflix—one episode a day. It was a tough watch, especially the first season about Jeffrey Dahmer. I couldn’t watch more than one episode per day, as the story is genuinely disturbing.

What I found particularly frustrating, on top of the main Dahmer storyline, was the constant portrayal of racism. It seemed to suggest that white men in general were to blame for what happened to Dahmer’s victims. Every Black character is depicted as a moral pillar, while the white cops are portrayed as either indifferent or complicit, supposedly because Dahmer was white as well.

Jesse Jackson is almost elevated to a heroic status in the final episodes, portrayed as a brave social justice warrior fighting systemic racism. The fact that Jackson may have used the case to further his own public image—capitalizing on a story that stirred outrage—is never even hinted at.

Dahmer was undoubtedly a monster, but his story is not one of hidden racism against “people of color,” as the show implies. He lived in a predominantly minority neighborhood, where Black residents were the majority. His specific apartment complex was known for poorly maintained housing for the poor and unemployed.

Interestingly, many of Dahmer’s victims were found in gay bars, suggesting his actions were motivated by sexual desire. He later admitted that he killed some victims because he “didn’t want them to leave.”

So he was a racist who intentionally lived in a black area to find black lovers to have gay sex with whom he didn’t want to leave – doesn’t sound convincing to me.

As for the systemic racism that is not just implied but openly pointed at: I would have loved to see the general conviction rates of homicide and murder in that neighborhood for that specific time frame by race and ethnicity.

Dahmer was clearly a sick man, but race was not a factor in his crimes, contrary to how the show and figures like Jesse Jackson seem to spin it. That the case caused massive public outrage despite lots of black on white murder happening at the same time without comparable media attention is actually a counter argument to any accusations of systemic racism against blacks in the Dahmer case.

In terms of quality, the show is well-made, though. Ryan Murphy knows how to produce this type of series. The acting is solid, the cinematography and music are good, yet the pacing can be slow at times.

Overall, it’s a difficult watch, even without the racial undertones. But it’s also worth it, if you can stomach such stories.