Netflix’s Unbelievable is making quite the splash among true crime fans since its release last week.
Based on a true story, the series focuses on the horrific rape case of a 18-year-old Lynnwood, Washington woman who survives the attack only to be re-victimized again by the system. And that’s just the beginning.
A snip from Esquire:
Netflix’s Unbelievable tells the story of a horrifying crime and stunning miscarriage of justice. In 2008, 18-year-old Lynnwood, Washington woman Marie is attacked in her apartment by a man who ties her up and rapes her, taking photographs all the while. She reports the assault to police, who quickly abandon investigating her case and charge her with with making a false report to police. Two years later, in Colorado, detectives investigate a serial rapist with the exact same modus operandi—all without knowing that he may have struck before.
The case is true, and is based upon a Pulitzer Prize-winning 2015 joint investigation from ProPublica and the Marshall Project by reporters T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong. Their article, “An Unbelievable Story of Rape,” tells the story of Marie (the middle name of the real victim) and Colorado detectives’ hunt for a serial predator. Despite the fact that trauma can sometimes cause victims to give differing accounts of their attacks, police honed in on inconsistencies in Marie’s story.
“When the police began doubting Marie, they turned on her,” Armstrong told National Public Radio last year. “The focus of the investigation became her credibility. And instead of interviewing Marie as a victim, they began interrogating her as a suspect.”
Now for some viewer feedback on Twitter:
Katie, I didn’t realize how badly US police were failing rape victims until I watched HBO’s documentary I AM EVIDENCE. Then, I started researching it. I feel badly that I didn’t realize the enormity if the problem. Here’s a recent Atlantic article. https://t.co/XXo9PGxhy6
— 🦋Chloe 🕊📝📖🗽🎨🐈🐬🌊 (@ChloePolitiCat) September 15, 2019
It’s so good. I stayed up all night binge watching. The performances were exceptional.
— EvaHeartsGidget2 (@ThisGirlisTen7) September 14, 2019
I just finished. I have no words.
Except, I guess, congratulations and thank you, to you and the entire team. Devastating.
— David Kelso (@kelsosmegaphone) September 15, 2019
Just finished watching the series in one non-stop viewing session. Disgust, dread, sadness, fear, outrage, nausea. I felt it all, and yet I couldn’t stop watching it. It was one young girls story, and yet so many more have walked similar paths, and still do through injustice.
— Tracey (@Tracey53917687) September 14, 2019
Follow us on Facebook here and on Twitter here.10 mins in to the first episode. Already powerful and painful. Fighting in my own community to streamline some of these processes so the trauma isn’t compounded by the re-telling… again, and again, and again. The second victimization. Thank you for telling this story.
— Rebecca Heiss (@DrRebeccaHeiss) September 14, 2019
Wow! I am loving Netflix’s The Witcher! Henry Cavill is especially good in the show. His Geralt is just spot on. I think though that I like the Mandalorian a little better than The Witcher though if I’m being honest. I think I might watch them both again lol.