I used to really like true crime stories, but lately I feel (and perhaps this has always been the case) that true crime docuseries are more about titillation and trying to guess whodunnit rather than recognizing that these are real crimes that took a serious toll on people.I’ll Be Gone in the Darkwent against this trend by putting victims and late authorMichelle McNamarafirst. It’s a series with a deep well of empathy for those who have suffered rather than a grim fascination with a monstrous criminal.
The series ended at the point where the Golden State Killer (I don’t remember his name and he should be banished to obscurity anyway) had been caught, but not yet put on trial. But a new episode ofI’ll Be Gone in the Dark, premiering Monday, June 21 (nearly a year since the original series debuted), returns to the story in two halves. One half has the victims of GSK confronting him and showing their resilience in the face of his evil; the other half returns to the case ofKathy Lombardo, a woman who was raped and murdered in Oak Park, an event that transformed McNamara’s life and put her on the path of being a true crime writer. The new episode provides a fitting coda to the six episodes that came out last summer.
The new episode, “Show Us Your Face” has a tricky proposition ahead of it because the series carried the ethos of never making GSK the central point of the narrative. The hunt for him created the story, but as an individual, he was never deemed worthy or interesting enough, andI’ll Be Gone in the Darkboth as a book and a docuseries take pains not to even give him the benefit of morbid curiosity. Instead, he answers a question, but the real story is about the wreckage left in his wake and how people move forward. “Show Us Your Face” doesn’t attempt to give us new information on GSK other than he’s a sociopath; instead, the focus remains on his victims who courageously (and in the middle of a pandemic, no less) go to his sentencing to face the person who derailed their lives or ended the lives of their loved ones. The spotlight remains on the people who matter; they’re the protagonists here and GSK is a pathetic supporting figure in their stories.
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The other half belongs to the case of Kathy Lombardo, which is worth exploring because of how much the mystery meant to McNamara’s story. There’s a bit of supposition here as we’re left to conclude that had McNamara lived, this is a case she would have returned to herself. The filmmakers instead take up the baton and try to understand why Lombardo’s case remains unsolved and the fallout for those left behind. This other half may seem superfluous, but keep in mind thatI’ll Be Gone in the Darkas a docuseries was never really a GSK story, but a story about why these cases are worth solving. It’s not because puzzles are fun or that these monsters are interesting. It’s because they can provide an element of closure and peace, so while there is certainly thrill for the true-crime author in digging through documents and trying to piece together an answer, the good on the other side is that people who suffered can start a new chapter. These crimes create a psychic wound, and those wounds can only heal when the shadowy figure is brought into the light.
“Show Us Your Face” will live on as part of the series’ page for people looking to streamI’ll Be Gone in the Dark, and it serves as a strong conclusion to a series that already finished strong. I suppose there could be more episodes if new facts are uncovered in the Kathy Lombardo case, but that could come dangerously close to simply drawing out the narrative for the sake of new episodes on HBO Max. “Show Us Your Face” should serve as the final episode ofI’ll Be Gone in the Darkbecause it knows that the victims deserve the last word.
TheI’ll Be Gone In the Darkspecial premieres Monday, June 21 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO. The series is now streaming on HBO Max.
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