What I watched on TV in January

January came with less TV shows and more movies. But I did watch a lot of true crime and boy do I have thoughts.

The Battle for Justine Pelletier - If you watched the Golden Globes on Peacock you were probably bombarded with advertisements for this docuseries. I vaguely recall this happening in the news. But you know what? Those ads got me so I watched the whole thing.

Justine was taken into Boston Children's hospital with a variety of illnesses when the staff began to notice that she got better when her parents weren't around. They pulled her files, noticed the parents seemed to be "doctor shopping" so they stopped contact and kept her there for a year where she thrived. The parents accused them of kidnapping and sued the hospital. At one point, a hacker associating himself with Anonymous hacked Boston Children's computer systems to make a statement to free her. Eventually she's released back to her parents, and continues to suffer. They lost their court case. Boston Children's did nothing wrong.

This series clearly wants you to side with the parents but I left it again thinking they were absolutely the problem. I don't think they are intentionally making Justine sick, but I believe the worrying and attention they give her makes her think she is. It's a sad situation all around. Justine isn't even interviewed alone in this series. A sister has to be by her to make sure she says the right things. I also found it funny how Justine doesn't even remember the hacker that is now serving 14 years in prison for what he did to "free" her.  Clearly the family doesn't even like talking about him. It takes attention from them.

Frankly, I left this doc frustrated for Justine who seems to be suffering for no reason. I'm curious if anyone else has watched this and where they land.

Death in the Dorms - This docuseries on Hulu is about murders that happened to college students. While the victims stories are all different and deserve to be told, it's very poorly edited. The interviews with the families were the strong point, but as soon as they tried to reenact and dramatize moments they make it very awkward. Especially with the music choices. 

Web of Death - More true crime from Hulu! This caught my attention because it made me think of Don't F#$& With Cats, an excellent documentary on Netflix about web sleuths solving a crime. This starts out like that, but the last few stories are less about people using the internet to solve a disappearance. I thought this was fascinating. I think the reason true crime is so popular is because people love to watch a mystery being solved, and that's this show's strong suit. It shows the lengths everyone goes to in order to give closure. While the title of this show is horrendous, I hope they get another season because it was legitimately interesting to watch. 

The Last of Us - Okay, away from True Crime and back to Fiction - I'm really digging the first few episodes of The Last of Us. I didn't play the game myself, but my husband did. I recognized a few things from the pilot episode from the game, but I'm just happy to follow along. I love the banter between Ellie and Joel and the production design is very top notch. On a personal level, I just want something to wash the bad taste The Walking Dead left in my mouth. This looks to be well on its way to do that.

Abbott Elementary - I FINALLY started a network comedy. You know, like I said I was going to do with Schitt's Creek but never committed. I've almost finished the first season by the time I'm writing this and I'm really enjoying it. The cast is amazing.