Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez’ on Netflix, the Definitive Story of a Gifted but Deeply Troubled Athlete

Netflix’s rep as a true crime powerhouse crosses over with the sports-bio genre in Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez, a three-part miniseries probing one of the most baffling high-profile murder cases in recent history. Director Geno McDermott originally released feature-length documentary My Perfect World: The Aaron Hernandez Story in 2018 to little recognition, and returns with this significantly expanded examination of the New England Patriots star’s turbulent, dramatic and shocking story.

KILLER INSIDE: THE MIND OF AARON HERNANDEZ: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A grainy shot of the Boston cityscape.

The Gist: To outsiders, the life of Aaron Hernandez seems like an impenetrable riddle. He had it all — fame, talent, a starring role on a perennial Super Bowl-contending team, an eight-figure contract, an upbeat personality and a new, growing family. What causes someone to put such a desirable, and apparently comfortable, life at risk? Why did he associate with hardened criminals? Why did he feel the need to buy and carry guns? What was he thinking when he pulled the trigger of a .45-caliber pistol four times, killing Odin Lloyd in cruel, cold blood?

McDermott hopes to illuminate the psychology of his subject through traditional documentary techniques, including archival video, news clips, the occasional re-enactment, courtroom footage and talking-head interviews. But his most fascinating source material for Killer Inside is the prison phone call — he leads with it, and returns to it often. In the first episode’s opening moments, we hear Hernandez chatting jovially with his fiancee, Shayanna Jenkins, about their baby daughter, and asking her to send him some Harry Potter books. Officials say he adjusted immediately to prison life, and compared it to training camp.

Odd: At that point, Hernandez was a convicted murderer with a life sentence. He faced trial for two more homicides. And within two years, he’d commit suicide, hanging himself in his cell. Is this some kind of tragic Jekyll-and-Hyde story? McDermott goes digging — into Hernandez’s youth, where his strict, violent father taught him discipline before dying suddenly during routine hernia surgery. Into his love for football, a game he was so good at, the University of Connecticut offered him a scholarship when he was 14. Into his relationships — a contentious one with his mother (whose prison calls are also shared here); a curiously committed one with Jenkins, who stayed with him to the end; a peripheral, but friendly one with Lloyd, who was dating Jenkins’ sister; a close and personal one with drug “kingpin” and ex-con Alexander Bradley, who gave him access to guns and illicit substances.

Oh, and one with Dennis Sansoucie, the quarterback of his high school team, who says they had a secret gay relationship. This twist mingles with another tease, about head injuries he suffered on the field (these aren’t necessarily spoilers; they were widely reported in the wake of his passing), before CNN reporter Susan Candiotti slams the episode shut by pointing out that Hernandez likely killed two men, and followed it with a full season of football. “How does someone do that?” she asks. Will the following two episodes provide a satisfying answer?

Our Take: The director’s challenge with Killer Inside is to provide deeper context, more detail and compelling voices for a story that all but tells itself, and that many of us are already familiar with. Frankly, McDermott succeeds extraordinarily, piecing it together provocatively and dramatically without deviating into exploitation. It’s much, much more than just a football doc, avoiding even the slightest temptations toward hagiography, and avoiding the well-worn media-frenzy angle (which is a given now, and thoroughly covered by O.J.: Made in America). It feels like journalism.

The series has a lot of topical ground to cover — among them drugs, physical and psychological abuse, homophobia, mental illness and corruption within NFL culture. If it seems a bit scattered, well, that’s where McDermott’s leads take him, and he’s compelled to follow. (And so are we — spoiler alert, I compulsively watched the full series, and I’ll just say he follows the hell out of them.) He risks biting off more than he can chew by suggesting the series looks inside “the mind” of its subject. But more reasonable and pragmatic viewers already know that definitive answers aren’t likely, and this is probably going to be one of those documentaries that has us scratching our heads at the great puzzle of the human condition.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Archival footage, an ominous close-up of Hernandez on the sidelines with a complicated expression on his face.

Sleeper Star: Milo Massey, a friend of Lloyd’s and fellow semi-pro football player, is unvarnished and earnest while providing context about Lloyd’s background and character.

Most Pilot-y Line: A strange moment culled from cell phone footage: As a van delivering Hernandez to court drives by, fans in Patriots jerseys shout that they love and support him. “How do you love a murderer?” says one unidentified gawker. “Yeah, right?” is the reply from another.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Killer Inside is the most comprehensive account of Aaron Hernandez yet, and a fascinating portrait of an impossible person.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez on Netflix