I went into the series loving the first two episodes, however as the series progressed, the topic started straying away from the protagonists stalker and leading into a completely different storyline of his personal issues and life. This would have been fine, if it had not been marketed solely based on the stalker character Martha.
After finishing the series and letting it sink in, my perception of it has gone down and it is increasingly difficult to express due to the fact that the story is true (to what extent I do not know). The acting and visuals were wonderful, the cinematography particularly caught my eye as well-produced. The writing also started off well, however it left me unsatisfied when the potentials for character development were presented and no opportunities were taken. I kept repeating that the protagonist should go to a therapist and that he had so many opportunities to confide in the multiple people close to him who wished to help. I understand that this is a true story and that it can be difficult when tackling mental illness, however it got tiring after a while. I understand that the protagonist is deeply troubled, but there was so much buildup of how his life was going downhill, had moments of euphoria and then tumbled back down. The ending followed the pattern by being down in the dumps and not providing any solution or psychological change as the middle and start of the show. The viewer is left carrying the burden of this man's traumatic experiences, without seeing them try to get better, maintaining destructive loops and going back to the people who hurt him. Instead of taking it as a cautionary tale and showing a way out, the creator who is reflecting his own story is still feeding off of his own self-proclaimed greatest weakness. Let me explain: in his moments of revelation, the protagonist explains how they want fame so much and how they would do anything to feel as if they were respected, important and not a nobody. By not providing a solution and by creating a series that is so exposing to his own issues (particularly being the one to act out his most traumatic moments of abuse), he seems to be stuck in the same loop even today. Now, through the series, he has gained the fame and recognition he had desired all along, this time through exposing his own trauma instead of tackling it in a healthy way through therapy and interpersonal contact.
I understand that this is his depiction of his story, but putting this burden on the viewers just seems like an odd choice. A big "I suffered so now you have to experience it," going back to his own focus on himself (perhaps narcissism may be a bit extreme a term) that can be seen through the story and by knowing that the creator is writing his own story, starring in it and revealing the most intimate details of his life - quite masochistic as another review pointed out.
After finishing the series and letting it sink in, my perception of it has gone down and it is increasingly difficult to express due to the fact that the story is true (to what extent I do not know). The acting and visuals were wonderful, the cinematography particularly caught my eye as well-produced. The writing also started off well, however it left me unsatisfied when the potentials for character development were presented and no opportunities were taken. I kept repeating that the protagonist should go to a therapist and that he had so many opportunities to confide in the multiple people close to him who wished to help. I understand that this is a true story and that it can be difficult when tackling mental illness, however it got tiring after a while. I understand that the protagonist is deeply troubled, but there was so much buildup of how his life was going downhill, had moments of euphoria and then tumbled back down. The ending followed the pattern by being down in the dumps and not providing any solution or psychological change as the middle and start of the show. The viewer is left carrying the burden of this man's traumatic experiences, without seeing them try to get better, maintaining destructive loops and going back to the people who hurt him. Instead of taking it as a cautionary tale and showing a way out, the creator who is reflecting his own story is still feeding off of his own self-proclaimed greatest weakness. Let me explain: in his moments of revelation, the protagonist explains how they want fame so much and how they would do anything to feel as if they were respected, important and not a nobody. By not providing a solution and by creating a series that is so exposing to his own issues (particularly being the one to act out his most traumatic moments of abuse), he seems to be stuck in the same loop even today. Now, through the series, he has gained the fame and recognition he had desired all along, this time through exposing his own trauma instead of tackling it in a healthy way through therapy and interpersonal contact.
I understand that this is his depiction of his story, but putting this burden on the viewers just seems like an odd choice. A big "I suffered so now you have to experience it," going back to his own focus on himself (perhaps narcissism may be a bit extreme a term) that can be seen through the story and by knowing that the creator is writing his own story, starring in it and revealing the most intimate details of his life - quite masochistic as another review pointed out.