Meta Monster Max

It's layers on layers. Peel 'em back like the skin he stole - the murderer, the tortured soul, and as Hitchcock reminds us - the human. 

Ryan Murphy's third installment of the 'Monster' series follows the equally gripping first two on Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez brothers. In it he explores the psychology of Ed Gein, the inspiration for Tony Perkins' character in 'Psycho.' Like Demi Moore's sidewalk slime as MonstroElisaSue in 'The Substance,' Charlie Hunnam's performance as Gein is both shocking and heartbreaking, and at times even humorous - reflecting a hidden sickness within Gein that manifests secondarily in the portrayal of him by Perkins, a real-life closet gay in love with Tab Hunter - harboring a secret that became his own sickness, culminating in his premature death from complications with HIV. 

Peel that back. Another layer: an implication of the audience, guilty for peering into the peephole. Condemned like the apple-eating Eve by an existential defect of human nature - socially unacceptable yet universally true - that magnetic pull of voyeurism that makes us unable to look away. The one that drove us to theaters for 'Psycho' and 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre.' The one that now keeps us on our phones. Rubbernecking accidents on the freeway. Consuming news and clickbait and streaming ourselves to death. Seduced by the snake. Forever.

Within the first five shots of 'Monster' my husband said, "This is good." By the end of the first episode I was marveling at the skill of its director, not knowing it was a fellow USC film alum and former colleague of mine on HBO's 'Minx' - Max Winkler. I read his dad's memoir (and Tab Hunter's - recommend both) in which Henry spoke of the struggles that Max (and all directors) face in reaching success. And Max has outdone himself with 'Monster,' a feat worthy of hanging his hat on, capturing subtlety, the intended tone of showrunner Ian Brennan, and impossibly complex moments, like the one in episode two where Perkins contemplates conversion therapy, oscillating between grief, self-hate and hope - in relation to his own "cure" and a sadistic anticipation of his performance as Gein - all at once. It is scenes like this that remind me of the power of art in troubled times - specifically in cinema, and why I jumped down this perilous rabbit hole in the first place.

Hats off to the filmmakers and crew for pulling it off. For diving deep post-Glee, delivering dark art that towers above its peers in a wasteland of surface and pulp. 

'Monster' Season 3, directed by Max Winkler and Ian Brennan, is streaming on Netflix.