Reel Review Mom

The first episode of Monster: Ed Gein absolutely nailed it! I’m not even exaggerating — this series hits on so many psychological levels for me that I almost don’t know where to begin. As someone with both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in psychology, I’ve always been drawn to studying criminally deficient minds, and Ed Gein has long been at the top of my list.

While my “favorites” (if that’s even the right word) have usually been BTK and the Co-Ed Killer, this series might have just dethroned them in terms of depth, accuracy, and sheer psychological fascination. The creators clearly did their research. The tone, the pacing, the flashbacks, HIS VOICE — everything feels like a case study straight out of a forensic psych textbook.

What’s truly wild is how the show manages to humanize and horrify at the same time. You’re watching a man unravel, and it’s both tragic and terrifying. Freud would lose his mind analyzing this — there’s so much buried trauma, repression, and Oedipal subtext that it practically writes its own dissertation.

And yes, there are plenty of smart nods to Norman Bates and Psycho — which, of course, was directly inspired by Gein’s real-life crimes. But the show doesn’t just reference Hitchcock; it builds on that legacy and makes it even darker and more psychologically layered. And of course how can we forget the oh, so subtle inspirations that Silence of the Lambs used from this crazy dude….

Bottom line: Monster: Ed Gein is shaping up to be a masterpiece. I’m calling it now — awards incoming. I cannot wait to see where this twisted, brilliant deep dive into the criminal mind goes next. Mean, I know where it’s going, all of us armchair investigators and crime suites know where this is going…….

“It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again”