It’s part of human nature to ask questions and figure out the who, what, when, where, why, and how to any type of event or incident, yet the only one that facts can’t answer completely is the “why:” why did this happen? Why did they do that? Why can’t I get answers? 

“Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez,” digs deeper to discuss the cases surrounding Aaron Hernandez and attempt to answer: why.

Going into the Netflix documentary series consisting of three episodes, each an hour long, I did not know who Aaron Hernandez was and did not do prior research to gain context. Even with this small amount of knowledge, the documentary did a great job providing background information on who Hernandez was, both as an NFL star and as a murder suspect. 

The documentary starts off with the downfall of Hernandez and then goes back in time to tell things in more of a chronological order, which I appreciated. It shows everything from how he started his football career to what might’ve led him to commit crimes before he took his own life. 

As I watched the three episodes to learn about the case of Aaron Hernandez, I was faced with a roller coaster of emotions. The documentary would go back and forth between heartfelt moments of Hernandez with his family to scenes of the victims’ families breaking down. In a way, it felt as if I was part of the jury and was seeing both sides of the case. 

I recognize the effort the producers put into this documentary to speak on unspoken topics relating to the world of football such as mental health and sexuality. Both were talked about as possibilities to why Hernandez became known as a murderer, yet it felt like it wasn’t fully discussed--as if there was still something missing.

However, the ending is where I start to lose sense of what the purpose and message of the documentary truly was. It left off with talks of brain trauma due to concussions which affected an athlete’s mental health. 

This was the first time I had heard of the chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) disease which has recently been seen in the brains of football athletes. Is the documentary implying that this disease is the reason why Hernandez did what he did or a “cop-out” like how an interviewee in the series saw it? 

The layering of information, interviews, and the inside of the trials were put together very well. It stirred up emotions inside of me and allowed me to understand both sides. Even with great use of techniques and substantial context on the people involved, the lack of full evidence and its connections left many things unanswered and the question of “why” still remains. 

My Rating: 3.5/5 Stars