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This show is difficult for me to process. I might make a long post detailing my overall reaction when it's complete. For now, I'll say what strikes me the most is how candid it is in presenting what is fundamentally loose inference as a believable story of motivations and events. Andrew's mother kept something of a small shrine to him up until the day she died, placing his photos right next to a portrait of Benedict XVI. She did believe him innocent, set up by the mob. She was senile, possibly came from a mob family herself, and had a very troubled mind even before her old age. I politely excused her love for her deceased son, who committed horrific acts. But... there is a lingering feeling of injustice, that in the face of the ugly drive to commercialize such shocking brutality, there's very little anyone has to say which which cannot be dismissed, if it doesn't aid the weaving of a more compelling story.
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Feb 9, 2018 13:23
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GobiasIndustries posted:How much of this backstory is embellished? I'm definitely enjoying the season, but the OJ season had so much documentation to work with, plus most of the main characters were alive and we'd gotten to hear what they had to say. Since most of the main cast this season are his victims, in the back of my mind I'm just wondering how much of these interactions is speculation. Pretty much all of it. We know only the barest details of his relationships with his victims. The relationship with Blachford which was shown is more solidly grounded than anything else, even including his mother.
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Mar 3, 2018 01:40
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Henchman of Santa posted:Ok, so we’ve established that a lot of this show is fictitious, but I really want to know how little of Andrew’s origin story there is true. Here's an inside scoop I can offer you. 1) Pete/Modesto certainly was an opportunist, but not the slimeball swindler type he's made out to be, stealing old ladies' heating money. He was abusive to MaryAnn, though nowhere near to the degree displayed (mental health professionals treated her far, far worse, not that any of it is excusable.) Something he resented a lot was the racism in the US Navy which prevented Philippine national enlistees from moving up. Perhaps view his embezzlement as that kind of disillusionment with success rather than as raw depredation, I think. 2) Andrew was almost certainly not sexually abused by his father, but the Church is a real possibility. Someone used the Andrew DeSilva alias on a hotline for victims of priest abuses, and it was a fairly strong Catholic household. 3) Andrew did get a sports car from Pete, but not at 11. They all had cars, actually, gifts from MaryAnn's family (apparently paid in cash.) 4) Pete was likely never under any suspicion from the feds or local PD. That he embezzled is a circumstantial guess. He did sell everything out from under everyone. We, and by that I mean our family, still have no concrete idea of what really made him bug out and flee to the Philippines. It was a cowardly thing to do, but still, very unclear. We don't even know if he's still alive or not, because rural Philippine documentation is a quagmire, but signs point to no. The only thing which really resonated with me in that entire episode was "the body knows."
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Mar 15, 2018 10:38
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Sand Monster posted:Thanks for the insightful post. There was a lot of favoritism. He was given the master bedroom, did get into Bishop's when his siblings were in public schools, etc. It just seemed like even that was exaggerated for television.
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Mar 19, 2018 01:27
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