It had an impressive run on top, but now the time has come for Wayward to take a bow and head down the list, its season 2 hopes up in the air, despite being a miniseries.
Now, a new show has replaced it, and it’s not that much of a surprise. That would be Ryan Murphy’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story, the tale of the 1950s killer, whose horrible crimes inspired such movies and Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Silence of the Lambs.
The Ed Gein Story has instantly debuted at #1, and we will see if it lands on the trajectory of Ryan Murphy’s original Monster story, Dahmer, which remains one of the most-watched Netflix series in history. That was not the case with the second entry, Monster: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, but that may change given that he’s now covering the most notorious serial killer of the last century.
The show is reviewing poorly, just a 42% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a 62% from fans. That said, this is sort of par for the course for this series. Dahmer had a 57% and the Menendez story had a 45%. So this is the lowest, perhaps, but they’re all low.
It remains to be seen if this will attract a ton of controversy like the other two. The crimes are so old that it doesn’t seem likely that will be the case. I’m almost done with the series now, and I was taken off guard by the “smol bean” Gein, played by Charlie Hunnam, who comes off as extremely kind and gentle, even when he’s skinning people or making bowls out of their skulls. It’s a strange effect.
As for Wayward, while yes, it’s a miniseries, because it has performed well, there is talk of the show potentially getting a second season. The odds may be long for that, but Netflix does like its low-budget hits, so it’s not something that can be ruled out right now.
The new season of Love is Blind has arrived and is at #3 for its premiere here. Of note, Paramount+’s Halo show has been licensed to Netflix now, one of the most bizarre video game adaptations of all time that must be seen to be believed by Halo fans. Truly, it’s a…take on Master Chief. Former #1 Black Rabbit is down to #6, but that’s a miniseries with effectively zero plans for a second season.
I don’t mind The Ed Gein Story as much as some critics. I mean, I don’t think I’d recommend it, necessarily, but I am interested enough to see it through these final episodes here. I’ll do a review after that.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
