Confronting a Serial Killer

While all five episodes are strong and opt for more straightforward storytelling, the format can get repetitive. ... Confronting A Serial Killer works best when it presents the unvarnished truth. It doesn’t need anything flashy to keep it going. But these drawbacks are relatively minor; the series makes a notable attempt to bring this case to the forefront without propping up the notorious criminal responsible, instead finding a way to honor the legacy of those who lost their lives.

The series has a surprising, disappointing tabloid-like style at times, as when Little's words are tastelessly splashed over images of a graveyard like the one in which he killed a woman. It’s almost as if the filmmakers knew there was a very strong feature film-length version of this story they could have told, and they fell back on cheaper filmmaking techniques to spread that out over five hours of television.

We were left frustrated that Little became more like a character in Lauren’s story, not knowing much more about the killer at the end of the hour than we knew in the beginning.

Berlinger turns the proceedings into a platform for his star. And every time Lauren says she’s putting the spotlight on the dead, it feels as if she’s courting it herself. Compounding matters further, Lauren’s analysis of Little is of a pedestrian variety. ... Time and again, the series makes weighty pronouncements that just aren’t nearly as astute or revelatory as it thinks they are, thereby rendering everything a bit exaggerated and empty.