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Netflix released The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez Thursday. The six-episode docuseries is, CNN reports, “difficult to watch,” and when you see the subject matter, you’ll likely see why: 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez was killed by his mother and her boyfriend, despite repeated reports to social workers regarding claims of abuse, the LA Times notes.
The show is from Brian Knappenberger, the guy behind docs like Nobody Speak (about Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker), and as with that film there’s a focus on the media’s role in the case: in Fernandez’s case, how coverage might have informed an eventual case against L.A.'s Dept. of Children and Family Services. But don’t expect a cozy inside-media-baseball time, as media writer Brian Lowry says that of the case that it’s “it's only possible to fully appreciate the magnitude of the systematic failures by hearing the extent of the torture the boy endured.” I’m going to sit this one out, so if a hardier viewer than I wants to chime in with how the show is, you know what to do. — EB