Unsolved Mysteries goes Full Spooky Season
the true crime that's worth your time
"How does that work?" my husband asked me when I first told him about Netflix's 2020 revival of beloved legacy true crime series Unsolved Mysteries. "Did they dig Robert Stack back up?"
First, I must beg your patience with my crass spouse. But then I'll confess that I kept thinking about his words as I watched Volume 5 of the series, which debuts on Wednesday, October 2. That's because in this four-episode season, the focus isn't on cold cases or frustrating crimes. Other than its first, more traditional episode, it's about spooky stories we tell in the dark, not open-ended homicides or suspect-less slayings.
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The season, which counts Skye Borgman (Broberg case adaptation A Friend of the Family), Gabe Torres (horror film The Wendigo), and true crime OG Robert M. Wise among its directors, tackles two less familiar cases before diving in to full Time-Life book set territory.
We start out on earth with the unsolved shooting deaths of two people as they sat on a park bench. Carnell E. Sledge and Katherine C. Brown were found dead in Ohio's Rocky River Reservation in 2019, a double slaying the FBI lists on its "seeking information" page to this day. It's a horrible, shocking case mainly because it seems so happenstance — there isn't a clearcut suspect or a police mistake to point to as an explanation of why it remains unsolved. Sledge and Brown's families take the lead, illustrating the void they're still experiencing and, even now, the disbelief that this happened to their loved ones.
It's textbook Unsolved Mysteries, and illustrative of what's allowed this show to set the true crime standard for so many decades. The survivors are centered even as the nuts and bolts are laid out. It's classic, competent, reliable stuff.
And then things got weird.
Following that episode, we get a straight-faced look at a paranormal researcher and his partner in investigations, an "entity" named Becky. Do we hear a man speaking in a high and breathy female voice? Hell yeah we do. Does everyone approach the mystery (which, basically, is "What's Becky's deal?") with an open-minded earnestness? Indeed. Could this "unsolved mystery" be solved pretty quickly by anyone who refuses to believe in ghosts? Yeah, sure, but where's the fun in that?
Now, Unsolved Mysteries has dipped its toe into the paranormal before, so this isn't the most random topic for them to tackle. Remember the Don Decker episode from the '80s, in which everyone swore they experienced indoor rain and saw decker levitate? (Years later, Decker was charged with arson, which is pretty funny given the rain thing.) Those types of episodes ticked slightly up when Netflix took the franchise over. There's a UFO yarn in Volume 1, ghosts of the 2011 tsunami in V2, and even more paranormal episodes in V3 ... and look at that, there's the Mothman in V4.
I can only assume that these episodes, which are less about traditional crime and more about crimes against science and reason (I should note here that Sarah is more open-minded when it comes to the unexplained, so if any ghosts are reading this, don't haunt her — this is on me!) are the ones that did best in Netflix's mysterious, undisclosed ratings. (What gets watched on Netflix, and how many people watch it, might be the greatest unsolved mystery of all!)
That's the easiest way to account for the next two episodes, which pluck the incredibly low-hanging fruit that is cattle mutilations (episode 3) and Roswell (ep 4). No longer are the show's paranormal cases small, intimate ones like Decker's or a single UFO sighting in the Berkshires in 1969. Now Unsolved Mysteries is taking on the whole godamn system, y'all.
While those last two episodes are fine — if I were teaching a class on mass delusion, I'd happily assign either — they don't feel like a fit. Not for the franchise, or for the season, even. Unsolved Mysteries works best when it's a mix of cold, hard, truth and fantasy, if for no other reason than because the paranormal feels more possible when sandwiched between more grounded cases. From an entertainment perspective, when all you have is ghosts, goblins, and aliens, none of it feels credible or real.
And if the series wants to make its X-Files-y pivot permanent, I'd recommend they move away from the broad strokes of household name tabloid fodder and back toward the strange small-town yarns. Those small urban legends no one has heard of is where your deepest engagement will come from. People who are interested in Roswell already know everything there is to know.
Frankly, it feels odd to even be reviewing this season of Unsolved Mysteries for Best Evidence given how divorced from true crime it actually is. That's not to say that this season wasn't entertaining (especially the second episode, which is a legit hoot). But I prefer my unsolved mysteries to be solvable, not just something to be debunked.
Unsolved Mysteries Volume 5
Recommendation: Watch if you're on true crime hiatus
The case in favor:
Always competent, always entertaining
The first episode is excellent, and the second is super fun
And the last two would be fine to have on while you're waiting for trick-or-treaters.
The case against:
If you think the paranormal is bullshit you'll think most of this season is too
Roswell and cattle mutilations are lazy topics to tackle
Other than ep 1, it ain't true crime, bro