X
- 2020
- TV-MA
- FX
- 2020
- TV-MA
- FX
Summary The five-part documentary series directed by Marc Smerlin and based on Errol Morris' book of the same name looks into the 1970 case of Army surgeon and Green Beret Jeffrey MacDonald who claimed his family were killed by four hippies high on drugs but was convicted in 1979 of murdering his pregnant wife and two daughters.
- 2020
- TV-MA
- FX
- 2020
- TV-MA
- FX
A Wilderness of Error
Season 1 Premiere: Sep 25, 2020
69
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Summary The five-part documentary series directed by Marc Smerlin and based on Errol Morris' book of the same name looks into the 1970 case of Army surgeon and Green Beret Jeffrey MacDonald who claimed his family were killed by four hippies high on drugs but was convicted in 1979 of murdering his pregnant wife and two daughters.
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 12 Critic Reviews
69
67% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
33% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 12 Critic Reviews
69
67% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
33% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
This is smart, challenging docuseries filmmaking that maybe could have benefitted from being one episode shorter, but it doesn’t drag nearly as much as some other 2020 true crime series.
Truth, it must be said, isn’t easy to pin down in A Wilderness of Error, and that ambiguity—as well as the mounting tension between Morris’ outlook and that of director Marc Smerling (producer of Andrew Jarecki’s Capturing the Friedmans and The Jinx)—makes the docuseries a particularly involving entry in the popular subgenre.
While inconclusive in many ways, A Wilderness Of Error is strangely satisfying.
“Wilderness” makes copious use of the kind of formally paced, meticulously art-directed recreations Morris pioneered, and viewers’ taste for them will break down along established lines. ... If you come to “A Wilderness of Error” looking for a definitive answer, or for some startling final-episode reveal that puts everything in a new light, you’ll be disappointed. This isn’t that show.
FX's five-part documentary series A Wilderness of Error is a must-watch for true crime devotees. ... The problem with A Wilderness of Error is that some viewers, and probably some critics as well, are going to approach it as a true crime documentary itself and not as a commentary on the form. In that light, it might be seen as a failure. I'd say it fully acknowledges that it's a failure, so it comes down to your appetite for ouroboros.
Morris' observations serve as a sort-of spine for the series, but it's a squishy point of entry, and the interview with him proves unsatisfying. Couple that with the vaguely sleazy aspects, and "A Wilderness of Error" offers a not-so-illuminating message that it's sometimes difficult to get at the truth that's not worth the five hours it takes to hear it.
It’s not hard to miss that Morris’s fact-gathering, at least, falls short of the usual standard of his work — even leaving aside certain standbys borrowed from Morris’s directing like scene recreation, always maddening to some viewers. ... Morris has made it his mission to convince, and as such doomed his project from its inception. What else there is, here, is thin.
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Production Company:
- Blumhouse Television
Initial Release Date: Sep 25, 2020
Number of seasons: 1 Season
Rating: TV-MA
Genres:
