The Most Dangerous Animal Of All is a winning true-crime docuseries debut for FX

The A.V. Club

The four-part docuseries following Gary Stewart's investigation into whether his father was the Zodiac Killer is a stellar example of the true-crime genre. "A good true crime documentary is about more than the usually tragic, oftentimes gruesome events that prompted the making of the series or film in the first place," says Katie Rife. "And The Most Dangerous Animal Of All fulfills this requirement by exploring a theme that’s interrogated in many such projects: the nature of memory, of belief, and of truth itself. But, in a move that recalls Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s cornerstone work The Staircase, director Kief Davidson adds a layer of transparency to his series by investigating not only the veracity of his subjects’ claims but also how those claims have hurt those around them. Unlike The Staircase’s impassive vérité approach, The Most Dangerous Animal Of All indulges in every trick in the true crime filmmaker’s kit. Players in the saga are introduced with photographs pinned to cork boards by disembodied hands, and although the re-enactments in the series have higher production values than usual (and are blessedly free of dialogue), this technique inherently brings with it a whiff of cheesiness." ALSO: Thankfully, The Most Dangerous Animal of All is hardly a credulous retelling of Gary L. Stewart's story.