A Calvinist Looks at Netflix’s Dahmer (A Video Review)

I have hesitated to write this review because I know that the series itself is controversial. I am even a bit abashed to say that I did watch Netflix’s Dahmer series, but, well, I did. Towards the end of last year I had a lot of work that required my hands but not my brain so I wanted something to watch and I had heard that the series gave a pretty good presentation of the gospel message. Plus I was living in Wisconsin when Jeffrey Dahmer’s crimes were discovered so there was a base level of interest there and a feeling of connection to the events.

A couple of caveats before we begin — First, since I did watch this some months ago, there may be inaccuracies in my memory but I will try to describe the series as I recall it. And second, while I will speak of Dahmer and the other characters, I recognize that the Netflix series is a fictionalized account and so my remarks are not really about Dahmer the historical person but the fictionalized movie Dahmer. One critique of the series is that it does take some creative liberties, for instance merging the experiences of a few neighbors into the one prominent neighbor character in the series.

Let’s start with the bad. Dahmer is violent and has a fair degree of sexual content. I wouldn’t say that it is gratuitous and really not much is actually shown but the series does not shy away from the reality of events that were inherently violent and sexual. It is not explicit in the sense of showing nudity but takes the “let the audience know what is happening and then pan away” approach which can at times be even more creepy. I had heard that the gospel content came in episode 7 or so but it actually comes later so I persisted through the series thinking I would get to the good bits any time. If I had known I would have to keep waiting, I might have abandoned the whole enterprise because this was so very hard to watch.

The other bad is the controversy surrounding the series. It seems that its creators did not get the consent of the victims’ families. That is really what makes me hesitant to write this, because I do not want to pile on to that. I can understand that for those affected by these events, that there is probably a desire never to see them recreated and certainly not to see others make money off of them. But I will say that the series did a really good job of showing just how profound the effects of Dahmer’s crimes were, not just on the families but also on all those around him including his neighbors and his parents.

Which brings me to my first observation: the sins, the very heinous sins, of this one man were utterly corrosive, not just to his own soul and to his victims but to everyone around him, anyone even tangentially involved. The series does not shy away from the degree of trauma and disruption that was brought into the lives of so many. While most of us will not become cannibalistic, homosexual murderers, it does make one pause to think about how profound the effects of our sin can be, not just in our own lives but in the lives of those around us.

There is somewhat of a sociological message to Dahmer. Its creators are clearly trying to show that the system failed Jeffrey Dahmer. As an example, his father at one point asks a judge to require him to get help and is turned down. There are also choices that his parents make that may have contributed to his behavior. Yet one is always aware that this is not the whole story. Dahmer himself never says that others failed him or made him who he is. Indeed, he seems always aware of his sin. He knows he is different and that what he does is wrong. Yet — to paraphrase Paul in Romans 7:15 — he does what he hates. Again, the sins here are over the top, more than most people will ever even contemplate, but the basic tendency is so very human. The difference between Dahmer and any of us is a matter of degrees but not of the basic heart condition.

In my denomination, when we have our children baptized, we promise to teach them of their sin nature. This may sound harsh to modern ears, but I have come to think that it is so very essential. The world will tell them a lot of things but it will not tell them this. In fact, it will do everything it can to teach them the exact opposite — that they are good, that they can change on their own, that they don’t need a Savior. Jeffrey Dahmer did some of the worst things we can even imagine and yet (as this series portrays him) he was closer to salvation than many “good” people because he knew he was evil.

Dahmer also knows that he deserves death. It is not clear that he sees is as a punishment and there is no indication that he sees his own death as in any way atoning for his crimes, but he seems to desire death as an escape and the only way to end his sin.

Dahmer’s salvation comes when, in prison, he hears that another infamous serial killer, John Wayne Gacy, has repented.* This leads him to conclude: “If there can be salvation for him who is even worse than me, maybe I too can be saved.” Think about that for a moment. What does this say to us, the audience? As Gacy is to Dahmer so Dahmer is to us. If even Jeffrey Dahmer can repent and come to faith, maybe there is hope for all of us.

At last we are at the gospel presentation which lured me into even starting this series. It is brief but it is not awful. The emphasis is on grace, the fact that we bring nothing to the table — because what could a Dahmer possibly bring? Again, the story before us is an extreme one but none of us have any more to offer to our own salvation than Jeffrey Dahmer did.

I am a little less enamored of the effects of Dahmer’s salvation as the series portrays them. We see him repenting to his father but there is no indication that he reached out in any way to the many, many people whom his deeds impacted. Maybe the series just doesn’t show it, maybe he didn’t have time before his own death. I can’t say if Dahmer’s conversion, which was much touted in Christian circles at the time, was real. I hope it was. But as the series portrays it, there does seem to be a lack. It is not our deeds that save us, but faith and salvation should come with sincere repentance and a desire to atone for one’s deeds in some way. When Dahmer dies at the end, killed in prison, all those people who were affected by his sin are still left with their trauma and pain. It doesn’t magically disappear.

(Side bar: One interesting tidbit that is thrown in at the end of the series, the Dahmer character mentions that he was into occult things as a child. This is said very quickly and not much commented on, but from a Christian perspective, it is hard not to wonder if early childhood experiences with the occult lead to the profound degree of sin in Dahmer’s later life. I don’t want to get too woo-woo about this but I do believe that these things are often related and that there is no harmless experimentation with things that are truly evil.)

The creators of the Dahmer series took liberties with the story and I have no reason to think that they are Christian or intended to give a religious message. Yet from a Christian perspective, they present a compelling story that should lead us not to say “look at how horrible that guy was; I am so much better than him” but “all those things which were so profound and obvious in his life are latent but no less real in mine.” This horrible, horrible story (which I can’t actually recommend since it was so hard to watch) should lead us to repent of our own sin and to see our own need for a Savior who can free us from it.

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*This is one of the details my memory is fuzzy one. It may be that Gacy did not repent per se but just had a priest with him at the time of his own execution or some such. At any rate, it is made clear that Dahmer’s reaction was one of “if him, why not me?” and not just a fear at the thought of his own possible death because, as I said, he wanted to be put to death though he was actually only given life sentences.