When a true crime show, even if it is a dramatization, revisits the story of Ed Gein, you expect horror. What you might not expect is empathy. Yet, Monster: The Ed Gein Story seems determined to blur the line between monster and man, asking viewers to look closer at what shaped one of America’s most notorious killers.
But does it go too far in trying to make us feel sorry for him? That's something we need to look into, as well as deciding if it's the right thing to do with a true crime series.
Monster presents us with a softer, sadder Ed Gein
From the first episode, Monster frames Gein as more of a broken soul than a calculating murderer. He’s portrayed as mentally fragile—childlike, almost innocent—someone who doesn’t fully grasp his actions. His speech is soft, sounding almost female, and his manner is timid. The show leans into the idea that he’s misunderstood and potentially mentally disabled rather than malicious.
Even in scenes where he lies to cover up his crimes, the tone suggests confusion instead of cunning. One of the scenes that particularly caught my attention was the one of Ed's arrest. Sheriff Art Schley, the man who arrested him, is shown as cruel and aggressive, as is Frank Worden, who's shown beating Ed (although can anybody really blame Worden?), while Gein looks frightened and helpless.
Later, the show places him in a mental institution where he’s oddly at peace, surrounded by kindness from staff. By the time the story reaches its end, the viewer is left with an image of Gein as a man failed by circumstance and tormented by illness, not consumed by evil. It’s a striking and controversial reinterpretation, one that has audiences split between criticism and praise.
Monster: The Ed Gein Story makes Ed a victim of his own mind
Monster frequently implies that Ed’s crimes were driven by mental illness rather than pure malice. This is hinted at all through the season, but becomes clearer in the final episodes, once Ed is admitted into the mental institution.
One of many scenes that doesn't sit right with me is the one in which the doctor concludes, in an absolute statement, that his schizophrenia explains everything he did. It's the ultimate excuse for his behavior, like giving him a pat on the shoulder and saying, "Ed, you're not a monster, you're only a sick, troubled man."
Indeed, everything that happens in that mental hospital shows how Ed is broken and worried by his hallucinations, including imagined conversations between him and Ilse Koch and Christine Jorgensen. Ilse even tells him they are not monsters—essentially, it's Ed's mind trying to reassure himself he isn't one.
Hunnam's performance is remarkable, particularly in these episodes where we see him as utterly broken. It does make us feel sorry for him—that is, until you remember who Gein really is and the atrocities he committed. Then the feeling passes, and is replaced by a thought that the show is too sensational in parts, and far too soft on Gein.
Who really got Ed's story twisted - the creators or those who came before them?
In the last episode of the season, Ed receives his cancer diagnosis from nurse Roz Mahoney, and during this emotional scene between the two, she tells him that people "got his story twisted". The irony!
What Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs did was take elements of the case as inspiration and use them in such a fictionalized way that they don't resemble Ed Gein anymore. Murphy and Brennan claim to tell the true story, while taking plenty of creative liberties. I'll let you judge who is truly twisting things here.
On the other side of the coin, it's the cast and creators of the series that claim they are not sensationalizing the story. Ian Brennan told The Hollywood Reporter that "This show is always trying to not be exploitative." That is to say, they are telling the full story, even the parts hard to watch.
And Hunnam, protective of his character, says, “What I would hope and feel really confident in is that it was a very sincere exploration of the human condition and why this boy did what he did.”
They tried, and somewhat succeeded, in showing Ed Gein as a person at the core of "a story of mental illness", someone whose "brain was trapped". Still, the reviews and opinions will likely keep being split.
Is Monster: The Ed Gein Story trying to make us the monsters?
There’s a recurring message in Monster: that the true horror lies not just in Ed Gein, but in us—the audience who can’t look away. The show openly questions society’s obsession with serial killers, suggesting that our fascination blurs empathy and entertainment.
By humanizing Ed, Monster challenges viewers to confront their own voyeurism. But for many (myself included), that approach feels like rewriting history. The series softens the edges of one of America’s darkest stories, turning a brutal killer into a tragic figure shaped by love (worshipping, rather), grief and madness.
As one line from the show, spoken by Alfred Hitchcock, reminds us, “Audiences have found a new monster. That monster is us.”
By giving Gein a psychological framework, the series invites sympathy. I still believe, given the actual, factual accounts, that the real Ed Gein was not this misunderstood soul; he was a murderer whose crimes destroyed lives and haunted a whole community for many years.
Yet, the show’s decision to humanize him forces an uncomfortable reflection on our own fascination with true crime.
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is available to stream on Netflix.
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