The Truth About Jim receives bitter review as the internet calls it "the worst crime documentary" ever

The Truth About Jim is a new Max documentary series, released on February 15, 2024. The story follows a young woman, Sierra Barter, trying to figure out and liberate herself from her step-grandfather, Jim Mordecai, a macho-man bully and alleged rapist. The documentary series has been generating an intense debate, with several viewers experiencing their differing opinions on it.

Reddit open forum users were largely disappointed and frustrated with the documentary. Several netizens claimed that the five hours they spent watching the program were a waste because there was no evidence to back up the alleged crimes. They criticized the documentary for allegedly offering fanciful concepts and creating buzz without proof.

Wow, The Truth About Jim was the worst crime documentary I've ever watched. byu/tandyman234 inTrueCrimeDiscussion

The users emphasized unsubstantiated links between everyday parts of the characters' lives and the reportedly legendary crimes. They seemingly recommended against viewing the documentary, alleging that it failed to produce intriguing real-life information.

Continue reading for a thorough review of the most recent Max crime documentary, The Truth About Jim.

Disclaimer: The article contains major spoilers from the new Max crime documentary, The Truth About Jim.

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The Truth About Jim receives bitter review: What people are saying about the crime documentary

A snippet from the trailer (Image via Max)

According to the documentary, Jim was allegedly a nightmare by all accounts. He subjected young women between the ages of 12 and 19 to terror and assault, and his companions endured horrifying physical abuse. During his tenure as a high school educator, he incited horror and humiliation.

He had three marriages, and his surviving spouses and children discussed the same on camera. As accounts of Jim accumulate and testimonies from his victims proliferate, it becomes less probable that he went from ruthless and prolific sexual violence to homicide.

As The Truth About Jim progresses, Sierra and her family members analyze the similarities and contrasts between Mordecai and the unresolved Santa Rosa hitchhiker murderer case. Sierra also contemplates the possibility that he was the Zodiac Killer, despite the opinion of an expert, who deems this doubtful.

Several viewers have expressed displeasure with the Zodiac-related documentary storyline.

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Several netizens criticized the documentary for presenting loose connections and circumstantial evidence as indicative, which they felt, failed to adequately substantiate the allegations leveled against the filmmaker's grandfather.

Additionally, a number of viewers criticized the documentary for being biased and providing subjective interpretations rather than an objective analysis, which calls into question its dependability.

Many pointed out that the credibility of the documentary is compromised due to its sensationalist tone, which is evident in assertions such as the grandfather potentially being the Zodiac assassin.

Sierra, conversely, was commended for her investigation of the consequences of Mordercai's alleged assault on his family and for highlighting the matter of intergenerational trauma.

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What is The Truth About Jim crime-documentary series about?

Skye Borgman, a renowned true-crime director (Dead Asleep, Girl in the Picture, I Just Killed My Dad, Sins of Our Mother), is the creator of the four-episode Max documentary series The Truth About Jim. According to IMDb, the official synopsis is as follows:

"An investigator confronts a traumatic past and secrets that have plagued her family for generations. Was Jim Mordecai, their husband, stepfather, and step-grandfather a notorious serial killer?"

In the documentary, Sierra's goal is to unearth information that time, resentment, and experience have suppressed. However, it experiences setbacks in the second half, characterized by lengthy digressions, and excessive self-congratulation.

With inadequate responses to its core inquiries, the film ultimately offers a poignant examination of women's efforts to be heard, particularly after being subjected to heinous crimes, and their laborious process of healing severe wounds.

Sierra was constantly aware that something was strange about her step-grandfather Jim, who seemed eerie, and whom her mother Shannon generally despised.

In retaliation, Shannon abstained from communicating with her mother, Judy, for a decade. Judy was Jim's third spouse - he had previously wed Sharon Yeager, his high school sweetheart, in 1960 and had one child with her. He then married Jeanne Kirkpatrick in 1973. They had two daughters, Melissa and Jaime, in addition to Jeanne's children from a previous union, Christi and Michael.

Sierra was exposed to numerous rumors concerning Jim during her childhood. However, it wasn't until she started this non-fiction project that she was able to get information from her family members, and the outcomes were largely unfavorable.

Sierra portrays Jim as a cruel and domineering guy who tortured her family in The Truth About Jim, and she begins to assume that he was one of the Bay Area's unsolved serial murderers. She focuses on the 1972–1973 Santa Rosa hitchhiker killings, in which at least seven (and maybe 11) young females were picked up on Highway 101, killed at unknown places, and dumped in remote areas.

A snippet from the trailer (Image via Max)

Sierra hypothesizes that Jim was one of the era's most notorious homicidal maniacs due to his familiarity with the area, tendency to go on long, mysterious drives with a big knife in his car, and possession of random jewelry found posthumously by Judy and Shannon.

The Truth About Jim builds a plausible case for this even before Sierra finds DNA evidence linking Jim to the killings. Sierra's speculation that Jim is responsible for the Santa Rosa hitchhiking horrors and the Zodiac deaths, however, partially derails the documentary.

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Premiered on Max on February 15, 2024, The Truth About Jim is a 2024 documentary series, available to stream now.