Boxing Jillian
Confronting a Serial Killer: Episode #2 Deal With The Devil (2021): 7 out of 10: Deal with the Devil focuses on a few cases where Sam Little went to trial for rape, attempted murder and murder. We travel to Gainesville and San Diego, where Sam manages to escape the noose again and again despite in one case being caught in the act. We also meet his enabler Dorsey, a sweet old black woman always ready to fund his activities, clean up his crime scenes, and provided an airtight alibi.
The Good
There are some amazingly detailed crime investigation in this second episode. Jillian and the film intelligently look at all the times he was caught and what went wrong. How did he get away with it for so long?
Jillian interviews the investigating officer for a dead strangle victim in Gainesville who was left nude and defecated on in an empty field. There were witness seeing the victim talk to at a bar and leave with Sam Little. She had a very low IQ (Like in the forties) and was an alcoholic.
Sam beats the Gainesville murder with the help of his girlfriend accomplice, Dorsey. Now Dorsey was an older black woman who looked like she just left church. She would clean up after Sam removing body fluids and tissue from the back seat of his car. She also funded his travels with her monthly checks and her shoplifting habit. When needed, she would provide an alibi for Sam, as she does here. There would be no Samuel Little without Dorsey.
In San Diego, we have a harrowing interview with a woman raped, strangled and left for dead. Police had a description of the perp and his car. A patrolman goes to the dead end road where the victim was found on a pile of garbage and he sees the exact car from the description. And what is in the back seat? Why it is Sam Little strangling a hooker. Seriously, they caught him in the act.
Now we know Sam basically is going to skate again, but the how is fantastic. The first girl is an impressive witness, but the second one that Sam was strangling was not. How does Sam skate? Well, remember how Dorsey provided an airtight alibi for the Gainesville Murder? Guess who shows up again in court?
Her testimony killed the first case with the good witness and the one where he was caught in the act. He only got four years in a plea deal. He claimed it was a disagreement over payment and he was defending himself. After he left jail in San Diego, he went up to LA and went on a killing spree that with some irony, would lead him to jail all these years later.
The Bad
The Bad: And then we have boxing. Apparently, Sam Little learned to box in juvie. And he became a pretty good boxer. So, for some reason, Jillian decides that to better understand Sam. She should take up boxing as well. If she picked up and strangled hookers using the same reasoning, it was wisely left out of this episode of Confronting a Serial Killer. Jillian speculates: if Sam had only stuck with boxing, he would not have been a serial killer. The old had Hitler only been accepted to art school theory.
The Ugly
I will humor the movie showing Jillian boxing for five minutes while spouting philosophical nonsense. But when she pulls out the old photo album, I have to put my foot down. I don’t even do that to friends. Nobody wants to see your vacation slides, Jillian.
I kid if Jillian had shown her vacation slides, this probably would not have graduated to ugly. We learn about Jillian’s sex work and drug use (again), her PTSD diagnosis and how boxing allows her to lean into the pain. This is all fascinating stuff, I am sure. If I were watching a documentary about Jillian’s curated life. But I swear there is a guy who murdered 93 woman around here somewhere.
But the coup de gras is Jillian recounting the affair she had with a camp counselor when she was twelve. We literally just listened to a harrowing rape testimony and you are complaining about how you were not supported by the adults in your life after getting caught in flagrante delicto at summer camp with some pedofile nazi youth. Jillian so wants to be a victim as well.
In Conclusion
Sam is a predator and has a talent to find people that are the weak link. He looks for people that are lonely that need a drink or a fix. He is true evil. This episode manages to highlight this despite a few hiccups. The remaining episodes were not so lucky.
