True Crime’s ACAB Playbook Is Falling Into Place

The latest in pop-culture news, recaps, and reviews, plus close reads, profiles, interviews, and more from Vulture.com. [Brand Logo]( American Nightmare [True Crime’s ACAB Playbook Is Falling Into Place]( A new crop of docuseries turns the typical explanation for law-enforcement failure on its head. Photo: Netflix The most depressing line in Netflix’s latest true-crime docuseries hit, American Nightmare, comes in the last of its three parts. “All I wanted this whole time was someone in law enforcement I could call a hero,” says Denise Huskins, a kidnapping victim and one of the series’ central figures. The doc does find that person: Misty Carausu, whom it presents as the sole police officer responsible for identifying Huskins’s kidnapper and rapist. What’s striking about American Nightmare, though, is not that it finds a cop it can call heroic, but that Carausu is a lone voice against a tidal wave of her colleagues’ disinterest, bias, incompetence, and lack of professionalism. Unlike the default mode of [true-crime docuseries]( from the past several years — and decades of ongoing linear shows like Cops and The First 48 before them — American Nightmare is uninterested in presenting investigators as well-intentioned hard workers stumped by a mastermind. It’s a document of police indifference in which the typical explanation for law-enforcement failure has been turned on its head: not a few bad apples, but a dismal search for a single good one. [read more]( Devour pop culture with us. [Subscribe now]( to save over 60% on unlimited access to Vulture and everything New York. The Latest TV Recaps • Tokyo Vice: [Who Deserves to Have Their Story Told? (Season 2, Episode 1)](, [Get High, Steal Bikes, Do Crime (Season 2, Episode 2)]( • The Traitors: [Predatory Headband]( • Masters of the Air: [London by Night]( • Expats: [Days of Being Riled]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Stories We Think You’ll Like [Chris Rock’s Another Round Remake Could Get Him Slapped Again “If it’s shit …, ” director Thomas Vinterberg said.]( By Justin Curto [The Taste of Things Is Ravishing, Delectable, and Maybe Even a Little Radical Starring Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel, Tran Anh Hung’s film immediately joins the pantheon of great food movies.]( By Bilge Ebiri [18 of the Most Romantic Movies You Can Stream for Valentine’s Day Ideally with a box of chocolates.]( By Brian Tallerico [Made in Spain: How the Country Became Key to Netflix’s International Strategy “I couldn’t remotely imagine we could be where we are,” says Money Heist creator Álex Pina.]( By Josef Adalian [Lisa Frankenstein Is Strictly a Mall-Goth Affair Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse star in a disappointingly flimsy horror comedy about a teen loner and her undead companion.]( By Alison Willmore [Does Madame Tussauds Also Think Beyoncé Is Italian? Her new wax figure kinda looks like Leah Remini, to the actor’s delight.]( By Zoe Guy [Sadly: Meep Meep Coyote vs. Acme is running out of time to be sold to another studio before an earnings call on February 23, and Warner Bros. isn’t playing fair.]( By Jason P. Frank [The 11 Best Movies and TV Shows to Watch This Weekend Siri, play “Football (Taylor’s Version).”]( By Savannah Salazar [Reggie Watts’s Pickle Won Late Night This Week Also featuring Alan Cumming, Christopher Nolan, and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah.]( By Bethy Squires [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Today’s Crossword]( 5-Across, Four Letters: “Sonic the Hedgehog” creature Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Getty A newsletter about the perpetual Hollywood awards race, for subscribers only. [Sign up]( to get it every week. [Get the Newsletter]( [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe]( | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2024, All rights reserved