Killing County is a 3-part Hulu docuseries about the Jorge Ramirez, Jr. case, which brought out a history of rampant corruption in both the Bakersfield, CA police department and the Kern County Sheriff’s department. It not only examines the Ramirez case, but other cases that show both law enforcement organizations using excessive force then sweeping the investigations under the rug.
KILLING COUNTY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: “BAKERSFIELD, KERN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.” We hear a 911 call and see a picture of the Four Points Sheraton, where police shot and killed Jorge Ramirez, Jr. on September 15, 2013.
The Gist: Ramirez was shot, along with Justin Harger, under suspicious circumstances. And, as we hear from Ramirez’ father and sisters, the 34-year-old father of five had his troubles, but the sheriff made him out to look like a violent criminal to the media. They knew that something about this shooting was not being revealed.
They also know that both the Bakersfield PD and Kern County Sheriff’s Department has a history of being involved in suspicious deaths over a number of years. The docuseries shifts to the case of David Silva; in May 2013, he was beaten by seven police officers from three agencies and ended up dying on the corner where the cops found him slumped by a fence, across from a hospital where he sought treatment. The sheriff’s department ended up collecting the phones of witnesses who shot videos of the beating, with those phones never seen again, and a coroner’s report that pointed to health issues as Silva’s cause of death. Who runs the coroner’s office in Kern County? The Sheriff’s department.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Killing County has the feel of other ABC News docuseries that are on Hulu, like The Murders Before The Marathon.
Our Take: There are a few not-so-wonderful elements to Killing County, which was Colin Kaepernick and directed by Michaela Dowd, things that certainly distract from the story the series is trying to tell. They use three actors — Jeremy Holm, Emmy Raver-Lampman and Elvis Nocalso — to do readings of witness and suspect interviews, along with police and medical examiner reports. Given the fact that this is one of the rare instances of late where a true crime docuseries has a narrator (André Holland), all of these extra voices can be distracting.
The story itself, though, is fascinating. As we see in the twist at the end of the first episode, Ramirez was actually a CI for the Bakersfield PD. The fact that the officers who engaged Ramirez and Harger somehow didn’t know that, but even the circumstances behind why the officers opened fire to begin with was suspicious.
But instead of just concentrating on the Ramirez case, Dowd goes back to other cases where both BPD and the Kern County Sheriff used excessive force and then swept the investigation under the rug. It’s actually amazing how many of these incidents these two departments were involved in during a short period of time, and it’ll be interesting to see if Ramírez’s family looks into these cases as a way of showing both departments are rife with systemic corruption.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Ramirez’s sister Nicole says that, after finding out Jorge was a CI, that “It was the best feeling, having the truth in my hand, and I was going to tell everyone.”
Sleeper Star: We laud the consultant that mentioned the early ’90s series Bakersfield P.D. as a way of referencing just how bumpkin-like the city and the BPD are perceived. Why? Because we got to see a young Giancarlo Esposito in the clip they showed.
Most Pilot-y Line: Again, we were not happy with the actors’ readings of the various transcripts and reports. It just felt like an unnecessary flourish, especially as we see the actors staring into the camera as an interstitial style.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Despite some of the distracting flourishes, Killing County examines a topic that we don’t see a lot of in the true crime docuseries genre.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
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