Stream It Or Skip It: ‘I Am A Killer’ Season 5 on Netflix, Featuring More Stories Of True Crime, Always Told In The First Person

Season 5 of I Am A Killer drops all six of its episodes at once on Netflix, and the streamer has already announced plans for a sixth season. So it sure seems like the true crime big bang of the last few years is definitely still going boom. This time around, I Am A Killer features more of what the documentary series has become known for, confessions from those convicted told straight to camera. And in its stories of killers looking for redemption, wishing they could take their decisions and actions back, discovering their true selves while incarcerated, and still believing that their crimes were in self-defense, I Am A Killer continues to present both sides of the moral argument.      

I AM A KILLER – SEASON 5: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: “All prison facilities in the US are directed to provide rehabilitation programs for inmates. Inmates who complete such programs are 3 times more likely to be released early on parole.” One such inmate is #A542927 at Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield, OH. 

The Gist: In 2005, Jamel Dontez Hatcher shot and killed his girlfriend Danielle Boone during an argument and fled the scene, leaving behind their three-week-old daughter Chyanne. But after he was caught, eventually pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, Hatcher began a journey toward personal redemption. He got sober, and attended classes about restorative justice. He reflected on what he did, and the life that he took. And now, speaking directly to the camera in I Am a Killer’s house style, Hatcher says he deserves an early release. “I wanna be a beacon that redemption is possible.” 

Outside the walls of Richmond, the first episode of I Am A Killer season 5 also introduces Janaé Bates, a minister and advocate for Hatcher’s release. (Bates and Hatcher were married in 2021.) We also meet family members of Danielle Boone, some of whom are on board with his early release for her killing, some of whom definitely are not. And I Am A Killer also interviews Jeff Cook, the detective who originally investigated the crime. “Danielle was shot in the face with a shotgun. But Hatcher denied having any involvement in her death. So I have a trust issue with anything he has to say.” 

Will Jamel Dontez Hatcher’s participation in prison-based rehabilitation programs, and the network of support he’s developed on the outside, including with members of Danielle Boone’s family, be enough to secure his early release from a 20-year sentence? Hatcher presents his argument to viewers. But in another move right out of the I Am A Killer playbook, the docuseries also plays recordings of his interviews for Detective Cook and Danielle’s aunt, who have maintained their doubts about him, and shows their responses to Hatcher. “Make no mistake, Danielle’s death was an accident,” he maintains to his unseen interviewer. “I would have never killed her on purpose.”

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? In 2022, the makers of I Am A Killer released I Am A Stalker for Netflix – similar format, but a different kind of crime. And fans of streaming true crime will never have to leave their DVRs empty, because the titles just keep coming. Like the three-parter Little Miss Innocent: Passion, Poison. Prison. Or Caught In the Web: The Murders Behind Zona Divas. Or two recent docudramas based on sensational true crime stories, American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez and Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. 

Our Take: The measured, detached tone of I Am A Killer is the docuseries’ best feature. With no narrator, no interviewer to be heard or seen, and only the sparest statements on screen to frame the story, the meat of any episode of A Killer can be found in its title. As he or she sits with the name and number on their inmate tag and tells their side of the story, it’s possible to gravitate to their perspective. The description of their crime in hindsight, either through a reflective lens or with the brunt of what they see as the truth, can be quite powerful. But the tone of I Am A Killer is not presented from a single perspective, and the series is always at its best when it applies its established impartiality to other sides of the same story. It’s impossible for anyone to overtake the narrative when everyone has access to what each other said, without the layer of interview or interpretation in between. 

“I want to believe everyone’s capable of change, but I think he’s gotten an education in how to manipulate the system, courtesy of the state.” What’s striking about the first episode of I Am A Killer season 5 isn’t the question of whether Hatcher will achieve early release. It’s in watching him formulate a real-time response – as the camera waits, silently – when confronted with the statements of Danielle Boone’s aunt. But not in a gotcha way. In presenting the grim facts of violence and its aftermath, A Killer allows space for those incarcerated as well as the families and authorities involved in their case to interpret how they feel in their own words. In this series, the victim is the only person who doesn’t have valuable access to the first person present-tense.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: In scenes to come from Season 5 of I Am A Killer, we see more of the docuseries’ first-person interview style, and interpretation of their crimes from those incarcerated. “One split second can determine the rest of your life…”

Sleeper Star: “The first time I talked to my dad was on the telephone.” The issue of Jamel Dontez Hatcher’s potential early release gets more thorny with the introduction of his daughter Chyanne, who didn’t know about her biological father or her late mother until she was 17.

Most Pilot-y Line: What goes through a killer’s mind in the moments after their crime? “After that, I done went through a thousand different emotions of what I should do. I started thinking, like, it was guilt and shame. And it went from shock to… panic. I could hear the police coming.” 

Our Call: Stream It. With a genre like true crime, it can be easy to feel fatigue from overstuffed offerings or their general homogeneity. Which is why I Am A Killer, just returned for season 5, stands out with its value-add of clarity. The dry tone of the docuseries is appropriate as it presents perspectives on a killing from every angle possible.

Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.

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