For the Bad Guy/Girl in Each of Us

Some nights, as I sit all cozy in my dorm room, I pretend I’m a killer.

No, really.

I always make sure that I am in front of my television when TruTV’s Forensic Files is on. As I follow the story of how murderers are hunted down, caught, and brought to justice, I imagine how much that must suck to be that killer. Aside from that, it’s so interesting to see how forensic scientists use their fancy equipment and simple footprints, hairs, and paint chips to solve a mystery.

Each episode is 30 minutes long and is a “mockumentary” of real crimes committed across the United States. The episodes do not drag at all, and since they are only 30 minutes each, the pace of the story is very fast. Peter Thomas, who was born to narrate, brings you into a world of “Whudunits.” You follow commentary from medical examiners, coroners, policeman, witnesses, and those directly related to the crime. The re-enactments aren’t cheesy, so you won’t feel like you’re watching an introductory film to a foreign language. If anything, these re-enactments make you wonder how some people can be so twisted and unfortunate.

While I get the most amusement out of the episodes where the bad guys carelessly leave behind evidence, like a gun, fingerprints, or even a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup wrapper tainted with DNA, my favorite episodes are the ones where tiny clues lead police to catch the killer. I never knew what a Reichert Mark II Plus Abbe Refractometer or a Horiba Jobin Yvon Fluorolog-3 spectrofluorometer was before I watched this show. I also never knew the significance of microscopic fibers, but now that I do, I’ll be sure to remove each and every one from my clothing, if I ever have anything to hide.

Get your crime on every Friday night at 10pm, every Saturday at 6-10pm, and every Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 11pm on TruTV.

With so many days and times, you really can’t miss it.

~ Jamie Kapili