I Survived a Crime, which originally aired on A&E and has been on Netflix since 2021, has been trending lately on the streaming platform. The series' 20-minute episodes mix security camera footage of crimes with accounts of what actually happened at the time, but there's no magic formula. Some stories, though not all, include interviews with the victims.
Some, though not all, mention whether anyone was arrested afterward. One story from the first episode showed footage of a home invasion and, a little too casually for my liking, mentioned that one of the intruders was shot dead in the footage we'd just watched, before quickly moving on to the next story without further information. I mean, we just saw a man get shot, only to find out he'd bled out in the driveway, and we're already cutting it short. Did I think we lived in the age of stories?
Stars: Gio Benitez, Patty Breton
Other segments featured in the first episode include dashcam footage of a ride-share driver who was attacked by a drunk man while his car was still moving. At the same time, another man in the backseat dragged a screaming toddler from the car. Is the child safe? Whose did he belong to? If there's one thing this show doesn't care about, it's the details.
Another incident features a father and his two teenage sons as their car is surrounded by a group of people claiming to have stolen another woman's car. As the father, Lee Allen, tries to explain to the crowd that he owns the car, his teenage daughter, Lexi, records the incident: the car is surrounded, and people begin vandalizing it with the family inside. Lexi records while crying in terror. As the family recounts the incident, Lexi, visibly still traumatized, collapses, and they have to stop filming. I suppose people like the Allens were compensated for their participation, but the atmosphere the show conveys is: "Grab a tissue, excuse your trauma."
The show moves at a strange, rapid-fire pace, playing footage from one crime after another. While in Allen's case the victims are interviewed, in most cases, Benítez simply narrates what happens before moving on to the next crime.
Screenwriter Nora Ephron (a phrase that definitely HAS NO PLACE IN A REVIEW OF THIS SHOW, but bear with me) once said that everything is copy. She said this before print media disappeared, obviously. But today, I think we can safely say that the new version of this is "Everything is content." From TikTok to Instagram comments to the nightly news, every little thing that happens in the world is now something we can turn into content we can watch and read. In the case of "I Survived Murder," this content falls into the "terrible stuff" category.
I want to write about "terrible things that happen to good people," but in so many videos, we don't even meet the "me" who survived the crime, so who am I to judge whether they're good or not? The show gives me no context for that. I feel betrayed by the broken promise of the title! I usually find something to like, something worthwhile, in most of the shows I watch, but I can say without a doubt that I hate "I Survived a Crime." Maybe it's because I don't want to see real footage of children in danger. Maybe it's because I don't want to see real people getting beaten up.
It could also be because I don't want to see people crying in terror at the possibility of dying. The show announces from the beginning that danger lurks everywhere, at all times, and while that may be true, there's nothing redeeming about the way this show presents that danger. The criminals don't get what they deserve, and all the victims suffer from PTSD. Seriously, why am I watching this? No matter the season, this is the show that makes you feel bad about summer.
Sign-off: As the first episode ends, clips of everything we just saw are replayed, and Benítez says in a voiceover, "There you have it. Survival and strength, captured on camera." "There you have it"? Regular people capture the content, and bots write the shows. I think this show was also greenlit.
Surprise star: Gio Benítez is the host of "I Survived a Crime" and is the only one who appears in every episode.
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