Spring has brought the sun around and yet lately I have found myself falling into the dark, rabbit hole of crime documentaries that Netflix has to offer.
On Tuesday night, I fell prey to their latest release, Dirty John, The Dirty Truth, which tells the tale of the seemingly perfect John Meehan and his unsuspecting victims.
Parading around as the man of their dreams, Meehan lulls women into a false sense of security before tearing their lives apart. Throughout the one-and-a-half-hour documentary, he reveals himself to be a dangerous criminal with a twisted past.
Preceded by Netflix’s drama, Dirty John, based upon the real events described in the documentary and starring Connie Britton and Eric Bana, the streaming service had really built up the hype around the latest criminal figure to fill our screens. After all, the events that unfold between Meehan and his partners seem too absurd to be anything but fiction!
Eric Bana (as John Meehan) and Connie Britton (as Debra Newell)
Listening to the interviews given by the people who Meehan’s actions impacted, it’s difficult to comprehend how he was able to pervade the law so long. From the daughters of his partners, to the detectives involved in his case, his crimes are laid bare for the world to see.
Even going as far to depict one woman’s fight to live, every minute of the biographical documentary is jaw dropping, carefully building up the horror that Meehan’s victims faced over the course of the film.
If you haven’t quite got your true crime fix, Dirty John, The Dirty Truth has all the drugs, deceit and danger you could hope for.
John Meehan and Ex-Wife Tonia Bales
Brig Secretary 2019-2020. Studying Politics BA(Hons).
