Jeffrey Epstein, the “billionaire” sex offender, is the subject of this four-part docu-series that doesn’t live up to the magnitude of the story it portrays.
If you followed the news at all in 2019, the story of Epstein and the women he victimized was unmissable. While “Me Too” brought him to the attention of the world, it was his suicide that August, and the mystery surrounding it, that perpetuated his image as a supervillain at the heart of an international criminal conspiracy. Its adaption into a series felt inevitable.
With Filthy Rich, Netflix have rightly put the focus on the victims of Epstein’s appalling crimes and have highlighted the systemic failings of the people and governments that enabled him.
If anything, the saddest part of this story is that it took so long, for so many people to suffer, and for so many to turn a blind eye before Epstein was finally nailed down. This docu-series succeeds in highlighting this and the resulting plight of his victims. As grim as these stories are, they needed to be told to finally bring justice and, hopefully, some real change. From that perspective, this series could never be a bad thing.
Filthy Rich, however, brings little additional information outside of the dark detail of what we already know. The weight of the stories it tells do, just about, sustain it, but the lack of new information means it often borders on pointless. This also means each episode doesn’t contain the shock twists and turns that many have become accustomed to with Netflix docu-series. It operates with a purpose – to tell the stories of victims who need to be heard – and doesn’t resort to shock revelations at the end of each episode to pack its emotional punch. It just about achieves that purpose without manipulating the story for dramatic effect, but new information would have made for more meaningful viewing.
“It lacks in its exploration of some of the surrounding details…”
Unfortunately, it lacks in its exploration of some of the surrounding details. Epstein’s formative years, for example, are barely covered. We only get a brief description of him at school and a short explanation of his time at Copper Union, where he was a drop out. So little of his childhood was explored that when his brother, Mark, is mentioned fleetingly in the final episode, I didn’t quite believe it. How could this inhuman monster have any family?
I can see why the filmmakers decided to go with the portrayal of Epstein as a monster. Disappointingly, so much focus is given to Epstein as this enigmatic, charismatic master manipulator that it creates a supervillain-like persona for him. He goes from being a vile, perverted creature to an evil genius. And while it may be the case that he was incredibly intelligent and calculating, I worry that it’s a persona the wrong kind of person might revere.
I’d liked to have seen more focus on how he came to obtain his obscene wealth, too. Right from the beginning, a serious question mark is raised over how he came into his fortune, yet it’s barely explored by the end. Many times, he’s referred to as a billionaire, yet, ultimately, his wealth is shown at $544 million. I’m aware this is purely the value of his properties due to the obscurity of his other assets, but even that very obscurity goes unexplored. It felt like a real area of intrigue, especially given the amount of weight the series gives to his wealth as an enabler of his crimes. Because of this, the series would’ve benefited from an additional episode, something quite rare for this often drawn out medium.
“It’s these real stories that highlight the magnitude of the evil he committed…”
Most importantly, this series humanises the women who suffered at the hands of Epstein and his associates. These women, who in the past have been wrongly called prostitutes by the media, do an incredible job of explaining how they were ‘recruited’ by Epstein. Often, these women were underage when they met him and lived normal lives. It’s especially awful to hear about their lives derailing after what happened and turning to drugs to cope. There were women from broken homes, too. The story of one survivor’s experience witnessing her stepbrother be beaten to death by her father and stepmother when she was a child, only to fall into the clutches of Epstein, is particularly disturbing. It’s these real stories that highlight the magnitude of the evil he committed and ultimately persevere over the otherwise grandiose portrayal of him.
For better or worse, the series gives weight to the conspiracy theories surrounding his death. Admittedly, these theories appear plausible, and it goes without saying that his sudden suicide was extremely convenient for the many people he might’ve implicated. Whether you believe them or not, it would’ve been easy for the filmmakers to dismiss them, but it’s good they didn’t.
In the end, the decision to place the victims at the forefront of this series saves it from being entirely unnecessary. Lets hope that one day, the lid will be lifted on the wealth, power and influence of the people that encouraged and reveled in this evil – as this series should have. Perhaps it came along too soon.
Overall Rating: 7/10
Featured Image Credit: Netflix (fair use)
