by Skyward » Wed Dec 13, 2017 11:39 am
Ultimately underwhelming, though showed promise in episode one.
Bates was the inspired choice to get into the narrative, but by episode 5, our intrepid cold case investigators lose Sullivan completely.
Like many before them, they appeared bogged down into detail which ultimately remained unresolved, and so resulted in a fail, editorially, for what was billed as a 5 part solution for the many who have known and followed these notorious suspects for years.
That the "codebreakers" came in with their own underwhelming conclusions, unfortunately, reinforced what the two field investigators failed to bring out.
As anyone who has spent a week on the 340 knows, you can make it say anything you want for the first 3rd, essentially what the heralded expert did. It is one solution, fair enough, we will give him that, but it can not be the definitive solution because it leaves too much of the ciphertext encoded.
The omission of a timeline of Sullivan's mental state including hospitalization(s), Kane's automobile history and numerous addresses, and the confusing witness testimony regarding height, weight, stockiness or lack thereof, only served to extend questions when the heavily touted "new" DNA evidence gave way to the big empty 'you gotta be kidding.' No cruising backroads near Benecia or Vallejo even mentioned as part of an MO.
Bates fingernails had DNA under them, a comparison to the spatter profile was a no brainer, we HAVE to know that if only to rule in the hypothesis the show's editorial direction takes.
Both Sullivan and Kane cremated, yes? At least tell audience this so we know investigators are aware of the same limitations handicapping anyone in here following along.
Lastly, the handwriting "expert" has to be seen as a joke, because her dubious opinion that the Albany letter, long discounted by other experts, is Z, is left as fact -- weakening the show in it's totality, in a way that cuts into everything else which was presented (which included many red herrings). If the case is about anything it's about handwriting; anyone here who has studied the handwriting can see a "d" or an "r" and know it's Z, but not her, the only expert in her field consulted on camera. No cogent analysis of handwriting was finally presented, and so further controversies about handwriting were also not framed in their correct light.
The Bates info including military footwear was compelling; the Mikado witness who was "in show" in 1969 is previously known but to see him tell that on camera was terrific, as was the archivist of comic books with "by knife" etc. To see that was good stuff.
Without DNA and fingerprints we can trust, to identify Z, we are left with:
1. Handwriting, aided by,
2. Ramifications of Bates ruled as Zodiac victim, leading to
3. The narrative that Ferrin "knew" her attacker.
Sub-narratives
a) military connections
b) Gilbert and Sullivan, other 'popular' culture, concept of Z speaking like a 'foreigner."
c) any ballistics on slugs/weapons so far unrecovered.
