PAGE A10, KEIZERTIMES, FEBRUARY 26, 2021
Netfl ix’s The Ripper is a satisfying hit of true crime
By TJ REID
For the Keizertimes
I have always been (some-
what guiltily) interested in
the stories and psycholo-
gy behind serial killers and,
if the overstuffed-to-the-
point-of-bursting world of
true crime entertainment is
any indication, I am far from
alone in this fascination.
I am not, however, what
you would call an affi ciona-
do by any means; I know the
names of the monsters that
everyone knows ... Dahmer,
Bundy, Gacy, Jack. When I
saw that Netfl ix had a new
miniseries titled The Rip-
per I, naturally, thought it was
about the last of these. What
I found instead was the dark
tale of the Yorkshire Ripper,
a name I had, for one reason
or another, never heard of.
I always love learning
about new tales of the ne-
farious and intrigued by The
Ripper and its tightly fo-
cused narrative.
One of the things I ap-
preciated the most about the
series was how it jumped
right in. There is not much
exposition beforehand, and
when the backstory of the
town and the grisly events
that
trans-
pired there
are eventual-
ly explored,
it is explored
briefl y
and
concisely. The
pacing is, in
other words, quite good. It
is always important to get
some background to events
such as these, but plenty of
other true crime documen-
taries tend to overdo it a bit
to pad out excessively long
run times. I did not have this
problem with The Ripper, as
the societal ills and political
climate are essential to the
story of the police and their
attempt to hunt down serial
murderer Peter Sutcliffe, not
to mention the fact that the
series is only four episodes.
This leads me to another
aspect that I appreciated: that
the story is primarily con-
cerned with the police, the
victims of the
Ripper, and
(to a lesser
extent) the
lamentably
sexist society
that allowed
such a man to
thrive in the fi rst place.
Sutcliffe himself is not
given much attention when
he is eventually caught,
which I also realize might
be a big turn-off for people
interested in the macabre de-
tails of what it takes to make
a monster such as he. Some
also might fi nd issue with the
undeniable feminist over-
review
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for OnPoint Awards
OnPoint Credit Union
is seeking nominations for
awards honoring educators
throughout the state.
Excellence in Education
ominations can be complet-
ed online at www.onpointcu.
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The Educator of the Year
grand prize, typically awarded
to two teachers each year, will
go to three educators in 2021
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or mortgage for a full year. In
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KEIZERTIMES ON:
Community Builder Awards
for special school projects that
need fi nancial support.
The nomination period
closes April 13 and nomina-
tion categories include:
Educator of the Year –
Grades K-5
One teacher representing
grades K-5 will have their
mortgage or rent paid for one
full year and receive a $2,500
donation to their school for
resources and supplies.
Educator of the Year –
Grades 6-8
One teacher represent-
ing grades 6-8 will have their
mortgage or rent paid for one
full year and receive a $2,500
donation to their school for
resources and supplies.
Educator of the Year –
Grades 9-12
One teacher representing
grades 9-12 will have their
crossword
mortgage or rent paid for one
full year and receive a $2,500
donation to their school for
resources and supplies.
Three Finalists – One
each from grades K-5, 6-8
and 9-12
Finalists will each receive a
$5,000 cash award plus an ad-
ditional $1,500 to their schools
for resources and supplies.
Community
Builder
Four schools will receive
$2,000 for a special project
of their choice. A fi fth school,
selected by community votes,
will receive $5,000 for a spe-
cial project of their choice.
The Community Build-
er Award recognizes projects
that inspire creativity, foster
community, demonstrate a
commitment to diversity, eq-
uity and inclusion, and reach
a broad segment of the school
community.
Submitted
The RIpper follows the hunt for Peter Sutcliffe (pictured in second row, second from the right), a
serial murderer of 13 women, among numerous other acts of violence.
tones that the narrative has,
calling the series too political
or biased. I did not feel this
way about either hypotheti-
cal complaint, as the murders
are still the primary focus
and there is an undeniable
gender theme to the story of
a man who only killed wom-
en and a police force that
bungled their response partly
because of sexist assumptions
(like assuming that all of the
Ripper’s early victims were
prostitutes simply because
they were single and impov-
erished women).
As one of the interviewees
says, the goal is to “push him
back into the shadows and
bring the women out.” It’s
not a bad idea, but I also re-
alize that it’s not what some
people want to see.
All that being said, the se-
ries is not preachy, nor is it
an in-depth societal treatise.
This is all just window dress-
ing for a true tale of murder,
mayhem, and missed oppor-
tunities.
The Ripper is a slight-
ly-better-than average doc-
umentary that, to me, was
slightly elevated beyond that
because of the fact that it was
conveying information that
was new to me. So give it a
shot.
The Ripper is now avail-
able on Netfl ix.
WARM: ‘We don’t care what
the ending dollar amount is’
(Continued from Page A1)
even be open yet. But they are working crappy
hours in crappy weather and we just felt
compelled to do something for them.”
Wright has prided himself on giving the best
his restaurant has to offer to the lineworkers,
often serving prime rib and New York steak
and lobster dinners to the hungry crew —
Hitchin’ Post hosted just over 50 workers for a
steak dinner on Friday, Feb. 19. Wright has also
hosted workers from California, Washington,
Idaho, Montana, Illinois and Canada, who are
assisting PGE in the process of restoring power.
“Word has gotten around and they are
taking advantage like they should,” Wright said.
Wright hasn’t acted alone in this effort to
benefi t lineworkers. He has received generous
cash donations from Log House Garden,
Loren’s Sanitation, and Bob and Pam Zielinski.
Keizerite’s Mike Ebner, owner of Ebner’s
Custom Meats in Canby, has also provided
workers with boxed lunches to take out on
duty.
“The Keizer community is full of people
that want to help,” Wright said.
As of Monday, Feb. 22, Hitchin’ Post
had covered over $5,000 in meal tabs for
lineworkers.
“We don't care what the ending dollar
amount is. This was something we committed
to do. We are here to take care of them,” Wright
said.