True crime has at all times solid a perverse spell over society’s creativeness, however the matter’s modern recognition growth has propelled it right into a constant limelight. For some, devouring leisure dedicated to crime circumstances supplies a protected avenue for them to discover their primal fears. For others, their fascination morbidly exploits real-life tragedies on the expense of respecting the victims’ recollections and the privateness of their grieving family members. Though Paramount+’s upcoming drama Glad Face is born from this ecosystem, the sequence voices a hardly ever seen perspective. Glad Face is predicated on the podcast of the identical identify by host Melissa Moore, the daughter of Keith Hunter Jesperson, the serial killer dubbed “the Glad Face Killer.” In 2021, Moore advised Marie Claire why she determined to return ahead after many years of avoiding any affiliation together with her vile father: “My intent is to inform these tales that we predict we all know, however from a special perspective, the perspective of a survivor, anyone who’s associated to or lived with the killer or the sufferer.”
Created by showrunner Jennifer Cacicio in addition to the powerhouse government producing duo Robert and Michelle King (Evil, The Good Spouse), Glad Face strikes a formidable blow towards our tradition’s recurring glorification of serial killers. This fictionalized chronicle of Moore’s life is the following step in her awareness-raising and community-building advocacy, and Glad Face largely accomplishes its aim, however not with out some rocky bumps alongside the best way.
What Is ‘Glad Face’ About?
As Melissa Moore (Annaleigh Ashford) prepares for her daughter’s celebration, she experiences a visceral response to particular objects within the grocery retailer: a roll of duct tape, a bundle of zip ties. The innocuous objects carry horrifying recollections — when Melissa was 15 years previous, she found the daddy who doted on her was a rapist and a serial killer accountable for the brutal deaths of not less than eight confirmed girls. Based on his confession letters, Keith Hunter Jesperson (Dennis Quaid), a long-haul truck driver, started killing in 1990 and went undetected till he turned himself in. Earlier than the court docket sentenced him to serve three consecutive life sentences, his signature on those self same letters was a boastful, haunting smiley face.
Together with the eight households thrown into eternally devastating upheaval, studying about Jesperson’s sadism left Melissa’s Pacific Northwest childhood in ruins. The person who prompted such hurt wasn’t the daddy she knew, despite the fact that she witnessed so-called warning indicators. Now an grownup, Melissa nonetheless carries the burden of guilt and disgrace. She will’t assist however really feel accountable, questioning if she might have stopped her father if she acted upon her uneasy suspicions. However Melissa was a baby residing with an emotionally manipulative and abusive dad or mum; it was unfathomable to think about that Jesperson’s inconsistencies hinted at a heinous reality.
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By the point Glad Face opens, Melissa has lower all ties with Jesperson, modified her final identify, and married Ben Moore (James Wolk), with whom she has two kids, excessive schooler Hazel (Khiyla Aynne) and nine-year-old Max (Benjamin Mackey). She’s additionally turn into a make-up artist for The Dr. Greg Present, a daytime well being and wellness speak present. When her father efficiently reaches Melissa, he captures her unwilling consideration by dangling a surprising admission like a cat taking part in with a mouse – Jesperson claims he killed a ninth lady, Heather (Leah Jacksties), and has lastly determined to return ahead.
The timing of Jesperson’s confession is essential, as the person convicted of Heather’s homicide, her boyfriend Elijah (Damon Gupton), is a Black man on demise row with lower than 50 days left earlier than his execution. To show Elijah’s innocence and ensure her father’s involvement, in addition to supply fellow survivors a sympathetic lifeline, Melissa broadcasts her connection to Jesperson through The Dr. Greg Present. Opening up on nationwide tv makes her susceptible to harassment from relations of Jesperson’s victims, but it surely additionally hyperlinks her to individuals in related conditions who’re looking for solace. And the extra Melissa speaks together with her father, the extra their precarious conversations shatter the preconceptions she as soon as used as safeguards towards her trauma.
‘Glad Face’ Places Its Concentrate on the Victims
When the sequence begins, Melissa insists her father exhibited some caring, constructive qualities. That sentiment might not maintain by the top of Glad Face‘s eight episodes (all of which have been supplied for overview). In contrast to different crime dramas based mostly on true tales, like Netflix’s Mindhunter or Apple TV+’s Black Fowl, this sequence is not attempting to probe the depths of a serial killer’s psychology. Glad Face‘s dramatic impetus stems from exploring a really particular type of trauma: being the kid of a vicious mass assassin whom you as soon as beloved, in addition to the life-shattering anguish felt by these associated to his victims. Moms grieving their daughters, a son left alone on the planet with out his mom, siblings desperately looking for justice — when a serial killer strikes, the ripple results stain all the pieces in sight.
For Melissa particularly, Jesperson’s confession and her subsequent investigation causes friction inside her in any other case loving household. Generational trauma proves unimaginable to keep away from and practically unimaginable to navigate. In any case, grief by no means leaves; it merely transforms earlier than sneaking up on you want a thief within the night time. Past this uncomfortable reality, Melissa herself can now not deny her best concern — that she inherited her father’s darkness.
‘Glad Face’ Refuses To Glorify Serial Killers
Specializing in the victims doesn’t suggest Glad Face ignores Jesperson’s psyche, but it surely does demystify the celebrification of serial killers. Hazel’s greatest buddy Eva (Momona Tamada) self-describes herself as a “murderino,” a time period for the fanbase of the My Favourite Homicide podcast, and eagerly drags Hazel to a museum exhibit dedicated to serial killers, together with Jesperson. Individuals go round trivia and promote artwork concerning the man who brutally ended eight lives, however cannot be bothered to honor his victims’ names.
As for Jesperson, he often demonstrates what seems like tenderness on the floor. But when Melissa utters a single phrase he dislikes, he turns visceral and venomous on a dime. A strolling instance of narcissism, all the pieces he does is to satiate his ravenous ego. It is regular to wrestle our means by understanding how anybody might commit such heinous acts, and a part of that psychological excavation is questioning whether or not a person like Jesperson can really feel love. With out revealing any spoilers, Glad Face undoubtedly solutions that query — and even when it chooses to stay ambiguous, Jesperson undeniably gaslights Melissa and weaponizes their recollections towards her. No hunt for the slimmest of redemptive qualities is definitely worth the scrutiny these males obtain.
‘Glad Face’s Tone Doesn’t Solidify Till Its Again Half
With this survivor-first focus in thoughts, Glad Face winds up as extra of a household drama fused with investigative journalism than a typical crime-based sequence. Total, the present is not as sinister as one may count on. The writing and directing group emphasizes a dryly ironic aspect — a tactic that does make the subject material simpler to swallow, but additionally raises an emotional barrier towards the viewers. For a subject so fraught, intimate, and misunderstood, Glad Face‘s tonal consistency and thematic authenticity imply that the sequence would not actually discover itself till the midway mark. As a result of it would not absolutely decide to both a black comedy temper or the grime-infested toxicity of a sequence like True Detective, its early episodes really feel disconnected from the required gravitas. Key emotional moments fizzle out quite than burn the constructing down. Though its items do solidify right into a coherent and satisfying complete across the halfway level, combining that preliminary take away with generic dialogue and performances that learn a little bit too synthetic throughout the board makes Glad Face‘s first half tough to know.
As for these performances, Quaid’s Jesperson is half-menacing and half-kooky in a fashion that calls to thoughts an off-brand Joker. Whether or not that is an correct portrait of Jesperson’s demeanor or not, one can not help however surprise if a calmer, much less unraveled interpretation would have produced a extra chilling end result. Quaid is neither fairly excessive nor diabolical sufficient to the purpose of feeling miscast. His greatest second happens when one other character confronts him about his actions, and as a substitute of placing out with one in every of his deplorable rants, he crumbles, mumbling his means by nugatory, self-serving apologies. Jesperson’s manipulative energy may lengthen past the jail partitions, however he is nothing greater than a pathetic man who kills for pleasure.
Ashford, in the meantime, takes a second to settle into her function; the sequence’ uneven tone appears to restrain her skills. As soon as the sequence ranges out, so does Ashford, and she or he sells the manifold nuances of Melissa’s existence. As a household drama firstly, Glad Face indulges in a number of candy, quiet, and needed moments, like Melissa mendacity on Hazel’s mattress as they share an intimate dialog or Ashford pretending she isn’t a Tony Award-winning singer on the karaoke microphone. When Melissa weeps, her face streaked with moist mascara, the scene rings out as shattering and cathartic.
‘Glad Face’ Shines a Flawed however Profitable Gentle on True Crime Tradition
Glad Face‘s remaining scene leaves the door open for a possible Season 2. If that renewal happens, the sequence should not backslide Melissa’s growth. The character’s journey hinges upon her reconciling with the ghosts of her previous and re-seizing management from her scheming and loathsome father. Regardless of the sequence’ future could also be, despite the fact that Glad Face‘s preliminary tonal and dialogue weaknesses contribute to it falling simply wanting its potential, its complete message — residing with intricate wounds, elevating the scum of the earth whereas abandoning the victims, America’s profoundly flawed justice system, and the racist incarceration system — slices by the noise loud and clear.
Glad Face premieres March 20 on Paramount+, with new episodes airing Thursdays.
Glad Face
Glad Face takes a shot at our tradition’s obsession with serial killers, although not with out some bumps alongside the best way.
- Launch Date
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March 20, 2025
- Community
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Paramount+
- Administrators
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Michael Showalter
- Glad Face shifts focus away from the serial killer onto the individuals harmed by his violence.
- The sequence addresses quite a few tough and well timed matters.
- Annaleigh Ashford and the remainder of the ensemble ship excellence within the again half.
- Glad Face’s first half fails to strike a transparent tone.
- The primary half’s inconsistences end in some initially stiff and compelled performances.
- Dennis Quaid feels miscast as Keith Jesperson.
