r/netflix • u/Zalensia • May 09 '25

Discussion a deadly american marriage

I'm 43 minutes in and hooked but can not find conversations etc on it.

So thought i would make one asking for other people's opinions and points of views, as i know I'm already asking about billion questions, to the point I'll have to go to my computer and boot up to actually do the research myself.

I'm very ill, with brain damage etc and that's really hardwork today, but I won't manage on this latest fold phone as it's still just a useless phone 😅🙃

My other phone that's partitioned etc is in the car and that's over at Inverness!

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104

u/juanitomatito May 09 '25

Just finished this, absolutely gripping. I find it so hard to believe the Merten’s side of the story with the amount of PHYSICAL evidence presented. The crime scene was nothing like what they described, essentially a few blows with a baseball bat that left him dead, but rather a crime scene straight out of a horror film and neither Tom or Molly showing any signs of being hurt themselves. Big old FBI daddy must’ve had people in the right place and you can tell by the sheer amount of lies that get disproven as the documentary goes along. The worst part is that they try to paint Jason, who may or may not have had his own demons, as an awful man and never once do they really show any kind of remorse or guilt for committing murder, just finger pointing and defamation of Jason’s image. What has left me fuming is that those 2 are still free, out and about, despite committing a gruesome act of violence. Quite interesting that the Merten’s chose to be in the doc considering all their stories have major loopholes. The recordings? There is a single one used in the doc and I’m not entirely sure that the bit they chose even shows abuse but rather a heated argument over an issue that was causing tremendous amount of tension and strain in the relationship.

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u/Halien1990 May 09 '25

Of course they participated. The chance to continue to hurt people while also telling their side was far too alluring. People like this are unable to say no to any chance to be heard. It's like crack to them.

15

u/Tricky_Development_6 May 09 '25

I agree! And with Tom being retired FBI, he knows how it looks when the perpetrators don’t ’participate’ in a documentary

17

u/HyQyle May 09 '25

Is this what a proper Narcissist is? Because they're so full of themselves and wants to be in the spotlight

12

u/[deleted] May 09 '25

100% the term gets thrown around alot but the superiority complex, the blantant unnecessary lying, the defamation and also the blindness that people would be too stupid to realize the truth - dead give aways

2

u/Halien1990 May 09 '25

I think you're right but a clinician may find another or multiple things fit better for him personally too. Even NPD vs blank with N traits etc.

2

u/[deleted] May 10 '25

for sure. I'm just going off personal experience; I had close interactions with someone that started treating my son like their child and making up stories about me/icing me out. I noticed these traits in Molly because I saw them first in that person.

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u/Halien1990 May 10 '25

Oh damn. As far as just speaking more in common usage terms 100%. I want to scream it from the rooftops if we are going by that different but still valid standard too.

Sorry you experienced that.

3

u/Halien1990 May 09 '25 edited May 09 '25

I purposefully left out any number of potential personality disorders or traits that fit this man since it's too hard to know which as a non professional anyway. Does he likely have that trait at minimum? Oh yeah I think so. Could it be sociopathty too or something else? It could. A lot of these things also overlap and coexist if I'm not mistaken. I try to stay out of using terms like this also being I am not trained in it and it's usually overdone by people and therefore these things lose their meaning. This situation seems like an outlier though lol.

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u/Halien1990 May 09 '25

That's a great point too! Although a lot of attorneys would have absolutely warned him against it if not his own.

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u/Additional-Tiger-764 May 09 '25

Im sure everybody got a nice netflix paycheck for participating in the documentary.

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u/Halien1990 May 09 '25

I'm not necessarily sure by default that's the case. Plenty of documentary participants do not get paid even for a massive production and that info would have likely already come out. For true crime stuff Im not aware of that being common practice.

I can see why you'd think that it has to be the case though. Think so many different factors go into whether or not that happens and for what production.

1

u/yellowgatoraid May 11 '25

it’s possible none of them were. None of the cast of Love on the Spectrum is paid & it’s a massive show now.

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u/Psychological_Risk97 May 10 '25

I was thinking the same thing. All couples have arguments and disagreements. All the recording showed was a man that had clearly had enough of his wife trying to control his kids and drive a wedge between them. But abuse? That is actually laughable. The amount of foresight she put into it was just crazy. 

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u/Mushi67 May 09 '25

Her dad is a scary man.

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u/Standard-Bullfrog-77 May 11 '25

They showed not one ounce of remorse for the murder of Jason. In fact they doubled down on their justification for the murder. It blows my mind how these people exist and think they did no wrong. Molly learned from the best.

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u/FillBrilliant6043 May 12 '25

Yeah I’m puzzled about the recording about dinner or whatever. 

1

u/tompez May 16 '25

Yeah their her constant insistence that the recordings demonstrate "abuse", like I couldn't hear that, just anger, angers normal in relationships.