Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is the first instalment of a Biographical True Crime Anthology Series, Monster, by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan.
In 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer was uncovered as a cannibal and Serial Killer and arrested after failing to murder Tracy Edwards. This series, like many before it, delves into the life of one of the most infamous murderers of the 20th century. It looks at various points of Jeffrey's life, showing the various events and neuroses that drove him to becoming what he was in life. Dahmer is played by Evan Peters.
Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story contains examples of:
- Abuse Mistake: Of the "mistaken for innocent" variety. The police return Konerak Sinthasomphone to Jeffrey's apartment after he's able to convince them that he's his legal-age boyfriend who had too much to drink, rather than a 14-year old boy who was disoriented and incoherent not because he was drunk but because Dahmer had already assaulted him.
- The Alcoholic: Jeffrey. His drinking is brought up in a number of episodes, and we sometimes see him drinking beer, or with several beer cans nearby; it causes him to get kicked out of college, and later, discharged from the army.
- Anachronic Order: The series opens with the night of Jeffrey's arrest, then tells us How We Got Here, frequently jumping backwards and forwards in time, with Jeffrey's confessions to the police forming a rough Framing Device.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Lionel is instantly broken out of his furious attempt to blame Jeffrey's actions on Joyce's abandonment of him when Shari points out he’s just as guilty over Jeffrey’s abandonment:Shari: Where were you that summer, Lionel?
- Artistic License – History: The show's narrative indicates that Dahmer was making an active effort to do better after his year in jail, with his relationship with Tony being a bright spot before ending in Dahmer's return to serial killing. In real life, Dahmer killed six people in the year or so that he was dating Tony, before going on to kill Tony as well.
- Asshole Victim: Jeffrey himself in the end when fellow inmate Christopher Scarver, disgusted by Dahmer's heinous crimes, decides to personally send him to Hell with a metal bar.
- At Least I Admit It: Dahmer resents being compared to John Wayne Gacy, who went to his execution still denying his crimes, whereas Dahmer fully cooperated with authorities and revealed all his victims.
- Bleed 'Em and Weep: Jeffrey reacts with horror and shock when he accidentally kills a hitchhiker named Steven. However, his concern is more that no one will approve of this act than any discomfort at having actually killed someone.
- Bloodless Carnage: In episode 2, Jeffrey makes known to Konerak Sinthasomphone his intent to make him into a "zombie" by drilling into his brain. However, no blood is shown after the drilling takes place, nor is any hole visible in his head either.
- Cassandra Truth: Glenda, Jeffrey's neighbour, spends most of the series trying to tell the authorities that something is wrong in Jeffrey's apartment, due to the rancid smell, the constant sound of power tools in the night, and the parade of young men who went in with Jeffrey and were never seen again, even pleading directly with the police trying to convince them not to let Jeffrey take Konerak with him when the poor boy attempts to escape. Alas, they don't listen to her and don't do anything about Jeffrey until they practically catch him red handed after trying to murder his last would-be victim. The episode that focuses on her is even titled "Cassandra".
- Colon Cancer: The title of the series features both a dash and a colon.
- Composite Character: Glenda Cleveland is a composite of Dahmer's actual neighbor who ate a sandwich he made (which may or may not have been made of one of his victims), Pamela Bass and Glenda Cleveland who tried to report Dahmer for drugging and assaulting 14-yeal-old Konerak Sinthasomphone.
- Creepy Monotone: Jeffrey's typical way of talking, occasional bouts of anger aside.
- Death Seeker: One of Jeffrey's first requests after being arrested is asking if he'll be sentenced to death. Once he's sentenced for life, he intentionally paints a huge target on his own back by provoking other inmates. In the end, it works.
- Department of Redundancy Department: The official title of the series features the word "Dahmer" twice. It's likely that the first "Dahmer" was meant to be a marketing-oriented title and not part of the show's official name, but for whatever reason, is included in the full title for the series.
- Depraved Homosexual: Jeffrey was a gay man, and a serial killer (though that doesn't necessarily connect the two).
- Dirty Coward: On the night of his arrest, Jeffrey is visibly shaken when the police enter his apartment and he even asks if he could be sentenced to death to avoid going to prison.
- Even Evil Can Be Loved: Jeff's father is a main character and his quest to have his son try for an insanity plea and him blaming himself for the way Jeff turned out is a major plot line.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: As much as he can express it, Jeffrey has a degree of affection for his family.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Most of the other inmates at the prison Jeffrey spent his final years were disgusted by his gruesome murders and cannibalism. Especially Christopher Scarver (a murderer himself) after he found out the details of his crimes, especially the killing of 14-year old Konerak. This ultimately lead to him killing Dahmer.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Jeffrey invokes this while in prison, making tasteless jokes about his cannibalism that disgusted the other inmates. An example being placing a tray of food on a seat and saying "sorry, my friend's sitting there" after someone accidentally sat on it. Jeff did this hoping that getting the whole prison to hate him would result in someone killing him. It eventually worked.
- Fan Disservice: As a rule of thumb, if you see an attractive shirtless young man, expect violence to ensue shortly after.
- Freudian Excuse: Multiple ones are proposed for Jeffrey.
- As the series explore his life, we are shown great detail of Jeffrey’s neglectful childhood and his addicted, mentally unstable mother abandoning him after she divorces his father. His mother taking custody of his younger brother over him may have been a factor as well.
- Jeffrey is suggested to suffer through Gayngst. To say that homophobia was even worse during the show’s timeline would be an Understatement.
- Having a Friendless Background definitely severed a nerve on Jeffrey’s mentality.
- However, the final episode concludes that nothing can be blamed for what Jeffrey Dahmer became, and ultimately nothing can justify his actions and Jeff refuses to blame anyone else for how he turned out.
- Foil: Despite only appearing briefly, John Wayne Gacy functions as one for Jeffrey. While both are depraved serial killers, Jeffrey does not actually appear to take any pleasure in murdering people, instead acting on a compulsive need to do so; Gacy, on the other hand, is shown to be a sadist who delights in the fear of his victims. Jeffrey never tries to deny responsibility for his crimes after he's caught, and even shoots down attempts by his father and lawyer to get him to plead insanity; Gacy refuses to acknowledge that he's done anything wrong. Jeffrey accepts that he deserves to be punished, and when his own attempts to get the death penalty fail, he goes out of his way to earn the ire of the other inmates in hopes that someone will kill him. When it does inevitably happen, he accepts it without even so much as making a sound. Gacy, on the other hand, uses his last words to tell everyone "kiss my ass." The parallels between the two are discussed in-universe.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Jeffrey. He was a Serial Killer who wore eyeglasses (though that doesn't necessarily connect the two).
- Gayngst: There has been some suggestions that Jeffrey would have been less accepting to commit his murders if he wasn’t already brought up in a time and society that taught him that he was already a monster because of his homosexuality.
- Get Out!: A couple of instances in episode 4.
- First, Jeffrey's boss at the second deli he worked at says this to him when he shows up for work, saying he doesn't want to employ a guy who masturbates at the state fair.
- Second, the owner of the hotel Jeffrey brings guys to so he can give them spiked drinks orders him to get out as well because he doesn't want Jeffrey's actions to hurt his business.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: Strongly implied by Episode 3, during which, after his mother's abandonment, Jeffrey spends months alone at home, getting lost in drinking, "taxidermy", and fantasies of having the companionship he craves, all of which culminates in his first murder.
- I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Glenda is haunted by her failure to save Konerak, and shows symptoms of depression and PTSD after his fate is revealed.
- Heel–Faith Turn: As in real life, Jeff found Jesus while in prison and the show shows as a real conversion since he left his cell reading the bible to then not fighting back while being beaten to death.
- Hope Spot: Around the time that Jeffrey leaves prison, it seems like he's a changed man. He stops drinking, he displays few of his depraved tendencies, and he actually has a stable relationship with Tony Hughes. Predictably, it doesn't take too long for him to fall back into old habits.
- Hypocrite Has a Point: While blaming Joyce for how Jeffrey turned out was hardly fair, Lionel wasn’t wrong when he pointed out that the ludicrous amount of drugs she took while pregnant with Jeffrey will damage their child’s development, along with neglecting and eventually abandoning Jeffrey after their divorce. But Lionel is just as bad as Joyce, since he still neglected Jeffrey for a large portion of his childhood. Shari gives hims an Armor-Piercing Question over where he was during the summer Jeffrey carried out his first killings. Lionel breaks down and admits his faults.
- I'm a Humanitarian: While the show doesn't focus that much on Dahmer's cannibalistic tendencies, at the end of Episode 6 Jeffrey eats a steak that is heavily implied to have come from one of his victims.
- Insanity Defense: Lionel tries to convince his son to plead insanity but he won't, saying he was perfectly aware of what he was doing.
- Jerkass Has a Point: As flawed as Jeffrey’s mom is, she’s not wrong when she says that it is not okay for Jeffrey to be cutting up dead animals, as this would eventually kickstart his obsession with killing people.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: In episode 8, Joyce musters the courage to visit a victim’s family. She meets Curtis’ grandmother and expresses remorse over the damage Jeffrey has caused and wishes to speak to her and her daughter as a mother... just so Joyce can implore them to pardon Jeffrey, along with asking them to testify in court for the judge to go easy on Jeffrey so he can be placed in a mental institution instead of prison. To say that Curtis’ family are appalled at Joyce’s entitlement and give their own impact statement with their true feelings would be an Understatement.Curtis’ Grandmother: You want us to forgive your son? Ask the judge to forgive him?Joyce: No.Curtis’ Grandmother: I feel for you, ma'am. Truly, I do. You want your truth as a mother to be heard, I understand that. But maybe now it's time for you to listen to somebody else's truth. You understand?
- Junkie Parent: Jeffrey's mom was a pill popper. It often got her visits to the hospital, as shown in the first episode where she's being wheeled away on a stretcher. As Lionel is trying to find an excuse over how Jeffrey turned out, he remembers that his ex-wife used to take pills while she was pregnant with Jeffrey.
- Karma Houdini: The two police officers who allowed Jeffrey to take Konerak back to his apartment were suspended by their chief from service after Jeffrey's arrested and exposed as a Serial Killer for allowing him to do so, and for ignoring Glenda. However, they appealed for release and were welcomed back into the precinct with open arms by their colleagues (sans the chief who suspended them), and given awards. Their last scenes showed them making threatening calls to Konerak's family. In real life, they were never awarded and there’s no evidence that they harassed Konrerak’s family, but they both went on to live normal lives after they retired.
- Kavorka Man: Jeffrey. He is off-putting, weird, outright creepy, a Manchild with questionable hygiene and fashion sense; yet not even the fact he dismembered and killed the seventeen young men he managed to attract is a deterrent to the fans who are sexually attracted to him.
- Kick the Dog:
- Even before his serial murders, Jeffrey would often “practice” on animals; dead or alive didn’t matter to him. In the middle of his killings, he would call his victims' families and taunt them over how they’ll never find their loved ones.
- The two cops who handed over Konerak to Jeffrey refuse to see anything wrong with what they did and go as far as to harass Konerak‘s family with racist remarks.
- Life/Death Juxtaposition: Dahmer's baptism (a spiritual rebirth in Christian doctrine) happens on the same day as John Wayne Gacy's execution.
- Missing White Woman Syndrome: The disappearances of Dahmer's victims were ignored because they were racial minorities and most of them were gay. This is especially demonstrated in Konerak Sinthasomphone's horrific ordeal, in which the African-American Glenda is ignored while the police believe the Caucasian Jeffrey when he tells them the Asian boy is his adult boyfriend.
- Never My Fault:
- Jeffrey’s parents point fingers at each other over who’s the neglectful parent and blame each other over how Jeffrey turned out, even though they’re both guilty of abandoning their son for a large portion of his life. Lionel eventually admits his faults over how he raised Jeffrey, but Joyce never owes up for her part.
- The two cops who handed back Konerak to Jeffrey outright admit their belief that they did nothing wrong, but the chief viciously lectures them over not doing a background check on Jeffrey, not noticing Konrerak’s obvious injuries, taking Jeffrey’s word that his victim was of legal age when he clearly wasn't, ignoring the concerned neighbors, and making homophobic remarks on the radio dispatch, which would eventually be broadcasted to the media. Yet the two cops do nothing but whine over how their chief is suppose to be on THEIR side, even after said chief reveals that practically everyone is calling for an investigation on them for what they did to Konerak. But the two cops outright threaten their chief that they’ll be back in the force. Sure enough, they’re brought back to the police force after their paid-leave is over, boast over their joy at not losing their jobs, and go as low as to harass Konerak’s family.
- One-Steve Limit: Two of Dahmer's victims share the first name Steve.
- Only Sane Man: Shari becomes the voice of reason when she marries into the Dahmer clan. The scene where she keeps Lionel and Joyce from ripping each other’s throats out at the courthouse really emphasises this.
- Parental Abandonment:
- When she and Lionel get a divorce, Joyce leaves Jeff alone in their family home and doesn’t contact him for months, despite telling him that she will. They both go on years without contact.
- Even though the divorce is finalized and he keeps the house, Lionel goes to stay in a hotel with Shari for the entire summer, leaving Jeffrey coincidentally home alone to preform his first killing. Yet Lionel has to gall to accuse Joyce for being a horrible parent for abandoning Jeffrey, but Shari points out he’s not so different by asking him where HE was when Jeffrey was alone on that fateful summer. Lionel breaks down and admits his flaws. Even before and after his serial killings are revealed, Lionel maintained minimal contact with Jeffrey, but often visited him during the trail and after his imprisonment.
- Parental Neglect: Both of Jeffrey’s parents are shown to not spend a lot of time with him when he’s growing up. It’s their lack of attention that makes them fail to realize that their son is showing red flags and needs help.
- Parents as People: Lionel counts as this. He clearly loves Jeff but doesn’t spend enough time with him to figure how just how much help he actually needs. He does get to visit him regularly during the trial and after he’s sent to prison, yet he’s still horrified by his son’s true killer mentality.
- Police Are Useless: The series shows how Jeffrey Dahmer, while he was arrested on some sexual assault charges, was able to evade the police up until 1991.
- In episode 2, when the police find Konerak after he managed to escape from Jeffrey (albeit with brain damage), Jeffrey weaves a story about how he's his boyfriend and they were just doing sex stuff. The police buy it and let him take Konerak back to his apartment. While pushing back the concerned neighbors who try to reason with them while pointing out that an obvious underaged boy is badly hurt.
- In episode 5, when a black man goes to the police about how Jeffrey drugged him and may have tried to kill him, they tell him that, unless he has some real hard-hitting evidence against Jeffrey, they can't do anything.
- Zigzagged but ultimately subverted in episode 1. The cops find it bewildering over Tracy Edwards bizarre story of Jeffrey trying to kill him. But the cops eventually agree to help him out but they only agree to go back to Jeffrey’s apartment since he has the only keys to Tracy’s handcuffs. Jeffrey offer to go back to his room alone to get the keys, but the cops insists they come inside instead of waiting outside, since it’s obviously Jeffrey could use this chance to escape. Then they finds the trophy pictures of Jeffrey’s mutilated victims and arrest him on the spot.
- Pregnancy Makes You Crazy: Serious example. Joyce Dahmer's pregnancy, and the mountain of pills prescribed to her by paternalistic physicians, takes a severe and permanent toll on her mental health. She suffers from undiagnosed postpartum psychosis for years afterwards, resulting in delusions, paranoia, and suicide attempts.
- Lionel lampshades this trope when he reveals to Shari that Joyce would often go on the pills while pregnant with Jeffrey.
- Riddle for the Ages: What made Dahmer the way that he was? Lionel and Joyce both have several theories but when Joyce tries to have Jeffrey's brain studied for science, a judge orders it destroyed, saying that there will probably never be a definitive answer and people should stop looking for one.
- Serial Killer: Jeffrey Dahmer, of course.
- Slipping a Mickey: Jeffrey would sometimes give the guys he brought home (or to a hotel room) drinks he laced with sleeping pills.
- Stunned Silence: Lionel Dahmer's reaction upon hearing the police officers recite the litany of horrors they found at his son's apartment.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: Jeffrey attempts to emulate this part of Emperor Palpatine's look by wearing gold contact lenses during some of his killings.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: The main reason, other than police negligence, Jeffrey could so easily convince potential victims to go with him. He came across as an attractive, charming, if somewhat quirky guy.
- Time Skip: Aside from jumping around to various points in Jeffrey's life, there have been a couple of instances where certain events happen, and then the show jump ahead one year.
- Episode 2 shows Jeffrey leaving for the army after he enlists. He returns one year later to visit his family. Then he gets kicked out due to his drinking addiction and drugging and raping other soldiers.
- In episode 5, some time after Jeffrey is sentenced for sexual assault against Somsack Sinthasomphone, Jeffrey's father decides to write a letter for appeal to have Jeff put in an alcohol abuse treatment program. Then the show jumps ahead by one year.
- Trashy True Crime:
- Both Dahmer's parents and the families of his victims are tormented by gruesome comic books detailing Dahmer's crimes.
- In Episode 8, when Lionel and his attorney mention Ed Gein to Jeffrey in an attempt to talk him into an insanity plea, Jeff recalls reading about Gein in a comic book. Both Lionel and the attorney are dumbfounded at the idea that someone would write a comic book about a real life killer's crimes.Lionel: A fucking comic book! I mean now we know where the fault lies, it's the whole culture. Who writes a comic book like that?
- Lionel writes a book about his son, and while he claims noble intentions, the series doesn't exactly depict him or his book in a sympathetic light; Lionel and Shari seem quite overly pleased and even exploitative talking about the book's potential success.
- When Jeffrey's crimes became known worldwide, he was surprised to find out he had some admirers. While in prison he receives a letter and money from a high school girl who mentions him becoming a popular Halloween costume that year, asking for an autograph, and signing it as "[his] biggest fan". Another letter from a man included a Dahmer-themed Christmas card, said he was like a real-life Michael Myers or Freddy Kruger, and also asked for an autograph. This is Truth in Television as there are still some people even thirty years after his arrest who unironically admire Jeffrey Dahmer.
- Villain Has a Point: Even if there was one episode where Dahmer's grandma scolded him on account of his homosexuality, Dahmer wasn't wrong to retort how it wasn't the nineteen twenties anymore.
- Villain of Another Story: Serial killers Ed Gein and John Wayne Gacy appear in flashbacks in Episodes 8 and 10, respectively. There is also Jesse Anderson, the wife-murderer who Christopher Scarver killed alongside Jeffrey.
- Villain Protagonist: At the end of the day, the whole story is about the titular serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: It could be argued that Jeff is this, as it’s implied that he never wanted to kill anyone, but desperately needed constant companionship and was just so socially malformed that he could never do so in a, uh, healthy (or less lethal!) fashion. Watching him go through his life trying to keep his murderous tendencies in check while getting nothing but grief from his family is not a pleasant experience.
- Would Hurt a Child: Konerak Sinthasomphone, Dahmer's youngest victim, was only 14 years old.
