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Keef ’s (Morris) mighty penErrol Morris... in front of thE
camera? The jarring sight of the iconic
documentarian sitting for an interview
is the first hint that FX’s A Wilderness
of Error isn’t typical true-crime fare.
The next clue is that the series revis-
its the case of Jeffrey MacDonald,
a former Army physician convicted in
the 1970 murders of his pregnant wife
and two daughters. One of the toughest
homicide cases in history, it has
pre occupied such A-list writers as Joe
Mc Ginniss, whose 1983 best seller
Fatal Vision was adapted into a hit
miniseries, and Janet Malcolm—who, in
The Journalist and the Murderer, used
Mc Ginniss’s close relationship with
MacDonald as Exhibit A in a moral in-
dictment of journalism. Morris wrote
his 2012 book, also titled A Wilderness
of Error, after his obsession with the
case failed to yield funding for a movie.
That was before The Jinx—produced
by Error director Marc Smerling—made
true crime TV’s most bankable genre.
Now, Smerling can justify
updating Morris’ investi-
gation in a five-part series
that borrows the filmmak-
er’s cinematic re- enactment
style and audio from his
interviews, as well as incor-
porating his funny, profound
voice. Like Malcolm, Morris
mistrusts McGinniss’s
influential reporting.
“What happens when
a narrative takes the
place of reality?” he
asks. And like Mor-
ris, Smerling probes
a counter narrative:
What if MacDon-
ald’s wild claimREVIEW
A murder case that won’t diethat his family was slaughtered by a
Manson-like band of hippies were true?
A teen named Helena Stoeckley did,
after all, repeatedly confess to being in
his home that night.
Smerling’s haunting film-noir visual
style succeeds at reinvigorating an old
story. His messy conclusion isn’t neces-
sarily a problem. Still, I wish his Error
engaged in earnest with the question
of why so many great minds have spent
so much time on these murders. Might
the polite white doctor and Princeton
alum have activated their empathy to an
extent that most alleged killers do not?
Of course, if this case has taught us any-
thing, it’s that lingering questions are
bound to reappear in the inevitable next
round of inquiry. —J.B.A WILDERNESS OF ERROR premieres
Sept. 25 on FXREVIEW
Rude awokening
Keef is on a winning streak.
The comic he draws, starring
an anthropomorphic slice of
toast and pat of butter, has
just secured syndication.
He’s leaving his roommates
behind to share a fancy
apartment with his lawyer
girlfriend. But one day, he’s
minding his own business
when cops surround him with
guns drawn. One tackles
him. They’ve mistaken him
for a mugger on the loose.
While the confusion is quickly
cleared up, Keef (Lamorne
Morris, who played New Girl’s
wonderfully weird Winston)
is a changed man. No longer
an apolitical cartoonist who
happens to be Black, he’s
suddenly a Black cartoonist
whose pen has a mind of its
own. (Literally—it’s voiced
by J.B. Smoove.) When he
fulminates over racism at a
comics convention, it upends
his career. “Broke,” a pal warns
him, “rhymes with woke.”
Co-created by The K Chron-
icles cartoonist Keith Knight,
Hulu’s Woke traces Keef’s
rough path to consciousness.
Morris makes an endearing
lead, with Sasheer Zamata and
Blake Anderson rounding out
the funny cast. And despite
a title freighted with baggage,
the show approaches thorny
issues—from race in general
to the experiences of Black
artists—with a light touch. —J.B.WE ARE WHO WE ARE: YANNIS DRAKOULIDIS—HBO; WOKE: LIANE HENTSCHER—HULU; A WILDERNESS OF ERROR: FX (3)WOKE is streaming now on Hulu
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MacDonald,
now 76, has
maintained for
the past five
decades that he
is innocent
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