very much worth the watch if you like the genre of true crime but are tired of the more exploitative media. this was handled very respectfully and imo there were some truly meaningful moments with the families of victims and survivors and even the judicial branch that aren't often seen in true crime documentaries. something that also makes this vastly preferable to the ted bundy iteration of this series? you don't actually have to listen to gacy nearly as much as you might fear you have to. the show does a good job of only including monologue that hasn't been heard for the most part and briefly intersperses it between other people's accounts and experiences.

there's also a great moment where on the tapes he's asked what he'd want done differently and he starts to say having the story told the way he wants it told; then someone reaches into frame of the old-fashioned tapecorder that's "playing" the tapes and stops it, shutting him up, and god, if that isn't a vibe for criminals like john wayne gayce.