Thomas Randolph, aka the Black Widower, was convicted of killing his wife, Sharon Causse, and their handyman, Michael Miller. But if the case were this simple, Netflix probably wouldn't have greenlit the documentary The Widower: 'Til Death Do Us Part. What do you know, the case is indeed far more shocking and complicated! Sharon, you see, was the sixth wife of Thomas, who had six wives in total, four of whom were murdered. Thomas was accused of killing all four by following a pattern. He would find his targets on dating websites, woo them with his charisma, marry them, ensure that his spouses made wills handing their assets over to him, and then kill them. Following their deaths, he collected insurance money, which, among other things, he used to buy expensive cars. Thomas was never fully at rest, however. He laid his traps and scouted his next victim while still married to his current wife. And so there were times when he tied the knot with the next woman immediately after signing the divorce papers.
Every woman interviewed in the documentary explains that Thomas was witty and funny during the initial stages of their relationships. He only displayed his true colors after getting them to sign the relevant documents. Thomas was a controlling, manipulative person—a narcissist who only cared about himself. Moral of the story: love at first sight is a ridiculous concept. Don't be in a hurry to enter a nuptial agreement. Because the justice system—the police, the courts, the lawyers, etc.—might be the best option we've got, but it also runs effectively on the keen judgment of only a few good men.
One of them is Dean O'Kelley, the first detective to smell bullshit on Thomas. When he heard Thomas's statement and went through his reenactment of what happened during Sharon's murder, he noticed logical inconsistencies and evidence suggesting something was seriously wrong. For instance, if Thomas fired the gun in the hallway, why were there no bullets in the walls? Moreover, there was no blood on a ski mask that the killer apparently wore during the crime and while being shot at by Thomas.
But Dean's own colleagues rejected his suspicions. Later, when Dean and Dan Slepian, the producer of Dateline, dug into Thomas's past, they discovered that the man had been taken to court in the late 1980s, only to be acquitted by the jury. Here was a man who had faced the death penalty twice and been acquitted. One of the victims' mothers expresses disbelief and warns that other parents should protect their daughters because Thomas just won't stop.
The Widower: 'Til Death Do Us Part reveals the judiciary's weaknesses, though it also reinforces the idea that the system can deliver the correct verdict even if it takes time to get there. Because when Thomas is brought back into the courtroom in the 2020s, after having been given a prison sentence earlier, the prosecutors face the challenge of proving his guilt in the Sharon Causse murder without talking about the crimes he committed earlier. No need for drumrolls. We all know what happened. Yes, they win the case; yes, justice is served. "Long live the courts," the documentary murmurs.
The story that director Chris Smith presents is good, tragic, inspiring, heartbreaking—all in equal measure. Nonetheless, he merely manages to tap into its power on a theoretical level. The documentary itself contains none of the emotional potency expected from a subject of this nature, and that's due to its Wikipedia-like style, which places more emphasis on facts and testimony than on the images carrying those words. This is one of the primary problems with Netflix documentaries: they continuously spit information at the viewer as if they were audiobooks meant to be consumed through ears. Even if you go into The Widower blind, you won't find yourself holding your breath, anticipating what happens to everyone involved. Smith doesn't add suspense to the narrative. He simply moves his film forward with mechanical momentum. He might as well have printed all the necessary details on paper and handed them to someone to read in front of the camera.
On the other hand, given Netflix's history with the true-crime genre, where a real incident is presented in both documentary and feature-film form, I won't be surprised if a movie about Thomas Randolph is released on the platform a few weeks, months, or years from now. Maybe this is why The Widower looks so bland. Netflix is saving all the drama for that crime thriller.
Final Score - [3.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times