American Vandal Is the Best Sh*t Show I've Ever Seen (Literally)

It’s been a long time since I’ve written one of these and to the three people that have been waiting for another post, I would like to apologize. Now that that is out of the way, I can jump into the reason you are all here, television. 

American Vandal might be some of the most absurd fun I have had while watching a television show. If that sentence doesn't make sense, allow me to elaborate. American Vandal is a parody of the true crime docuseries genre. A Netflix original created by Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda, American Vandal sets up a glorious fake crime that needs to be solved. In season 1 of the series a high school student is on the cusp of expulsion after being accused of vandalism (hence the series name). He (of course) claims to be innocent despite all the evidence pointing right at him. Two of his fellow classmates team up to investigate the case, all while filming the whole process. Their “footage” is essentially what we, as the viewers of American Vandal, get to watch.

At this point you might be able to understand the “fun” part of my initial statement because, let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a good whodunit*; however, you may be questioning the absurdity of it all. Well, question no more. The vandalism this student was accused of: spray painting dicks onto 27 vehicles in the staff parking lot. Yes, you read that correctly, the crime these two students are trying to solve is “who drew the dicks?”

Netflix

Never in my life did I picture myself yelling “WHO DREW THE DICKS?!?!” in exasperation at my tv, but alas, there I was, knee deep in theories trying to connect the dots that were being presented to me (Fun fact: my own mother looked me in my eyes and asked me “who drew the dicks??”) .

If crimes of phallic proportions aren’t your jam, let me direct you to the second season of American Vandal, which inspired the title of this post. The two students from the crime investigation of season one gained some attention after their work to uncover the truth behind the dicks. They get a request to investigate a new crime at another school, and the crime is intriguing enough that they decide to take the case. The second season of American Vandal introduces us to a criminal that may have my favorite name for a criminal ever, the Turd Burglar. The Turd Burglar was responsible for making a bunch of students sh*t themselves at school. If the thought of pooping your pants at school isn't mortifying enough, just imagine how much worse it would be if it were captured on video and posted on Instagram. Everyone knew the Turd Burglar, but nobody knew the Turd Burglar, which made this crime all the more interesting.

Netflix

The second season is what actually brought me to the show. I saw that Taylor Dearden would be playing a role and I loved her in Sweet/Vicious (RIP gone too soon), so I wanted to see what this was about. (Side note: I watched Sweet/Vicious because I saw Aisha Dee was in it, who I loved from The Bold Type. So really The Bold Type is the reason I watched American Vandal.) If you know anything about me, you know I couldn’t just watch the second season without seeing the first. I am so glad that I didn’t skip that first season because I have absolutely no regrets. I had such a good time watching American Vandal. As ridiculous as the premise is, I was emotionally invested in the characters. I too was on the hunt for the Turd Burglar. At one point I wondered if I drew the dicks. This show took me on a journey that I never thought I’d go on. From phallic vandalism to mass explosive diarrhea American Vandal took itself seriously but not too seriously. It’s the type of show you might just happen upon and find yourself getting lost in its world. It’s low-stakes crime that you don’t have to feel guilty about enjoying because it’s: 1, it’s not real and 2, nobody is dead. American Vandal may not be the perfect show and on its surface can appear a little “dudebro-esque”, but underneath all the dick drawings and poop humor it’s a great show. I thought it was smart and funny, and there were these moments of realness that humanized the various characters within the show.

If anything written in this post seems like it’s up your alley, I suggest checking the show out. Unfortunately American Vandal was cancelled by Netflix after its second season, but you can still view it on the streaming platform. 

–T

The Cast of ABCs Whodunnit?

ABC

*Whodunnit was not only a British Game show in the 70’s, but it was also a short lived ABC reality series where players competed against one another to solve murders that ran during the summer of 2013.

I may or may not have gotten distracted in the middle of writing  this and watched the entire series.