USA TODAY International Edition
‘Vandal’ can make poop jokes poignant
Warning! The following contains spoilers about the Season 2 finale of Netflix’s “American Vandal.”
Teenagers are full of crap.
So says the putrid culprit who unleashes psychological and fecal warfare in Season 2 of Netflix’s true-crime mockumentary series “American Vandal.”
Hoping to crack the perfect facades of social media and prove that everyone is just as lonely as he is, Grayson Wentz (PJ McCabe), an expelled Catholic school student, steals the identity of a young woman named Brooke Wheeler (Lisha Brooks) and begins texting his ex-classmates and teachers. Posing as Brooke, he flirtatiously persuades four of them to send compromising photos, then blackmails them into carrying out a series of “poop crimes” at his former school.
After going viral with their docuseries about the mystery of who spraypainted penises on cars in Season 1 of “Vandal,” the show’s fictional fledgling filmmakers Peter (Tyler Alvarez) and Sam (Griffin Gluck) travel from California to Washington state to investigate the “Turd Burglar,” who enacts explosive revenge by lacing cafeteria lemonade with laxatives, sending students racing for the bathrooms on a day forever to be known as “The Brownout.”
“The Brownout was one of the first ideas we had,” says co-creator Tony Yacenda.
“It came down to: ‘Who would do something like this, and for what reasons? How could people be pulled into a crime like that, and what would that mean?’ The logistics of the mystery are what brought us to the theme, and that’s what we’re so happy about this season: that the crime and theme are so inherently linked.”
Like the show’s critically acclaimed first season, – which won a prestigious Peabody Award and earned an Emmy nomination for writing – Season 2 is inspired by true-crime series “Making a Murderer,” as well as Errol Morris’ “Thin Blue Line” and HBO’s “The Jinx.” Sam and Peter’s list of suspects shifts as the Turd Burglar threatens one final nefarious “Dump.”
While lunky accused graffitist Dylan Maxwell (Jimmy Tatro) was the emotional anchor of last year’s story, the new season is decidedly darker and sadder, showing how teens from all walks of life feel compelled to present idealized versions of themselves online.
“The issues of social media and our insecurities are not exclusive to an outcast like Kevin (Travis Tope),” Grayson’s first victim, co-creator Dan Perrault says. “A jock like DeMarcus (Melvin Gregg) and a girl who seems to have it all like Jenna (Stephanie Styles) could go through that, too.”
Adds Yacenda: “Even though DeMarcus is a god (at his school), deep down, he doesn’t know if people really like him for him. That’s a really dark concept for a documentary about ‘Who is the Turd Burglar?’
“In some of the true-crime documentaries we love, they show you images of bodies with blood splatter all over the place. It gives you a visceral reaction when you see something so dark, and you want to look away, but you’re compelled to know who is behind the madness.
“For us, the funniest version of that really dark reaction is seeing a hallway covered with poop.”