The farthest from a cute video: "Don't mess with cats" won't let you fall asleep at night

Netflix's new series is horrifying and peaceful, but most of all it describes a murder case that couldn't have happened in any other generation. Murder of the Millennial Rule. A crime born on YouTube, cracked on Facebook and still alive in Dark Web. The result is a must-watch

The farthest from a cute video: "Don't mess with cats" won't let you fall asleep at night

The dictionary definition for understatement is to say that the last decade was rich in television content. Here in Walla! Culture tried our brave TV editor to count the 100 big series of the decade, and even before we could anger the talkbacks we settled on loaded debates about which series we will leave out and enter the holy parade. As a systemic decision, mini-series were rated on a separate parade and not included on the official parade and so - with the exception of the "Make a Murderer" series - the true crime genre has been falling out of place as one of the most influential on our television in the last decade.

Which makes sense, when we think of the golden age of television we think of men like Walter White, Don Draper and Tony Soprano. We are reminded of strong women like Alisha Florick, Claire Underwood or John "Shalepard" Osborne. We also cry along with horses like Bojak Horsman. In contrast, documentary television is still not seen as an entertainment product. It lacks the glam and sparkle provided by the beautiful Hollywood actors, and it too often has a didactic tier and a formula that less sweeps the viewer. Which is a shame, because the past decade has included some of the best documentary series ever made - from "The Vietnam War", through "Blue Star 2" to "Celtics / Lakers: The Best Enemies."

The documentary sub-genre dubbed "True Crime" changed the picture. Suddenly, instead of talking in the kitchenette at work on the Khalissi dragons, people started talking about Bobby Dorset's fatal mistake at the conclusion of "The Jinks." The exposure of the investigative details of Stephen Avery and, in particular, of his nephew Brandon Desi, "do killer" stars, prompted millions to sign petitions and become active parts of the war for the release of two convicted murderers and rapists. Here, too, the names AK and AL became an integral part of Israeli folklore, following the series "Shadow of Truth" which documented the murder case of Thair Radha by Roman Zadorov.

And there were more and more. "The Guardians of Justice," "Love You, Now Die," "Amanda Knox," "The Stairs," "Kidnapped Before Their Eyes," "Ted Bundy's Recordings," "Very Wild Land," "Surviving R. Kelly" and " OJ Simpson: Made in America "were some of the best series that aired in recent years on television, not least. This whole long introduction comes to warn of the alleged new representative on this week's list on Netflix, just a moment before the end of the year and decade. So be clear, "Don't F ** k With Cats," or its Hebrew name: "Don't mess with cats: The hunt for the killer from the Internet" is not a real crime series as you've ever seen. In fact, it's not a real crime series at all. She is much more than that. This is probably the most disturbing series ever to air.

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We will not mention his name. "Don't mess with cats" (screenshot)

Don't mess with cats (Photo: Screenshot)

At first glance it looks like this is a cute series about cats posted online. This is more pronounced in the English name of the series, which deliberately uses words that may sound like ambiguous slang. For example, the word "pak" can also have a positive meaning, as does the word "killer" (for example, every successful Chinese phone is referred to as "iPhone killer"). However, cat enthusiasts who started streaming the program unknowingly got to know the dark side of the internet. The one where the concept of "cat video" has a much less cute meaning.

Without getting into spoilers, the new three-episode series (averaging just over an hour per episode) follows the hunt for an online character who posted her snuff videos of abusive and animal killer at the beginning of the decade, later moving to murder people. The videos, which went viral, served in real time the killer's obsessive publicity - which he himself saw as a modern-day Jack the Ripper. But compared to Jack the Ripper, whose identity was kept anonymous and mysterious until his death, the "internet killer" asked us to know who he was. I could state his name here, it's not a spoiler - but hell, that's exactly what he wants.

It's supposed to be another series from the familiar genre that adopts an almost constant formula. It starts with monologues of people hurt by his actions and recovers the hard days they went through, often with tears in their eyes. Continues to familiarize himself with the security forces who took part in the hunt - and of course, the people close to the killer himself talk barefoot in front of the camera and also introduce the human sides of the monster - and ends with a circle that usually puts viewers into the horror circle. The truth is that in the first few minutes of the series, it seemed so formulaic and clichéd that you could suspect that it was at all a documentary from the author of "American Hooligan."

But this time, unlike all her sisters in the genre, the story is not "the monster" at all. The horrific murders described in the series freeze the blood, helping to propel the plot forward, but if you really stop to see what's happening on screen, realize that they're only part of the story. With conscious, and correct choice, the creators of the series choose not to show almost excerpts of the viral videos that are still available to watch online (and are, to say the least, not recommended to watch. Very. Highly not recommended to watch) and instead turn the spotlight on another scary phenomenon - Internet justice fighters .

Lots of gray. "Don't mess with cats" (screenshot)

Don't mess with cats (Photo: Screenshot)

While the "heroes" of such series and movies are usually the "good" (most often: police investigators) versus the "bad guys" (most often: criminals) - here between the struggle of the black and the white there is a lot of gray. The docu heroes are Diana and John, two seemingly normative Americans who open a Facebook group whose sole purpose is to expose the cat killer. The two act from a good and positive point of view, the desire to catch a bad person and stop him from doing more bad things, except that their obsession crosses (literally) and even leads to tragedies unrelated to the original story.

The creators of the series let us judge for ourselves the actions of Diana and the rest of her teammates, which is not an easy thing to do. Diana is a captivating character. A geek in the good sense of the word who cares about securing the information in the casino of the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas. Her "nerdy" character is a mirror image of everything we expect to see from a young woman living in Sin City. To Facebook, she connects with a pseudonym taken from the Beastie Boys song, with a profile picture of Joan Jett - an accidental choice probably in the punk legend waving feminist and vegan flags long before it was trendy.

Diana is a symbol of goodness, innocence - but she is chasing the complete opposite. She happens to encounter a shocking video on the internet and decides to take her anger out on social networks. Many more are joined by her and she becomes the prominent activist in the quest for the concept of the human scum who did the horrific acts documented in the videos he was about to distribute. However, despite her innocence and good intentions, Diana also symbolizes the problems of the present age. The hatred that comes out of her group (ironically, because of their intense love for animals) is relentless. Facts, proofs and sources of evidence are not subjects that interest the people who follow it, and the trial of justice replaces the thirst for revenge. This is a story from the 2000s, but it could equally well have been a medieval witch-hunting campaign.

When telling the story through the eyes of amateur "Internet detectives", one might be mistaken for thinking that the grave crime committed by a vile man is not the horrific murder of a young man, but the fact that he "violated the first law of the internet - not to mess with cats." The press clippings from a slew of news channels covering the story demonstrate how much traditional media is drifting after sensational stories without a true journalist sieve. Particularly disturbing was the smile on the face of the article that describes in detail one of the murder videos that appeared to be taken from a far-fetched and unreliable horror movie. Something about the word "cats" probably makes every story more cute. And if you've ever seen a sidecar and a corrected food, you realize that not everything about cats is necessarily cute and sweet.

Justice warrior. "Don't mess with cats" (screenshot)

Don't mess with cats (Photo: Screenshot)

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Above all this difficult story stands a huge mirror and presents ourselves. Are we, the viewers, not actually contributing to the immense satisfaction the killer feels from the very exposure he receives? Isn't that exactly what he wanted in the first place? Do we know his name, who looks like his face, who says phrases like "He doesn't look like a killer at all" or "How can anyone do such a thing"? So here, somebody did, and we give him the stage to take pride in his actions.

These are some of the most Hollywood murders (I won't elaborate on not spoiling the spoilers), but most of all it's a murder case that couldn't have happened in any other generation. Murder of the Millennial Rule. A crime born on YouTube, cracked on Facebook and still alive in Dark Web. This is the first murder and abuse case that has turned into an internet meme. Somewhat questionable, but not for the man who initiated it. The only question that remains open is whether the mere re-engaging in this case, and bringing it to a larger audience, will not cause the story to repeat itself. If there's anything we know about memes, it's that they are far less successful when they repeat themselves. In the meantime, it is worth reopening the "decade series" lists, because this disturbing / excellent / nauseating / ingenious / genius / tranquil series should be there.