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Season 1 – The Most Dangerous Animal of All

Play trailer 2:50 Poster for Season 1 – The Most Dangerous Animal of All Mar 2020 Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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75% Tomatometer 12 Reviews 57% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
Based on The New York Times best-selling book of the same name, "The Most Dangerous Animal of All" is a four-part documentary series that explores one man's search for the father who abandoned him, only to uncover the worst: he believes his father is the Zodiac killer, one of the most infamous serial killers in American history. The series is an honest depiction of true life and true crime unexpectedly merging to upend one man's understanding of his own identity.
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The Most Dangerous Animal of All — Season 1

The Most Dangerous Animal of All — Season 1

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Critics Consensus

Bloated, but intriguing, The Most Dangerous Animal of All's commitment to the truth makes it a solid first step into the true crime field for FX.

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Critics Reviews

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Inkoo Kang The Hollywood Reporter 03/07/2020
His (Director Kief Davidson) team also does what Stewart's publisher... apparently never did: fact-check his assertions. It's in those verifications that the documentary justifies its existence. Go to Full Review
Mahita Gajanan TIME Magazine 03/06/2020
The Most Dangerous Animal of All examines how Stewart's quest for his true identity never fully satisfies him, and comes at the cost of several relationships, including multiple marriages. Go to Full Review
Allison Keene Paste Magazine 03/05/2020
Its four-episode counts makes it an easy investment, one whose ultimate turn is bizarre but feels like a perfect fit for this strange case's natural twists. Go to Full Review
Kate Robertson The Post NZ 06/24/2021
True crime buffs, this one's for you. Go to Full Review
Alan French AwardsCircuit.com 03/21/2020
2/4
There's a lot to like in the second half of the season, but the buy-in requires you to move through some weaker material. Go to Full Review
Joel Keller Decider 03/10/2020
The Most Dangerous Animal Of All is intriguing enough to spend three-and-a-half hours on, but you may find yourself wondering why this story couldn't have been told in half the time. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Shaun R @Shaun666 Aug 4 The amount of conspiracies and Zodiac suspects have snowballed over the decades. This doesn’t convince me at all. The conspiracy was put together purely for money and he is as much the Zodiac killer as my dog is. Netflix documentary This Is The Zodiac Speaking is infinitely better than this. See more J S @RT63626193 02/15/2023 SPOILER ALERT: Gary L. Stewart REALLY REALLY wants his biological father to be the Zodiac Killer. The only thing this reveals is that Gary L. Stewart is bottomless pit of neediness and probably a serial liar who needs a LOT of therapy. It's no wonder he's been divorced 5 times. He really wanted his bio father to be the Zodiac killer because it would bring him the massive amount of attention, the feeling of importance, and celebrity he clearly craves. See more John-Paul S @Jippit 01/02/2023 First two episodes are great, everything is highly interesting, then you start to feel misled and things could have been wrapped up quicker instead of being dragged out into four episodes. Best quote from Gary "I've been successful at everything I've done" shortly followed by "I've been married five times" really had me questioning this guys sense of reality :) See more 07/21/2022 This serie made me realize that Gary Stewart will never find his closure and that the search costs him several relationships and gave him a lot of trust issues. The only thing that is keeping me from giving it 5 stars is the fact that Earl Van Best Jr. never comes into focus, and the Zodiac Killer doesn't either. But overall i have enjoyed this 4-episode documentary. See more 11/27/2021 Wow I liked this series more than others I watched where people thought they were related to the Zodiac killer. I found this surprising and believable. Completely negates the other two series for me personally. Unfortunately, I guess I think this poor man's truly related to the zodiac. I found this incredibly easy to watch and quite bingable. See more hardy c @hardy00 03/07/2020 Fascinating story about obsession, deceit and media manipulation. Though the "hook" of the documentary is the connection between Stewart's father and The Zodiac the tale is really about Stewart's determination to find out something, anything about who the man was that abandoned him as a baby. The bottom line is his father was a pathetic loser, a sociopath who drank himself to death in Mexico. But for whatever reason Stewart created this scenario of his daddy, Van Best, being the notorious murderer who terrorized San Francisco in the early 70s. He managed to convince a respected true crime investigator to help him co-author a book which became a best seller. But the documentarians do the work that this woman co-author should have done herself, and their investigation burst many of the balloons that Stewart manufactured in order to bolster his thin case. At the end Stewart's self justification becomes manifest, with the last scene, Stewart driving away in a car with the license plate "VanBest" summing up this portrait of deceit and delusion. See more Read all reviews
The Most Dangerous Animal of All — Season 1

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Episodes

Episode 1 Aired Mar 6, 2020 My Identity Adopted as a baby, Gary Stewart always fought with his identity and after 39 years, the search for his biological parents shows a truth he could not have imagined. Details Episode 2 Aired Mar 6, 2020 The Search Learning that his father may have been the Zodiac killer, Gary brings The New York Times best-selling true crime author Susan Mustafa in to help uncover more information about him. Details Episode 3 Aired Mar 6, 2020 The Discovery Gary's tale takes a turn when he sees his novel could be a betrayal of his new relationship with his true mom and when he faces a group of Zodiac fanatics with ulterior motives, he shows new details that have never been shared. Details Episode 4 Aired Mar 6, 2020 The Truth Provided with DNA evidence that connects his father to the Zodiac killer, Gary forges ahead to uncover his truth and the questions that have tormented him for decades come to a head in a surprising end. Details
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Season Info

Director
Kief Davidson
Creator
Ross M. Dinerstein, Kief Davidson
Executive Producer
Ross M. Dinerstein, Kief Davidson
Screenwriter
Elisa Bonora
Network
FX
Rating
TV-MA
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date
Mar 6, 2020