Forget Mindhunter, Netflix's New Crime Thriller Series Is Officially A Streaming Sensation

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Netflix has introduced the world to dozens of great crime thrillers, but the latest might have just dethroned Mindhunter as one of the best. In recent years, it feels like several of the biggest streaming platforms have solidified the niches that they are the best at producing. For Apple TV, they excel at sci-fi. Prime Video has thrived in the superhero and fantasy space, and Netflix has dominated when it comes to all things crime.

From true-crime documentaries to dramatic crime dramas, Netflix is delivering hit after hit. However, a recent entry in the crime thriller space, based on a set of true events and reimagined in a dramatic fashion, suffered a disappointing fate: David Fincher's Mindhunter.

While Mindhunter clearly captured the minds and imaginations of the audience with the exceptional storytelling, the eerie atmosphere that shrouded each season, and the incredible performances of the lead actors, Ryan Murphy's latest entry into his Monster anthology series has become a global sensation in just a few days.

As intriguing and captivating as Mindhunter was, the show never really managed to get a strong foothold with audiences while costing a lot to produce, leading to the show's eventual cancelation. On the flip side, Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story has had a very different reception in terms of total views.

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story Is Already A Huge Hit For Netflix

While Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story only recently launched on Netflix, it rapidly climbed to the top spot in terms of total English-speaking audiences, and racked up an incredible 12.1 million views in its first four days. Since then, the show has been holding its own, topping Netflix's top 10 charts and staying firmly on top.

Perhaps this is no surprise, especially considering how well Murphy's previous entries have performed on the platform, with his Monster series alone creating plenty of discussion online and delivering some of the most compelling true crime adaptations of the last decade. And while the bones of the show appear to resemble Mindhunter in terms of approach, the outcome has proven to be very different.

Both Mindhunter and Monster employ a heavy use of stylized fictional recounting to true events, and both take enormous liberties when it comes to conversations, characterizations, and timelines. For true-crime enthusiasts, this could prove frustrating, and the muddled blend of true crime with fiction could be upsetting to others.

However, Ryan Murphy has managed to prove repeatedly that his approach to this kind of storytelling is landing with audiences, while also inspiring a certain level of controversy each season that keeps the shows at the forefront of audiences' minds.

Ryan Murphy's Shows Massively Outperform Similar Categories Of TV

Rebecca Hall as Abby Borden in episode 402 of Monster- The Lizzie Borden Story

Ryan Murphy didn't start out by creating stories in the true crime space. Moreover, he established himself as a successful writer and showrunner with anthology horror shows, such as American Horror Story, leaning completely into fiction, and often pushing beyond into the supernatural.

Since then, Murphy has continued to explore edgy thriller shows and pushed the boat out in terms of his filmography, with his first substantial foray into true crime coming through the first season of Monster, starring long-time collaborator Evan Peters as one of the most notorious murderers of all time.

With his refined storytelling abilities, Murphy continues to release shows that draw in huge numbers as far as audiences and watch time is concerned, and even when not every new show or season is universally praised, they become a point of conversation within the public zeitgeist.

Now, it helps that Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is being hailed as one of the best seasons of this anthology series to date, but beyond that, Murphy has a reputation for getting audiences to tune in, and as disappointing as it is that more people didn't show up for Mindhunter, it's clear that Lizzie's story has taken off and generated renewed vigor among Netflix subscribers.