‘Taken Together: Who Killed Lyric and Elizabeth?’ Review: A Docu-Series That Runs Too Long and Has Too Little to Say
True crime is almost always difficult to digest. It’s not easy to reconcile what drives someone to hurt another human. But even more incomprehensible is trying to piece together how someone could hurt a child. In the case profiled in the Max original docu-series Taken Together: Who Killed Lyric and Elizabeth, we see the devastating impact the abduction and murder of two children had on a small Iowa community. The filmmakers profile those who loved the missing girls and the law enforcement personnel who tried to bring their killer to justice.
Taken Together might be worth a watch for the dedicated true crime enthusiast, but it’s not essential viewing, by any means. Though the case profiled within is both riveting and heartbreaking, the series’ runtime is nearly three hours in total and the case doesn’t require that much time to chronicle.
The Making a Murderer Effect
We have seen a significant uptick in the production of true crime docu-series since the unprecedented success of Netflix’s Making a Murderer. But the downside is that not every case needs to be examined as thoroughly as the one featured within that program The Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey cases have so many twists, turns, appeals, false confessions, and unforeseen surprises that they couldn’t easily be confined to a feature-length doc. But not every case requires that level of detail. The case of Lyric and Elizabeth is one such example. The facts of the investigation are shocking and parts of the series are quite compelling. But the content could have been condensed into a feature-length doc or two one-hour-long episodes. Hell, there isn’t even a court case to show here. Accordingly, the pace meanders as the series unfolds. A tighter edit would have resulted in a more streamlined experience and a program I could more enthusiastically recommend.
Despite stretching out the proceedings to maximize content for the platform, I will concede that the series serves as a fairly compelling account of a terrifying case that remains unsolved to this day. The program profiles the 2012 disappearance and murder of eight-year-old Elizabeth Collins and her ten-year-old cousin Lyric Cook-Morrissey. The girls went out for a bike ride one summer day and never returned. We see the firsthand impact their disappearance had on their families and the small-town community where they lived.
The inaugural episode does an effective job of demonstrating the fallout from their disappearance and the ripple effect it had on those close to them. But the presentation meanders from there.
Taken Together takes a jarring turn in episode 2.
By the second episode, the series pivots from profiling the families of the victims to potential suspects and the transition is clunky, to say the least. The families of the deceased effectively vanish in episode 2. Worse yet, with each new potential suspect chronicled, the series takes the focus off the families at the core of the story. Had the investigative dead ends been chronicled more closely through the eyes of the parents of the missing girls, the proceedings would feel more consistent.
Another issue is the lack of compelling recreations. The reimagined historical depictions here are limited to still images or static video footage without actors. It’s difficult to fully engage when it feels like we’re waiting on the sidelines. Quality recreations make the case come to life. The absence of such is especially noticeable when the series profiles an unnerving abduction that may be related to Lyric and Elizabeth’s disappearance. The viewer must rely almost entirely on firsthand accounts without a strong visual component to carry us through the story. Quality recreations of pivotal events go a long way toward pulling the viewer into the case at the core of a true crime doc. A more immersive approach and a leaner runtime would have gone a long way toward holding the audience’s attention throughout. Additionally, keeping the focus more in line with the victims and their families would have made Taken Together a better series overall.
The final verdict on Taken Together:
As it stands, Taken Together takes a compelling case and fumbles the landing. The victims and their families deserve a more cohesive showcase that prioritizes telling their story over creating programming.
If you are curious to check out Taken Together, you can find the film streaming on HBO’s Max.
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‘Taken Together: Who Killed Lyric and Elizabeth?’
Summary
‘Taken Together’ has potential but gets weighed down by its superfluous runtime.
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