Killer Sally Season 1 Review – Heartbreak, abuse and a Valentine’s murder

Episode Guide

Valentine’s DayThe Demise of Mr. California
The People Vs Sally McNeil

Killer Sally is an intriguing three-part documentary series that offers an insight into the turbulent union of Ray as well as Sally McNeil, which ended with heartbreak and murder. In line with its title, Sally McNeil was tried for murder by shooting him twice.

Three episodes are arranged fairly well and the first one looks at the world from Sally’s point of view. There’s a great 10-minute segment that delves into the background of bodybuilding as well, including Arnold Schwarzenegger’s contribution to the sport as well as using steroids as a whole. The couple was earning an income and struggling to pay the bills, Ray turned pro while Sally was an amateur.

The cracks begin to appear when we discover Ray was a competitor against Sally and after having spent $23k to buy the man in 1993 Ray was ranked 15th in Mr. Olympia. Mr. Olympia competes and beats Sally completely insanely as a result. With two kids, Santina and John, and also abused and exploited, and on Valentine’s Day 1995 Sally snapped and killed her husband.

While claiming self-defense, this second episode reorients things and provides a completely different viewpoint. In this episode, we get to see things from Ray’s family members and friends’ side, and also from the perspective of investigative reporters and the prosecutor’s attorney in the court case. They highlight crucial aspects of the case. Sally is oblivious to this in the first episode.

I won’t go into it here, but suffice it to say it’s a great method of contextualizing what we’ve learned to this point. Then, the next episode focuses on the case in court and the inevitable conclusion for the suicide.

Although the story does be a bit sloppy the main issue is the repetition of footage that is used. The audio clip of Sally calling the police is used three times. There are videos of events that are re-used throughout the show as well as information in episode 3 we were taught during episode 1. While some of this could be explained by the possibility that the information is presented from a slightly different perspective, it isn’t a great experience.

Killer Sally is able to keep things exciting, however, the voice of Sally is sure to add an authentic feel to the whole series. While it’s definitely but not completely free of stylistic flaws but there’s plenty here to be enjoyed by all.