Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy (Peacock)
By: Dave Hughes
John Wayne Gacy terrorized Chicago and its suburbs in the 1970s and 1980s, and his presence lingers over the area today. He was the kind of person that inspired nightmares and felt impossible to spot, a predator who masked himself with a pleasant and trustworthy demeanor. Peacock’s new series Devil In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy revisits Gacy’s crimes but its focus reaches beyond the horror. The series examines the lasting damage on the victims as well the investigators of the case. It is a powerful and sobering program, one that sets a higher standard for how true crime stories should be told.
Devil in Disguise opens near the end of Gacy’s reign of terror. The first episode, titled “10 Days”, follows Gacy’s movements in the days before his arrest. It is a powerful choice that puts viewers directly alongside the investigators and families as they close in on Gacy. The tension builds as the perspectives switch, almost frantically, from families to investigators and to Gacy himself. This allows viewers to feel the walls closing in on Gacy and share the investigators' anxiety for justice.
Michael Chernus (Severance, Orange is the New Black) plays Gacy with an unsettling mix of charm and quiet menace. He leans into Gacy’s friendly exterior, but lets the darkness beneath it slip through in small, frightening moments. An early scene during a police interview expertly reveals the dark, manipulative scope of Gacy’s mind. When that mask finally drops in moments of terror, the change in demeanor is genuinely disturbing to watch. Another standout is Gabriel Luna (The Last of Us, True Detective) as Rafael Tovar, a detective piecing the case together. Tovar’s determination guides the investigation, and Luna shows how Gacy’s crimes wear him down once the full scope of what is in the crawlspace becomes clear.
The casting is amplified by the bleak 1970s and 80s period detail from the cars, to the hair, to the clothing, which all contribute to a visual landscape that feels perpetually dark and rainy. This bleak cinematography effectively mirrors the characters’ emotional state and echoes the style of David Fincher(Seven, Zodiac). The production’s dedication to authenticity is underlined by snippets of real news coverage that end each episode. Viewing this archival footage after the dramatization makes the care taken with the actors' mannerisms and clothing immediately apparent. From the mannerisms of the actors to the clothing, all of it looks credible to the time period.
When most true crime shows revisit infamous killers, the focus often leans heavily on the perpetrator and what shaped their violence. Series like Monster place the killer at the center of the narrative. Devil in Disguise takes a different and far more effective approach. The show limits attention on Gacy’s personal motivations(although addressed briefly) and instead invests its time in the people whose lives were shattered by his crimes. Each episode after the pilot is named after one of Gacy’s victims, a respectful approach that centers around their lives and acknowledges the horrors that they endured. Gacy’s family appears in the series, but are not positioned at the story’s core. The focus is on the victims, investigators, and legal teams whose lives were forever changed as a result of this time period. This creative choice by show creator Patrick Mc Manus is what sets Devil in Disguise apart from other entries in the true crime genre, giving the story a sense of purpose rather than attempting to create a Gacy biography.
Target Score: 8/10 Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy provides a grounded, sobering look at a man whose violence shocked the country, but its true power comes from centering the people who felt the ripple effects of his crimes.