Stars: 3.5/5

“Baby’s First Crime Show” would be a far more accurate name for the Netflix original “American Vandal.” 

Season two of the series premiered Sept. 14, bringing back its two main crime solvers and introducing a new crime. In the first season, filmmakers Peter Maldonado (Tyler Alvarez) and Sam Ecklund (Griffin Gluck) tasked themselves with finding the culprit of a vandalism that occurred at their school. The two travel to St. Bernardine High School in season two to solve the mystery of the “Turd Burglar” who has tortured the students with many different poop-related crimes.

While the crime in the first season seemed juvenile, the complexity of the crimes in the second season immediately hook you in. The Turd Burglar starts their reign of terror by putting laxatives in the school lemonade, causing a school wide “brownout” — and they do not spare the gory details.

The writers were able to make everything feel real to the audience. They show footage shot on cell phones, posts from social media and even text screenshots. They even created real accounts on Instagram that coincide with the story. It’s not hard to completely immerse yourself in the crime mockumentary.

The audience and main characters both see the information unravel piece by piece. Season one led you to the crime culprit with a last-minute twist, but in season two there are so many ways to get it wrong.

The whole time you’re watching it, you’re thinking “why do I even care who did this?” and it really is a fair question. It’s not real and it has nothing to do with you but you can relate to certain aspects. You can relate to that weird kid who never fit in so made it a point to stand out or the basketball star who is living in two different worlds and finds himself stuck in the middle. There’s something about the show that makes you forget that it’s all fake.

It’s a great show to ease you into the world of crime solving. If you figure out who the Turd Burglar is before the last episode, detective work has to be in your blood because there is no way anyone could have guessed it this season. There are so many more levels to the Turd Burglar than there were to the vandal from season one. The writers pulled out everything for season two, and I couldn’t imagine what they would do to top it with a season three.

Taking on both seasons of “American Vandal” would only take a day and a half or so to complete with its 30-minute episodes. It’s an easy watch for anyone with any interest in crime shows or documentaries. While the crimes may seem subpar at moments, you can’t help but stick around to figure out “who done it” and the culprit in season two won’t disappoint.