Netflix Fans Outraged After ‘Evil Genius’ Shows Graphic Footage With No Warning

Netflix’s four-part docuseries Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist opens with an intense episode focusing on the “pizza bomber” of Erie, Pennsylvania in August 2003. While undoubtedly gripping, fans have criticized Netflix and the documentary for not issuing a warning before showing the violent death of the bomber, Brian Wells.

In the episode, it’s revealed that Wells, a pizza delivery man, robbed a bank with a bomb locked around his neck — but later, evidence emerged that someone forced him to commit the crime.

Viewers were horrified to see footage of Wells, who had been apprehended by police following the robbery, blown up by the ticking bomb strapped to his chest. In the lead-up to the moment, a handcuffed Wells called out to officers begging for them to “get this thing off me.”

“Why is nobody trying to come and get this thing off me?” he asked. “It’s going to go off.”

Suddenly, the beeping of a timer could be heard. “I started hearing a beep,” one officer from the scene told the docuseries. “His whole demeanor changed. I think it’s at that time that he realized that it is a real bomb. I don’t think he realized until it started beeping.”

“Could you get the keys? I don’t know if I have enough time now. I’m not lying,” Wells can be heard telling officers. As the beeping grew faster, he shouted, “I don’t have a lot of time.”

The first time the docuseries showed the bomb go off, the screen cut to black, reopening on Wells’ lifeless body on the road. Later in the episode, however, unmarred footage of the explosion was shown.

Many viewers took to Twitter to air their grievances with Netflix and the documentary for not issuing a warning about the graphic scene. Despite Netflix stating at the beginning of the episode that “images of dead bodies” would be seen, viewers still thought an additional warning should have been shown before the moment of Wells’ violent death.

“@Netflix why is there no warning on #EvilGenius seeing a person blow up is very disturbing to most people,” one person tweeted.

“I didn’t realise they actually show Brian die in #evilgenius. That footage will haunt me forever,” one person wrote.

“There’s no way they’ll show this dude blow up on Netflix right? *10 mins later* WHAT THE F— NETFLIX #EvilGenius,” another person wrote.

“Watching #EvilGenius on Netflix & I was not prepared for them actually showing the guy blow up. #shook #truecrime,” someone else said.

“Rewatching #EvilGenius with my brother and I’m still so disturbed by the fact they actually showed the guy blow up,” another wrote.

“the fact they show him blow up from the bomb is traumatising,” another said.

The documentary series went on to detail that the heist was imagined by Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and her ex-boyfriend William “Bill” Rothstein, who died in 2004. The true crime documentary takes a deep dive into Diehl’s disturbed mind as she maintains her innocence throughout the entire series and until her death in 2015.