Jared From Subway: Capturing a Monster stands out among the horrifying true-crime documentaries that are now available to stream. The detailed account of the renowned fast food spokesperson’s ascent to national stardom and fall from grace due to his thirst for young youngsters for sex. The three-episode ID series, which premieres on ID and Discovery+ on March 6, was directed by Sam Miller, and it is the stuff of nightmares. The commentary from two of his 14 unwitting victims as well as the woman who spent years surreptitiously persuading him to admit to his wants on camera makes the movie even more unsettling.
When the American Heart Association initially offered Rochelle the chance to interview Jared for her show in Autumn 2006—this was a stop on one of the spokesperson’s numerous Subway-sponsored speaking tours promoting healthy eating and living—she gladly accepted. Jared whispered in her ear that he thought the adolescent students in attendance were “hot” when they were seated next to each other in a middle school auditorium. Little did she know that the conversation would change the direction of her life forever.
The disgustingness detailed in Jared From Subway: Capturing a Monster is accentuated by a selection of clandestine audio recordings of Jared Fogle produced by Rochelle Herman, a radio broadcaster and single mother from Sarasota, Florida.
Rochelle was understandably appalled. She was also highly driven to take action against this wolf in sheep’s clothing. She began a flirtatious long-distance relationship with Jared to entice him into talking about his unlawful tendencies in order to gather concrete proof against him (largely by pretending that she shared them). Jared From Subway: Capturing a Monster has several excerpts from those conversations, and even though you can imagine what he said, hearing it spoken out loud is a completely horrifying experience.
Jared From Subway: Get ready for your tummy to turn. In Catching a Monster, which goes one step further, it is revealed that Jared asked Rochelle the question she (and viewers) were afraid to ask: “Would you let me see your kids naked?”
“We could try to find some child porn videos to watch together,” he says at one point. He remembers having sex with kids in Thailand and says, “That was so hot, darling. That was really scorching hot. And he tells Rochelle, “I want you to watch me pound a young kid,” in reference to a kid’s birthday celebration he was going to (which was actually a sting operation designed to catch him).
It’s hardly surprising that Rochelle remains extremely traumatised by these experiences with Jared in a protracted new interview that serves as the foundation of the docuseries. Jared would later question Rochelle about which of her children she’d most like Jared to rape. There is no need for director Miller to overly press manipulative buttons because of the depths of his wickedness.
Sadly, he still manages to do this by having Rochelle say a never-ending string of soundbites (“My soul was blackened,” “repulsed to the core”) and using menacing musical cues that are so ridiculously over-the-top that they endanger to undermine the material’s real gravity.
Catching a Monster wallows in vileness, hopelessness, and sorrow, says Jared from Subway. Rochelle’s toil resulted in serious health issues, and she was also separated from her daughter. Even her older son Thomas, who shows appreciation for his mother’s valiant struggle, now resides in Taiwan, ostensibly because he wanted to run away from his past. Rochelle acknowledges that this experience left her feeling worse for wear, in part because of the FBI. Although the CIA first assisted her with her undercover job, it took so long to bring Jared to justice that she eventually had to turn to local law police for assistance. It’s understandable why Rochelle is still a wreck given her great displeasure with the circumstance and her numerous traumatic experiences with Jared, including one at a motel room that she had to leave before it got physical.
This is all as unpleasant as it sounds, and it is preceded by a quick, archive-clip-heavy summary of Jared’s rise to fame in pop culture as a result of his 245-pound weight loss in just one year while following the “Subway diet.” Jared initially served as an inspiration for many people, including his former classmates and his former Subway co-star Pam Blakeman, which is why the information about his personal preferences was so shocking. Amazingly, Jared From Subway: Capturing a Monster just tells half of the terrible story. Moreover, Hannah and Christian are the subject of director Miller’s attention. Hannah and Christian’s teenage circumstances appeared to improve once their mother Angela wed Russell Taylor, a would-be filmmaker who oversaw the Jared Foundation founded by the Subway pitchman. The sisters recall feeling as though they had hit the proverbial gold mine when they married Russell, moved into a lovely new house, and took numerous holidays.
The sisters found out that the good times were a mirage after years of their parents encouraging them to drink, smoke marijuana, and talk about having sex when Russell was busted for trading bestiality images and a subsequent police search of his home turned up hundreds of pornographic images and videos of children, including Hannah and Christian. Investigators found that Russell had installed covert cameras throughout his house to record his stepchildren and their friends while they were nude. Even more shocking, the girls’ mother had actively participated in this initiative and had discussed having sex with her own kids with her husband. Jared From Subway: Catching a Monster becomes a portrayal of systemic evil due to the fact that everything was carried out as a part of a broader project that also benefited Jared. The tremendous cruelty committed by these individuals cannot be concealed by any clumsy aesthetics (such as a pushy soundtrack or tepid dramatic recreations).
The fact that Russell and Angela are each serving decades in prison in light of their unfathomable and abominable acts is cold consolation for Jared, who received child pornography from Russell and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and Russell, who is facing a lifetime sentence. But, their outcomes at least provide a gratifying end to this very taxing true-crime documentary series.
News Summary:
- Jared Fogle’s horrifying audio clip from Subway, “See Me Pound a Small Child”
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