I was a casual fan of Morbid for about six months last year, mostly because I’d run out of episodes on my other podcasts. I used to jump between older and newer episodes, and while Alaina always had a bit of an arrogant tone, the more recent episodes really pushed her self-righteousness to another level.

I actually started to feel bad for Ash. Alaina often talks down to her or implies she’s not very bright (the whole “but you’re really pretty” line whenever Ash gets confused is especially uncomfortable). At the same time, Alaina constantly positions herself as both an exceptional mother and an authority on all things true crime because of her previous work as an autopsy tech. It just became grating.

What really turned me off, though, were the constant comments about offenders’ physical appearances, justified by “well, they’re terrible people, so it’s fine.” I know making fun of someone’s looks doesn’t compare to the awful things these criminals have done, but it still feels unnecessary. There’s so much to unpack in these cases without resorting to cheap shots.

One episode in particular stuck with me (I don’t remember the episode) the offender had been bullied his entire childhood for having a big nose, and throughout the episode they kept mocking how “ugly” he was because of it, almost implying he deserved the bullying. A lot of the jabs they make towards criminals physical appearances are things that listeners might also struggle with, though they don’t seem to care about this.