Roush Review: True-Crime Doc ‘I Love You, Now Die’ Is Compellingly Twisted

What I didn’t expect was the Glee connection. This compellingly twisted true-crime documentary I Love You, Now Die recounts the 2017 trial in Massachusetts of Michelle Carter, charged with involuntary manslaughter for her alleged role in the suicide of 18-year-old Conrad Roy three years earlier.

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After his death, from carbon monoxide intoxication in his car, texts were discovered showing that his long-distance girlfriend Michelle, then 17, had urged him on, even ordering him back in the car. She and her family declined requests for interviews, making it a challenge for the filmmakers to discern if Michelle, as prosecutors charged, was a narcissistic teen who stage-managed the suicide to help boost her popularity.

Or was this, as a doctor and expert witness maintained, “a perfect storm of a tragedy” involving two mentally troubled youths on meds — Conrad suffered from depression; Michelle, an eating disorder — reinforcing each other’s neuroses?

(Credit: HBO)

A revelation that Michelle was obsessed with Glee, directly quoting Lea Michele‘s character in texts, bolsters the suggestion by Esquire reporter Jesse Barron that their story was a romantic fantasy gone horribly awry.

I Love You, Now Die, Documentary Premiere, Tuesday–Wednesday, July 9–10, 8/7c, HBO