‘Pathological: The Lies of Joran Van Der Sloot’ Review — A serviceable look at a terrible man

A review of the new Peacock documentary, streaming February 27th

On May 30th, 2005, a high school student named Natalee Holloway disappeared while on a school trip to Aruba with her classmates. I remember watching the breathless coverage of the missing blonde on the Today Show, and I remember the way suspicion soon turned to Joran Van Der Sloot, a Dutch teen who was apparently the last person to see Natalee alive. That man is the subject of Pathological: The Lies of Joran Van Der Sloot, a new documentary streaming February 27th on Peacock. Van Der Sloot admitted to having seen Natalee on the night she disappeared, but he claimed he and his friends merely dropped her off at the hotel where she was staying. And then he admitted they were on the beach together, but he said he left her alone and alive. And then he admitted a whole lot more. Was any of it true? Or is he… (drumroll please) pathological?

The documentary takes the perspective that Van Der Sloot is not just a pathological liar but a psychopath: someone who doesn’t feel any emotion, including remorse. “Psychiatrists aren’t allowed to diagnose public figures without having personally assessed them,” says Abigail Marsh, a psychiatrist. “That said, everything I’ve…