What the Dakota Entrapment Tapes is all about without spoiling the show
Out in North Dakota, Andrew Sadek has run into trouble. He has been arrested for the sale of marijuana. He works out a deal with the local police to become a confidential informant. A good kid who made a mistake is suddenly pulled into a corrupt police force’s web.
Sadek goes missing and his body is eventually recovered with a lot of questions. Did he end his own life or did someone take it too soon?
The Dakota Entrapment Tapes tell the story of a young man taken advantage of because he wanted to do the right thing and make up for his own bad judgment. As far as mysterious circumstances go, this true crime documentary has a lot.
Did you know about the Dakota Entrapment Tapes story before watching?
Something about this story did strike me as familiar. It may have been a news story. Many of the specifics were brand new. I went into this mostly blind not knowing what to expect.
Will the Dakota Entrapment Tapes make people feel uncomfortable?
This isn’t a particularly gory true crime documentary so you don’t have to worry about feeling queasy. Any uncomfortableness you may feel will be due to the senseless loss of life. This documentary does a good job of showing that the police should be held responsible in some ways for the death of Sadek.
What was good about the Dakota Entrapment Tapes
It was a wise decision to make this a two-parter. One longer feature might have dragged a little bit. Making it longer would have had too much filler. Making it shorter wouldn’t have covered enough of the story. We get a solid beginning, middle, and ending as unsatisfying of an outcome as it is.
There is a clear purpose with making this film/series. Sadek’s case is a story of corruption. It can happen to anyone. I genuinely did feel bad for the victim and his family by the end. Not every true crime documentary, regardless of how heinous the crime is, does make me feel a whole lot. This one did.
We get a nice mix of a journalistic point of view (like an episode of 20/20) and a more typical true crime documentary that relies on more than talking heads. My attention was held throughout.
What could have made the Dakota Entrapment Tapes better
The Dakota Entrapment Tapes does take a strange approach at the beginning. They try to set the scene in North Dakota as a farming area. It seemed a little out of place, but I get the point they were trying to make. I definitely got the sense that it’s a terribly boring place. This is somewhat relevant to the case.
As much as I did enjoy this one, it also wasn’t too memorable. I can recall parts of the case more than the visualization or way the story was told. I’m writing this not long after viewing and yet I had to go back and read more about the case to remember elements of the documentary. There’s nothing truly unique about the way it was produced. The story is what holds this together.
Is The Dakota Entrapment Tapes worth watching?
This was a solid documentary. With the story being brand new or at least mostly unfamiliar, it was able to keep me watching throughout even without being anything too different.
Overall Score: 7 out of 10
The Dakota Entrapment Tapes leaves a lot of unanswered questions. There is a whole deeper layer you’ll hope to find out about more in the future.
Practically Trouble 
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