Netflix’s Maternal Instinct tells the story of Taylor Parker, a Texas woman who faked an entire pregnancy, murdered her friend Reagan Simmons-Hancock who was 35 weeks pregnant, cut out her unborn baby, and kidnapped her, all to convince her boyfriend Wade Griffin that the child was theirs. The baby did not survive. Parker was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in November 2022.

It is one of the most disturbing true crime cases in recent memory, and Netflix covered it in a single 90-minute documentary. Which is interesting, because this is the same platform that turned a three-episode story into four seasons if the algorithm looked promising enough.

Don’t get me wrong, Maternal Instinct is worth watching. It is compelling, unsettling, and does not let you look away. But by the time the credits rolled I had more questions than answers. So here are three things I wished the documentary explored further.

1. What kind of mother was Taylor Parker to her older children?

The documentary briefly mentions that Parker had limited custody of her daughter and a strained relationship with her son, then moves on quickly. I understand that her ex-husband likely wanted to protect the children from the spotlight, and rightfully so, but the documentary could have explored who Taylor Parker was as a mother to them through the women who knew her and the family members who watched her parent. Her relationship with her own children is central to understanding why she did what she did, and the film barely touches it.

2. The financial scams needed a full episode.

At some point the documentary casually mentions that Parker purchased a $100,000 truck for Wade using fake names and fraudulent funds, and attempted to buy him a $4.7 million ranch that never went through. It drops this information like a footnote and never comes back to it. I had to rewind to make sure I understood that what she was running was essentially a long con. Understanding the full scope of her financial manipulation is the key to understanding why Wade believed her for as long as he did. This is an entire episode of American Greed sitting right there, and Netflix left it on the cutting room floor.

3. Wade’s family should not have been the narrators of this story

Wade Griffin and his family are the primary voices in this documentary. And while their perspective matters, they had only known Taylor Parker for a relatively short time before everything unraveled. They could not tell us who she really was, because they never knew. The people who could have told us that, her childhood friends, her mother, the people who watched her become who she became, are largely absent from the film. Whatever shaped Taylor Parker into someone capable of doing what she did is where this documentary needed to spend the majority of its time.

But after all is said and done, Maternal Instinct is still worth your time. The case itself is impossible to look away from, and Reagan Simmons-Hancock deserves to be remembered as more than a victim.

She was a wife, a mother, a friend who opened her door to someone she trusted. Her story is a sobering reminder of how quickly one act of kindness toward the wrong person can cost you everything.