If you have been on social media, especially on YouTube, then you may have heard about Shane Dawson’s latest documentary series, The Mind of Jake Paul. The series is based around YouTube personality Jake Paul, who is known for posting prank videos, performing insane stunts, and spewing forth diss tracks. Jake Paul has also been regarded as one of the most annoying YouTubers, along with his older brother Logan. With Jake’s crazy videos, many YouTubers and YouTube subscribers are all left to wonder if he may be a sociopath, a person who lacks a conscience and habitually seeks to use others for his own gain.

Shane Dawson announced on Twitter that he was interested in doing a series on the mind of Jake Paul. Many fans and other users were immediately repulsed by the idea of having Shane Dawson give Jake Paul a platform to redeem himself.  Even though I personally don’t like Jake Paul, I was curious as to who he actually is behind the camera and I am sure many others were, too. 

In the first five episodes of the series, Dawson reviews Paul’s videos and speaks to licensed therapist Katie Morton and close ex-friend Nick Crompton, who reveals in the series his reason for leaving Team 10, Jake Paul’s company. Morton reveals to Dawson what a sociopath is, and when Dawson asks what the statistics are on sociopaths, Morton says, “1 in 25.” The two also go in depth  about how Youtube is a platform that sociopaths can use to their own advantage.

In the two episodes called “The World of Jake Paul” and “The Secrets of Jake Paul,” the viewers finally get to see what life is like behind the camera. While watching the video of Jake Paul and his life in the Team 10 House, I couldn’t help but notice that Paul actually seems to be the opposite of what is portrayed to the outside world. He does not seem to be the person everyone thinks he is. He is neither arrogant nor ignorant; he is actually a person who cares for many people and has been shadowed by both his older brother and father when he was growing up. He is simply a guy who just needs people in his life that don’t betray him, as some of his friends and family has done.

When it comes to the final interview with him in episode 8, all of Paul appears to be revealed. Dawson touches on a couple of topics that are very personal to Paul, such as his childhood, his mother and father, and the notorious relationship with Alissa Violet. Paul appears not to be a bad guy; he is simply a young man who is overshadowed by his older brother, whom he believes to be the favorite child. He grew up with divorced parents, and his father wanted nothing but for his boys to be stereotypical men. Even while watching the interview of Alissa Violet that was posted before the final episode, I couldn’t help but still believe in the Jake Paul I saw earlier in episode 6.

Jake Paul is not the person you see in his videos. Nor is he the man every person on the internet makes him out to be. In the end, he has done some things that can never be forgiven, but we also need to recognize that he at least acknowledged what he has done and is genuinely not exactly the proudest about his past.