Serial
The best thing after sliced bread.
Sort of.
So, I've just finished serial, the podcast, season one. And I was incensed with the way it ended. Almost 8 hours along several weeks listening to a murder case, and going back and forth on a possibly wrongful conviction, and the journalist recording the podcast ended the season with a "did he do it, is he innocent? I don't know. I just don't know."
Of course she thinks he is innocent. There was no evidence at all, and the only thing against him was the word of a guy who couldn't tell the same story twice. And everything we know we heard it from her. The general outline of the podcast, she chose how to go about it, what to tell, what to hint at.
But - it's true - she doesn't *know*. For her to truly *know*, she would have to have been there. Also, what if she comes out saying she does think him innocent, and ends up wrong? That's what I thought she was thinking, what could have motivated her to say what she said. It could also have legal ramifications of all sorts, if she is caught with a statement like that.
As it happens, Serial Season One was a huge, huge thing. The case got worldwide attention, and people sided for and against with very strong words. Even with her not stating a clear yes or no, she took much flack. I can't even begin to imagine what would have happened to her if her response had been different.
But I did feel let down. There was a Season Two in the works, and I steered very clear of it. I felt played.
I kept thinking about it, trying to find out what was it that bothered me. Well, there are two things. Three, actually, but this one is about myself: I really don't think it's any of my business, so why is it bothering me?
The first is: if she really wanted to be safe after the end of the Season, and felt that we would not be able to deal with the unvarnished truth - well then, do not ask the question. Do not ask 'what do I think about Adnan?' if the answer may pose any kind of danger and she finds it necessary to prevaricate. Until she put the question out there, I wasn't even thinking about it.
The second thing, well, something had been bothering me since the first episode. That was the introductory podcast, when we met the cast and the plot, so to speak. I remember her saying in that first episode that the topic of that Season was a murder investigation, regarding a teenage boy convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend, and that all hinged in the twenty minutes between the end of their classes and the time of the murder; that the whole case would be determined by those twenty minutes. I loved it. I thought it was brilliant. As the Season developed, well, the whole case hinged on a lot of things. Those twenty minutes ended up being just the beginning. The murder happened between 2:20-2:40, but the body was buried in the evening, so there was a whole day to account for. The case hinged on so many things that it really didn't *hinge* on anything. Everything was adding up towards something, one way or the other.
All in all, it was one of the best things I have ever seen on the internet. I just need to wait a little while before I get the next season.