"Serial" - interesting true crime podcast from This American Life team

Loving it.

I'm curious - 8 episodes in, what's your theory now?

Has it come up yet that Adnan's attorney was disbarred 18 months after the case? It's a bit of side issue and it was related to her suffering from multiple sclerosis and not being able to handle her caseload, I think, but if she is viewed as having provided an inadequate defense, I wonder if that's one way the pro Adnan team is hoping for a new trial?

Yes, his attorney's disbarment has come up.
I'm leaning towards thinking Adnan did it, but not premeditated... so wrongful conviction (and sentencing) for Murder 1.
And I don't think there was enough evidence for any conviction at all, because of their total reliance on one unreliable witness who was coached, had a plea deal, changed his story significantly, and admits to being an accessory to the crime.

I'm still not buying the motive presented for Adnan...but I see no motive for Jay doing it either.

I'm beginning to wonder what will happen if there's no resolution at all. It's very possible that she doesn't actually find out anything conclusive, since we're just learning about the case along with her.

Then we were entertained a bit and learned something about the criminal justice system.

Adnan doesn't need a motive in the same way if it's not premeditated... if for example it's a fight in the library parking lot.

In terms of learning along with Sarah -- not entirely. She's been researching it for a year and parceling out the information strategically with each episode. While some new insights have emerged along the way, and the episodes are written and rewritten up until air time, we aren't exactly learning about the case right along with her. A few weeks ago she said she was ~ 70% sure of the ending.

Wow, this latest episode was a curveball. It's fascinating (and a little scary) to see things unfold in "real time" - now we have people connected to the story who have discovered the podcast and are now becoming a part of it themselves. Maybe I'm lurking too much on the sub-Reddit, but there's a strange sense of unease and things spinning a bit out of control.

Hae's brother posted this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/serialpodcast/comments/2mmldf/i_am_haes_brother_do_not_ama/

And here's a nice writeup on the ethics of the show:

http://thinkprogress.org/culture/2014/11/20/3595208/the-ethics-of-serial/


And this news station compiled some archival footage, including a brief interview with Hae.

http://www.abc2news.com/who-was-hae-min-lee

No episode next week! Noooooooooo!

Thanks, MailKimp.

Hilarious charts for people obsessed with Serial -- I especially like the Google search history:

http://tinyurl.com/mayzdj7

j_r said:

Hilarious charts for people obsessed with Serial -- I especially like the Google search history:

http://tinyurl.com/mayzdj7

I was desperately looking for the Tweets About Serial graphic, which I saw the other day. Thanks, j r.

j_r said:

Hilarious charts for people obsessed with Serial -- I especially like the Google search history:

http://tinyurl.com/mayzdj7

Sigh... Cannot look, only on chapter 5

BTW - if you are enjoying Serial and you want another season we need to pony up if we can - apparently mailkimp is not that flush.
http://serialpodcast.org/

Season 2: Koenig battles Jay in defamation suit. Her only defense is factual evidence. Help her find it.

@Eliz I did the $10 donation by text they mentioned on the show, super easy!

Meanwhile, things have gotten pretty dark for one of the MailKimp folks...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-reRfRKdVpk

TarheelsInNj said:

I'm beginning to wonder what will happen if there's no resolution at all. It's very possible that she doesn't actually find out anything conclusive, since we're just learning about the case along with her.

Since thid isn't some serialized scripted drama, why don't see why listeners would assume that there will be a anything conclusive and a resolution to the case.

Because it's human nature to want answers. And because it's being presented in a "fiction-like" way, in terms of the storytelling, which is one reason it's so compelling.

There is pretty much zero chance there will be any kind of definitive resolution here. That's kind of the whole point of the thing.

I'm not saying there should be - I'm just asking what the natural response will be if/when there isn't. It will likely feel like a bit of a letdown.

I think the savvy, NPR-type audience for this show is smart enough to understand that a "satisfying" resolution is extremely unlikely. The response is mostly going to be, "of course there's no resolution. I never expected there to be. This isn't CSI. That's why I like it."

Maybe... but think how the excitement level ramped up when it seemed like "something was happening," aka the Innocence Project angle. There is a natural tendency to want an outcome.

Also, this thing took off and went way beyond the usual NPR-type audience. There'll certainly be some backlash or at least vocal disappointment from the mainstream/new audience if the conclusion doesn't offer a satisfying resolution.

This is a real story being reported more or less in real time. You'd have to be legitimately dumb to think this will have some kind of Hollywood ending.

Frank said:

This is a real story being reported more or less in real time. You'd have to be legitimately dumb to think this will have some kind of Hollywood ending.

Legitimately dumb and proud of it

And if you go back to my original question, I simply raised the question of what would happen if there wasn't a conclusion. Not saying there should be one.

But it also raises the question of the "point" of the podcast. What are the goals and objectives? This is obviously not newsworthy as it's a 15-year-old case. So why did they decide to take listeners on this journey? And should they have done so without knowing how the story would end? It's uncharted territory.

Thanks for being rude, though. It really helped advance the conversation!

I didn't say that you did say there should be a conclusion. But anyone who expects one is fooling themselves. This is going to end the way it started: with uncertainty and confusion. That's what the show is about: the impossibility of knowing the truth in many legal cases, how imperfect the legal system is, how we fool ourselves into thinking that the justice system is like what we see on Law and Order. Reality isn't that clean. Anyone who's listening to this thinking it's a Janet Evanovich book is missing the point.

Even with the Innocence Project involved these types of cases often take years. Barring something completely new, I expect it to end with an update on what the next legal steps are. Or that the IP decided not to pursue.