Article previously published in The Tribune's Weekend section on January 22.
LAST week, we looked at the return of
the Serial podcast – whose popularity has seen it burst beyond the
boundaries of the podcast world and feature on news shows and even
hook up with a film company for its new series.
The first series left matters
unresolved, however. It told the real-life story of the murder of
Baltimore student Hae Min Lee, for which her boyfriend, Adnan Syed,
was convicted and sent to jail. The Serial podcast picked away at the
evidence in the case, pointing out flaws in the investigation. But at
the end of the series... Adnan was still in jail, and there were no
definite answers.
Undisclosed
Undisclosed picks up where Serial left
off. It's different from Serial – it's not connected and it doesn't
have the same measured pace that gave Serial such a fascinating
impetus. Rather, this is a podcast by three lawyers examining the
same case, one of which knew Adnan in his younger years.
For those wanting to further their
knowledge of the case, there is more to be found here... but you're
going to have to work for it. The microphones are awful, for
starters, making it a strain to listen to – and then once you do
figure it out, the podcast hops all over the place, not laying out
clearly why pieces of evidence are important, and it becomes
something of a swirl. Add to that the fact that this is essentially a
group self-identifying as Team Adnan and you quickly see that the
evidence isn't being thoroughly examined. If you need to follow the
case that launched Serial further, then yes, there is more to be
found here. But as a podcast on its own, it lacks the storytelling
flair, the objective perspective and gripping nature of Serial.
Website: undisclosed-podcast.com
Sword and Scale
Far more professional is Sword and
Scale, which is also a true-crime podcast series. Each podcast
explores a case that has appeared before the courts – the two most
recent podcasts dealing with the case of so-called Facebook Killer
Derek Medina, who shot his wife, Jennifer Alfonso, repeatedly in the
kitchen of their home, and then went to social media and posted a
message saying “Im going to prison or death sentence for killing my
wife”. More than that, he also took a picture of his wife after
shooting her and posted that to Facebook too. Unlike the Serial
stories, there's no question here of guilt – he absolutely did it,
but rather the podcast explores the court process and the detail of
what led up to the killing. It's a very hard listen because of the
content, but it's a very honest show, also exploring who this man was
– bizarrely, also being a writer of self-help books. What emerges
is a picture of a narcissist and a control freak. Host Mike Boudet
presents an unvarnished, realistic look at the horror of such cases –
but also poses thoughtful questions, one other show highlighting what
people think needs to be changed in the justice system. A fascinating
listen, and heartbreaking in its detail.
Website: swordandscale.com
Criminal
Lastly, and in the same vein, is
Criminal. Another podcast about crime, it says it looks at “stories
of people who've done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere
in the middle”. Phoebe Judge is the host, and an excellent one –
very polished in her presentation, and setting up the story clearly
and precisely. The shows are fairly short – between 20 and 30
minutes – and so they don't really examine the evidence of the
cases featured, rather they delve into the world around the case. For
example, the latest show features Michael Ross, the first person to
be sentenced to death in Connecticut since 1960. Between 1980 and
1985 , he killed eight girls and women, raping seven of them. The
focus is as much however on Martha Elliot, a journalist who followed
his case for the better part of 20 years. Ross claimed he wanted to
die in order to atone for what he had done, and Elliot spent a long
time trying to work out whether his remorse was real or not. Again,
this can be a tough listen with the detail of the crimes being
revealed, but it does tackle the broader issues, such as the use of
the death penalty and the nature of punishment. Ross was executed in
2005. Listening to Elliot talk about him – she even says that she
told him that she would miss him and their conversations before his
execution – gives a real sense of the human aspects of the
situation. It's a brilliant show, well worth listening to and that
lingers long in the thoughts afterwards.
Website: thisiscriminal.com
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