Serial - the podcast *spoilers*

It does seem sort of effective as an interview style, like maybe it gets people to drop their guard with her. I've actually noticed Terry Gross does it sometimes, probably strategically.

I relistened to episode 1 the other day and I was struck by how, in this NPR-ish aw shucks way, it was totally selling the prurient stuff off the top. "For months now I've had to ask teenagers about their sex lives and drug use!"

Worst song of 2014:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8xyfK4lES8

ughhhhhhh why

it was too painful to watch more than 30s

yeah I couldn't

I labeled it, buyer beware

it gets worse though, keep listening

like fuck

I just spit at my computer

Good grief I'm so happy I've been staying away from all the fandom over this.

If you had to click and fully experience one, this song or the My Little Pony boiled in the jar of oh god I can't even say it, which would you pick???

I hate the theme music for Serial so much. In a couple of days, I may never have to hear it again (hope hope).

I would literally pick any other option vs. listening to this again. I would rather listen to an hour of all of my loved ones frightened and crying over this.

i watched all of it. i hate his hands.

oh man, that guy has like a dozen other rap videos. I was kind of hoping he was just a strawman TAL listener brought to life and handed a microphone by Sarah Vowell

holy crap

the comments you guys, wave after wave of positive comments

he has fans

we are doomed

Oh wow I just watched that and it is really bad! I don't like anything about it!

fuck that guy and his henley shirt

fuck that guy and his park slope back patio

so much secondhand embarrassment

he kind of looks like the "fifth beatle" of that Serial producer group photo

looking into this douche, it seems he's part of this whole dark world of rap cosplay where guys dress up as famous people and rap whitely at one another

oh he's one of the dudes in those historical figure vs historical figure rap videos (the only one I remember seeing is the Keynes vs. Hayek one -- or Keynes vs Friedman or something).

They can fuck off as well

there was a month-or-so with regular airing of that commercial with dude dressed as a pirate and rapping about being the 'high seas caesar' or some shit.

it was the worst

at least Hayek/Keynes was an actual historical argument. The Serial rap guy does stuff like Stephen King vs. Edgar Allen Poe. What was their beef again?

Poe's ghost hit King with a car

Poe's brother wrote House of Leaves

Can't wait for Thinkpieceapalooza after the finale.

just imagine Slate's pitch meeting tomorrow.

Adnan's tic of peppering his sentences with "right" irks me, I think that's one of the main reasons I think he probably did it

ha

solid pitch, can we get a "people who say right probably murderers" teaser pushed out to social media asap?

Tomorrow's episode is titled "What We Know", so I guess it's okay to start publishing the thinkpieces now.

some people are speculating that she has an interview with Jen she's saving for the final--as she's been using Jen's last name throughout the series

I guess not, then. But Jay's porn store buddy was the best interview of the series.

i get her point, but it's really unsatisfying that deidra just sez 'big picture' in re: explaining jay tying to the serial killer theory

Yeah, it seemed like they were trying hard to avoid the point that this was either Adnan or Jay, and as we've said here, Jay doing this by himself is nonsensical

A satisfying enough final episode, I think, although I'm a lot close to Koenig's producer's POV than I am hers or the Innocence Projects (not a juror thankfully so I don't feel need to be bound by Reasonable Doubt). Innocence Project's "big picture" answer sorta hilarious.

we should get Spoilers added to the thread title, I guess.

I'm totally with Dana Chivis too - you have to buy too many unlikely coincedences to think that Adnan's telling the truth. And her list didn't even include all of them. It felt a little manipulative - or just a bad narrative choice - to hold back on articulating that list of hoops you have to jump through to buy Adnan's story until the final episode. I get that it kept the tension high - but the show lost credibility to me midway through when they weren't letting on that they could see Adnan's pattern of "coincedences" (aka bullshit) that was so plain to listeners.

But I could respect SK's conclusion which I took as: as a juror, you'd need to acquit. Beyond that, his story is hard to swallow... but there are no facts we have in hand that absolutely prove he did it.

Serial killer theory seems ludicrous to me and I think they were wise not to go too hardcore on it in the finale. It kind of made me a little dubious of The Innocence Project, to be honest. Especially "big picture"! Seems hugely inconsistent that she didn't point out that this is exactly the same kind of confirmation bias and selective way of looking at the evidence that she got upset about earlier in the show. The "there are no unfriendly facts" thing was one of my favourite SK moments in the show - but in the end, I don't feel like she was able to apply that to her own thinking.

re: 33:33…. OR THAT HE'S NOT AT THE HOUSE&%$!$!$

Also re: Nisha call. I don't feel like the new info was at all significant. Jay and Nisha both agree they spoke that day. That's two human beings and the call record that line up, vs. Adnan's "um, I dunno, butt dial?"

Of course, the big problem is that she says Jay was at a job he didn't have yet... which is enough to throw it out as hard evidence.

But I can rationalize it... she was asked about it at least six weeks later, when Jay did have that video store job - which she might have known (or it could have been something the cops put in her head). "He works in a porn video store!" is something that sticks in your head, especially as a teenager - she might have just been mixed up...

That said, you can't put much weight on it - because her memory is flawed. You also have to say "OK could have been a butt dial" anyway because, fine, that's possible.

So, basically this show just proved that a jury was wrong to find a murderer guilty

That's not my read.

oh shit - they never used that line from the teaser in ep 1:

“Basically threatened me, like, you know what happened to Hae. This is what’s going to happen to you. That’s how I felt that day.”

that's kind of needs some 'splaining

yeah, that line is like the outrigger on Lost

I guess the bombshells, if they are to be believed, are:

Jay was telling a dude that he helped a middle eastern guy hide Hae's body before the cops got to him--which either means that Jay is a fabulist who got caught up in his own lies, or (more likely) there was no serial killer.

&

The prosecutor yelled at Don for not demonizing Adnan. Which means they knew their case was kind of weak