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[Sloane]

After listening to Koenig reporting from Adnan's hearing, I'm kind of glad season 2 is about something less controversial. She still seems inclined to believe that you can trust people's memories of what happend more than 15 years ago -- but, if season 1 achieved anything, it was proving that you really can't?

Also, the whole Asia business sounds pretty damning and explains why her testimony wasn't used back then, yet there could be a completely innocent reason for Adnan telling his friend to have her type up a letter (and put the date on every single page)? So "his friends would get his address so they could write him letters"? What. I almost think I misunderstood something there.

Season 2 might not be as "exciting", if that's the right word, but at least it feels a bit more distanced.

 

[Brakke]

Yeah these S1 revisits have been bonkers. Sarah and her producer joking about what the actual cell phone forensics team is... just makes season 1 feel like these two ladies were having a ball. S1 was already a mess in terms of being more about the experience of investigating than the investigation itself, now they're underlining that.

This show is in such s weird spot re self-awareness. Do Koneig and team realize how clear their biases are playing out? I'm inclined to believe they're savvy enough to realize that they're making it obvious. But at the same time it isn't clear to me what they think is valuable about playing in the open.

 

[Dalek]

Episode 6 was insane-remind me to never join the military.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

I'm inclined to believe they're savvy enough to realize that they're making it obvious. But at the same time it isn't clear to me what they think is valuable about playing in the open.

I think that was one of Season 1's main appeals—it brought the story to life, so to speak.

I've seen posters in this very thread say that one of their disappointments in S2 as opposed to S1 is that in S1, Sarah almost felt like one of the characters. She was part of the story.

 

[Blader]

Also, the whole Asia business sounds pretty damning and explains why her testimony wasn't used back then, yet there could be a completely innocent reason for Adnan telling his friend to have her type up a letter (and put the date on every single page)? So "his friends would get his address so they could write him letters"? What. I almost think I misunderstood something there.

I didn't completely understand this either. Why would Adnan ask Asia, through another friend, to write him a letter so that his friends could have his prison address? Why not just ask the first friend to tell them? If he and Asia weren't especially close, why is he relying on Asia to give his address to his friends when there are so many other channels (like, his family) that he could've used?

It was a really convoluted point that I don't think Sarah unraveled all that much, unless I missed something important there.

Podcasts need to be like Rashomon, where every side tells a conflicting story and the truth is unknowable. Bergdahl wandered off base and was captured, and now his life is shitty because of the political climate. Is anyone disputing why he wandered off base? Not really. Is anyone saying that he was "turned" or was suggesting he was "a spy"? Nope. Is his current situation partly political, but ultimately within the scope of desertion? Sure.

Um...what? There have been many disputes about why he wandered off base. There are many people who initially believed that he was turned or some kind of Taliban sympathizer, if not outright traitor. These are all extremely important parts of the story that have been addressed in both the podcast and, you know, real life.

 

[Demoskinos]

Anyone still listening to this? The latest episode from yesterday (woo we got two episodes this week!) was pretty interesting. It all really is starting to add up. Bowe seems literally insane from a clinical level IMO. All of this fantastical ranting he does about being a Jason Borne like figure starts to really make sense when you start to get a background on his mental state.

At this point I'd be shocked if he actually didn't get thrown into military prison for walking off.

 

[Vyer]

Yeah, I'm starting to question Bergdahl's mental state more than the idea that he's just a deserter or traitor. It feels like this whole thing is more about how the military is just another reflection on how poorly we handle or even identify those kind of issues on the whole.

 

[Demoskinos]

Yeah, I'm starting to question Bergdahl's mental state more than the idea that he's just a deserter or traitor. It feels like this whole thing is more about how the military is just another reflection on how poorly we handle or even identify those kind of issues on the whole.

If anything yeah, that is the most interesting part of this season getting a glimpse into actual military life and operations from the perspective of active soldiers.

 

[bomma_man]

Yeah he clearly has delusions of grandure and a hero complex. Weird guy.

 

[JCX]

This two-parter saved the season for me. Painted a great picture of his mental state.

 

[Sethista]

I dont think his mental state is crippling, meaning yes, he has a hero complex and delisuions of grandeur, but apparently that made him a good soldier. He just went one step further than he should.

 

[bomma_man]

I dont think his mental state is crippling, meaning yes, he has a hero complex and delisuions of grandeur, but apparently that made him a good soldier. He just went one step further than he should.

Ayn Rand tho

 

[digdug2k]

This weeks episode about all the political maneuvering is pretty great. I had no idea about... any of this.

 

[backflip10019]

This weeks episode about all the political maneuvering is pretty great. I had no idea about... any of this.

There was a new episode this week?

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

Im at episode 9 of S2 and all I can say is that after S1 I must quote the timeless sage Bill Murray:

Oh my gosh, does that suck

That was the most boring, pointless stretch of radio I think I have committed myself to. Unlike the first season I found myself becoming more and more irritated by Sarah Koenig. There was something about her that came off as very pandering.

 

[backflip10019]

What a boring episode today.

I just want this to end already.

 

[aceface]

Just finished the last two episodes and I could not disagree more with the the last two posters, I have loved S2. I have learned a lot about the War in Afghanistan, gitmo, the workings of the army this season. It's really interesting.

 

[blackflag]

Just finished the last two episodes and I could not disagree more with the the last two posters, I have loved S2. I have learned a lot about the War in Afghanistan, gitmo, the workings of the army this season. It's really interesting.

The last few episodes have been more interesting to me too. Maybe because I'm a vet, not sure. It's vastly worse than season 1 though.

 

[bomma_man]

It's different. It's more like a standard piece of long form journalism, like an article in New Yorker or something. It doesn't have the mystery hook, and I guess that's all a lot of people were ever interested in. Sad!

 

[Wowfunhappy]

I don't like this one as much as the last season but I continue to be surprised at just how much some people seem to hate it.

 

[mr stroke]

Loved season 1

S2 is on my back log and was going to start it tomorrow but it seems the interest is gone from looking at this thread. Was season 1 a gimmick that was "right time right place" or is S2 just a boring story that's not worth my time ?

 

[The Illiterati]

It's different. It's more like a standard piece of long form journalism, like an article in New Yorker or something. It doesn't have the mystery hook, and I guess that's all a lot of people were ever interested in. Sad!

I don't think it's sad. Listen, I love This American Life(heard every single episode), and I'm even enjoying this season of Serial, but the mystery angle was amazing for Serial season one, and it really disappoints me that they completely dropped the ball on what was unique about their show. It is literally just a deep dive TAL add on now. They hooked people with a completely different type of show.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

S2 is on my back log and was going to start it tomorrow but it seems the interest is gone from looking at this thread. Was season 1 a gimmick that was "right time right place" or is S2 just a boring story that's not worth my time ?

Serial Season 2 is a 10 hour episode of This American Life.

Whether or not you like it will probably depend on your reaction to the above sentence.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

(double post fail, I clicked the "quote" button instead of the "edit" button)

I don't think it's sad. Listen, I love This American Life(heard every single episode), and I'm even enjoying this season of Serial, but the mystery angle was amazing for Serial season one, and it really disappoints me that they completely dropped the ball on what was unique about their show. It is literally just a deep dive TAL add on now. They hooked people with a completely different type of show.

For better or worse, though, I'm pretty sure that this was their original intent. They've essentially said as much in interviewers. The story for S1 seems to have just kind of fallen into their lap.

 

[aceface]

Serial Season 2 is a 10 hour episode of This American Life.

Whether or not you like it will probably depend on your reaction to the above sentence.

I love TAL so this is great for me. I wasn't enthused about season 1 at all. I listened to it all about a year after the release so I didn't get caught up in the hype I guess. I ended up being annoyed that the mystery was never solved and it didn't end up going anywhere.

 

[Vyer]

I don't think it's sad. Listen, I love This American Life(heard every single episode), and I'm even enjoying this season of Serial, but the mystery angle was amazing for Serial season one, and it really disappoints me that they completely dropped the ball on what was unique about their show. It is literally just a deep dive TAL add on now. They hooked people with a completely different type of show.

There's really not anything necessarily unique about murder mysteries. I mean, Dateline will give you one just about every week if you want. The format was a little more unique I suppose, but that's really not anything that's changed much. I don't think they 'dropped the ball'; This seems to be still what it always was meant to be. It's just that something like the Adnan case is a little easier to sink into for a mainstream audience.

If anything, their 'mistake' was going with a murder mystery first. The idea behind Serial was always 'one story week by week', but now people think it was supposed to be a murder mystery podcast.

 

[frequency]

My only problem with season two is the release schedule changing to be an episode every two weeks.

I'm actually super glad they aren't doing another murder mystery. I find the idea of making entertainment out of murder quite morbid.

 

[The Illiterati]

There's really not anything necessarily unique about murder mysteries. I mean, Dateline will give you one just about every week if you want. The format was a little more unique I suppose, but that's really not anything that's changed much. I don't think they 'dropped the ball'; This seems to be still what it always was meant to be. It's just that something like the Adnan case is a little easier to sink into for a mainstream audience.

If anything, their 'mistake' was going with a murder mystery first. The idea behind Serial was always 'one story week by week', but now people think it was supposed to be a murder mystery podcast.

For better or worse there's not a single podcast out there covering a single mystery/murder that in depth, with a narrative style that feels as if you're investigating along with the creators. Are we that invested in Bergdahl? No matter the subject, the story has a completely different feel and this season doesn't build any engagement with the listener. It WAS unique in the world of media for these reasons. You can say long form news reporting is what they always intended it to be, but they got popular for entirely different reasons. I don't doubt their listenership is cratering in comparison.

 

[Etzer]

I stopped listening a couple of episodes back. My problem with Season 2 isn't that the subject matter isn't as compelling as Season 1, it's that she's focusing on the worst aspects of the story. There are many times while I'm listening that it seems like she's on the verge of getting deeper into discussing the systemic issues I've heard of from people in the military, only for that to fizzle out and we go back to Bowe.

 

[bomma_man]

My only problem with season two is the release schedule changing to be an episode every two weeks.

I'm actually super glad they aren't doing another murder mystery. I find the idea of making entertainment out of murder quite morbid.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/01/25/dead-certainty

I dismissed this article initially but the reaction to season 2 has had me coming back...

 

[Fuu]

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/01/25/dead-certainty

I dismissed this article initially but the reaction to season 2 has had me coming back...

Good article, thanks for sharing. People definitely fail to take these points into consideration with this kind of production, and I say this as a big fan of true crime documentaries.

 

[petethepanda]

Guess it makes sense, but I didn't expect this to be the finale. Starting now...

 

[Mully]

This was a much better season than season 1 from a journalistic perspective. This was the kind of reporting I was hoping for since I first heard about Serial's concept prior to listening to season 1.

 

[MisterR]

The proof is in the pudding for Season 2. I forgot it existed until I saw the thread pop up again. While it may be good long form journalism, it's certainly not half as interesting as last season. The cultural phenomenon is over. Hopefully they will choose a much more interesting subject for Season 3, if they do one.

 

[Mully]

The proof is in the pudding for Season 2. I forgot it existed until I saw the thread pop up again. While it may be good long form journalism, it's certainly not half as interesting as last season. The cultural phenomenon is over. Hopefully they will choose a much more interesting subject for Season 3, if they do one.

I don't think they should choose something entertaining for the sake of becoming a cultural phenomenon again. That'd be a disservice to the listener as a journalist. My hope is that they continue to do work similar to what they did in season 2 for their upcoming season.

 

[Reptars Revenge]

Season 2 was really disappointing. I switched over to the mystery show and have been enjoying that.

 

[Brakke]

This was a much better season than season 1 from a journalistic perspective. This was the kind of reporting I was hoping for since I first heard about Serial's concept prior to listening to season 1.

Definitely agree with this. Season 1 had a bunch of things that really bothered me.

Execution was still pretty lacking here, tho. It was just totally unclear what was going on in production, from the schedule changes to the inserted-but-totally-incomplete aside to revisit Mr Syed. "Surprise, this week we're done." Wish I had just ignored it entirely until now, and taken it as a complete work once everything was out.

 

[Jugendstil]

Definitely agree with this. Season 1 had a bunch of things that really bothered me.

Execution was still pretty lacking here, tho. It was just totally unclear what was going on in production, from the schedule changes to the inserted-but-totally-incomplete aside to revisit Mr Syed. "Surprise, this week we're done." Wish I had just ignored it entirely until now, and taken it as a complete work once everything was out.

I agree with this. I actually think this season was pretty interesting, and I think its a better piece of journalism, but there are just too many weird issues with the execution for it to really be successful. The decision that this was the last episode is very out of left field, and the way it was announced as a passing aside is very odd. I would bet money the finale was announced because they want to start on the next season and move onto something that will draw in a larger audience again (and not just public radio nerds like me).

 

[tim.mbp]

I found I liked Season 2 more, maybe because I think Bowe is more interesting and since I've never been in the Army, it was a great look at what happened at that time in Afghanistan.

 

[ReAxion]

Honestly forgot this came out today. 2 week format kills my hype.

This was a much better season than season 1 from a journalistic perspective. This was the kind of reporting I was hoping for since I first heard about Serial's concept prior to listening to season 1.

S1 was like meandering through fog forever. It was interesting at the time but after having it all unpacked on Undisclosed, it's useless.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Just finished it. Hadn't expected this to be the last episode, but it ended pretty well, all things considered. Better than the ending to season 1, anyway.

I think that their one real mistake this season was moving to a bi-weekly schedule. We don't really know what their reasons were, but there has to have been a better solution than this. It just killed all of the momentum.

Had they NOT gone bi-weekly, but they needed until yesterday in order to finish the last episode, they would have needed to fill four extra weeks. Except that there was actually one week when they released two episodes—if they hadn't done that, they'd be down to three extra weeks. All of the episodes in this season were pretty long, so it wouldn't have been so horrible if they'd split up a couple of them. That would have been a much better solution than moving to a bi-weekly schedule.

 

[Demoskinos]

Just finished it. Hadn't expected this to be the last episode, but it ended pretty well, all things considered. Better than the ending to season 1, anyway.

I think that their one real mistake this season was moving to a bi-weekly schedule. We don't really know what their reasons were, but there has to have been a better solution than this. It just killed all of the momentum.

Had they NOT gone bi-weekly, but they needed until yesterday in order to finish the last episode, they would have needed to fill four extra weeks. Except that there was actually one week when they released two episodes—if they hadn't done that, they'd be down to three extra weeks. All of the episodes in this season were pretty long, so it wouldn't have been so horrible if they'd split up a couple of them. That would have been a much better solution than moving to a bi-weekly schedule.

Yeah, didn't expect this to be the end. Especially after Sarah said "Hey, were going bi-weekly because were doing more this season than we expected"

 

[Tobor]

The proof is in the pudding for Season 2. I forgot it existed until I saw the thread pop up again. While it may be good long form journalism, it's certainly not half as interesting as last season. The cultural phenomenon is over. Hopefully they will choose a much more interesting subject for Season 3, if they do one.

"If they do one"? It's in the top 5 of all podcasts on iTunes right now. Of course they're going to do another one.

+1 for season 2 being better than season 1. All they need to do is fix the scheduling and bring on season 3.

 

[Vyer]

For better or worse there's not a single podcast out there covering a single mystery/murder that in depth, with a narrative style that feels as if you're investigating along with the creators. Are we that invested in Bergdahl? No matter the subject, the story has a completely different feel and this season doesn't build any engagement with the listener. It WAS unique in the world of media for these reasons. You can say long form news reporting is what they always intended it to be, but they got popular for entirely different reasons. I don't doubt their listenership is cratering in comparison.

It's not unique in the 'world of media', though it may have been unique in the world of podcasts, though I'm not even sure if that's true. And I don't have to say long form was what they intended': they did. From the beginning.

As far as popularity goes, they definitely don't have the mainstream pop culture draw going, but it still rates highly so I don't know that 'cratering listenership' is necessarily apt. What happened last year was rather unprecedented for a podcast. Maybe they never expected that to continue. Maybe it isn't reasonable to expect that to continue even if they stayed murder mystery. I don't know. Either way I suppose they can decide from here on out what they want to become going forward. It will be interesting to see what decisions they make.

 

[Resident_UA]

The proof is in the pudding for Season 2. I forgot it existed until I saw the thread pop up again. While it may be good long form journalism, it's certainly not half as interesting as last season. The cultural phenomenon is over. Hopefully they will choose a much more interesting subject for Season 3, if they do one.

In a way I get what you are trying to say. Season 2 is not as engaging as Season 1. People are not going to Best Buy parking lots to take pictures.

BUT Season 2 is so much more insightful. It's actually kind of sad that such great journalistic investigation is not getting as much attention as Season 1. It says a lot about our society...

 

[Demoskinos]

In a way I get what you are trying to say. Season 2 is not as engaging as Season 1. People are not going to Best Buy parking lots to take pictures.

BUT Season 2 is so much more insightful. It's actually kind of sad that such great journalistic investigation is not getting as much attention as Season 1. It says a lot about our society...

This. People just wanted more whodunnit out of season 2 and season 2 was more about examining the situation and the inner workings of the military which i think as a whole is far more fascinating. Calling it a failure is I think presumptuous.

 

[The One Who Knocks]

Just finished it. Hadn't expected this to be the last episode, but it ended pretty well, all things considered. Better than the ending to season 1, anyway.

I think that their one real mistake this season was moving to a bi-weekly schedule. We don't really know what their reasons were, but there has to have been a better solution than this. It just killed all of the momentum.

Had they NOT gone bi-weekly, but they needed until yesterday in order to finish the last episode, they would have needed to fill four extra weeks. Except that there was actually one week when they released two episodes—if they hadn't done that, they'd be down to three extra weeks. All of the episodes in this season were pretty long, so it wouldn't have been so horrible if they'd split up a couple of them. That would have been a much better solution than moving to a bi-weekly schedule.

I finally finished it, and I completed agree with the bolded. The momentum and energy of the season just completely fell flat with the schedule alteration. Whether the quality of the journalism is better in this season than the previous season I don't know if I can say at the moment (as it's been too long since I listened to the previous on), but I definitely thought this, at the bare minimum, maintained a very high standard of quality throughout. Perhaps it wasn't as interesting in that it lost the intrigue of the previous season, but that's just a consequence of the different subject matter rather than anything else, and I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that it doesn't have that same 'hook' to it when the quality is this high anyway.

 

[maugwah]

I finished season 2 a few weeks back. It's solid, but I was nowhere near as emotionally invested in the story as I was with season 1. I lost sleep over that first story. Still, I'd recommend season 2 for commuters who need to burn time like me. It's an interesting look at military organization and standards during the war in Afghanistan

 

[soxinthebox]

In a way I get what you are trying to say. Season 2 is not as engaging as Season 1. People are not going to Best Buy parking lots to take pictures.

BUT Season 2 is so much more insightful. It's actually kind of sad that such great journalistic investigation is not getting as much attention as Season 1. It says a lot about our society...

I felt like it wasn't as engaging since she didn't directly talk to the guy. I might be wrong but I got the impression she was just re-telling Mark's (?) interviews.

 

[Resident_UA]

I felt like it wasn't as engaging since she didn't directly talk to the guy. I might be wrong but I got the impression she was just re-telling Mark's (?) interviews.

It might have helped. But in general I don't think it would be possible for them to get into as much detail as Season 1. Plus overarching events (i.e. US foreign policy) are much more interesting, it's just impossible to retell them in an engaging manner...