Three weeks after Hae goes missing, a man discovers her body in the middle of a city forest. The prosecution argued that Syed's community would help him flee to Pakistan if bail were granted, making suggestions that Syed murdered Lee as religiously motivated killing by a lover with "honor besmirched". ", "Nick Thorburn Releases Soundtrack to Podcast, "Islands' Nick Thorburn writes soundtrack for, "This American Life tries to turn its radio audience onto podcasting with its new show, "There will be a Season Two of Serial! Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our. Season One originally released at the end of 2014 and is now complete, but you can still listen from the beginning! General Michael Flynn, formerly head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, says authoritatively people died on missions to find Bergdahl. Kayla Harrison described him as an unusual, smart, creative teenager, who forged his own strict, uncompromising moral code, who believed if you know something to be wrong in the world, you must take actions to correct it, and he was "impossibly unrealistic". Season 1 That long-form narrative nonfiction is really the way to best leverage the potential of podcasting as a distribution model. The case was immediately treated as a homicide. It's Baltimore, 1999. The state’s case hinged on Jay’s credibility; he was their star witness and also their chief liability. Episode four explores the stigma around not trusting the police in a community and the death of five-month-old Avielle Wakefield who was shot in 2015. Serial will follow one story – a true story – over the course of a whole season. A high-school senior named Hae Min Lee disappeared one day after school in 1999, in Baltimore County, Maryland. How do we make sense of Jay? Jay's friend Chris recalls what Jay told him about the murder, a story not consistent with Jay's courtroom version. [91], Season 3 received mostly positive reviews. Jay claims to have helped Adnan bury Hae’s body. People who knew him in high school cannot believe he planned Lee's murder. In Season One of Serial, she looks for answers. To add to the phone-related mystery, a classmate of Adnan’s named Laura, who used to shoplift from the Best Buy from which Adnan allegedly called Jay after killing Hae, said that Adnan couldn’t have called Jay from the Best Buy payphone because it didn’t actually have a payphone. It also broke records as the fastest podcast ever to reach 5 million downloads at Apple's iTunes store. His cooperation with detectives is directly linked to his guilty plea to accessory to murder, in exchange for which he served no jail time. "[39], Nicholas Thorburn released the soundtrack for Serial on October 17, 2014. People from his mosque were scared when he was arrested, some describing his story as a cautionary tale. Yusuf said the podcast had indirectly reconnected the family to his estranged brother Tanveer for the first time in the 15 years since the murder. Syed admitted taking some money when he was in eighth grade, but his mother found out, and he felt ashamed. Koenig does not believe Cristina Gutierrez intentionally bungled his defense, but within a year after Syed's trial, Gutierrez became very ill and she was disbarred. [79], Three "update" mini-episodes of Serial were posted during Syed's post-conviction hearing in February 2016, coinciding with the run of Season Two. 1 on iTunes even before it débuted, leading iTunes rankings for over three months, well after the first season ended.
[8], Season one investigated the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee (Korean: 이해민), an 18-year-old student at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore. [78], In an interview with Jon Ronson for The Guardian, Syed's mother Shamim and younger brother Yusuf both said they listened to the podcast and that people sent transcripts to Syed in prison. In an earlier episode, Koenig explores the story of Mr. S., a school maintenance worker who discovered Hae’s body in Leakin Park.
[10] On February 12, an anonymous source contacted authorities and suggested that Adnan Masud Syed, Lee's ex-boyfriend, might be a suspect. His friends said Jay had a reputation for lying, but not about important things. [28] After the sentencing, Serial announced to be working on a "coda" for the season. [64] Reddit hosts a Serial subreddit site. The cell phone records the prosecution used leave much to be desired. She concludes that from a legal perspective, she would have voted to acquit Syed, although she still nurses doubts. By law, Congress must be given 30-day notice before Guantanamo detainees are released, but the Department of Defense had taken the lead on the trade, and had not told Congress anything. Koenig reveals she has new information about the call at 2:36. PopMatters observed that podcasting is a new distribution model, very different from television as a distribution model because it gives users access to media and the freedom to listen to episodes of a long-form story while doing other things.
Producers Koenig and Chivvis test drive the prosecution's route and timeline of Lee's murder between 2:15, when school let out at the high school, and 2:36, when Jay said Syed called him for pick up in the. [68][69] Critics said the "live investigation" format invited listeners to do their own sleuthing, which quickly led to exposure online of the full names and even addresses of people who were questioned by the police. "[5], New York Magazine reported that Phil Lord and Chris Miller, directors of The Lego Movie and the film 21 Jump Street, would be producing a television program about the podcast that will take a "behind-the-scenes approach that details how Koenig went from virtual anonymity to creating one of 2014's biggest cultural phenomenons".
Bergdahl said he tried to escape after he was captured, but his first attempt only resulted in about 15 minutes of freedom. S-Town, a 2017 collaboration between the teams of This American Life and Serial, has also received widespread acclaim. Exonerating Adnan, of course, does not require identifying a more plausible killer. What was going on with the captors? Did Syed coerce Jay and threaten to hurt Jay's girlfriend Stephanie? The pings that conflicted with his account were swept aside. "[54] The Guardian characterized it as a "new genre of audio storytelling". ", "Serial Season 2 Wasn't a Phenomenon—But It Was Still Pretty Phenomenal", "When Is 'Serial' Podcast Season 2 Finale? [53] David Carr in The New York Times called Serial "Podcasting's first breakout hit. Third, were they safe to release from Gitmo? Did he really just stumble on her by accident? His story changes several times, and three hours of his interview with the police were not recorded. Why did the White House make such a mistake, instead of using an earlier plan to have a quiet event? As she told TIME in October, “I am hopeful that I will figure it out one way or the other … I may have to give that up along the way, but today, I’m hopeful.” In the meantime, Adnan eagerly awaits an end to the rehashing the podcast has foisted upon him, and fans await details on season two. Flynn points out they did not have bullet-proof intelligence on where Bergdahl was. It was cited for "its innovations of form and its compelling, drilling account of how guilt, truth, and reality are decided". Adnan Syed vs State of Maryland", "Adnan Syed, subject of 'Serial' podcast, will not get a new trial", "Justices reject call for new trial in 'Serial' podcast case", "Exclusive: Jay, key witness from Serial, tells his story for the first time", "Bowe Bergdahl to Face Court-Martial on Desertion Charges", "Pandora's "Serial" Deal Is Great News For Podcast Nerds And Internet Radio", "Bowe Bergdahl Is Dishonorably Discharged, but Avoids Prison for Desertion in Afghanistan", "Serial will return to talk about Bowe Bergdahl's sentence", "RTDNA Announces 2017 National Edward R. Murrow Award Winners", "After a Long Break, Serial Has Its Day in Court", "Baltimore Teen's Murder Re-Examined in New Podcast – Makers of This American Life delve into questions surrounding the 1999 murder of a Woodlawn High School senior", "Can True Crime Stories Interfere With Old Cases? © 2014 - 2020 Serial Podcast In Season One of Serial, she looks for answers. Hae Min Lee, a popular high-school senior, disappears after school one day. Like House of Cards, but you can enjoy it while you're driving. Bergdahl wanted to "kill the bad guys", and do better at engaging the regular Afghans, but he felt the Army was not fulfilling its counter-insurgency mission. [85][86][87][88], The Guardian summarized the season by saying Koenig and her team managed to add to the conversation: "Not only did they let Bergdahl speak for himself, via a series of interviews with the film-maker Mark Boal, but they also asked and answered a question that no one – including the military or the US government – had seemingly bothered to investigate.
So how did the jury make sense of Jay? Has Bergdahl been telling the truth about his reasons for walking off base in Afghanistan, or just the version he could live with? A profile on Jesse Nickerson, a man beaten by the cops and as a result of his trial, got them sentenced to prison. Koenig raises some serious questions about the competence of Adnan’s attorney, Cristina Gutierrez. [11] Syed was arrested on February 28 at 6 a.m. and charged with first-degree murder, which led to "some closure and some peace" for Lee's family.
[47], Towards the end of the first season, producers asked for public donations to fund a second season.
Syed proclaims his innocence, but there are puzzling inconsistencies in the set of facts he tells. Koenig reviews the phone records again with her production team and determines that neither Jay's nor Syed's story of that day aligns with the evidence. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use, Play Season One: Episode 04: Inconsistencies, Play Season One: Episode 06: The Case Against Adnan Syed, Play Season One: Episode 07: The Opposite of the Prosecution, Play Season One: Episode 08: The Deal with Jay, Play Season One: Episode 09: To Be Suspected, Play Season One: Episode 10: The Best Defense is a Good Defense, Play Season One: Episode 12: What We Know, Play Season One: Update: Day 01, Adnan Syed’s Hearing, Play Season One: Update: Day 02, Adnan Syed’s Hearing, Play Season One: Update: Day 03, Adnan Syed’s Hearing. [23], For Season Two, Koenig teamed up with Mark Boal, the Academy Award winning screenwriter of The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, and his production company, Page 1. A teacher said Adnan’s poetry showed a “dark side,” but it’s not clear whether the darkness she interpreted reflects typical teenage brooding or something deeper. Private Bowe Bergdahl left his U.S. Army post in Afghanistan in 2009, intending to hike about 20 miles to a larger command center and triggers a ".