Serial is the new podcast from many of the same people behind This American Life. Instead of telling many stories within one episode, as This American Life does, Serial is the same story told over 12 episodes. The story is a dark one: in 1999, a high school student from Baltimore named Hae Min Lee was murdered. Her classmate and ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was arrested, charged, and found guilty of her murder. He is currently serving a life sentence.
Serial is not the Innocence Project. The host of the podcast, Sarah Koenig, seems to sway between finding the evidence against Adnan strong and disbelieving that someone she finds personally charming could be a murderer. This is the tension that makes the show so interesting for me, but I also think it is what will ultimately make listening to Serial a frustrating experience. The podcast is still being produced--I doubt the producers are going to catch Adnan in a lie that proves he is guilty or will find evidence, 15 years after the fact, that proves his innocence.
It is almost impossible to listen to this podcast without coming up with your own theory about what happened. I have one, and I have been bothering Brett, who does not listen to the podcast, about it for weeks. Have you been listening? Do you have a theory? Or, likely more accurately, am I completely missing the point of the podcast by coming up with a theory of what actually happened?
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