Its sympathy for Syed is clear, which is not to say that it’s misplaced.
#Serial podcast episode 3 summary series
On Reddit, there are already people posting: “This guy sounds guilty” (the series started in the US last month). “Most people don’t have the resources you do to track me down,” Clinedinst tells the filmmakers, which almost sounds like a challenge. In a story with so many obsessive sleuths invested, it seems irresponsible for a TV show to swing such a spotlight on to people. “The failure to investigate Don more thoroughly just really stands out as a major mistake,” says one of the private investigators hired for the documentary. Another potential “suspect” is raised – Don Clinedinst, Lee’s boyfriend at the time – essentially because his alibi came from his mother. And yet it’s still uncomfortable to watch. It is skilfully created, and mostly empathetically told by the director Amy Berg. The (brief) examination of the heritage of Lee and Syed’s families – Korean and Pakistani – and what that means in the US, brings another layer to the story. “That was her household and she didn’t really have a choice to exist outside of that,” remembers her friend Debbie.
Lee is cast as a spirited young woman, constrained by the cultural expectations of her family. “Teenagers are all over the place,” says her friend. Any hints that all may not have well between them – Lee writes about their breakup: “Apparently you don’t respect me enough to accept my decision” – are not interrogated. The picture that emerges is that age-old one of young lovers, kept apart by their families – in this case, their controlling, traditional, immigrant parents. Lee and Syed are reimagined walking arm in arm through idyllic woodland.
Her words are brought to life with dreamy animated sequences. Anyone who kept a diary as a teenager will recognise the heady drama – mortifying, years later – that can be created with the liberal use of exclamation marks and some scribbled hearts. There is something desperately sad about the gulf between the interviews with these grownup, self-aware women and the gauche journal entries of their friend who would never join them. One friend describes her as “goofy” another talks about her passion.
#Serial podcast episode 3 summary serial
If you were gripped by Serial (I was), it’s quite a shock to see Lee on a video clip of a local news item, talking about her lacrosse team, very alive and human, and not just an off-stage player on online forums dedicated to this case.
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