“Serial,” the new podcast by the creators of “This American Life,” starts out with one heck of a hook. The narrator, Sarah Koenig, says, “For the last year, I’ve spent every working day trying to figure out where a high school kid was for an hour after school one day in 1999; or if you want to get technical about it, and apparently I do, where a high school kid was for 21 minutes after school one day in 1999.”
That high school kid is Adnan Syed. His girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, disappeared on January 13, 1999. Her body was found in a park in Baltimore on Feb. 9, 1999. Adnan has been in prison since 1999, and still claims that he did not kill Hae.
From the beginning, Koenig sets the narrative around herself: how she became interested in the case, her motivations for taking it on, etc. She essentially describes herself as an amateur sleuth on a quest for the truth – whether or not Adnan is guilty.
Every episode (they are released weekly – as of publication, seven episodes out of a season of ten have been produced), the mystery seems to grow deeper. This isn’t coincidental–Koenig is a master storyteller, and walks a fine line between the impartiality of an outside observer (her journalist side) and a partiality of a (flawed) human being who has real feelings about the case and choses to (albeit selectively) voice them.
The lure of ‘Serial’ lives in the depth of Koenig’s storytelling. She recreates situations and tests assertions, interviews witnesses and reviews police recordings and transcripts, and aligns herself with the viewer in such a way that she forces us not only to listen but to feel.
Thus far, “Serial” has appealed to a massive audience. It has spawned a meta-podcast by Slate and a dedicated following on Reddit (reddit.com/r/serialpodcast); one notable Reddit thread was titled, “Anyone else going to sleep each night to the voice of [Sarah Koenig]?” Yes, this is an example of reddit-level creepyness, but it definitely shows the level of obsession that fans of ‘Serial’ have.
Criticisms of “Serial” include Koenig’s selectivity in storytelling (some witnesses are not interviewed, as per their wishes; Koenig often omits certain details and storylines so that she can more effectively tell them later) and the show’s focus on Adnan, instead of Hae (the literal victim).
One of the truly chilling parts of “Serial” is that it is incredibly entertaining. We know that we are being voyeurs to an act of violence, and this has tremendous, though guilty, appeal. This has been the appeal of everything from “Cops” to “Dateline,” and is a very important reason why they are still running on television.
There’s a weird feeling that comes from being entertained by an act of evil – a sense of disgust manifests itself as a voice in your head. Maybe that’s what makes “Serial” so brilliant. It is able to be a refreshingly good, nostalgic, and human mystery while at the same time forcing you to ask meta-questions about the show’s production, storytelling, and the nature of justice.
“Serial” is no doubt one of the best media productions to be released this year. New episodes premiere every Thursday morning, available at serialpodcast.org. Once you listen to it for the first time, you won’t want to stop.
Schaffer is a member of
the class of 2016.
