Okay, the love for Making a Murderer is not lost on me it is a good show with the added nugget of being true. But people need to calm down and see something remarkably better in every aspect, except if you like stories about corrupt police.
If I were to tell you a story about a man who is the only suspect in two different murder cases (one of which was his wife) and a chief suspect in another. This same man is a member of one of the richest families in the US and had a film made about his life with Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst. The kicker for me was his reaction to being arrested for murder and his response to the question ‘Bail has been set at $250,000. Is the defendant in possession of the amount?’.
His response. ‘Well not on me’.
The man is Robert Durst, the show is HBO’s The Jinx.
The Jinx came out in 2015 to universal acclaim and nearly a year since it’s airing I feel people might be forgetting about 6 historic television episodes because of the rise of the Serial podcast and Netflix’s Making a Murderer as these both deal with similar topics in a similar documentary style but what keeps The Jinx on a higher playing field is pure and simple. Production levels, editing, quality of journalism and having a real neutral opinion on the matter up til the bitter end.
With a topic as volatile as a real man who may or may not have committed real crimes in a manner straight out of a horror film (dismemberment and decapitation, execution) navigating spoilers will be a minefield here but I will try.
Andrew Jarecki, the creator of the show, also directed the aforementioned Ryan Gosling film called All Good Things and because of his neutral stance of the Durst case prompted Robert to call him and ask to have a filmed conversation to tell his side of the story after all these years and this forms the basis of The Jinx, Andrew and his team visiting all the places of interest meeting the people involved including the police team where he was arrested for killing his neighbor while being in disguise as a mute woman.
After all the things I’ve said I bet opinions about Durst have already formed in your mind but once you hear him speak they might fall apart. He has a way of making you trust him, he’s not such a bad guy to talk to and in a murder trial he made the entire court laugh so much they had to take a recess.
The man is an enigma with apparently nothing to hide but talk to someone else and they’ll say he’s diabolical, a cold killer and the devil himself. Only after watching the 6 (yes only 6 instead of 10) episodes can a true opinion be formed and I can only urge you to find a way to watch The Jinx before Robert Durst leaves the public consciousness.
All I will say is every word out of Robert Durst’s mouth is the absolute truth and you won’t believe a word until you believe all of it.
