Making a Murderer and Serial were the one-two punches that got Americans into true crime in a more mainstream way than ever before. Netflix’s Making a Murderer especially showed the complex case of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, who were accused of killing Teresa Halbach with fairly weak evidence and a confession that is seen by many as coerced.
With Dassey’s case being denied a hearing by the Supreme Court, it’s the perfect time for people to be brought back into the case. In a press release, Netflix unveiled the second season, with filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos examining the efforts of Avery and Dassey’s legal team:
Over the course of 10 new episodes, Making a Murderer Part 2 provides an in-depth look at the high-stakes postconviction process, exploring the emotional toll the process takes on all involved.
“Steven and Brendan, their families and their legal and investigative teams have once again graciously granted us access, giving us a window into the complex web of American criminal justice,” said executive producers, writers and directors Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos. “Building on Part 1, which documented the experience of the accused, in Part 2, we have chronicled the experience of the convicted and imprisoned, two men each serving life sentences for crimes they maintain they did not commit. We are thrilled to be able to share this new phase of the journey with viewers.”
While we already know the ultimate conclusion, it will be interesting to see the journey that has been taken by the defense team and the family. At the same time, I do feel bad for the family of Teresa Halbach. Halbach’s family and their side of the story have been pretty much ignored in favor of dissecting everything about Avery and Dassey. Exonerating these two men will not bring justice for Teresa’s death, nor will it encourage any further investigation, especially if the police stand by the fact that Avery and Dassey are their guys.
I’m not 100% sure if Avery is guilty or innocent, even though the investigative work seems a little spotty to me overall, but Dassey’s confession was very uncomfortable to watch, and I think was dubious in nature. Still, Teresa Halbach was brutally murdered, and even if we don’t want to put that on these two men, where is the effort to get justice for her? I don’t think the show (and it is a show with its own narrative, even though it’s a “documentary”) is invested in that or giving a full, totally unbiased account, and there is where it fails at times.
Part two will be released October 19th globally.
(via Netflix.com/MakingaMurderer, image: Netflix )
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