Serial - The Podcast

[GavinTheAlmighty]

As a non-American, season 2 appeals to me because I know next to nothing about Bergdahl's case.  It's a name I heard a few times in the press, but I honestly and legitimately thought that it was something to do with the Benghazi thing.  So, it's good for me.

 

I will say that Serial 1 theme music >>>> Serial 2 theme music.

[SuperBiasedMan]

As a non-American, season 2 appeals to me because I know next to nothing about Bergdahl's case.  It's a name I heard a few times in the press, but I honestly and legitimately thought that it was something to do with the Benghazi thing.  So, it's good for me.

 

I will say that Serial 1 theme music >>>> Serial 2 theme music.

 

I agree with every part of this (though I've never heard of this case).

 

That music is a shame, I wonder if there'll be bootleg copies of the cast that mix in the old theme?

[N1njaSquirrel]

I also know nothing about the case too, which is exciting, I think.

 

I also am not so clear as to his intention for leaving his post in the first place. He said he wanted higher ups to know the problems with the station, but I'm not so sure what it actually was. Was it just that it was horrible there? The way he described it, there was some actual illegal stuff going on there that needed to be rectified.

[SuperBiasedMan]

I get the impression we'll have an episode dedicated to that later so she doesn't want to spill the beans yet.

[Apelsin]

Yeah, it is just described as (paraphrasing) issues that present a real danger to him and hos fellow soldiers. I think the only real specificity we get is that it is somehow related to their officers?

[Dragonfliet]

I'm really excited about how season 2 is going so far, and I'm glad that there is no whodunit aspect to this case. The basic facts are all pretty much in agreement on all sides and the real question is in the details, motivations, etc., which I think is really compelling and what is best done in the long form format. I feel like it's not going to get the listeners quite as engaged as last season though...

[melmer]

Making a Murder documentary series on Netflix is super similar to season 1 of serial, would highly recommend

[xchen]

I'm sure most have seen the Jinx by now, but I recommend it if you haven't. It succeeded where season 1 of Serial came up short.

I was a little disappointed that they decided to do another story deeply rooted in the Islamic culture, hopefully future seasons can branch out a bit more.

[Dragonfliet]

I'm sorry, another story "deeply rooted in the Islamic culture"? A murder, in which religion plays almost no part, aside from young kids hiding their relationship from parents is not even close to  "deeply rooted in the Islamic culture." And a soldier running off is not  "deeply rooted in the Islamic culture" either.

[Stack Smashing]

I never heard of Bergdahl before I started episode one and was a bit sceptical in the beginning because the whole thing sounded so very america specific on paper. Boy was I wrong. The production is so tight this season that you really don't have to have any connection to the topic beforehand to get sucked in, fast. After just two episodes I think that this cultural specificity is really the season's greatest asset, especially since there are really two subcultures that the listener gets to know more: the American military and the Taliban. (I'm with Dragonfliet on this one, islamic culture is little more than background noise here.) And you even get a nice little mystery on top. (The mystery is actually the weakest part of the season so far in my opinion, which makes it all the more impressive how compelling the whole thing is despite this.)

[SuperBiasedMan]

Having listened through episode 3, does anyone else think she's oddly lacking in scepticism? Season 1 has scepticism all round because everything seemed shaky. However at the moment it seems like she's just accepting Bergdal's account of what happened. There's some mild corroboration with the Taliban sources but it doesn't seem like she's treating it with the same rigor as before.

Maybe it's because scepticism won't lead to more info (due to limited sources), or the assumption that there's no reason for him to lie about it. Or maybe scepticism will come later? Does anyone else think it's been a bit weird so far.

[graddy]

I have a guy on Facebook I went to high school with, who is former military/current cop who echoes your skepticism concerns. The difference, I assume, is that he is "tapping out" and not listening to any more episodes because of an alleged lack of objective reporting.

...

I like the show! I think we will find out more as we go along.

[Vasari]

I think right now she's covering the entire story, and there's alot of it to go through so she's reporting each step in detail. The scepticism is going to come later, since the only questions are around the beginning, when he was captured.

[SuperBiasedMan]

I have a guy on Facebook I went to high school with, who is former military/current cop who echoes your skepticism concerns. The difference, I assume, is that he is "tapping out" and not listening to any more episodes because of an alleged lack of objective reporting.

...

I like the show! I think we will find out more as we go along.

Oh wow, I ain't doing that. XD

I guess it's semantics that I don't think scepticism should necessarily only be applied to the important parts. She talks as if this is definitively what happened to Bergdal, not acknowledging that she's largely just trusting his account.

Admittedly it is also quite a choice to publicly say that this POW could be lieing about his personal experiences as a POW.

[Professor Video Games]

I dunno, I remember her being plenty skeptical about the events involved in his leaving the base and eventual capture. She had interviews from other officers and the Taliban. The last episode was about his first year as a prisoner, and aside from the Taliban guys confirming he tried to escape, there really isn't much to go on besides Bergdal's word, right? I thought it was pretty clear the whole thing was Berdal's take on how things happened and I'm not really sure how she could approach that part much differently.

[melmer]

Yo episode 6 was great