Topic: The Serial Podcasts - 3rd series out now (April 2017)

[Elf Pistolero_7]

I take it people have heard of this in relation to the first Season of Serial? http://undisclosed-podcast.com/

[Brian Blessed]

I listened to the first one of that, but didn't care for it. It felt like the lady didn't get what she wanted from Serial - complete absolution of Adnan - so made this one. Did that change in later episodes?

[Ciara (with a capital "C")]

The latest Undisclosed is about to drop and it is supposed to be fairly massive.

Is anyone still following this?

These were the last words of the last Addendum:

"Beyond the kinds of impropriety we discussed, an even more serious violation took place. A Brady violation that was never disclosed to the defence, and has never been reported before that turns the case on its head. We spent a long time investigating this new information, information that's actually from an anonymous source and left us all shocked - until next week."

I cannot wait!

I found it hard to get into Undisclosed from the first two/three epeisodes but it is on another level to Serial. Whilst Serial opened the doors, and told people the story, Undisclosed has got so much more depth to it.

They are literally strengthening Adnan's *innocence* each week.

By innocence, I mean they help dispel some of the myths around his prosecution and to throw into serious doubt some of the reasoning behind him being charged.

My opinion changes every week on this. I am currently of the opinion that Adnan and Jay were heroin dealers. Either Hae OD's on heroin supplied by those two, or she was angry with Adnan for going to meet his dealer at the Best Buy, and wanted to intervene, which the 'dealer/dealers' didn't take too kindly to, leaving Jay and Adnan with a body to dispose of. It's why Jay had Adnan's car and phone IMO. And why they were so keen to distance themselves from each other as 'friends'. Why would a 17 yr old boy have a cell phone in 1999? And why was he constantly receiving phonecalls? And why didn't he want his parents to know?

We know from that time that there was a massive heroin problem in Baltimore and there are strong beliefs that this was heightened by the Pakistani community, who were accused of smuggling the heroin into the State.

Pulmonary edema can also be linked to a heroin overdose.

I just really want to know what happened now!

[Ciara (with a capital "C")]

Also, Rabia and Colin are both very confident about the damage tomorrow's podcast will do to the State of Maryland, judging on their tweets.

[Brian Blessed]

If she ODed on heroin, wouldn't it have shown up in her autopsy?

[Ciara (with a capital "C")]

If she ODed on heroin, wouldn't it have shown up in her autopsy?

Would it show up on an autopsy carried out many weeks after she died? I genuinely don't know.

I just get over excited about it!

[Ciara (with a capital "C")]

Did anyone listen to Undisclosed last night? Groundbreaking stuff!

It's multi-layered but...

- There are several Brady violations littered throughout
- The AT&T records should never have been used in court - a document has been found from AT&T which both the State and Gutierrez had, which clearly stated on the front of Adnan's cell records that "Outgoing calls only are reliable for location status. Any incoming calls will NOT be considered reliable information." They basically used this to convict him!

Also - the biggie...

The was an anonymous tipster who told the Police to hone in on Adnan. From that moment, the Police solely focused on Adnan and no-one else - he was the number 1 suspect.

That tipster collected $3075 from CrimeStoppers. It should have been paid as soon as Adnan was indicted but it wasn't - it was paid months later, which is very strange.

Undiclosed last night stated that they believe Jay to be the tipster!

They had varous plausible reasons for this. On the ridealong with Police, the officers notated that Jay was wanting to purchase a motorbike and wrote down 'REWARD' in their notes of Jay's walk through. The high school football coach was selling a motorbike at the time - for $3000.

It turns out the coach sold the bike to someone else because Jay didn't have the money at the time. He received the money from the tip off months later... after his plea deal was sorted.

Of course, none of this was disclosed to Guttierez. If true, then it would have to open up a new trial.

Lots more information came out but it's so interesting. The net is closing in.

There surely has to be a retrial now.

[Guz-kop]

I haven't got into Undisclosed at all. Felt that Serial made the story into an act of fiction whereas it became too factual with Undisclosed and too one-sided. Dunno if that makes sense, obviously this is a real case but found it hard to see it that way with Serial.

Re the above though - is that really such a big revalation? Serial speculated as to who the anonymous tipster was but got nowhere with it because it would be just blind speculation. It's not implausible it was Jay I guess.

The most interesting thing for me is the relationship between Jay and Adnan. The degree of friendship between them that we know about doesn't make any sense given the amount they distance themselves from eachother now. I don't know how we'll ever find out.

[Ciara (with a capital "C")]

I haven't got into Undisclosed at all. Felt that Serial made the story into an act of fiction whereas it became too factual with Undisclosed and too one-sided. Dunno if that makes sense, obviously this is a real case but found it hard to see it that way with Serial.

Re the above though - is that really such a big revalation? Serial speculated as to who the anonymous tipster was but got nowhere with it because it would be just blind speculation. It's not implausible it was Jay I guess.

The most interesting thing for me is the relationship between Jay and Adnan. The degree of friendship between them that we know about doesn't make any sense given the amount they distance themselves from eachother now. I don't know how we'll ever find out.

Serial set the story out for everyone but Undisclosed is about trying to discredit the State's case against Adnan, and have him freed. Undisclosed is funded by the Free Adnan Fund, so it makes sense that this is where it's loyalty lies. They don't really have any desire (perhaps that's unfair) to find out who murdered Hae, just to prove that Adnan is innocent.

The news is fairly big. If proved to be true - and the Police will have the evidence unless it mysteriously disappears  - it was amost certainly force the State to re-open the case, which would allow the other new evidence to come to light. It would also discredit Jay as a witness and help to prove the Police held Jay's hand thoughout his interviews, telling him what to say and prompting him to say certain things. There is already evidence to support this - you can clearly hear throughout Jay's interviews, whenever he pauses or says something that does corroborate the Police's story, they tap the table with a pen and Jay's like, 'Er... oh, yeah, sorry...' as if to show him he's saying the wrong thing or showing him what to say from a sheet. Very shady business.

It's also a Brady violation - withholding favourable evidence/information. I'm not entirely sure what the consequences of this would be, but I saw it mentioned last night that you can sue.

EDIT: I should say that I found it very hard to get into Undisclosed - I hated the first few episodes! Thought it was poorly produced, quality wasn't great etc... but it has really kicked on and is so, so impressive - their investigations are extensive and obviously have great legal minds.

[litliper]

http://www.maxim.com/entertainment/article/exclusive-serial-podcast-bowe-bergdahl-2015-9

[Brian Blessed]

We'd very much appreciate if fellow journalists would give us some room and not feel the need to attempt to dig into and try to figure out what you think we might be doing, especially since we're actively reporting stories, and having a bunch of wild speculation out there makes our job reporting harder. Doesn't feel very menschy.

lol, soooooooo bitter. They've created this problem by being SO tight-lipped about anything relating to this season, there's been no news except that season 2 will be out this fall and guess what! It's fall! Wow, I'm so sorry that you created a podcast that's so popular that people care about it? That must be so hard for you.


I also think such a high profile case is a mistake and it won't come anywhere close to Season one. But maybe nothing would.

[Redman0151]

Been listening to this the last couple weeks, really incredible stuff. I'm still not sure what went down, but it's crazy how he was convicted on such a shallow case (of what i've seen so far anyway). The timeline not matching up well, the cell phone log having errors, the best buy payphone not being there, the witnesses saying either they spoke to Hay or Adnan. Jay is dodgy at least, I have no doubt about that

[Vork+The Knights of Good]

Season 1 update:

http://serialpodcast.org/posts/2015/10/waranowitz-he-speaks

Waranowitz! He Speaks!
By Sarah Koenig

Or at least he’s written an affidavit that’s kind of a stunner.

Stay with me here. There’s been a development in Adnan’s case — to me, the most interesting one I’ve seen. And it comes from, of all people, the cell phone expert who testified at Adnan’s trial. Abraham Waranowitz.

Waranowitz was the radio frequency engineer for AT&T who testified at Adnan’s trial about what cell towers pinged at what locations on the day that Hae Min Lee went missing in 1999. His job on the stand was to decode cell phone data that AT&T had handed over to the detectives.

And while Waranowitz’s words on the stand were few, and technical, and soporific [see Episode 5, where I admitted to being so bored by the whole thing that I handed it all over to our producer Dana Chivvis to investigate], his testimony was in fact fantastically important. That’s because the cell records from Adnan’s phone that day were used to corroborate Jay’s story about what happened. So Waranowitz’s interpretation of those cell records underpinned the state’s entire case against Adnan.

I can’t stress this enough: If you can’t link the cell records to Jay’s story, the case against Adnan is much harder to prove. Remember the incoming 7:09 p.m. and 7:16 p.m. calls that the prosecution claimed put Adnan and Jay together in Leakin Park, where Hae’s body was buried? Waranowitz’s testimony is how they’re able to place them in that park, at that time. Those two calls were huge for the state’s case — the prosecutors touted them repeatedly, in opening statements, in closing statements, because they seemed so incontrovertible.

Now comes Waranowitz to say he doesn’t stand behind his testimony. I know! That’s why I’m stunned. In an affidavit he wrote for the defense, Waranowitz says he never saw a “critical” disclaimer that AT&T had attached to the call records, explaining the following: “Outgoing calls only are reliable for location status. Any incoming calls will NOT be considered reliable information for location.” That disclaimer was on the fax cover page that AT&T included in all its communications with the Baltimore homicide detectives in this case. But Waranowitz says he never saw it.

In an affidavit dated just ten days ago, on October 5, 2015, he writes: “Just prior to my testimony, in the courthouse, [Prosecutor Kevin] Urick presented me with a document — which I was viewing for the first time — referred to as State’s Exhibit 31. I remember viewing one page of the document. Since this appeared to have ordinary AT&T cell site data on it, I accepted it as it was presented.” He goes on to explain: “What Urick did not tell me, or call my attention to, in relation to Exhibit 31, was that AT&T had previously issued the disclaimer…” about the incoming calls not being reliable for location. Waranowitz says he wasn’t familiar with records like the one he was holding in that moment — he was used to working with raw data from the switch. Waranowitz called the disclaimer “critical information for me to address. I do not know why this information was not pointed out to me.”

“If I had been made aware of this disclaimer, it would have affected my testimony,” he wrote. “I would not have affirmed the interpretation of a phone’s possible geographical location until I could ascertain the reasons and details for the disclaimer.”

In other words, until he had sussed out what the disclaimer meant, he wouldn’t have been able to answer some of the questions Prosecutor Kevin Urick put to him on the stand, such as: Does Jay’s story about being in Leakin Park with Adnan at around 7 pm that night line up with the cell science? Waranowitz is now saying he can’t be sure about it. That his own testimony is potentially unreliable.

I’m stopping myself right now from using another exclamation point. Because while I find this an incredibly surprising development, it’s also, to me, inconclusive. In terms of Adnan’s case in court, it sure sounds like a pretty big deal if an important witness says he can’t vouch for his testimony. But I do not know whether the Circuit Court will even take up this disclaimer issue. It doesn’t have to. And in terms of understanding what happened to Hae Min Lee, it doesn’t mean anything - at least not yet, not until we know exactly what the disclaimer about incoming calls means.

Last year, when we were reporting the Adnan Syed case, we here at Serial actually spent a good chunk of time investigating this very same disclaimer on the fax cover page from AT&T. Dana emailed and called AT&T repeatedly, but they never answered the question about the disclaimer. Dana also wrote to Waranowitz, asking for help understanding the cell records, but he never responded. Finally Dana ran the disclaimer past a couple of cell phone experts, the same guys who had reviewed, at our request, all the cell phone testimony from Adnan’s trial, and they said, as far as the science goes, it shouldn’t matter: incoming or outgoing, it shouldn’t change which tower your phone uses. Maybe it was an idiosyncrasy to do with AT&T’s record-keeping, the experts said, but again, for location data, it shouldn’t make a difference whether the call was going out or coming in.

So we figured maybe everybody involved in the trial understood the incoming-outgoing science to work the same way — that is, Waranowitz, Adnan’s attorney, the prosecution — and that the cell science presented at trial was sound, and so maybe the disclaimer wasn’t a big deal and maybe that’s why no one ever brought it up at trial. So we let it go. Which was a mistake, apparently. Because now we find out that Waranowitz, the only guy who absolutely should have known about it, did not, and that he’s just as confused as we were (and still are).

Dana went back to AT&T yesterday, to ask them, once again, to explain the disclaimer. And this time, an answer! Supremely unsatisfying, but an answer: “Since this involves an ongoing court case we don’t have anything to add beyond what’s in testimony and filings.”

And I emailed Waranowitz again yesterday, about what his understanding of the disclaimer is and whether he’s going to try to find out what it means from AT&T (he no longer works there). But no word back so far. I’m not optimistic. I found this on his LinkedIn page, regarding his testimony in Adnan’s case:

"I presented an honest, factual characterization of the ATTWS cellular network, and had no bias for or against the accused. How that evidence was used (or debatably misused, or ignored) was not disclosed to me. …"

Waranowitz made it clear in the note that he’ll be keeping his opinions of the trial to himself, and that he’s not saying anything else about it publicly. “Please do NOT contact me,” he wrote.

Waranowitz’s affidavit is the latest in an ongoing legal conversation between Adnan’s appellate attorney, C. Justin Brown, and Deputy Attorney General Thiru Vignarajah. Actually, “conversation” makes it sound both more boring and less dripping with mutual disdain than it actually is. It’s good reading: You can check out the latest filings here.

It all started after Maryland’s Court of Special Appeals sent the Asia McClain alibi question back to the Circuit Court (see our May 27 newsletter). At the very end of June, Justin Brown started that Circuit Court process rolling: He filed a motion to re-open Adnan’s post-conviction case. Two months later, in August, Brown filed a supplement to that motion, adding the “unambiguous warning” on the AT&T fax cover page as another thing he wanted the court to consider: “The evidence Syed now presents to the Court … shows that the cell tower evidence was misleading and it should have never been admitted at trial.” It was another example of ineffective assistance of counsel, Brown argued, since Adnan’s trial attorney, M. Cristina Gutierrez, had seen the fax cover page in question but had failed to make a thing of it at trial.

In September, the state responded in the form of a 34-page filing so wonderfully crafted, so supercilious, that it makes me imagine a frowning barrister in a white curly wig and half-moon glasses. First off, Vignarajah argues, the whole endeavor is meritless — the circuit court shouldn’t entertain any of Adnan’s claims that he had ineffective assistance of counsel:

"To be sure, enshrined in the Constitution is a guarantee that every criminal defendant will have effective representation. ... But that safeguard is not an invitation to second guess tactical decisions and trial strategy, nor does it give license to smear the reputation of defense attorneys from the comfortable perch of history and of hindsight. The promise of the Sixth Amendment is sacrosanct, and there are no doubt defendants who are deprived of it. Adnan Syed, however, is no such victim."

The claims Adnan brings up in the filing are misleading, unauthorized and untimely, Vignarajah writes, but the state will stoop to answer them, nonetheless. Those fax cover sheets, he explains, were included with every fax that AT&T sent to the detectives in this case [as far as I can tell, that’s true - I’ve seen four of them in the case files, corresponding to four different sets of documents]. In this next part, it’s almost like Vignarajah is biting his tongue, not wanting to call Justin Brown a sad little man:

"The State is compelled, however, to also point out that even a cursory review of the cell tower records and fax cover sheets makes it clear that what Syed characterizes as an “unambiguous warning” does not relate to the cell tower records relied upon at trial by the State’s expert and admitted into evidence, but rather applies to information listed on documents titled “Subscriber Activity” reports."

The defense simply doesn’t understand what the exhibit in question — Exhibit 31 — is all about, explains Vignarajah.

"The flaw in Syed’s argument is that the cellphone records relied upon by the State’s expert and entered into evidence at trial were not Subscriber Activity reports. … Under these circumstances — and having corrected the misimpression advanced, presumably inadvertently, by Syed — counsel’s failure to confront the State’s expert witness with a fax cover sheet that corresponded to an altogether different document can hardly be called ineffective … Indeed, had Gutierrez challenged the State’s expert with a notation in a boilerplate legend from a generic fax cover sheet that applied to a separate report, she would have run the unwarranted risk of looking foolish or disingenuous to the jury."

Exhibit 31 consisted of five pages, three of which were cell records from Adnan’s phone, showing incoming and outgoing calls, and cell tower locations. The AG is saying that that specific disclaimer — which, again, was included in boilerplate language on all fax cover pages from AT&T regarding Adnan’s case, only refers to “subscriber activity reports,” and Exhibit 31 isn’t a subscriber activity report, and therefore the disclaimer doesn’t apply.

There, there, Justin Brown. Don’t feel bad. We all make mistakes.

And then, two days ago, Justin Brown filed his reply to the State, complete with Waranowitz bombshell. That filing rather neatly points out that, um, the State is wrong. Exhibit 31 is a subscriber activity report. And I agree with Brown about that, largely because on the very first page of the original 24-page call log (three pages of which would later become Exhibit 31 at trial) two words appear at the top: “Subscriber Activity.” So. It’s clear. There was a disclaimer on the fax cover page of that report; that report consisted of “subscriber activity;” and that subscriber activity is the substance of Exhibit 31.

Brown all but thanks Vignarajah in his most recent filing. Because if Vignarajah hadn’t mentioned that bit about all AT&T faxes to the detectives having that same cover page, regardless of their content, Brown wouldn’t have understood that the state must have known that this Exhibit 31 report had the same disclaimer. So now Brown adds another claim he’d like the Circuit Court to consider: a Brady violation. The state, he argues, knowingly withheld exculpatory evidence at trial, because it entered Exhibit 31 into evidence, purposely omitting both the fax cover page that included the disclaimer about how to interpret incoming calls on subscriber activity, and the page of the report that identified it as a subscriber activity report.

So that’s where it stands today. Once again, I want to be clear: It’s possible the disclaimer wouldn’t have been relevant to the cell science. After all, maybe it was just a cover-your-ass disclaimer in the unlikely event of a billing or software glitch on the part of AT&T. And hence it’s also possible that Waranowitz’s testimony would have been unchanged even if he had seen and understood the disclaimer. We just don’t know.

Meanwhile, the back and forth of this post-conviction fight is not over. From my old friend David Nitkin (formerly a Baltimore Sun colleague, now a spokesman at the AG’s office): "The Office of the Attorney General is reviewing Mr. Syed's latest filing and a decision on whether and how to reply is pending."

And when is Season 2 coming?  We know, we know!  We’re reporting it just as fast as we can. We’ll announce a date soon…

[Ciara (with a capital "C")]

This feels like a bit of a conflict, perhaps it should be in the news section but Adnan's case is to be re-opened to hear two pieces of evidence - the cell phone records and the Asia McClean testimony!


http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/06/serial-adnan-syed-case-maryland-judge-reopens-case

[Yiannis]

King Brian must be fuming at that.

[Ray K]

Here we go for Season 2...

https://serialpodcast.org/

By Sarah Koenig
12/10/2015, 6:15am
Hello, everyone. We’re back. Yes, at last! We’ve launched Season Two.

Our first season was about a murder case few people had heard about. Season Two is a story a gazillion people have heard about: the story of Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier who walked off his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and was captured and held by the Taliban for nearly five years. It’s been in the newspapers and on TV; it’s been the subject of congressional investigations (in fact, this very day, the House Armed Services Committee is releasing a report on the Bergdahl trade)—and it’s an active case in military court.

This story—it spins out in so many unexpected directions. Because, yes, it’s about Bowe Bergdahl and about one strange decision he made, to leave his post. (And Bergdahl, by the way, is such an interesting and unusual guy, not like anyone I’ve encountered before.) But it’s also about all of the people affected by that decision, and the choices they made. Unlike our story in Season One, this one extends far out into the world. It reaches into swaths of the military, the peace talks to end the war, attempts to rescue other hostages, our Guantanamo policy. What Bergdahl did made me wrestle with things I’d thought I more or less understood, but really didn’t: what it means to be loyal, to be resilient, to be used, to be punished.

Our tiny team—Julie Snyder, Dana Chivvis, Emily Condon, Ira Glass, and I—has expanded this season. As a result, one new thing: we’ll be talking with you on social media. Ask us a question on Tumblr, tweet at us, and watch for our updates on Facebook and Instagram. You can also sign up for our email newsletter. To find out where and how to listen, click here. Another new thing: 3D maps! We’ll have all sorts of graphics and videos and more to help explain what happened.

I am so happy that you’re back with us, listening. Now, on with the story.

[gerrardsarmy]

You've just made my day Ray.

[Redman0151]

Hmm interesting first episode, obviously main focus on setting the scene. Next episode sounds brilliant though.

My early impressions feel like he joined the army under the idea that it'd be this crazy, exciting experience like in the movies. But quickly realised it's a lot of sitting around bored in some shithole, so wanted to try and be a Hero.

Sure it'll be proven wrong instantly though if it's anything like the first season!

[masher]

Just heard the first episode, Dissapointing.

What is the controversy here I don't get it, even if we buy the guys story completely on face value he himself admits he goofed up big time. He broke the rules and his case will reach its legal conclusion. Don't think I am going to bother with the next episode.

[DK]

I think the 'mystery' here is whether he colluded with the Taliban.  Not sure how Sarah plans to prove or disprove that considering the countless hours the government would have put into it.

Either way, I doubt Serial has listened to 30 hours of interview with this guy, found nothing interesting and then gone ahead with it  all the same. 

Can you imagine the thousands of offers they must have had for topics in series 2? 

[ncred]

I think the story will quickly spread out into other topics - about prisoner exchanges, about mental health issues, etc.

[gallden]

This almost reminds me of Homeland...

[Lfsea]

I can see a lot of people not being in love with the theme this time around, but for me it's mana from heaven. I'm absolutely fascinated to know how the discussions with the Taliban will manifest themselves in the story.

This almost reminds me of Homeland...

The parallels are remarkable, aren't they.

[CheshireDave]

Episode 2 is out.

[Shepnois]

Episode 2 is out.

Oh good, lets hear that these Taliban lads have to say.

[AndyInVA]

I feel that this is a great subject

jut heard the first half of the first one

am totally engaged

im sure what the burden of guilt or innocence is as it seems he did just walk off

but i am interested to hear the whole story from all sides

[CheshireDave]

For people wanting a crime podcast fix there is a couple I subscribe to - 'Criminal' and 'Sword and Scale'.

I warn you the latter is pretty dark and in certain episodes covers some crimes which some people would find very upsetting. But the attention to detail in Sword & Scale in my opinion is the best I have ever come across in this sort of podcast.

Another is 'True Murder' - The production quality is not on the same level as Serial or the others I have mentioned. But Basically you have a presenter interviewing an author of true crime novels. Some are a bit boring, some are very interesting.

[Chivasino]

Has anyone listened to the Truth and Justice Podcasts? Basically breaking down the Adnan case further. The guy does an amazing job. Apologies if it's already been discussed in here but I'm now certain that....

Spoiler

Adnan and Jay had nothing to do with the murder and that it was Hae's boyfriend Don who was responsible

[close]

On season two...

Spoiler

How the fuck do you go about setting up a conference call with the Taliban?

[close]

[Yiannis]

Maybe he's "retired"?

[HighSix]

Enjoying this season more so far.

A bit of distance between the host / investigator & the main guy in question helps.

[Ciara (with a capital "C")]

Has anyone listened to the Truth and Justice Podcasts? Basically breaking down the Adnan case further. The guy does an amazing job. Apologies if it's already been discussed in here but I'm now certain that....

Spoiler

Adnan and Jay had nothing to do with the murder and that it was Hae's boyfriend Don who was responsible

[close]

I think we need an Adnan thread to discuss this further! A very big year for Adnan starting in Feb!

Also, Adnan is quite ill in prison and has been denied proper attention and care - the prison refused to seek suitable medical help for him, giving him the same tablets repeatedly. This has since changed following a lot of external interest and pressure, and he looks set to be given proper treatment including a correct course of medication.

[masher]

Has anyone listened to the Truth and Justice Podcasts? Basically breaking down the Adnan case further. The guy does an amazing job. Apologies if it's already been discussed in here but I'm now certain that....

Spoiler

Adnan and Jay had nothing to do with the murder and that it was Hae's boyfriend Don who was responsible

[close]

Find these pods much more interesting than the new season of Serial.

On season two...

Spoiler

How the fuck do you go about setting up a conference call with the Taliban?

[close]

Far easier than you would imagine. Taliban have a political office and a headquarter in Qatar, you can write an email or call them up.

[markedasred]

Interest might be waning in this, but just in case it wasn't, it will now: they have made it fortnightly instead of weekly. Need to find something else really engaging to add to the list of listens whilst working.

[CheshireDave]

This 2nd series is crap. This could have all been covered in an hour long podcast.

[Ciara (with a capital "C")]

This 2nd series is crap. This could have all been covered in an hour long podcast.

Undisclosed should have been your next move after Serial S1...

[Lfsea]

This 2nd series is crap. This could have all been covered in an hour long podcast.

It's a completely different story and there is an inordinate amount to explain with Bergdahl's adventures.

This second stint is closer to what they do on this American Life. Serial was actually the departure from it. I'm enjoying it, but they really should have known how big the story was going to get and delay it before the first episode aired so that it could be every week.

[Redman0151]

This 2nd series is crap. This could have all been covered in an hour long podcast.

Yeah there's really no intrigue there like season 1, i've given up on it

[HighSix]

Keep waiting for a twist or something but nothing. No idea why this story was picked. Maybe its more for an American audience? 

Her voice & the production quality alone will probably keep a good number listening though.

[Shepnois]

Series 2 isnt as engrossing as Series 1 but I'm still enjoying it, they're milking it by releasing it bi-weekly now though. They've clearly gone for something totally different for this series on purpose, which you cant blame them for.  The last 2 eps have been much better, dont be expecting any twists though it is what it is.

[Brian Blessed]

The first one was more organic, with a ton of stuff coming to light while it was being released. So even Sarah was surprised week to week. This one seems more after the fact, which makes it less interesting, plus it's already well known.