When Making A Murderer debuted on Netflix on December 18, 2015, it became a phenomenon and people everywhere were thrust into discussions, arguments and deep dives about the guilt or innocence of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey.
Making A Murderer: Part Two may not sweep the nation as immediately as its predecessor, but the docuseries is no less compelling.
Critics of Making A Murderer will likely find that Emmy Award-winning filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos are no less focused on Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, along with their families and legal teams, so if you’re looking for more details on the prosecution’s side of things, you’re not likely to find it here. As far as Part Two is concerned, both Avery and Dassey are innocent and this is a fight for justice for them both.
But it does look pretty unflinchingly at the emotional fallout that’s affected everyone involved, from the Avery family to the Halbach’s to prosecutor Ken Krantz. It’s a reminder that, no matter how guilty someone may be, they were someone’s child, someone’s brother, someone’s family — and those people are affected by all of this as well. Especially if they feel that their loved one is innocent.
As far as the Avery and Dassey families are concerned, Steven and Brendan aren’t just innocent, they’ve been falsely accused. So they fight. Daily. On whatever level they can to bring both men home. The process has taken a financial and physical toll on both families and we see that up close. It’s an eerie thing to watch because most of us can understand that need to believe a loved one isn’t a monster and to redeem them. There were times watching the first four episodes that I was hit by how frail Avery’s parents look and how they get up every day believing in their son’s innocence with no guarantee that their efforts will be rewarded with Steven’s return.
That’s the real genius behind both Making A Murderer and Part 2 — it’s not about solving the case. It’s about the justice system itself and how that system works for or, in this case, against people.
The real star of Making A Murderer: Part 2, however, is Avery’s lawyer Kathleen Zellner.
Kathleen Zellner will challenge everything you think you know about what happened to Teresa Halbach. pic.twitter.com/KzsnZcLKe3
— Making A Murderer (@MakingAMurderer) October 17, 2018
That’s not to say that Zellner’s the focus of Making A Murderer: Part 2. She’s not. The focus of this docuseries remains the same as the first; the trail and convictions of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey. But Kathleen Zellner has won more wrongful-conviction cases than any other private attorney for a reason — she’s really good at what she does.
Zellner makes to Avery early on — she’s going to find out who killed Teresa Halbach. She hammers that home to Avery but listening to her, you can hear a promise that goes out to everyone. Kathleen Zellner took this case because she believes in Avery’s innocence, sure, but God help him if he actually killed Teresa, because she’s going to find out.
For his part, Avery seems to be all for it. There are things Avery does over the course of the first four episodes that can really only point to two conclusions in my mind; Avery is innocent or he’s essentially Hannibal Lecter. I’m not saying he can’t be a brilliant psychopath capable of lying so skillfully he can beat any test he’s given, but nothing about Avery or his life speaks to that sort of intellectual brilliance.
And I should say, with perfect transparency, that I think both Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey are innocent. I’ve never believed Dassey’s “confession” and the things that point to Avery’s guilt all feel very circumstantial. I’m not saying it isn’t possible, but it didn’t feel probable after Making A Murderer to me and Making A Murderer: Part 2 puts it firmly out of the realm of believability in my mind.
But here’s the thing that sets Making A Murderer and its sequel apart from most true crime documentaries as far as I’m concerned — this isn’t just about finding out who killed Teresa. It’s a spotlight on the criminal justice system as a whole. It’s a deep dive into a process that’s designed to keep people in jail once they’re in there.
More than anything, Making A Murderer: Part 2 is a stark lesson in just how hard it is to fight for freedom once someone’s been convicted. Which is great if the person is guilty, but hard to watch when you consider that innocent people do get sent to prison.
That process plays out in painful detail for Brendan Dassey, his family, and his post-conviction lawyers Laura Nirider and Steve Drizin. Speaking of which, I had no idea there were lawyers for this specific process but once you see everything the process entails, it’s easy to see why it has its own category. It’s a maze.
Dassey, who was 16 at the time he was accused, has been in jail for over ten years now based on a confession that he later recanted. His team has filed motion after motion to get him a new trial and each time, there’s a process and a waiting period and a result. Each time, it’s months to years of work and waiting and each time it’s hope and crushing disappointment for his parents.
In the end, whether or not Avery and Dassey are proven guilty or exonerated isn’t the point. Teresa Halbach’s brother has even said that it’s not about the result for him anymore. It’s about the loss of his sister. He just wishes he could have his family back.
Everyone wishes they had their family back.
That’s what makes the new episodes so compelling. The humanity in the wake of an inhuman crime and the fallout that’s still being felt on all sides.
Making A Murderer: Part 2 is available to watch now on Netflix.
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