To sum up my feelings: I loved it. See, the premise of the podcast wasn’t “based on a true story”. It was a real life story, with an unscripted plot line and an ever open ended conclusion. Like life.
If you were let down by the conclusion of the podcast, you’ve spent too much time watching Hollywood movies and TV dramas, enjoying the nice little bow at the end.
Real life doesn’t fit into your script, your box, your expectations. And certainly doesn’t provide the endings and outcomes you usually desire. Sarah Koenig didn’t take liberty with the finale and didn’t succumb to giving listers anything that wasn’t authentic and true.
Maybe Sarah’s the real story here, not Adnan, for providing a magnetic podcast, getting under people’s skin, developing her own “isms” and then having to live out her newly found fame in real time, right before our ears, while the expectations of her built and built each week from the outside world.
She didn’t buckle. She didn’t fabricate. She gave all that she genuinely could while staying true to the very thing that roped us all in to begin with. Herself.
I feel satisfied with episode 12, like I listened to, digested, and discussed with my friends something that was worth while.
The strangest feeling I have from the finale is coming to the conclusion that even if Adnan is guilty, he should’t be in jail.
Because our justice system has nothing to do with the truth. At it’s best, it only concerns itself with what you can prove. Is that messed up? Is it the way it should be? Is there a better way?
The other little side note I thought of during this episode is…just because Jay knew where Hae’s car was when the officers interviewed him, doesn’t mean that’s where the car was since the day Hae disappeared. What if someone put it there after the fact? Or what if Jay only knew the car was there cause he just happened to be doing a drug deal there at some point in the month after Hae disappeared?
Cause if you can call into question the car thing from Jay’s story, it all falls apart…if it hadn’t already.
I know there will be a follow up article or podcast once the DNA testing is complete.
I won’t be refreshing the Serial website, holding my breath for an official update (and neither will you, cause the truth is, we care more about entertainment than justice), but when when Sarah Koenig asks for my attention again, I’ll give it to her. She earned it.
