Earlier in the month, my good friend and I took a trip to Frontenac Provincial Park for a weekend. During the four hour car ride, with a lack of data on our phones and no CD’s prepared for the trip, my friend suggested we listen to a podcast.
I was skeptical. I couldn’t imagine listening to somebody else talk while sitting in silence for four hours with no visual aid whatsoever. I contemplated just reading a book, or even just staring out the window to look at other cars passing by, but inevitably, I decided to give the podcast a shot.
The podcast that my friend had chosen and had been meaning to show me for quite some time is called Serial. Produced in 2014 from the creators of This American Life, and hosted by Sarah Koenig, it follows a reporter who pursues a murder case while revisiting the mountains of questionable physical evidence, judicial procedures, and courtroom practices. Before Serial, my experience with podcasts was incredibly minimal. I’ve always been drawn to TV and music as opposed to public radio—so when I heard the first hour long episode of the podcast during my road trip, it was a bit shocked. At first, I wasn’t surprised by the actual content of the podcast as much as the production value and the effectiveness of the medium. With crisp, detailed audio, and with close attention paid to the ebb and flow of the information being presented to the listener, the podcast painted a phenomenal picture that got me hooked instantly. From the diligent piano tones interweaving with Koenig’s calm narrative voice, to the seamless transition between narrative and first-hand interviews is captivating.
A massive problem that arises in the podcast (without going into too much detail to avoid spoilers) involves memory and the ability to remember specific events. In her research of the case, Koenig finds that it is extremely difficult for people to remember the precise timeline of their day in 1999. Especially with no cell phones with text messages or social media, it is increasingly difficult in the podcast to place a specific person at a location with 100 per cent certainty.
Week by week, as each episode was released, Koenig explored a new mountain of evidence from the case—looking at everything from phone records to the location of where the body was found. So, you might be thinking, what makes this podcast good? It seems like the same concept that a number of TV crime shows have, so what makes Serial so special? Well, to begin, the case that Koenig is investigating in the podcast is actually real. In January 1999, Adnan Syed, a young, bright, and incredibly likeable high school student was arrested by Maryland police for the murder of Hae Min Lee, an 18-year old athlete and Syed’s ex-girlfriend. Currently, Syed still sits in prison and has been there for nearly 15 years during the time the podcast was being released. Amazingly, Koenig was able to regularly contact Syed and speak with him throughout the duration of the podcast, allowing viewers to catch a glimpse into the mind and character of Syed. Syed’s openness to talk and discuss the case is phenomenal, and without providing spoilers, his conversations with Koenig serve as some of the most troubling and intriguing evidence throughout the entire case.
Admittedly, when I first began listening to Serial, I thought the story and case was made up. Not because the evidence was so unbelievable that it had to be fake, but rather the clarity, depth, and precision in which the story was told was something I hadn’t really experience before. My years of English classes had me trained instantly to think about the narrative as a whole while looking at the key decisions made when presenting information to the listener. Even from the first episode, the podcast was deep enough to keep you interested, while being structured in a way that is cohesive and adaptable to your opinion. It wasn’t until the fourth or fifth episode of the podcast when I realized that the murder of Hae Min Lee was a non-fictional case, and that Adnan Syed, who had actually been in prison for years, was actually speaking to Koenig about his real experiences. For whatever reason, this stunning clarity gripped me more than I had intended—whether the case was real or not should have no bearing on my enjoyment of the podcast itself and its ability to captivate the listener, right? Well, for me at least, the fact that the case described in the podcast had people and evidence that were completely non-fictional added to the thrill of trying to discover what truly happened during the murder of Hae Min Lee. A sense of justice is evoked within the listener—not only do you want to know the outcome of the evidence, but as you grow attached and involved with each piece of new evidence designed to sway your opinions, you begin to demand justice and closure.
Specifically, on the Serial podcast subreddit, an incredible amount of viewers began doing research of their own to help Koenig with the case. Upon the release of the first episode of the podcast in 2014, Koenig’s investigation of the case was still ongoing —and as each new week passed with evidence being supplemented to listeners, Koenig was even able to incorporate evidence found by the subreddit into one of the podcast episodes.
How brilliant is that? Listeners were able to tangibly shape the outcome of the podcast. Needless to say, Serial has completely changed the way I look at podcasts. Since I have finished the series, I’ve been bugging a majority of my friends about it, urging them to listen to the podcast so I can have someone to talk to about it. While in this editorial I skimmed over many crucial details about the case in the podcast itself, there is not a doubt in my mind that if you choose to listen to Serial, you will feel the intensity of which the medium can affect you.