HBO's The Case Against Adnan Syed challenges the playbook for how true-crime stories get told

The Atlantic

Amy Berg's four-part docuseries follow-up to Serial isn't just adding to the popular podcast -- it's challenging the true-crime playbook, says Sophie Gilbert. "What this means in practice is that virtually every criticism leveled at Serial following its release gets considered and responded to in some way by Berg," says Gilbert. "Serial was accused of casting (Hae Min) Lee as a victim, and neglecting to treat her as a person in her own right; Berg uses animation to bring Lee’s diary to life, making her 'voice' (re-created by an assistant editor on the series) a key part of the narrative. Where (Serial's Sarah) Koenig was charged with clumsiness in her treatment of immigrant families and their particular dynamics, Berg spends time with the Syeds and with a friend of the Lees (Hae’s family declined to participate), and examines why Lee and Syed felt they had to keep their relationship a secret. Whereas Koenig was a key presence in her podcast, Berg is never on camera. And whereas Koenig concluded Serial by confessing her own uncertainty regarding Syed’s innocence, Berg seems much more confident framing Syed’s conviction as an egregious failure on the part of the American justice system. These aren’t quite corrections, necessarily—rather, Berg is benefiting from a media ecosystem that dissected Serial in forensic detail. And while Serial kept listeners on tenterhooks from week to week, The Case Against Adnan Syed is a more granular and less wholly absorbing experience."

ALSO:

• The Case Against Adnan Syed is a misbegotten rehash of a person whose renown belies that his story can’t sustain multiple retellings
• The film struggles mightily to decide what it wants to be in the first two hours
• You don’t have to be a Serial fan to get wrapped up in the inherent captivation of The Case Against Adnan Syed
• The docuseries does a much better job of giving voice to Hae Min Lee, who had virtually no presence on Serial
• It should be made clear that Lee's family never asked for this: They didn't participate in the podcast or docuseries