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21st January 2016

Making A Murderer

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

If you haven’t started/finished Making a Murderer yet, this post will ruin it for you. I’d hate to be responsible for that!

Making A Murderer

This is something very different to what I normally write, but I have so much to say about Making a Murderer I thought I’d just … say it. Be warned, it’s pretty long. I just have a lot of feelings

PLEASE leave a comment if you’ve watched the show, I’d love absolutely nothing more than to have a massive conversation about it! I love to hear other’s opinions, and the different things they picked up on that I might’ve missed and we can all just try and get our heads around what happened in Manitowoc Country as best we can!

Right. It takes a lot to get me gripped on a TV show; I can’t get enough of Game of Thrones or Sherlock, for example. On the other hand, I started watching Pretty Little Liars and Breaking Bad, but they never really got me.

I binged watched all of Making a Murderer in under a week.

When I started the show, I knew that Steven Avery was going to get convicted. The minute Brendan Dassey was introduced, I knew he was going down too, as much as I didn’t want to believe it. For me, it was less about that and more about the whys and hows of the situation.

There are many, many questions I have now I’ve finished the show, the most burning of which are:

  • After being in prison for 18 years, why would you come out and kill someone, knowing you’d go back in? Maybe I think like that because I’m not the kind of person that would murder someone else, but still. Avery seemed to really value his freedom.
  • Why did Teresa’s brother talk about ‘grieving’ when Teresa was only missing at the time? (This was about episode 3, and it was a comment that really stuck with me)
  • How did Teresa’s cousin manage to find Teresa’s car within 20 minutes of being on the Avery’s property? There are hundreds of cars there!
  • Surely, if you had killed someone in your house, which happens to be right next to your car salvage yard, where there is a car crusher that you know how to operate, you would crush their car? And not just crudely cover it in sticks and leaves?
  • If you shot someone at close range, it goes without saying there’d be … splattering. I watched And Then There Were None (another FANTASTIC programme. BBC One. Watch it.), I know what a close range shot to the head looks like. There’s a lot of blood. Whether they shot her in the garage or the house, why couldn’t forensics find any trace of this? No one could clean up that effectively.
  • That vial of blood in Avery’s file had 100% been tampered with; the hole in the lid, the broken seals, the file just sitting around in an open cardboard box. Why was there never an explanation about that?
  • Why did Colburn use his mobile to check the car registration, and not his radio? There’s all sorts of complicated suspicions around this, which I can’t get my head around but you can read on this reddit forum.
  • It’s often quoted that you’re much more likely to be killed by someone you know as opposed to an acquaintance/stranger. An ex-boyfriend, a roommate, a sibling, perhaps? The police didn’t appear to seriously investigate anyone other than Avery and Dassey. It was like they found out he saw her that day, decided it was him and just looked for evidence to prove it.
  • Is it just me or are Lieutenant Lenk and Sergeant Colburn shifty as hell? Or rather, is it just me, Dean Strang and Jerome Buting that think that?
  • HOW SLIMY IS KEN KRATZ?!

Admittedly, there are letters that Steven has written from prison with threats to kill people etc. and the evidence that the film-makers chose not to include. The trial lasted over 200 hours, and Making A Murderer consisted of 10 hour-long episodes – obviously, they’re going to have to cut a lot. But I can’t comment on that stuff, because I haven’t seen it. If anyone can show me, I’d love to see it. I do anything for some clarification!

Steven Avery aside, the part that really broke my heart was Brendan Dassey. That boy is not a rapist or a murderer, I don’t buy it for a minute. His interviews were a joke, the interviewers were clearly putting words in his mouth and just kept asking and asking until he told them what they wanted to hear. You can almost see him thinking, and he’s obviously guessing at what they want him to say. And in his trial, when poor Kayla is in the stand in tears telling the court she made it up. And Brendan saying the same thing: I made it up. And as everyone kept saying, he’s of ‘below-average intelligence’. I don’t believe he could consistently tell a lie like that, especially under so much pressure, especially considering how inconsistent his statement was. And now I truly believe he’s stuck in prison until he’s at least 58 for something he had absolutely nothing to do with.

Having said all of that, I think it’s very important to remember that this is a real case. A family has lost a daughter, a sister, a niece, a cousin, in the worst possible way. This case was certainly not something just invented for people’s viewing and debating pleasure.

If there’s one criticism I have of Making A Murderer, it’s that I feel it didn’t try to generate anywhere near enough sympathy for Teresa Halbach. I never felt like I got to know her as a person, she was just a body – which is terrible. It’s a tragedy that a young woman’s life was cut short in such a vile and disgusting way. I think it’s a gross injustice when those of us left behind do not try to do absolutely everything possible to find the truth and convict whoever was responsible after someone has had their life stolen from them.

I have to agree with Avery’s lawyer: I sort of hope he is guilty, because the thought of him back in jail for life for a crime he didn’t commit again is just to terrifying to consider.

On another note, I think this show illustrates why I could never support the death penalty. I could never be comfortable giving the state power over whether someone lives and whether someone dies; considering how much power they have already.

Even within a complex justice system, you can never really know the truth …

Panda Eyes xx

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Posted by Panda Eyes 8 Comments
Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged: Brendan Dassey, Making A Muderer, Manitowoc, Netflix, Opinion, review, Series, Steven Avery, TV

Comments

  1. Jenn says

    21st January 2016 at 4:08 pm

    I just finished Making a Murderer the other night and I honestly don’t know what to think, but who I was most disappointed in was Brendan Dassey. He clearly had a learning disability, him and his mom didn’t even know what “inconsistent” meant, which made my heart break. And how the officers planted thoughts in his head, it just hurt my soul :(

    It’s a shame things like this happen in our world.

    Such a great read xx

    Jenn
    http://www.aspoonfulofsugars.wordpress.com

    Reply
    • Panda Eyes says

      22nd January 2016 at 11:05 am

      Yes! And his lawyer was completely incompetant as well! It scares me, to be honest, when police officers seem so blinded by getting a conviction that they forget about finding the truth ….

      Poor Brendan just thought he was giving evidence, and he thought he was going back to school when he was actually talking himself into a life in prison :( thanks x

      Reply
  2. Abi says

    21st January 2016 at 1:13 pm

    I really have no idea what to believe. After watching the show I was sure he didn’t do it, but after reading into it more there are so many conflicting pieces of evidence. I definitely don’t think that his nephew was involved. That whole situation was a farce! I really think they need a retrial, in a new county with a completely different judge etc.

    Abi xo | wanderlust daydreaming.co.uk

    Reply
    • Panda Eyes says

      22nd January 2016 at 11:03 am

      I think it would’ve been the hardest thing to be on the jury for that trial! Despite all the evidence they were given in the trial, even the stuff Making a Murderer left out, 7 of them went into deliberations thinking he was ‘not guilty’. Which makes me suspicious of what actually happened during deliberations for the final verdict to be ‘guilty’….

      I’m hoping with all the negative media attention they will give them retrials! At this stage, I think its the best anyone can hope for :( x

      Reply
  3. Ella says

    21st January 2016 at 9:32 am

    I watched this show and I was hooked! But I really can’t decide what I think, as you said in a way I hope he is guilty because the idea that that level of corruption could occur is terrifying! But did you see the recent interview with Averys mother and she said “what if she’s alive and actually in on the conspiracy”, quite far fetched statement but still! And also they’ve noticed that in a photograph she has a huge bunch of keys, where as they only found one… So where are all the other keys? Sorry for the long reply, I’m just so interested! Xx

    Reply
    • Panda Eyes says

      21st January 2016 at 12:03 pm

      Don’t be sorry, I love long comments! It’s hard, the evidence that Making A Murderer presents seems very convincing but we definitely didn’t see it all. Really hope they make another series with different evidence!

      Ooh, no I didn’t. Imagine that haha that would be a conspiracy and a half. To be honest, I think somethings been covered up/planted etc. and it’s awful that two, probably innocent, people are in prison and the real murderers are still free!

      I think someone should ask Lenk where the other keys are ….! x

      Reply
  4. Monique says

    21st January 2016 at 9:21 am

    Just so so many question after I watched it. I also feel that he wouldn’t go kill somebody right after he got out, especially since he was engaged and looking forward to spending a life with Jody.
    I also think those cops are shady AF. Did you see how wide his eyes went when they confirmed it was him he identified the car to the dispatcher and not the other way around? I also don’t think he would have been capable of cleaning up all the blood, it’s just impossible.

    On a side note, I read this morning the internet as been looking at Teresa’s photo and noticed that she had more than one key on her lanyard. So many smalls things coming out afterwards now.

    Reply
    • Panda Eyes says

      21st January 2016 at 11:56 am

      Exactly! Although Jodi is now saying everything she said was a lie and that Avery was very absusive – I don’t know what to believe anymore. Yeah, that was very suspicious. The Manitowoc cops should have been no where near the investigation, especially the ones who were involved with Avery’s compensation claim!

      Oh, that’s really interesting. I wonder what will happen to the case now so many people have watched Making A Murderer and have opinions on it. It was new evidence that got him out of jail before, wasn’t it? Could happen again! x

      Reply

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