Making a Murderer Review (Finally Finished!)

I’m sure everyone has heard of, or maybe even seen the new Netflix series “Making a Murderer”. It seems to be all over the internet and many people I’ve talked to have watched it. Now, my girflriend is a big fan of crime shows and series and had heard that the series was good, so I decided that I would give it a shot. Normally, I’m not the biggest crime show guy but I figured I’d give it a try.

I watched the first two episodes within a few days then took a week off and just watched the third episode, with plans to continue the series in the next few days. I’m a horrible binge watcher and it doesn’t help that my girlfriend and I are watching the show together so we both have to commit to watching it..Anyways.. so far the concept of the show is excellent. A guy (Stephen Avery) gets framed for something he didn’t do, and serves 18 years in jail for it before he is exonerated by DNA evidence, then a murder happens that the show makes it seem like Steven was also framed for.

I can say that I do enjoy the show, I think that the reporting is excellent, with interviews from Steven, his family, his legal counsel, other parties in the case, and other experts. However, the show is fairly slow, in that, so far, a handful of pieces of evidence are brought in each show and explained. I also think it was smart of Netflix to set the audience up to believe one thing (That Steven didn’t commit the murder), whereas they may throw a huge curveball in next season that he didn’t do it, or Netflix may decide to let the series end on a cliffhanger.

So the slowness really only continues into the 3rd episode, after that everything starts to get much more intense because you really begin to fully understand the situation and the plot begins to thicken. It moved so quickly that I was hooked and watched episodes 3 – 8 in a matter of a few days.

What got really interesting for me, is that you get to see the inner workings of a court case, from the perspective of both parties and the media. This kept me watching and captivated because I wanted to see what the final verdict was and was interested in how that conculsion was reached.

The show also does focus on the fact that Steven was framed but it does bring in evidence from the other side that explains why it wouldn’t make sense for him to be framed / couldn’t have been possible. In essence, this is what the court case is about and what I think is so interesting, because you can almost gather that he’s going to be convicted early on in the series but he puts up an extremely compelling argument into how and why he was framed.

I finally finished the series and I can say it is pretty fantastic. It took me a week or so to finally finish the last two episodes, and afte letting everything percolate, I can say I think the series is fantastic. Not only the reporting, where it gives you the perspective of the media, and all parties involved in the case. But also the overall theme of the show, which to me, is that if you don’t have enough money or intelligence, the justice system can frame you and get away with it.

This theme is powerful and I can see why the show is so popular, because of the unpopularity of police in the US at this time. Anyways, thanks if you’ve actually been following this review, as it took me a little over a month to finish this show, even if you read this review, I still think you should check out the show.