Serial: 15 years later

I just finished listening to the “Serial” podcast series hosted by Sarah Koenig and all I’ve got to say is “wow that’s a lot”. Speaking honestly, I had no idea what this series was about until only a little while ago. I hopped online and looked at a brief overview,  to my surprise, I found the story very interesting. I wanted to know what happened and what came next. As I started to go through the series I felt a lot of different emotions, like being confused and intrigued.

For starters, I liked this podcast because it’s attention-grabbing and it lets me visualize the events as they unfold. I was not able to physically see the people but just listen to their story so it was very refreshing to hear the emotion from another voice. I also liked this podcast because it had many different perspectives, aside from the main narrator. It was interesting to see the story from the accused himself, as well as those close to him. It not only gave me a larger aspect to form my opinion but gave me more detail about the case.

As many of you know, this podcast was created based on a true story and like always, whenever something is based on a true story it makes the actual story 10x scarier since you know it actually happened. As I was researching more about Serial, I realized just how popular it is. While listening to the story, some parts got me shivering, which got me thinking about the victims family. They might feel uneasy or even frighten since a private matter has become so public. People have already started to form opinions, which could be damaging to the family. I hope they take this opportunity to share their experience with others and show people how important it is to know all the details regarding any type of case.

Speaking of details, one thing I realized was that the court system seemed flawed as they didn’t have all the details to this case. They didn’t do a proper check of what happened nor did they bring up anything related to Asia’s letter. Even after it was revealed who she was, the court said not to contact her even though she was with him at the time of the crime which could’ve ultimately proven his innocence. Questions like “Why was she not presented at the trail? Did the court purposely try covering it up? were the type that kept coming to mind.

  Serial has actually been my first podcast ever. I was always the type to read since reading the words help me understand better. On a personal level, one of the drawbacks towards the podcast was that there was no text. There were times where I couldn’t understand what was being said since it was either badly recorded or wasn’t clearly spoken. I would try listening to the part again but even then, I still couldn’t understand it. There were also times where I missed a few words so I would try to go back, but it was very hard to find the exact spot. I would either skip too far back or too ahead. While reading, it is unlikely to miss pages and easier to go back since there are page numbers. You can also access a book any time whereas, your phone might die and you won’t be able to listen to a podcast.

Overall, for my first podcast, I think it was a pretty good experience. Although I prefer reading, podcasts allow emotion to be shown and allows readers to see the story in another perspective which can be very cool. I don’t know if I’ll continue listening, but so far it was interesting and well put together as it showed all the side to the story.

-Z.K