Making a Murderer

It’s a completely hypnotic enterprise--a nightmare you are compelled to remain within, to see what happens.

It’s hard to hit pause on Making a Murderer once it’s rolling through the queue.

Both storylines come with moments of triumph and disappointment for the respective teams in season 2, but it's Zellner's case, with its bloody reenactments, science experts and her fascinating and relentless brain at work, that will keep viewers in their chairs.

Clearly, Ricciardi and Demos are on the side of justice, attempting to shed light on the dangers of imperfect police work and the very real potential for conspiracy. But when they showcase the awful thrill with which some members of the media reacted to the "great story" of Avery's second arrest, it's tough not to see a double standard. It is a great story, which is why they and Netflix chose to tell it.

If Making A Murderer is primarily focused on proving the innocence of Steven Avery—a seed that was sown three years ago--it’s because the show and its filmmakers genuinely believe in him and in the justice system. It’s a surprising through-line, this kind of enduring optimism in an institution that has allegedly failed both Avery and Dassey many times over. Defense attorneys are a force for good in this story.

As entertainment, Murderer remains expertly made, its seductive slow pace gripping viewers by the neck; as morality play, its terms are kept blunt and simplistic enough by Zellner to come through. As advocacy, though, it achieved precisely the opposite of its mission from the start. Building a season around a few years of thwarted Avery and Dassey appeals, cases blunted by the very enthusiasm that the show fostered, ends up lacking much of a point at all, beyond sustaining itself as a TV show.

The docuseries is so hindered by its own blind spots that by the end of the season, it seems to be chasing its own tail, lost in a world where it only sees what it deems relevant, permissible, or just. It would be worthwhile for this series to encounter, and try to interpret, its own warped reflection.