The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst

This sucked *blinks hard several times*

Exceptionally entertaining true crime mini-series by 'Capturing the Friedmans' director Andrew Jarecki. It's a story which truly is, as the well-known saying goes, a whole lot stranger than fiction (how, even with all the money in the world, did RD get off Scot-free in Texas?!). The fantastic credit sequence is as cool as they come, and the sensational payoff, putting a nothing short of bone-chilling end to the last episode, was perfect. In a way almost too perfect. Beat that, 'Serial' Season 2!

Highly fascinating, yet unethical, self-serving, and misleading. The director acts obtuse (just like they did in Catfish) about obvious facts in order to make the story so perfectly compelling and formulaic. From episode 1: 'Well he certainly doesn't look like a killer. He could be a librarian for all we know!' (http://i.imgur.com/QjLPhLq.jpg) Are you fucking kidding me? He looks like he eats babies for sport. Being in his "friendly" presence made you shit your pants Jarecki.

Horror...horror has a face. That face blinks a lot, apparently.

Oh yes, some great sleazy true crime. The story of Durst is sickeningly fascinating (and his constant obvious lying is a part of this fascination), but the larger story of the insidious nature of economic privilege is the frame of this narrative. The amount of misinformation surrounding his wife's death, and the shoddy police work, can only be the result of some larger force (which is hinted at, because it can never be proven).

Well-made, entertaining tale, but ultimately how you feel about it depends on whether you enjoy seeing "the guilty" get their comeuppance. For myself, that someone does very bad things doesn't mean I necessarily gain much pleasure from seeing him trapped by his misplaced trust in a filmmaker wielding camera and microphone, even if it is ultimately his own hubris that ensured his downfall, for how not to be conscious that the filmmaker is hypocritically exploiting those crimes as much as anyone?

A few of the episodes are fantastic, and the payoff is incredible. However, the final episode could've been cut to about 20 minutes and combined with the previous one. Other low points: Jarecki's facial hair is distracting, and Jarecki inserts himself into the story more than necessary. Also, likely unethical. "Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible."

Put this off for a while because I knew about the ending before I started. Even with that, it was still fantastic. The interviews with Durst are definitely the highlight; they provide, in a very strange and roundabout way, an honest look into his mind.

Avoid spoilers and watch it!

Rarely do you get the chance to see a psychopath as charming. He's part genius part lunatic. His lapses into saying things and doing things he absolutely should not do lest he be caught, and talking to himself at times are chilling. An amazing watch. The polar opposite of Making a Murderer.