Making A Murderer Season 2 Review: 2 Ups & 5 Downs
Does Netflix's true crime epic deserve a second chapter?
There have been very few TV shows that have captured the imaginations - and the irresistible inner drive of every wannabe detective - of the world's screen-watching public quite like the first season of Making A Murderer. Launched with seemingly little fanfare, this was Netflix's first big deal documentary and one of the early flagship properties of the company's assault on original content, and boy did it work for them.
Though wholly biased and a little too sparing with some of the facts of the Steven Avery case at times, the series was so viscerally affecting that it led to a politicised movement. Sadly for those who wish to see Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey released from prison, that was to no avail. Both remained behind bars, which is where the second season of the show
First the negatives...
Downs
5. It's Repetitive
You could say that Making The Murderer's second season's repetition is a necessary allegory, exploring the frustrating experience Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey have gone through for more than a decade in their appeals process. But that would be a little too in service of the show.
The reality is that there's just not enough new material here to warrant a full series - a mini-series or an addendum (as The Stairwell did over multiple years) perhaps, but this show has to work hard to justify itself with its material and it doesn't quite manage it.