Robert Durst was arrested in 2015, the day before HBO aired the final episode of The Jinx. He was later convicted of murder and died in prison in 2022.
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HBO
Robert Durst was arrested in 2015, the day before HBO aired the final episode of The Jinx. He was later convicted of murder and died in prison in 2022.
HBO
In 2014, the producers of This American life presented a podcast called “Serial”, examining the facts and details of a cold case murder case. A year later, HBO followed with a TV equivalent: The Jinx: the life and death of Robert Durst. Together, these two wildly popular programs helped spark the craze for true-crime documentaries and podcasts — a genre that itself was so imitated that it was usurped by Hulu. Only murders in the building.
The curse told the story of Robert Durst – a wealthy man suspected, for many decades, of the murder of several people. The documentary series was made with the cooperation of Durst – specifically several on-camera interviews with filmmaker Andrew Jarecki. The last episode ended with some amazing remarks made by Durst while he was alone and talking to himself, still wearing a hot mic.
Durst was arrested the day before HBO aired the final episode of The cursethen was convicted of murder and died in prison in 2022. On April 21, Jarecki returns to HBO with a sequel documentary series, The Jinx – Part Two, which will also air on Max. I highly recommend you see the original Bad luck holder, first if not – it’s available on most streaming sites. But it is not obligatory.
The Jinx – Part Two is surprising from the start, because filmmaker Jarecki never stopped filming. In the original series, it was the accidental recording of Durst muttering in a bathroom after Jarecki confronted him with damning physical evidence that contributed to the rich man’s arrest. The Jinx – Part Two comes back immediately, using wiretaps recorded by prosecutors, interviews with investigators and even conversations with witnesses from both sides of the trial — some cooperative, some hostile.
The Jinx – Part Two begins its behind-the-scenes story just like the original Bad luck holder is just days away from premiering on HBO. The events are captured in real time, revealing themselves as elements of a thriller.
Halfway to the original Bad luck holder, Durst, watching from home, feels a little arrogant. But then, because of a spelling error in his handwriting that seems to link him to an anonymous note sent to the police after a murder, he shifts gears. FBI agents and Los Angeles district attorneys follow him withdrawing large sums of money, then fleeing before the final episode – but as The Jinx – Part Two shows, he is cleverly tracked down to a New Orleans hotel and captured.
Deputy Los Angeles District Attorney John Lewin is the first to question Durst in a recording we see in The Jinx – Part Two. What follows is a story with as many twists and shocks as the original. Jarecki is as good an interviewer as he is a director, and what he draws out of his conversations with people – from Durst’s friends and lovers to his investigators and prosecutors – is unexpected, and at times almost ridiculously frank.
It turns out that there is a great story in the continuation of Robert Durst’s saga. – and there are lessons to be learned too. Don’t commit murder. If you commit murder, don’t cooperate with a documentarian. And if you kill someone and talk about it on camera, learn how to spell it.
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