“THE JINX — PART TWO”
When i t premiered on HBO a decade ago, the true crime docuseries “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst” stood out mainly because of Durst’s willingness to appear on camera. The wealthy New York real estate heir was suspected of killing three people: His first wife Kathleen Mccormack i n 1982; his close friend S usan B erman in 2000; and an elderly Texas neighbor Morris Black in 2001. At t he time, he had only stood trial for the murder of Black ( whom he also dismembered) and was acquitted. Surprisingly, Durst agreed t o be i nterviewed by filmmaker Andrew Jarecki about all of it. Perhaps Durst thought his steadfast denials would be convincing. B ut t he s eries finale featured a stunning hot mic moment in which Durst excused himself to the restroom a nd muttered the seemingly damning words: “Killed them all.”
During the course of his research for the series, Jarecki uncovered additional evidence r elating to B erman’s death and passed it along to t he a uthorities. That l ed t o the arrest o f Durst a day before the last episode aired.
Now Jarecki is back with “The Jinx — Part Two,” which picks up w here h e left off. In 2021, Durst was convicted of Berman’s murder and the six- episode sequel aims to fill in the gaps between the lead- up to his arrest i n March 2015 and his death in January 2022 ( just three months after he was sentenced to life without parole). Jarecki accomplishes this by piecing together prosecutor John Lewin’s case and detailing the zigs and zags of the trial itself.
Purveyors of true crime can be fueled by all kinds of conflicting motivations. Sincere curiosity sometimes curdles into exploitation. With unsolved cases, there’ s a tendency to play investigator. Jarecki isn’t immune to any of this. But notably missing in his latest effort is introspection about his own role in Durst’s fate.
“Part Two” is straightforward about the fact that Jarecki reached out to law enforcement — an unusual scenario f or documentary filmmakers—but he remains silent about why he made that decision. You could argue it was the right one, but he doesn’t walk us through his thought process. Why be so coy? “Normally, your obligation is to protect your subject ,” he told Vanity Fair in a recent interview. “But what happens when your subject becomes the enemy?” Good question. Too bad he had no desire to engage with it in his own project.
Despite its self-congratulatory tone, Jarecki’s follow- up is gripping all the same. It includes the same out- of- focus recreations as the original, which serves to amplify the visuals beyond talking head interviews and archival footage and photos. Durst had regular visitors in jail and obtained recordings of those visits as well as Durst’s phone calls, and we see a man who is mentally 2.5 stars ( out of 4)
Rating: TV- MA
How to watch: 10 p. m. ET Sundays on HBO ( streaming on Max) sharp but manipulative and deeply annoying. Journalist Lisa Depaulo tells Jarecki: “When Bob has a friend, he expects blind loyalty. Like, unconditional loyalty.”
“Friendships die hard,” someone else says at one point, and it’s the kind of observation that has so many different connotations in this context. All of this is captured thanks to Jarecki’s instincts. Even though we know the outcome, he finds room for suspense and intrigue.
A deeply serious filmmaker, he also tends to undercut that with questionable choices, including a vainglorious quote from a cop who boasts: “Homicide detectives have a saying: We work for God.” As a documentarian, Jarecki brings no skepticism to police work, or any other aspect of how the criminal justice system functions.
Why do people do such horrible things to one another? Who is often allowed to getaway with these crimes and why? Compelling enough questions that we keep coming back for more.