Making A Murderer Part 2

(Netflix, now streaming)

t’s safe to say Making A Murderer is a controversial series. Even more so when it comes to Part 2, which arrived last week, and has already sent shockwaves through the families of the those involved and, indeed, the American criminal justice system. This is a TV show, after all, in which a lawyer names three actual, real-life people as potential murderers, none of whom have been charged, or have even been named as suspects or investigated in any meaningful way. Indeed, the only individuals ever pursued by the police for the murder of Teresa Halbach back in 2005 are Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, the main subjects of who are (spoiler alert if you don’t follow the news) still incarcerated for that crime. It’s Avery’s post-conviction attorney Kathleen Zellner who fearlessly names the people

Ishe has decided are the probable murderers, and she sees it as a key part of her job to do so. She also lambasts his previous legal team, and has a few sharp observations to make about Brendan Dassey’s new lawyers, too, as they try to prove that his notorious confession was coerced. You don’t want to get on the wrong side of Kathleen, who is undoubtedly the dazzlingly entertaining standout star of season two. She’s so charismatic, it sometimes feels like she’s taken over the whole series. As a whole, these ten new episodes are effectively all about the torturous process of appealing murder convictions. So, Zellner, along with the other lawyers, is very much to the fore. And, as infuriating, shocking and depressing as so much of this epic slice of true-crime storytelling is, it also makes for magnificently absorbing TV.