The wait is over, Serial is back in our lives.
(And not just ’cause you’re listening to the first season for the 14th time.)
The mega-popular podcast’s first episode of its second season is up right now.
Still here? If you are then maybe you didn’t listen to the first season of the super addictive show that had us hooked from start to finish last year. Or perhaps you’re at your desk, its hours until 5pm, and you still haven’t figured out a way to leave the office early to go listen. Cagey as ever, Serial is keeping things under wraps –but here are a few details we do know about Serial Season 2.
One story. Told week by week…..
1. It’s about Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
A United States Army soldier held captive by the Taliban for nearly five years, Bowe was rescued by a Black Hawk helicopter in May 2014, and returned to his hometown of Hailey, Idaho. President Obama announced his return in the Rose Garden, and a huge celebration was planned for the hero’s return. But within hours of his liberation other soldiers came forward to call him a deserter and traitor who deliberately walked off their small outpost in Afghanistan into hostile territory. An investigation was launched and he was charged with two crimes, one of which may carry a life sentence.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
2. Sarah Koenig is back – and she has company.
Narrating the series once more, Koenig will be joined by filmmaker Mark Boal and Page 1, a media company who were founded to explore the intersection of reporting and entertainment. Mark is the Academy Award winning writer and producer of The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. So with our new season of Serial exploring the alleged ‘crimes’ of an American soldier, we feel like he’ll only add to the insight.
3. It’s a live case.
Unlike Adnan Sayed, who was already 14 years into a life sentence at the time of recording, the case of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is not a retrospective. The sergeant is currently awaiting a ruling on whether his case will go before a court martial. By agreeing to allow Mr. Boal’s interviews to be used in the podcast, the soldier will be hoping to make his case to a wider audience. And given that Sayed’s case, considered by many as dead and buried, was granted a hearing to introduce new evidence after it aired, it’s probably not a bad plan.
4. Serial has gone from obscure to high-profile.
Whereas the last season of Serial honed in on a story that was plucked from obscurity in a Baltimore suburb, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s case has been under intense media scrutiny. It set off a debate among politicians and the public who claim he is either a traitor or a misguided soldier just trying to seek out help. It will be interesting to see what people make of a storyline that many will already have pre-conceived ideas and theories about.
5. The theme song has been modified.
The catchy little ditty will not be the same you heard in Season 1 as the team making Serial believed it was too specific to the theme of Adnan’s case. So does that mean machine guns blaring in this one? We seriously hope not.
6. They’re being as tight-lipped as ever.
The producers of the show have not disclosed how many episodes there will be in Season 2 or exactly what they might entail. There will be roughly 8-10 installments, but this could all change, presumably based on how things progress. Hopefully they come forward with more information as we go along, because we don’t think we can handle the pressure of fearing that each episode could be our last.
7. MailChimp will be back, along with a couple of other sponsors.
Apparently the show did not make much money the first time around – indeed towards the end of Season 1 the podcast asked for donations to fund a second podcast. And while we totally get that they need money to keep making episodes, we just hope they continue to insert them subtly and steer clear of annoying commercial breaks interrupting the narrative mid-way through a huge plot twist. We know we’d pay a $1 an episode to not have the tension cut by a happy voice telling us what we can do with our email subscribers.
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