Making a Murderer (TV Series) Eighteen Years Lost (2015) User Reviews

Don't Ever Get In The Crosshairs of THE MAN

[nebohr · 8/10 · 30 April 2022]

We are absolutely dumbfounded by this documentary. The sheriff basically painted a target on Steven's back. Never mind there was zero evidence and plenty of eyewitness alibis.

Too bad Steven never would confess and get the reduced sentence. Dude.

There should be a hashtag. If there is, we haven't found it.

'The conviction was only the beginning.'

[aherdofbeautifulwildponies · 8/10 · 10 February 2023]

Watching the documentary series Making a Murderer (2015-2018) eight years after its premiere, I am late to join the crowd of its admirers. Nevertheless, just one episode in, the story is engrossing. Making a Murderer is often compared to podcast Serial (2014), another landmark piece of investigative journalism, and it is a story similarly told with a great deal of expertise.

The first episode introduces us to Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man wrongfully committed for sexual assault and attempted murder. It would take eighteen years for the verdict to be overturned, with the advances in DNA analysis making that possible. Apart from the premise, what makes the documentary especially interesting is its treatment of the subject matter: the film-makers share the personal circumstances of the people involved, while also acknowledging the wider social dynamics at play.

As with Serial, the lasting appeal of Making a Murderer promises to lie in the in-depth examination of the local law enforcement and judicial structures. There is the particular case of Steven Avery, and then there is the application of the system to it - one may be very different to Avery, yet the same machinery applies to all citizens.

Another angle provided by this documentary is the illustration of the kind of America often absent in film. Where so much of what one knows of the States comes carefully curated and filtered through Hollywood, for a non-American audience this insight can be new and interesting. I have found it to be the case.

It is worth mentioning that the episode finishes on a cliffhanger, for the story is about to get even more complicated that it initially seemed.

Eighteen Years Lost

[Michael_Elliott · 8 January 2016]

Making a Murderer: Eighteen Years Lost (2015)

The first of ten episodes in Netflix's documentary series takes a look at the early life of Steven Avery, a man from a small town whose family wasn't the most popular. This first episode covers Avery's conviction of a sexual assault where it seems the majority of the evidence pointed to another man but the local police force might have had a reason to frame him.

As I watch the series I'm only going to comment on the actual episode and not draw out any opinions of what might happen in future episodes. As far as an opener goes there's no question that this episode gives one a lot of interesting things to think about and it perfectly lays the groundwork for what might follow. The documentary does an excellent job at showing off why Avery was the one arrested and why certain people might want him locked up no matter if he was guilty or not. The episode certainly holds ones attention as all the evidence begins to unravel.

Episode: A

The Title Tells It All

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 1 January 2016]

This is the first episode of this Netflix series that focuses on the case of Steven Avery, a man of limited intellect from a poor family, who was charged with criminal sexual misconduct, who was sentenced to over thirty years in prison, only to be exonerated after eighteen years due to DNA evidence. This was bad enough but as the fact came out, the police department and leaf all system of a small town in Wisconsin comes under scrutiny. This whole process came about through incredible work by various agencies and individuals. This documentary sets the scene for a series of events that coincide with other events that follow.

6

[Edvis-1997 · 6/10 · 5 January 2021]

First episode seemed very boring and built not as good as other documentaries.