Netflix has indeed changed the game when it comes to live streaming and more and more people are getting hooked to almost every content they release. From romantic comedy series to mysterious sci-fi ones, everyone is literally up to date for it. Then again, they also produce documentary series that can actually be considered as controversial.
Netflix’s Making a Murderer
Before getting into the second season, let’s have a recap three years ago when the series actually began. Written and Directed by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, comes in a real-life story of convicted murderer Steven Avery. He is from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, who is a wrongfully convicted for 18 years for assault and attempted murder of a woman named Oenng Beerntsen. In 2003, he was fully exonerated when his DNA turned positive. Things got even more complicated when in 2005, he got arrested for murdering Teresa Halbach.
The series basically focus on his arrest, as well as the prosecution of Avery. His nephew, Brendan Dassey, admitted having taken part in the murder as well, as raping the victim and being involved with getting rid of her body.
When it was released by Netflix three years ago, most of its audience gave it compliments for its comprehensive nature, they even gave it 97 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 8.6 out of 10. However, some critics find the series to be completely one-sided and manipulative, because of how the series decided to leave out a couple of pieces of evidence against the murderer. However, it would seem that the rest of the critics found it remarkable that it even received tons of award such as winning not just one, but four Primetime Emmy Awards. It also won the Outstanding Achievement In Reality Programming at the Television Critics Association Awards.
It was even acknowledged by celebrities such as Alec Baldwin, Mandy Moore, and Ricky Gervais. However, what made this series even bigger of a deal was when a petition was sent to the White House to pardon both Avery and his nephew. This petition actually gained 128,000 signatures. However, the White House stated that convictions were made in the state court, therefore, the president at that time, Barack Obama, cannot do anything about it. Wisconsin governor, Scott Walker, however, decided not to grant this pardon.
Upcoming Second Season
This multiple Emmy-award winning documentary series is actually set to return on Netflix this coming October 19, which is almost three years after the first season success. Netflix will bring back their viewers to Manitoc County, Wisconsin to show what exactly happens in the post-conviction process of Avery as well as his nephew. Both Emmy-award winners, Ricciardi, and Demos will come back to Midwest in order to take part in this 10-episode series. They actually started filming this second season back in 2016.
This is actually considered to be a necessary spoiler since it is a documentary after all. One thing that was for sure was that Ken Kratz, the prosecutor who faced so much criticism in the very first season will no longer be part of the second one. It was revealed that he actually resigned from being the District Attorney after he was accused of sending inappropriate text messages to a 26-year-old woman who was actually a victim of domestic violence.
He then announced that he is seeking treatment for his narcissistic personality disorder. What made him even more controversial is when he released a book entitled, “Avery: The Case Against Steven Avery and What Making A Murderer Got Wrong”.
According to sources, there will definitely be some new faces that will be included such as Kathleen Zellner, who is Avery’s post-conviction lawyer. It was revealed that Zellner has quite a reputation for righting the most wrongful conviction cases in the entire country.
In a statement, both Richards and Demos said that the families, as well as the legal teams of both people involved in the crime, have given them access to this complicated criminal justice. They explained that with the first season, they simply showcased the life of the accused, but now they will be showcasing what has been like for the convicted murderers, who are serving life sentences for the crime they said they did not commit.