The Jinx
Binge

NEARLY A DECADE ago, HBO enthralled audiences with a true-crime docuseries titled The Jinx. The story followed Robert Durst, a wealthy New York City real estate heir suspected of three murders throughout his life. He never went to trial for two of the crimes – the 1982 disappearance of his wife Kathie and the 2000 shooting of writer Susan Berman. Though he confessed to the third murder, the dismemberment of his neighbor in Texas, he was acquitted after claiming self-defense.

In part one of The Jinx, Durst sat down with filmmaker Andrew Jarecki for interviews about his connections to all three events. Back in 2010, Jarecki made a film inspired by Durst’s life titled All Good Things, which starred Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst. After seeing the film himself, Durst called Jarecki and offered to do interviews with him so that he could tell his side of the story without judgment. Throughout the eight episodes, Jarecki eventually uncovered evidence about Berman’s murder that could lead back to Durst. He approached Durst about it – and Durst denied his accusations. In the shocking season finale, Durst left the interview to use the bathroom and muttered something to himself, not knowing that his microphone was still on. “What the hell did I do?” he asked himself, off camera. “Killed them all, of course.”

In part two of The Jinx, which premiered on Binge in Australia on April 22, the docuseries caught up with the past nine years of new information. Between the first-season finale and today, Durst was arrested, tried, convicted of Berman’s murder, and sentenced to life in prison. Then, on January 10, 2022, Robert Durst suffered from cardiac arrest and died in prison at the age of seventy-eight.

So why are we back here? Well, Jarecki can claim something that hordes of true-crime documentaries and podcasts rarely accomplish. He actually helped put a criminal behind bars. Durst sat in court and told a jury that he dismembered a man in self-defence, and he still got away with it. Somehow it took a filmmaker and some chance interviews to get an off-camera confession and tangible evidence to put Durst away for life. As he said over the prison phone before his death, “The dumbest thing was doing Jarecki. Oh God, The Jinx.”

HBO

When Do Episodes of The Jinx: Part Two Premiere?

The Jinx’s victory lap continues on Binge throughout April and May with six episodes, premiering on Mondays at 12.10PM AEST. For a full schedule, refer to the specific episode release times below.

Episode 1: “Why Are You Still Here?” — April 21

Episode 2: “Friendships Die Hard” — April 28

Episode 3: “Saving My Tears Until It’s Official” — May 5

Episode 4: “The Unluckiest Man in the World” — May 12

Episode 5: “TBA” — May 19

Episode 6: “TBA” — May 26


A version of this story originally appeared on Esquire US.

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