So this episode focused on three main things: (1) rumors from people from the mosque; (2) comments from forensic psychologist Charles Ewing; and (3) more from Adnan on the impact of his experience being the subject of the story.
Rumors from the Mosque
SK notes how since the story started, she was contacted by several people from Adnan's mosque with stories about Adnan. SK discusses her process in chasing down some of the rumors that were ultimately unsubstantiated, but discusses one rumor: that Adnan stole money from the mosque.
SK notes four people who told her this story. Two people said they saw him do it. One person said he saw Adnan do it several times. And then there was one person on tape (name and voice changed) who said Adnan did it every Friday, stealing thousands of dollars each week. And also the tipper said he himself stole money from the donation box too.
SK thought that amount this person alleged seemed far-fetched so she speaks with Mr. Patel (missed his first name), who was the President of the Islamic Society of Baltimore at the time. Patel said that the donations amounted to about $2500, maybe $3000 on a big week, and was used to help pay for bills and such. He said that if even $100 was missing, it would be noticed. But he said it has happened and that the amount would have to be small to go unnoticed. And he dismissed out of hand thousands of dollars could be stolen each week.
SK asked Adnan about it. He was very upset about it and asked what it had to do with the case. Interestingly, this was the most emotional he has ever sounded in any of the clips presented to date. He later told SK the story: this was probably the summer before 8th grade. There would be an adult and about 4 to 5 kids who would collect the donations. One of the kids realized they could pocket like $40-60 to go to the movies or whatnot. So 2-3 would pocket a little money while the others kept watch. He was caught by his mother and confessed. He said back then he didn't think it was that wrong - he spent so much time at the mosque helping out, so it was like taking a little spending money from the family till.
So, what to make of this? I think this is pretty irrelevant. He was like 13 at the time? Who didn't do dumb things like steal or shoplift or whatnot when they were that age? I disagree that the fact he was stealing from a mosque makes a difference. I think that assumes that he associated strongly with his religion at that age to elevate the crime to something different. Maybe a kid would recognize it was more wrong than shoplifting or stealing from a cash register in a store, but I don't think this is an order of magnitude bigger so that this becomes an indicia of Adnan's ability to commit premeditated murder. If you think evidence of stealing does not mean he is more prone to murder someone, I don't think the fact that he stole from a mosque changes that.
But who are all these people who contacted SK and why? She plays a few clips from the anonymous thieving tipper. He seems to attach a very big significance to Adnan's crime of stealing from the mosque... yet he admits to doing it himself. He puts a different spin on Adnan's ability to diffuse a situation as a sign of Adnan's ability to manipulate people... Yet he maintains that Adnan was genuinely a good person. So what's the point?
It feels like this is a case of people coming out of the woodwork to get involved in the story. Now that the podcast is receiving attention and it's clear that SK is responding to feedback and information from people involved, I think folks just want to be a part of the story. Adnan stole money from the mosque. He took my sweater once, although I think he did it unintentionally thinking it was his. I saw him smoking weed one day. Whatever trivial tidbit is an excuse to interject into the story. Anonymous people casting stones? I'm treating them like any anonymous person on the Internet posting rumors on reddit.
So in the end, there's a 15 minute segment about some rumors SK heard that she can't tell us about, that ultimately don't matter. I guess the one thing it shows is that Adnan was not the perfect golden child. But we knew that already, didn't we? He smoked weed. He dated a girl and slept with her without telling his parents about it. He drank alcohol. And now he stole money when he was 13. Does this matter? We knew that he wasn't a perfect, goody-two shoes. He did things that many, many, many teenagers do. But this is not evidence that, on January 13, 1999, he murdered Hae Min Lee.
Charles Ewing, Forensic Psychologist
The second main part of the episode centered around SK's discussion with Ewing, who has testified in numerous trials as an expert in forensic psychology. Considering his context was listening to about "half" the episodes, he's not in any position to make any qualitative statements about this case. Any value in this section comes from perhaps filling in some general knowledge information that the listening public may not be aware of: (1) in most cases, the murderer is an ordinary person who snap and are pushed over the edge when something happened to them -- i.e., not an evil, sociopathic person who premeditates a murder in cold blood; (2) about half the people he have seen displayed some level of dissociation of the event, blocking out some level of memory of the event; and (3) providing a definition of a "psychopath" - one who has little or no conscience and can't empathize with other people's feelings.
After the discussion, SK offers her conclusion she does not think Adnan is a psychopath. She feels that he does display true empathy and not just the superficial charm that some psychopaths can demonstrate. But she understands this does not mean Adnan is innocent and a real possibility exists that Adnan snapped and killed Hae and blacked out parts of it.
I think the value of this portion depends on the person. While Ewing's points are not necessary mainstream, general knowledge, these are concepts that are prevalent in crime fiction, police procedurals, and the numerous other treatment of crime investigation that the public is exposed to. I didn't find any of these concepts to be new or groundbreaking. And I think the rational, thinking person here understands that Adnan being a psychopath is not a necessary condition for him to be guilty or that his not being a psychopath necessarily means he's innocent.
The takeaway will also depend on your feelings about the case. Adnan's inability to account for his activities on that day could innocently be dismissed as the product of the unreliability of one's memory, or it could be construed as the result of cognitive dissociation whereby he is blocking out events confirming his guilt. Again, we just can't know which is correct.
Adnan's Discussion of the Impact of Serial on Him
Finally, SK notes how commenters have been trying to assign significance to Adnan's unwillingness to speak out against certain people, particularly Jay. SK points out that she has spoken with defense attorneys and it would be unwise for Adnan to say anything. It could only cause harm. Adnan says it's a trap to convince people.
SK talks about an 18-page letter from Adnan discussing his feeling and thoughts going through this experience. He says that he had three goals when he was sentenced to prison: (1) stay close to his family; (2) prove his innocence; and (3) convince others that he is a person and not the monster the prosecution makes him out to be. And he feels that he accomplished goal (3) in prison. The people inside know him as a person and as a stand-up guy. But now SK comes along (at Rabia's behest, not his) and opens the door on all this, bringing out all the painful memories and analyzing everything that was said and done.
Adnan notes that in his conversations with SK, he has tried to keep it businesslike. Rather than trying to befriend SK, to charm her and to win her over, he's been trying to keep it clinical. Just say what he knows and remembers in case something comes of this. In essence, it's not an accurate portrayal of who he is (which ties back to his mini-rant earlier that SK didn't really know him).
To me, this was the only part that appealed to me. Not that it revealed anything about the case. But it did give some insight into Adnan and how this has affected him. In spending hours dissecting the information and speculating on events, we tend to ignore the "human element" to it. There are many reasons for it. We don't really know these people, what they are like, how this affected them. We don't want to let emotional considerations to alter the analysis of the facts/testimony. We want to ignore the voyeuristic nature of the program. Whatever the reason, it's easier to ignore that these are real people.
And I think this was SK's point. This has sparked so much interest, discussion, etc., and it has had an impact on the people involved. This isn't a television series, building up tension to a cathartic climax, with a resolution period at the end. SK reminds us that this is a tragedy that affected the lives of several people. Along the way, she took the opportunity to highlight some problems with the justice system, which may have resulted in an innocent kid being put away. Whether anything comes of this disruption remains to be seen. One episode to go.
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