Serial Podcast (Season 1)

"How'd you get to work last Wednesday? Drive? Walk? Bike? Was it raining? Are you sure? 

Did you go to any stores that day? If so, what did you buy? Who did you talk to? The entire day, name every person you talked to. It's hard"

That's how Season 1 Episode 1 of the Serial podcast opens, and then host Sarah Koenig asks teenagers what they did on a Friday six weeks ago–without looking to their phones. Koenig does this to prove a point as part of her gripping storytelling method for this podcast, since the case that she unfolds heavily relies on teenagers' memories in the year 1999.

First airing in 2014, Serial the podcast took the nation by storm. Serial Season 1 told the story of the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, an 18 year old student in Baltimore. Since its air date, the podcast has been downloaded more than 175 million times. 

The podcast focuses its storytelling on Adnan Syed, Lee's former boyfriend and primary suspect in the murder. Syed was charged with first-degree murder and, after his first trial ended in a mistrial, he was found guilty after his second trial lasted six weeks.

Despite Syed consistently maintaining his innocence, a lack of evidence against him, questionable alibis, and a failure by the police to fully investigate all leads, Syed was sentenced to life in prison 

Serial Season 1 consists of twelve gripping episodes that unravel the investigation with Koenig promising to "follow up on long-dormant leads, recheck alibis, and question assumptions." 

When I first listened to Serial, I couldn't stop. I listened to it for hours with my entire family on a long car ride and have since gone back to reread episode transcripts in an attempt to fill in the gaps for myself. Serial brings out the inner investigator in all of us-full of twists and turns all based on fact. Full of new interviews with the key players, Serial is sure to entertain audiences of all backgrounds and interests.