Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal (2023)

I admit I only watched this because I happened to see where the Murdaugh trial was being covered live on a YouTube channel. I had watched a half-hour of the trial itself and then sought some back story for it through this series.

It seems odd to run a show about a complex case like this before aspects of it come to trial. Didn’t it potentially muddy the water for jurors? I guess it wouldn’t be a factor if the justice system’s wheels didn’t grind so slowly in some cases.

The history did draw me in. The lure of scandal is hard to resist. I hope it is mostly accurate, for it does take sides and name names, and it seems accuracy should trump sensationalism in a self-described documentary concerning criminal accusations. Certainly the jury verdict seemed to support one of the implied conclusions of the documentary, but beyond that, who knows? It is easy to assume the worst in wealthy and powerful families. Do we need the rush to judgment through a documentary before the dust settles? Hmm…