Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Jinx – Part Two’ On HBO, A Continuation Of The Hit Docuseries About Robert Durst

The Jinx – Part Two is a continuation of the 2015 docuseries The Jinx: The Life And Deaths Of Robert Durst, which captivated the nation with its unprecedented access to the heir of a family prominent in real estate, who was at the time accused of three murders. Right before the finale of the series aired on April 15, 2015, Durst was arrested in New Orleans; he had gone on the run after he saw new evidence against him come to light on the series. The six-part configuration is about filmmaker Andrew Jarecki and his crew’s further investigation into Durst’s case, as well as his trial on charges he killed Susan Berman in 2000.

THE JINX – PART TWO: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: As we push in over the water towards a correctional facility in New Orleans, we hear a recording of touch tones, then the graphic, “ROBERT DURST CALLS HIS LAWYER.”

The Gist: The new season starts with Durst’s arrest, and we hear from him via phone calls to his lawyer and his interrogation by Los Angeles deputy district attorney John Lewin, who dealt with cold cases and went down to New Orleans to question Durst after his arrest. As viewers saw in 2015, Durst comes off more like a befuddled old man than someone who has killed multiple people and gotten away with it for decades. But as Lewin describes how the questioning went, he felt he almost had Durst admitting to Berman’s murder, but he later realizes that Durst was going to lead him to the edge but never give him what he wanted.

Jarecki then shows the impact the finale, and Durst’s startling hot mic revelation at the end of the episode, had the family of his first wife Kathleen, whose 1982 death was linked to Durst but he never stood trial for. They were at a viewing of the finale at Jarecki’s home, along with Jeanine Pirro, who investigated Kathleen’s disappearance and appeared in the first season of The Jinx, and Cody Cazalas, the police detective in Galveston, Texas that investigated Durst’s involvement in the death of his then-neighbor Morris Black in 2001; Durst went on trial for that murder and was acquitted. When Durst utters “killed them all, of course,” as he goes to the bathroom during an interview session with Jarecki in the finale, the entire room is stunned into silence.

We then see Durst rounding up support from prison, from his attorneys to the friends that never left his side to his second wife, Deborah. Dick DeGuerin, the defense attorney who represented Durst in the Galveston trial, is tasked with building a team of attorneys for the Berman case, and we hear from DeGuerin as well as David Chesnoff, the celebrity attorney who was brought on for this case.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? As we mentioned above, The Jinx – Part Two is a continuation of the 2015 docuseries The Jinx. Given how that series became a model for the true crime docuseries that have come since, it’s hard to compare the show to anything else.

Our Take: Given that Durst was convicted of Berman’s murder in 2021 and died in 2022, with the machinations involved in the arrest and delays that pushed the trial out for six years all public knowledge, it’s hard to fathom what new information we can get from a continuation of The Jinx. It’s not like Jarecki had direct access to Durst, like he did for the original series, which is what made it such a compelling watch. Viewers were stunned that Durst revealed so much to Jarecki, without any regard to what evidence Jarecki and his crew may have found on their own, like the infamous “Cadaver note”. That note, and the comparison to an envelope sent by Durst, was the key piece of evidence that led to his arrest.

The first episode of this continuation — considered “Chapter 7” by Jarecki and company — was very meta, discussing how the evidence unearthed by the filmmaker influenced Durst’s arrest. Lewin discusses the show with Durst during his interrogation. Then we see the dozens of people viewing the finale. We’re not sure if Jarecki was doing this to pat himself on the back or just to reset the story for viewers nine years after the fact. Either way, it didn’t seem to engender any new information about Durst or the case.

Perhaps as we get more involved with the trial, and we hear from more of the participants on both sides of it, we’ll hear about some behind-the-scenes manipulations that haven’t been made public to this point. And there is likely some more evidence Jarceki and company unearthed that may have helped the prosecution. One of the things that we do want to hear more about is just how Durst and his team of attorneys managed to push and delay the trial for six years, maybe with the knowledge that his deteriorating health might even become a factor. It does seem that Durst played the system to his advantage once again; we hope that we hear about the claims against his estate by his victims after his death, because these families need to get some sort of justice after all this time.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Durst calls a friend from jail, telling them that the DA is calling people that he has called while incarcerated. While he tells the friend to expect a call from the DA, he also says, “you don’t tell them shit.”

Sleeper Star: Lewin is the most compelling person in this first episode, because he knows that Durst was playing him during his post-arrest interrogation, but is enthralled by the back and forth he had with the murderer.

Most Pilot-y Line: The “viewing party” scene was so self-indulgent, but it at least showed Pirro as human, not the right-wing talking-points screamer she became on Fox News.

Our Call: STREAM IT. While The Jinx – Part Two is still worth watching, it feels not nearly as essential and compelling as the original series was, and some of its more meta moments left us scratching our heads.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.