Serial is a podcast exploring a nonfiction story over multiple episodes. First released in October 2014, it is a spinoff of the radio program This American Life. Episodes vary in length and are available weekly. It ranked number one on iTunes even before its debut and remained there for several weeks. Serial won a Peabody Award, the first of its kind, in April 2015.
I've still only listened to episode 1 of season 2. I was so bummed when I realized it was a different case.
For real. I stopped listening about four episodes in. I made up my mind about what I thought of the case after at least the second episode and lost interest - whereas in the first season, each episode would reveal something new that made me question who's side I was on. It was interesting. I was engaged. Not so much this time around.
Listened to episode 9 of season 2. It's definitely a snooze, but I'm also curious of the subject matter. I kept waiting for it to get meaty.. and outside of the stories of his time in captivity and when he escaped for a bit in the mountains of Pakistan, it never really got good.
I'm still listening. It's not as intriguing as S1, but that doesn't make it uninteresting. Serial isn't topping my podcast priority list anymore, but I wouldn't miss an episode.
Was looking to see how the case was going and this was a real headline: Bowe Bergdahl lawyers seek meeting with Donald Trump
Trump seems to be the only person with a more screwed up ideology of what a modern military should be than Bergdahl so a meeting between the two of them seems fitting
Bowe's view on the military is kinda spot on. He is absolutely right about the need for change. Wandering around in sandstorms is not the way to go about change. There are a ton of overlying problems with the military that are constantly addressed and ignored. Brass is so out of touch and embedded in their 'old school' mentality that they think change is detrimental. We are finally seeing progressive leadership (at least in the Army) that are addressing the need for a new culture. There is definitely a huge dialog to be had about Bowe and really good things that can come from it. We just have a hard-headed system. But yeah, Trump would set us back forty years.
I mean to an extent, but from what some of the quotes said about him was that he pictured himself as a Samurai warrior and all this other ridiculous stuff. It seems that, yes, there were some aspects of his complaints that were valid, but his perception about what he should be doing to address those complaints put a ton of people not only at risk but in danger, and greatly affected the morale of the soldiers in Afghanistan, as well as allowed for fairly easy propaganda for our foreign enemies that affected and put the lives in danger of countless other troops. One of the very few people in my mind who could potentially do more damage to that image overseas is Trump. So to me it makes sense that his team would want to meet. In my mind, yes this season has been incredibly dull from a storytelling perspective, but even more so I find it unfortunate that they have spent an entire season trying to justify and understand an action that is utterly indefensible and incomprehensible is to me the worst part.
This season definitely has been fairly boring. I think the story is good but the presentation is just okay. I'm mostly interested in finding out what the military decides to do with Bowe.
So they gave us nearly nothing that anyone who had heard of this guy before didn't already know, and ended up just as open ended, or perhaps more open ended a note, than the last season. Yeah I'm out on this podcast unless people say Season 3 absolutely blows them away.
I'm listening to the new episode now and I also didn't end up being as interested in this season as the first. It's been fairly boring. Did enjoy the they called the Taliban though, mainly because that seems like a weird thing to be able to do.
i just saw that season 2 ended. i couldn't even get through a review of it to see if any conclusion was drawn, but clearly there was not.
Honestly hearing his reasons why sounded like the most Army private thing ever. That's the biggest failure leaders make is not telling down to the lowest level what we are doing and WHY. That is what happened here. Minus the obvious mental issues and disillusioned views he had it sounded like every unhappy private. Toxic leadership has just become this catch all phrase people use but no one knows what it is. Bowes leaders failed in some capacity and there is no argument there. He didn't understand why he was doing literally anything by his interviews. He was complaining that he had to risk his life for an MRAP. Literally our answer to IEDs and he didn't understand why recovering it would help prevent the enemy from exploiting its weaknesses. He was mad that they got chewed out for being unshaven. It sucks but if you let things slide like that eventually more and more things get out of hand and you have an undisciplined unit. If you read Black Hearts you'd understand how detrimental a undisciplined unit is to morale and the overall story. While in Ranger School they would question guys on patrols about what we were doing, where we were, and other mission details. It would piss me off because everyone was to sleep deprived to car unless they were in a leadership position. But it did make me truly understand why that's important and how that can effect people's views on what they have to do. I worked hard to make the soldiers know the reason behind what they are doing. There are issues with the Army/military but everything Bergdahl brought up is such a joke. I followed the series closely to get a new understanding on what happened. Where it failed for what Serial goes for was there is really only one conclusion and that's Bowe Bergdahl is a deserter. There were failures along the way be he was truly to blame for everything that happened. Last season you went away with a feeling of he may not of done it. Or at least he isn't getting a fair shake.