History Podcast / Serial

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Adnan says that the reason why he can't remember what happened on the day of Hae's disappearance is that it was such an ordinary day for him.

* EpicFail: In the finale it is revealed that [[spoiler: the Innocence Project team working on Adnan's behalf may have finally found an alternate suspect: Ronald Lee Moore, a then-active serial killer in the Maryland area. They know he was there because the state of Maryland ''released him by accident'', resulting in at least two known rapes and one murder.]]

*** But the twists don't stop there: As of March 2023,[[spoiler: the decision to vacate was reversed by an appellate court: "We remand for a new, ''legally compliant, and transparent hearing'' on the motion to vacate, where Mr. Lee (Hae Min's brother) is given notice of the hearing that is sufficient to allow him to attend in person, ''evidence supporting the motion to vacate is presented'', and the court ''states its reasons in support of its decision.''" The emphasised sections of that quote, translated from legalese, are a resounding yell of "What the ''hell'' were you thinking?" to the original decision, pointing out that no evidence was presented to the court and the reasoning behind the judge's decision was not recorded.]]

*** And then in 2022, under a new law passed in Maryland meant to review cases where juveniles had been given hefty sentences, the current prosecutor's office [[spoiler: found numerous holes in his case and proof that the prosecution at the time hadn't told Adnan's lawyer about two other viable suspects with links to the case, and how they hadn't been cleared.]] This is a Brady violation, albeit other prosecutors familiar with the case disagree with some of the brady allegations. These factors amongst others [[spoiler: ultimately lead to Adnan's conviction being overturned and his subsequent release in 2022.]]

*** And then in 2022, under a new law passed in Maryland meant to review cases where juveniles had been given hefty sentences, the current prosecutor's office [[spoiler: found numerous holes in his case and proof that the prosecution at the time hadn't told Adnan's lawyer about two other viable suspects with links to the case, and how they hadn't been cleared.]] This is a Brady violation. These factors amongst others [[spoiler: ultimately lead to Adnan's conviction being overturned and his subsequent release in 2022.]]

*** And then in 2022 a prosecutor assigned to review Adnan's case found that [[spoiler: her predecessors actually had two other viable suspects with clear links to the case: another boyfriend of Hae who had allegedly expressed a desire to hurt her and a man who is in jail for multiple sexual assaults and had a clear link to the crime scene. Adnan's attorney had not been given this information]], which is a Brady violation.

The story of Adnan's case was followed up on in the podcast ''{{Podcast/Undisclosed}}'' by Rabia Chaudry, and in September 2022 [[spoiler: Adnan's conviction was ultimately overturned and he was freed from prison.]]

* DisposingOfABody: According to Jay's testimony, Adnan killed Hae and put her in the trunk of a car. Later on, Adnan and Jay buried her in a park.

* DirtyCoward: As with all things in this case, this is a very, ''very'' big if, but the podcast raises the possibility that the detectives coached Jay on what to do and say to best help their case. Many have pointed out that given Jay's history of criminal behavior, they could have pressured him into cooperating with them in exchange for lenience on another charge. If this is true, then Jay ruined Adnan's life to save his own skin. However, just as the evidence against Adnan is weak, [[spoiler: weak enough that his conviction was overturned when a new prosecutor reviewed it]], the evidence of Jay lying isn't very strong. All new reviews of the case have revealed is that the cellphone location data the prosecution used to corroborate his story was not very accurate [[spoiler: and that the police failed to clear at least two other viable suspects--and alert Adnan's defense attorney to this fact.]] That's not the same thing as proving that he was lying. As such, and given just how many listeners side with Adnan, it's no wonder the Serial team elected to never mention Jay's last name.
* EpicFail: In the finale it is revealed that [[spoiler: the Innocence Project team working on Adnan's behalf may have finally found an alternate suspect: Ronald Lee Moore, a then-active serial killer in the Maryland area. They know he was there because the state of Maryland ''released him by accident'', resulting in at least two known rapes and one murder.]]

* DirtyCoward: As with all things in this case, this is a very, ''very'' big if, but the podcast raises the possibility that the detectives coached Jay on what to do and say to best help their case. Many have pointed out that given Jay's history of criminal behavior, they could have pressured him into cooperating with them in exchange for lenience on another charge. If this is true, then Jay ruined Adnan's life to save his own skin. However, just as the evidence against Adnan is weak, [[spoiler: weak enough that his conviction was overturned when a new prosecutor reviewed it]], the evidence of Jay lying isn't very strong. All new reviews of the case have revealed is that the cellphone location data the prosecution used to corroborate his story was not very accurate. That's not the same thing as proving that he was lying. As such, and given just how many listeners side with Adnan, it's no wonder the Serial team elected to never mention Jay's last name.

* IfICantHaveYou: Supposedly Adnan's reason to kill Hae. They had dated and then Hae broke up with him. Adnan himself denies this and said there were no hard feelings, and that they had broken up several times already.

The story of Adnan's case was followed up on in the podcast ''{{Podcast/Undisclosed}}'' by Rabia Chaudry.

** And then in 2022, under a new law passed in Maryland meant to review cases where juveniles had been given hefty sentences, the current prosecutor's office found numerous holes in his case and proof that the prosecution at the time hadn't told Adnan's lawyer about two other viable suspects with links to the case, and how they hadn't been cleared. These factors amongst others [[spoiler: ultimately lead to Adnan's conviction being overturned and his subsequent release in 2022.

* DirtyCop: One of the detectives involved in the case was Bill Ritz, who was accused of manipulating evidence and not following up on evidence as well by a man who was investigated by Ritz around the same time as Adnan was. Said man was ultimately exonerated. [[spoiler: And then Adnan was freed in 2022.]]

* AdultFear: Whether Adnan did it or not, Hae Min Lee left school one day, disappeared, and her body was found buried in the woods nearly a month later, and an autopsy showed she had been strangled. On a Reddit thread after the series finished, a man claiming to be Hae Min Lee's brother pointed out that to many listeners, Hae Min and Adnan's story is just that, a story, but to her family, it is a horrible reality.
** Adnan's parents get a heavy dose of this too - your son is dragged out of bed in the early hours of the morning to answer murder charges against the girl you tried to discourage him from seeing, the community turns against him (and to an extent against your religion) and you are forced to watch him be sentenced to life plus 30 years in a maximum security prison, while he insists he's innocent the entire time.

* {{Diary}}: Hae's diary was admitted into evidence for the case, and Sarah Koenig spends an episode going over the various entries in it chronicling Adnan and Hae's relationship.

''Serial'', like ''This American Life'', is a production of [=WBEZ=] UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}.

See also ''Podcast/STown'', a spinoff by the same producers.

* HollywoodPersonalityDisorders: After several episodes discussing Bowe's [[AmbiguousDisorder sometimes bizarre rationalizations for his actions and a panic-attack like incident]] when Bowe enlisted in the Coast Guard a few years before joining the Army, Episode 8 reveals that an Army psychiatrist diagnosed him with Schizotypal Personality Disorder. When Sarah asked another psychiatrist who treated Bowe about this diagnosis, he firmly agreed. This plays into Sarah's [[UnreliableNarrator mild distrust of Bowe's version of events]].

* UnreliableNarrator: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]]. While many people have argued that anything Bowe Bergdahl says is unreliable because he is a traitor to them, this isn't what concerns Sarah. Having considered the evidence, she's more concerned with how closely Bowe's memory conforms to what actually happened, which she emphasizes after learning of Bowe's [[HollywoodPersonalityDisorders Schizotypal Personality Disorder diagnosis]]. Mark, Sarah's partner on Season 2, objects to this--though he knows the same things as her, he sees it as unfair to devalue Bowe's memory because of a diagnosis. On the other hand, this diagnosis actually leads Sarah to trust Bowe more in a sense: because of the diagnosis, she comes to believe that Bowe was at worst mistaken about or misinterpreting events, and was not, therefore, a liar or a traitor. Her conclusion is that inconsistencies both within Bowe's account of events and between Bowe's recollection and that of other people can be explained by the diagnosis (and a significant helping of just the ordinary fallibility of human memory, no disorder required).

[[folder:Season 3]]

* TheJudge: Daniel Gaul.

[[/folder]]

->''"First they come looking for a monster, and they don't find that. Then they come looking for a victim, and they don't find that either. So now they don't know what to think"''
-->--'''Adnan Syed''', describing the audience.

'''''Serial''''' is a weekly {{Documentary}}-style podcast focusing on non-fiction stories, hosted by Sarah Koenig. It is a spin-off of ''Radio/ThisAmericanLife''. As the name would suggest, the show slowly explores the details of a story week by week, in a serial format, gradually unraveling the details of the case.

** In 2019 the Murder conviction was reinstated as the court of Maryland did not find that Adnan Syed's case would have changed if he would have been given a new trial.