True crime documentaries can oftentimes feel unsatisfying in my opinion.
Going through multiple hours of a show just for the filmmakers to shrug and go ‘we tried, but we weren’t able to find out who did it, we just have theories’, is infuriating.
It’s not the fault of the filmmakers, sometimes that’s just how the cards fall.
In the case of one true crime documentary, it has an ending so mind-boggling that it puts any other to shame.
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Not only does the end of the doc reveal who did it, but it does so in the most shocking fashion of any documentary I’ve ever seen.
What’s the documentary?
The documentary, deemed by some viewers to be ‘one in a million’, is called The Jinx, and focuses on real-estate tycoon Robert Durst, who was a suspect in two unsolved murders from the early 2000s.
This came about after the director, Andrew Jarecki, was contacted by Durst following his 2010 feature film All the Good Things.
All the Good Things was inspired by Durst’s biography and dealt with the three accusations of murder Durst faced of his lifelong friend, his neighbour, and his first wife.
While Durst was acquitted in 2003, he contacted Jarecki to tell his side of the story, which the director did, while investigating the tycoon himself.
A second season of the show was produced in 2024, covering the fallout of the show and Durst’s death.
What was the reaction?
The reaction to this show was across the board unanimous – this is one of the greatest true crime documentaries ever.
Eric Deggans, reviewing the series for NPR, said: “It's the ultimate in reality television... But Andrew Jarecki accomplished even more.
"He created a new version of true-crime television, exploring an unresolved case in a series centered on interviews with the eccentric, self-destructive prime suspect.”
The show’s first season received 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with the show itself receiving an insane average score of 8.6 on IMDb, higher even than classic of the genre Making a Murderer.
What’s the ending?
Spoilers of course lie ahead for the first season.
The show is brilliant throughout, but the ending is where it truly shines.
One comment on a post of the clip said: “The Jinx is by far the craziest true crime documentary I’ve ever watched.
"I’ve NEVER seen anything like that. I was watching it with my mum and couldn’t speak for like 10 min after it ended.”
Another said: “This is one of the most chilling and intense endings I have ever seen. He genuinely seems like he is in shock that he may have finally been caught.”
Rather than hearing us describe it, here’s the scene itself:
Durst, after filming stopped, confessed to the murders without realising his microphone was on, saying: “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course”.
As a result of the documentary, charges were brought against him, and he was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his longtime friend Susan Berman.
He was later charged with the murder of his first wife, however he died before a trial could begin.
You can watch The Jinx on NOW TV in the UK.
Topics: True Crime, Crime, TV and Film, TV
Michael Slavin