068: Unspeakable Crime: The Killing Of Jessica Chambers And The RFK Tapes
Toby Ball FINALLY returns to his dedicated spot on the Blotter HQ sofa to talk about the latest limited series from Joe Berlinger for Oxygen, Unspeakable Crime: The Killing Of Jessica Chambers. It's better than we expected, but we're still waiting for it to address certain issues teased in the opener -- inconsistent racism; the classism we're not sure we're supposed to note, or object to; the Heisenberging of the case by the internet -- and wondering whether the occasional meta moment is intentional. With bonus references to at least a dozen other crime properties both accoladed and annoying!
Later, we talk about Kennedy-assassination conspiracy journey The RFK Tapes, and what it says about the human drive to bring order out of chaos by seeing conspiracies in what might be straight-ahead murders. Toby adds to Sarah's history-book reading list, Sarah can't unknow Bugliosi sounds like a Simpsons character, and more as we discuss whether this well-regarded podcast is about Robert Kennedy's death, or about the listener.
(Corrections department! I mispronounced RFK host Zac Stuart-Pontier's last name at least once, and I apologize; pretty sure it's actually "Pon-tee-ay." As well, I guessed the wrong Kennedy as director of HBO docu Ethel; it's Rory, not Kerry.)
SHOW NOTES
- Unspeakable Crime: The Killing Of Jessica Chambers
- Katie J.M. Baker's "Troll Detective" on Buzzfeed
- The RFK Tapes
- Dallas, 1963
- American Journey: The Times Of Robert Kennedy
- Prior discussions of Joe Berlinger's work: Ep 017 (Gone); Ep 032 (Cold Blooded); and Ep 058 (Wrong Man)
- Ethel
- Crime Writers On and Ball's Deep Dive