Honest Series Review : The Jinx (2015)

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Who does not love a “who-dunnit”. Even more so, when the person under question has killed three people – his wife, his best friend, his neighbour. Even more if it is based on a real life story. More so if the series is about unravelling the mystery and figures out one of the most important and critical pieces of evidence in the saga. More, more, more, more so, if the trial is about to be start in 2 days from now, i.e. 17th May 2021. Holy cow !!

This 6-part mini-series is directed by Andrew Jarecki, who has also narrated throughout the series. Jarecki previously made another feature-film on Durst’s life, which was quite sympathetic to the latter’s cause. And this is what made Durst offering to do a series of interviews with Jarecki. But the tables turned when Jarecki made a highly unlikely (and surprisingly missed) discovery. And before the finale was aired in 2015, Durst was arrested again on charges of murder. And it seems unlikely he will get out.

Plot Summary

Death 1 : Kathleen Durst

Robert Durst, the heir to the multi-million Durst real-estate empire, marries Cathie Durst. One day in 1982, Cathie goes missing and is never found again. The circumstances leading upto her death are :

1. Cathie has met a divorce lawyer during weekdays and wants to leave Bob, which he refuses.
2. For the weekend, they got to their South Salem lake-side house. She goes to her friend’s house & returns late at night on Sunday, drunk and have a fight with Bob. She , being a medical graduate student, wants to return to their Manhattan house. In his words, he drops her to the train station, gets back to their house, gets a drink at a neighbour’s house, walks their dog in the park, gives her a call to their apartment and check in on her.
3. The doorman in their Manhattan apartment says she heard Miss Durst getting back late Monday night. But he later recants saying he never actually saw her getting back.
4. On Monday morning, the head of the medical school received a call from Cathie calling in sick. Of course, it wasn’t recorded or verified, and could have been an impersonator, most likely Susan.
5. The neighbour denies having met Bob on the said night. He explains with a shrug that he just thought it would make Police focus on searching for her, but look at it a different way.
6. In his narration to their Private Investigator, Ed Wright, Bob changes his stance three times on where he called from.
7. Cathie’s friends find a list of things in Bob’s handwriting, that contained things used to dispose a body

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  Recipe to dump a body ?

Death 2 : Susan Berman

Eighteen years later in October 2000, a defendant in an unrelated case told the NYPD that Cathie was killed. On his tip, Dursts’ house in Salem was searched that revealed a hidden hideaway, whose contents were not made public. Jeanine Pierro, NY District Attorney goes after Durst with full force. Police interrogate Susan Berman, Bob’s friend and aide, but soon, she is found dead near Christmas of 2000. The circumstances upto her death are :

1. Susan allegedly handled and fed fake stories to the Press of Cathie’s return to Manhattan, to deviate media attention. She also, allegedly called the Medical school on Monday morning.
2. She had a gangster father, and was covering up mobs of USA as an independent researcher
3. She was in financial debt and right before her death, she received $50K from Bob. Blackmail?
4. She was alone at the time of her death and there are no signs of forced entry, showing acquaintance.
5. Beverly Hills Police receive a mail, that has written Susan’s address and the word “Cadaver”, probably sent by the killer. And the handwriting had uncanny similarity to Bob’s.
6. Bob takes off and is not heard of again until Sep 2003.

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  Best friend-turned-foe?

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  Or mob connection?

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  Check handwriting

Death 3 : Morris Black

Bob takes off to Galveston, Texas and impersonates himself as a mute middle-aged woman, Dorothy Ciner. He shares the flat with another 71 year old tenant, Morris Black. In September 2003, Black’s body is found in the Galvestan Bay, cut up in multiple pieces and packed in garbage bags. The circumstances leading upto his death are :

1. In Durst words, he and Black become really good buddies, to the point that Durst reveals his true identity of being a man. However, no eyewitnesses suggest that this was the case, and they were never seen together.
2. Durst claimed self-defense. That Black was evicted as a tenant due to shortage of money and he wanted to blackmail Durst, threatening him with a gun. In his self-defense, they struggled and the gun accidentally went-off
3. He got a bone-saw & bags in a local store, dismembered up the body and dumped it. But it started floating, at which point, he cut up the face bag and took off with his face.
4. He gets arrested by the Police in a bizarre turn of events. Bail is set, but he absconds on the bail. Later, he is arrested from a departmental store trying to steal a $6 hot-dog (wtf)
5. There are a number of unexplained bruises on Black’s body, apparently as a result of being beaten up.

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  Black, but not so black

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  Bone Saw to cut

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  Caught stealing sandwich

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  Re-enacting his “self-defense”, but not the dismemberment

Plot Review

1. Who was the defendant in the unrelated case and how did he come to testify on Cathie’s murder? This was an essential piece since it led to Susan’s death and ultimately Morris’s death. But he is kind of blurred out, saying nothing of evidentiary value was found.
2. Use of the word “Cadaver” on the letter still does not make sense to me. It is essentially a dead body used by medical science students to study anatomy. Was that used to divert attention away from Bob?
3. For a smart guy, Robert Durst is quite stupid. He changes his story so often, puts out statements that can very easily be falsified like drinking with neighbour. And who, in the world, steals a $6 sandwich when you have $50K in your car.
4. This is not a plot hole, but it is preposterous that the jury finds Durst non-guilty. Who in the world dismembers an assailant, then disposes in the bay, and then takes away the head, all of it in self-defense?
5. The piece of recipe to dump the body seems to have played no part in the investigation. And most importantly, the hand-writing on it does not seem to match the one written in “Cadaver” letter.

Should I watch this? YES.

And here is a lockdown challenge for you – finish this before his trial gets over. A brownie point if you do it before it starts. Two brownie points if you correctly predict whether he will be caught this time.