The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst

“The Jinx – Part Two” captures the chilling sensation of realizing that you or someone you care about has been used, and the effects were ultimately catastrophic.

While most criminals have learned to say nothing in police interviews, in the US at least the lure of the TV camera seems to loosen the tongues of even the most ruthless fiends and their helpers.

The Jinx: Part Two is still spicy television, let's be clear, but it is obviously missing its repugnant star interviewee Robert Durst.

The material may not be as absorbing as that of the original, but the editing still gives it a pace and style that could be called rigorously hypnotic. With HBO having held back two episodes (in 2015 it held back four), there is the chance that Part Two will supply a surprise of the magnitude of Durst’s seeming confession, though it’s hard to see how. .... In any case, it seems almost certain that we will be back here in six weeks, talking about “The Jinx.”

The Jinx puts to the test the question, “Would it TRULY have been enough if The Jinx were just an exceptionally well-produced true crime docuseries?” Because that, so far, is what the second season is. There are plenty of very good interviews, and the case zigs and zags with an engaging sense of mounting unease. Plus there’s a lot of Robert Durst, just mostly in jailhouse conversations from prison. But it isn’t quite the same.

With smart use of archival and present-day footage and interviews with people involved replacing the role of Durst himself, The Jinx — Part Two skillfully expands itself to cover even more shocking revelations until we have a map to the full scope of Durst’s crimes and their aftermath at our fingertips.

With the ending of Part Two all but assured, the docuseries' greatest strength lies less in any mysterious conclusion, but rather in tracking the fascinating, eccentric, and occasionally troubling stories of the trial's dramatic personae.

It’s understandably a little less potent than the first series in this midsection simply because of how much we know about this case 10 episodes into the two-part series. It’s still well-made television because of Jarecki’s level of craft.

It’s gripping, especially if you don’t know what happens next (avoid Wikipedia). Jarecki smartly focuses on Durst and the killings.

When you set expectations as high as Jarecki did in 2015, you can only expect the final product to be dissected. "Jinx: Part 2" is still miles above your average murder doc. It's still surprising. It's still emotional. It's still nearly impossible to stop watching once you start.

While almost nothing could match that moment [of saying "killed them all, of course"], Jarecki does what he can, including footage of interesting parties watching a screening of the final episode of “The Jinx” at his home in 2015, capturing their jaws-agape responses. He also has access to authorities interviewing Durst and others, as well as Durst’s jailhouse calls to friends, most of whom appeared to be unsettlingly on board with trying to help him evade punishment.

Jarecki certainly knows how to create drama, and “The Jinx Part Two” continues to provide good entertainment though it remains to be seen if it will again end with a bombshell. Regardless, the series offers examples of smart, pointed lawyering by prosecutors and Durst’s defense team.

It leans into prosecution dramedy less reliant on new bombshell evidence and humanizes the friends and lovers Durst endeared without assuaging their guilt. (An episode centered on Berman is the strongest of the four provided for review.) But the show doesn’t ameliorate the ineffectiveness writ large of true crime at this moment.

"The Jinx Part Two" narrows its focus and essentially becomes a beat-by-beat breakdown of Lewin and his team trying to establish a watertight case against Durst. The show is still mesmerizing, but with its primary subject in prison, it's lost a little of the "anything can happen" juice of the original batch of episodes.

While The Jinx – Part Two is still worth watching, it feels not nearly as essential and compelling as the original series was, and some of its more meta moments left us scratching our heads.

Even though we know the outcome, he [Andrew Jarecki] finds room for suspense and intrigue. A deeply serious filmmaker, he also tends to undercut that with questionable choices.

The Jinx – Part Two would have made a solid two or three episodes, but feels the need to take the sprawling approach. Like Durst, it doesn’t always know when it’s time to stop talking.

A diversion for TV completists. .... Those put off by the questionable edits and creative license taken in the first six installments will find ample material to take issue with this time around as well. The media critic side of me wants to chastise Jarecki for prioritizing entertainment value over strictly ordered journalism. But the murder mystery addict in me appreciates the simple thrills offered in this continuation.

As a piece of entertainment, the new series works almost as well as its predecessor: Jarecki and his team pace the new interviews nicely with a visual blend of mute re-enactment and close-up shots of voice recorders, ensuring every episode ends with a compelling prompt to keep watching. But their packaging and tonal decisions sometimes strike a bum note.

While Part One of “The Jinx” was experimental and self-assured (if a little soapy), the sequel at points feels more reactionary and self-important than exploratory — and more than a little bit inert.

With the primary objective of getting Durst behind bars already achieved, The Jinx Part Two is even more at pains than the first to stretch its length to six episodes, and now that it’s no longer a story about a nutty eccentric who might be a killer but a man we’re convinced is a serial murderer, the diversions into amusing side material feel even more like filler.