Making A Murderer part 2, episode 2 recap: Words and Words Only

Making A Murderer breaks down the details of the sweaty hood latch and focuses in on the inconsistencies behind Brendan Dassey’s interrogation.

Making A Murderer is going all in with every detail that perhaps the first part did not cover when the docuseries first aired. Of course, this is largely due to the entrance of Kathleen Zellner who is pin-drop focused on tearing all the details of this case apart and then bringing back together the pieces that she thinks actually fit.

Episode 2 focused a bit more on Brendan Dassey’s interrogation and how experts dissected the aspects of it that point to it being a forced confession. Of course, in realtime, a lot has happened with Dassey in the last year, but in the docuseries, he is in prison and hopeful about getting out.

Steve Drizin and Laura Nirider are the two experts that took a deeper look into Dassey’s confession and what they explain is a bit jarring and disturbing (which it was the first time around as well). They break down what they believe to be his coerced confession into three parts: misclassification, coercion, and contamination.

As was explained in part 1 of Making A Murderer, Brendan has a mental disability and the experts point out that during his interrogation some of the questioning was not conducive to someone of his mental and social abilities. For example, the experts point out that while the investigators took Brendan avoiding eye contact as guilt, it was simply a part of his condition.

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The coercion and contamination elements came in when the investigators kept repeating key parts of the evidence and how the murder was committed, and that they knew what he did, he just has to confess he did.

During this process, they almost alluded to the idea that if Brendan told them what they wanted to hear, he would get to leave.

As the experts break down the confession, it all gets more and more complicated and suspecting of how the whole ordeal was handled. It’s presented in a way that has Brendan backed into a corner with nowhere to run.

And if that isn’t enough to have viewers questioning how the entire thing was handled, then the fact that prosecutor Ken Kratz held a press conference almost immediately after Dassey’s confession surely will. The confession made the news instantaneously and from the get-go, the public was convinced of Dassey’s guilt and supposed involvement with the murder.

While Zellner is working with Avery, she is still supportive of what outcome comes from Dassey’s post-conviction results. In this episode of Making A Murderer, she points out that there was no DNA evidence to tie him to the entire ordeal. Seriously, this case keeps getting more and more complicated and suspect.

Zellner’s investigation continues as she brings in Karl Reich who is a DNA expert to look into the blood from the car, and also elaborate more on the sweat DNA. It turns out the sweat DNA was not collected by the lab but rather by the Sherriff’s department in Calumet County. Furthermore, it wasn’t even looked into until after Brendan gave his confession. Say what?

If you go back to Brendan’s confession, the investigators slowly walked Dassey into saying that Avery touched the hood of the car so the docuseries is suggesting that it’s possible the DNA may have been planted after the fact.

Reich explains that sweat isn’t something that one can test for like you can with blood and semen and upon further testing, that aspect of evidence just didn’t make sense. Zellner goes on to have Avery take part in something called “brain fingerprinting” where an individual’s brain waves are recorded as they are presented with different stimuli.

If they were there to experience the situation, the brain waves will respond accordingly, and if not, then the response will be less dramatic. When Avery undergoes this testing, his results point to the fact that he was not involved in Halbach’s murder, and he doesn’t know any of the details that were presented to him during the test.

To ensure that details that Avery already knew from the trial wouldn’t interfere with the results, new information was presented to him to eliminate any bias. Interesting, very interesting.

This episode of Making A Murderer ends on a note that only Queen Zellner would be capable of identifying and investigating. The Avery junkyard is situated next to a quarry that is owned by another family, and when the scent dogs were first brought into the area, they latched onto Teresa’s scent from the quarry first before entering the Avery junkyard.

It is in this moment that you will become smitten with Zellner and her investigative abilities. She is such a beast when it comes to paying attention to the details that the lawyers before her didn’t, and if there is any chance of Steven getting out, it may very well be because of her.

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Zellner pays Avery’s mother a visit and fills her in on what has been happening with him, which is a welcome change to see how his family is holding up and what impact this has had on them. We even see Avery’s father in this episode as he talks about how negatively the business has been impacted since all this happened.

Oh, and if you weren’t sure whether or not Sandy and Stephen were still together, well this episode of Making A Murderer shows the moment that she dumped him while being interviewed by Dr. Phil. And while she eventually came to regret it, Avery found another girlfriend and appears optimistic regarding the progress Zellner has already made.

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