Episode Transcript
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Where we are. Worth
1:00
the space needle? I don't I still don't know
1:03
what it is, but I'm hoping to find out.
1:07
What? I
1:10
don't like. Okay, so we are now
1:13
at the top of the Space
1:15
needle on the observation deck. It's
1:17
drizzling slightly. It's quite thrilling. Were
1:19
getting the if. If you walk
1:21
around you get a three sixty
1:23
view of the beautiful city of
1:25
Seattle. When the
1:28
lovely frames visible a
1:30
huge a cruise ship
1:33
visible from far away.
1:36
And I'm beyond it. Like on every side. I.
1:39
Mean, this is. I guess the famous thing about the
1:41
city? those mountains everywhere. There's about. You
1:44
know we are appear on the space needle
1:47
in the footsteps of Grunge and that an
1:49
you know I've I've never, I haven't felt
1:51
this alive and a long time. Or
1:55
to see what Kurt Cobain saw them. Welcome
2:05
to critics A large pockets on the New
2:07
Yorker. I'm going for cutting. I know if
2:09
I and I'm out schwartz each week on
2:11
this show we make sense of what's. Happening
2:13
in the culture right now. And how
2:16
we got here for more apropos of
2:18
for today. How did we get. Here.
2:21
Yes, my friends were in Seattle
2:23
for the Cascade. Tds Ideas Festival
2:25
is the early of and that
2:28
brings together all sorts of media
2:30
news outlet for conversations about politics,
2:32
economics, climate, And culture get
2:35
so. the so today is
2:37
a lot drizzly, wimpy, the
2:39
paper of critters a large
2:41
from the cascade Pbs ideas
2:43
rest of our and we're
2:45
talking about. Drumroll here
2:47
through cry. We're going to be
2:50
joined today by our illustrious colleague
2:52
as a New Yorker, Patrick rotten
2:54
teeth Were going to talk about
2:57
his own prime writing and how
2:59
an obsession with crime and criminality
3:01
has swept the Oracles. So
3:05
what we're about to do with a to
3:07
stroll around the observation that I'm cc on
3:09
ask very people encounter what their own feelings
3:12
that reclaimer and you might ask why are
3:14
we doing this and the answer is. Because
3:16
we felt like yes we want
3:18
to get on the ground one
3:20
here at what are no solo
3:23
culture consumers have to say about
3:25
is extremely popular form of culture.
3:28
Taken away. Or I were gonna
3:30
see if somebody else thought as much of them. Sir.
3:34
I'm so sorry to bother. We are recording
3:36
a podcast. We did spock out for the
3:38
New Yorker Magazine of Cause Metics a large
3:40
and we're asked me something that has nothing
3:42
to do with the Space Needle is that
3:45
attack idea has hijacked for get out good
3:47
arm do you. Do. You enjoy
3:49
true crime. At all the
3:51
I'll have to find put us as one.
3:53
Always a sincere okay good thank you and
3:55
I'm so glad to be you. Can you
3:57
give us a sense of what about. Crime
4:00
you that you really want? I
4:04
think knowing that it actually happens and they're putting the
4:06
suffering in the real out, I think that makes it
4:08
is kind of of it. While. Scary.
4:10
And true ah where's of as i can
4:12
fix so thing you know you could say
4:14
oh it's made off or something real but
4:16
having as i got to treat private network
4:18
is is over thrill For instance if. You
4:21
have any favorites: Ass Guns My Spa
4:23
five, five of the latest stuff it
4:25
over physicists The see you have you
4:28
listened see. I was a member
4:30
of my is Freddie or. Your British
4:32
gentlemen, I have of resistance of in
4:34
Australia from London physicists at various furiously looking
4:37
for a spot if I try to find
4:39
exactly what murder turns them on. The money
4:41
set aside cause the want to be listened
4:43
to recently as free Generic is cool The
4:45
Uk True Crime podcast what was the last
4:48
episode that you listen to about. It
4:51
was hard in Birmingham says episode
4:53
three four six Felix into turbo
4:55
evening when C R I A
4:58
bombs exploded into busy pub near
5:00
Sense of Birmingham. As when
5:02
you want people died and over two hundred and twenty
5:04
before is injured. And. Effects is on
5:06
the he was sorry and how the innocent people
5:08
were Effectiveness. And much on. uncover.
5:11
Who. Have or them off into that. Sounds like.
5:14
Lovely listening with ama wasn't allowed to
5:16
somebody and ominous with what the quite
5:18
nice a solicits like like saying ways
5:20
to Lopez as hang and Softly and
5:22
Freddie think if I'm a sensitive issue
5:24
has been awesome thing of yours as.
5:31
We discovered what the space needle is, which
5:34
is an important piece of information. Because of
5:36
my own aversion to spoilers, I made for
5:38
not to look up in advance as having
5:40
her. Turns out that the city was built in.
5:43
And it's it's easier for the Seattle World's
5:45
Fair in order to show people what buildings
5:47
as a future might look like. You know,
5:49
boy, were they wrong side. It's it's wonderful
5:51
to be. Or Twenty Nine Port. City
5:54
Matthew question. So we're doing episode
5:56
today about True. Crime, similar interests
5:58
and hearing about different. The both true
6:00
crime habits are you. A fan of
6:03
true crime at all. I was a humongous
6:05
true crime sand and then i kind of
6:07
arm and a real I had as is
6:09
he started pillow dark to me like I
6:11
would the way I would watch it or
6:13
listen to it. Podcast. Like
6:15
my favorite murder arm. oh gosh, what's
6:17
that one? There's one disappeared about. random
6:19
people disappearing. that was amazing but I
6:21
watch it in that like as I'm
6:23
falling asleep. I'd put it on overnight
6:25
on rating and then I for about
6:27
a year I decided maybe this wasn't
6:29
the best. so I stopped. But now
6:31
I'm slowly dipping my tobacco and slowly
6:33
with a dateline. Did you find
6:35
it is interrupted your sleep at all really
6:37
and from my sleep But I'm thinking like
6:39
why wasn't I data like what you know
6:41
what I mean like what's going to date
6:43
when you're when you're sleeping and listening to
6:46
like every man is a snow census have
6:48
been a murder you in our enemy and
6:50
like they always have the murder people and
6:52
less the crazy at the cinema it so
6:54
it's just not worth that. So I just
6:56
thought I needed to be a little more.
6:58
you know, high fives, good bye bye It's
7:00
a we love this. I mean yeah I
7:02
mean I'm I'm listening to and I'm and
7:04
maybe I'm looking for a guru. But I'm
7:06
drinking this. This is this outlook in
7:08
the gym. Canada had taken a minute,
7:10
but yeah, yeah, So
7:21
now we're headed to.
7:23
The lower floor were. Apparently there's
7:26
a glass. Floor.
7:28
That is rotating them. Rumors
7:33
of on servers i'm so sorry listeners are are
7:35
we will all the noises like the floor and
7:37
the windows around as of on. I
7:40
believe we are. Revolving well know
7:42
we're sending still for the I
7:44
more involving and we're on it
7:46
much. Like much lights when you stand
7:48
on planet Earth. You are also
7:50
revolving but you feel that you're sending
7:53
so. Sad
7:55
that's so true. People aren't mentioned know
7:57
that they're evolving. that's my country. Oh
8:00
but look at the for the mountains
8:02
the cause of lifted and the beautiful
8:04
cascade mountains are coming into view would.
8:07
You say that you're the only
8:09
still point in a turning world.
8:11
Alex? Exactly what I'd say. That
8:15
can be taught to that guy over. There
8:18
are you? fan of true crime?
8:20
like forensic shows? What
8:24
is it about true crime that appeals year? I
8:27
really like when they saw by cold Case
8:29
files that of have you know been fifty
8:31
years later and are able to finally find
8:33
somebody and seek justice. Does it make
8:35
you feel like I'm. There's
8:37
like order more, order in, The
8:40
world And then you saw it when
8:42
they're like, okay, this thing that happened
8:44
like nineteen sixty. Three. Finally
8:47
we get some answers and we never thought
8:49
we'd get the gets more order along the
8:51
lines of in a rather than just giving
8:53
up you know now they're going back and
8:55
saying let's you know we left the says
8:57
or was unsolved but now we have the
8:59
technology to find the answer that I guess
9:01
also bomb interested in it. My family in
9:03
New York own funeral home so being around
9:05
a lot of depth and stuff you know
9:08
not many of them being like crimes like
9:10
what you see on the shows by the
9:12
flight getting the answer. My
9:19
name is Kim Argus and I'm from
9:21
Lord Was In fact and level Just
9:23
pronounce are different types of. Us
9:26
Louisville lo voy and or time for
9:28
for nancy A some so what's a
9:31
lotta heat sink crime of what is
9:33
the reason? what? what do you like
9:35
about and free of at all? I
9:37
like the law part of l A
9:39
like for watched the trial. And.
9:42
And the evidence and see what convicts
9:44
people and what doesn't. And
9:47
since O J. Simpson dialogue
9:49
Camry Watson, that is really
9:51
very interesting. Sauce
9:53
or Watson. I
10:00
think we should probably get going to their that
10:02
oh my God of the floor. Is so moving?
10:07
The revolving floor has made me
10:09
are unsure of what it means
10:11
to move or not to move.
10:14
When you hear me nuts on the
10:16
on the panel, if I see Madonna's
10:18
done by require, that's because of what
10:20
this place has done for me, the
10:22
Hall of Mirrors. I'd say that every
10:24
single person we've asked me if not
10:26
as anyone who is not into. Kind
10:30
of merely counterintuitively giving me
10:32
a cozy sense of community.
10:35
We are the world designed. As
10:39
a nation or perhaps even a
10:41
global united under the sign of
10:43
to crime. but yes, were gonna
10:45
discuss this more on our path
10:48
here and thought you were feeling
10:50
lose are ready to throw down
10:52
with cache and hours in advance.
11:08
On Christmas Eve. Awesome! I'm hungry.
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these are from then. Hair still.
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Watching podcast nests out there, watching the new H
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B O shows, The regime and have
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it was a confrontation that are saying
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Winslet is our Chancellor as he
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term supply. Hello
12:21
everyone welcome to the Cascade! P B
12:23
S Idea! First of. Are. So
12:29
excited to be there! We are
12:31
very excited to be here and
12:33
especially because today we are talking
12:35
about true crime and the insatiable
12:37
hunger that audiences have for stories
12:39
about people who do or experience.
12:42
Terrible things. And as the genre
12:44
has exploded in popularity, there's been
12:46
more consideration of the Essex around
12:48
it. So stories like these were
12:50
the lot. Of questions you. Know. To
12:52
to climb honor that songs or
12:54
does it exploit them with stories
12:56
get hold which don't Is it
12:58
right that the families of victims
13:00
have to relive these incredibly painful
13:02
chapters of their lives for essentially
13:05
our entertainment? So I would say
13:07
that all of these concerns really
13:09
come down to one big central
13:11
question: Is there a right way
13:13
to turn real life tragedy into
13:15
mass entertainment? Or art so to
13:17
help of answer that we are getting
13:19
help. Patrick Rotting Teeth is our
13:21
fellow staff writer up a New Yorker
13:23
and his one of the true masters
13:25
of crime. writing me are all big
13:28
pattern that and he fans can you
13:30
don't have any favorite examples of it's
13:32
worth. Yeah. I mean, Patrick
13:34
is our the master of true
13:36
crime. I mean does Empire Ten
13:38
ah his book from you know,
13:41
three years ago or so in
13:43
which she investigated that peddling of.
13:46
Oxycontin. So disastrous results
13:49
for one? Yeah, And
13:51
those same nothing real story of a
13:53
murder that happens in Northern Ireland during
13:55
the time of the troubles with says
13:57
actually mouth of into our point here.
14:00
In turn into an effect so I'll bet going
14:02
to come out later this year. Yeah.
14:04
Exactly so we'll get into all of
14:06
that and less. Welcome Patrick reading Keys.
14:15
Are better I pads and I
14:18
say i know. He didn't First
14:20
out of the cake. I wanted to
14:22
recruiter as we couldn't have been take
14:24
his legs and professor of scams lot
14:26
cleaner this way it's an interest in
14:29
it and it so. I
14:31
think. We. Can all say that
14:33
true crime is an obsession in the
14:35
culture right now. In fact, I had
14:37
data to offer us about this earlier
14:39
today. The the three of us were
14:41
at the Space Needle here in Seattle
14:43
and we approached a random sampling a
14:45
fellow visitors to the space needle to
14:47
ask them do you like true crime
14:49
and I'm a little bit to be
14:52
honest, skeptical of this exercise a whole
14:54
ago. We have some fun audio first
14:56
show every single one of them as
14:58
like elements. As with it. It. Was
15:00
actually shocking because they all had like oh
15:02
I love this and I love that And
15:04
they weren't just saying is they were like.
15:07
I. Listened to it every night before going
15:09
to fleets It plays, it plays as I'm
15:11
slumbering is and are like wow well I
15:14
basically to question bleeding from this observation in
15:16
a one is kind of for all of
15:18
us and want to specifically free Patrick. When
15:20
I'm going to put both I'm do which
15:23
is what is the appeal of these stories
15:25
for someone reading or watching them and also
15:27
what is the appeal of writing them of
15:30
writing about crime? What does that let you
15:32
do. Is a writer. A
15:34
kind of story. I.
15:37
Think I'm in. I'm a little confused
15:39
at times about the intensity of the
15:41
appeal and when I look perfectly it
15:43
all the podcast about True Crime, all
15:45
the streaming stuff the you see ah
15:47
it's and feel at times to me
15:49
like there's a glut, like there's too
15:51
much of it. There's a kind of
15:53
sameness and I sometimes wonder how it
15:55
is the people of such as a
15:57
bottomless appetite for this stuff. I think.
16:00
Some of it is that. Are.
16:02
Eaten go back to the dawn of
16:04
literature and questions of good and evil
16:06
have always fascinated us. I mean, people
16:08
aren't generally speaking reading Paradise Mosque these
16:10
days, but these questions of the terrible
16:13
things that people do I think her
16:15
or interesting does fundamentally. I also think
16:17
that there's a way in which I
16:19
mean I often think to analogies about.
16:22
Disaster movies or are in a
16:24
zombie movies or what have you
16:26
these types of scenarios in which
16:28
from the comfort of our living
16:31
room we watch a story of
16:33
apocalypse is something that is service
16:35
even more terrifying the moment we
16:37
happened to be living through. can
16:39
you imagine? Ah, and I think
16:41
that there's maybe an element of
16:43
that and true crime as well,
16:46
that there's something sort of strangely
16:48
comforting about in in your own
16:50
life watching disaster befall someone. Else
16:52
and kind of knowing that you are sort of
16:54
secure to as your second question I would sort
16:56
of pivot because I think that. That.
16:58
Aspiration, I just offered. Would. Suggest
17:01
that when you watch true crime. You
17:03
really kind of empathizing with the victim or
17:06
the victim's family. You're sort of thinking oh
17:08
look at, look at those evil people who
17:10
are so different from me. So alien for
17:12
me and for me as a writer it's
17:15
actually kind of the opposite. Where where I'm
17:17
really intrigued by is why do people do.
17:20
Bad things. And what
17:22
are the ways in which those people
17:24
are not different for me, but actually
17:26
similar? To me and so.
17:28
I. Have not. I'm. You.
17:31
Know, I haven't written much over the
17:33
years about people who are. Kind.
17:36
Of inexplicably just sort of pure
17:38
evil. Because those people aren't. That.
17:41
Intriguing to me, I mean nothing. I wasn't much.
17:43
As I wrote for years ago, there was a
17:45
mass shooter. One name's Amy Bishop. And
17:48
ah, she been a professor at the
17:50
University of Alabama and in two thousand
17:52
and ten so you may recall, she
17:54
walked into a faculty meeting and shot
17:56
six of her colleagues and my editor.
17:58
Call me and. That hey, you want
18:01
to write a story about that case And
18:03
initially I said no because this a mass
18:05
shooter not that interesting to me. I don't
18:07
really care why she did it, you know,
18:09
newsflash? like she's a little bit nuts and
18:11
that's not actually a place that I feel
18:13
the need to go. But.
18:16
Then my editor said, there's a really
18:18
interesting backstory here, which is when she
18:20
was young, like a cock and a
18:22
college kid, she actually shot and killed.
18:25
Her. Little brother with a shotgun. And
18:28
there was only one witness to that shooting.
18:30
It was their mother. And
18:32
so their mother only had two kids and
18:34
she walked into the kitchen one day and
18:36
she saw her daughter shooting kill her son
18:38
and the cops around the way. And.
18:41
When they came she said I saw the whole thing. It
18:43
was an accident. And. The
18:45
choice of that mother. right?
18:48
You. Just lost one child and you may
18:50
be about to lose the other. What do
18:52
you say to the police? That to me
18:54
was really intriguing and that was something I
18:57
wanted to understand. And in this case I
18:59
think in some ways that choice she made
19:01
helped create a situation in which her daughter
19:03
all these years later shot these other people.
19:05
So that's what intrigues me most to sort
19:08
of getting up close as I can and
19:10
trying to understand the ways in which some
19:12
people deviate from dimensional morality. Down.
19:14
On you know if you mention i'm
19:17
sorry that you mentioned Milton before and
19:19
parents laws I mean at a as
19:21
in run a continuum his his look
19:23
there Satan. You know if you're a
19:26
true believer then that's true crime. What
19:28
happened here? Why did why has you
19:30
know Satan? Com to to earth.
19:33
To tempt man and and there you have melted
19:35
and many years later. Had. To read
19:37
of we're imam make it matter of yeah.
19:39
I agree. I mean of murder. You know
19:42
a thing or how how far we fall.
19:44
Yes indeed. Well we will take a deeper
19:46
look at one of your recent pieces, the
19:48
Oligarchs Fun because I think it really gets
19:50
into these questions on this is a story
19:52
that you've recently published in the magazine in
19:54
the New Yorker. Tell us a little bit
19:56
about the story, Know maybe it would be
19:58
great if you could. Give. It
20:01
a little fun off with about it is but
20:03
also how I'm super curious about how you. You
20:05
came to it and I started reporting
20:07
it. Yeah it seemed to me and
20:09
in a strange way I mean I
20:12
find our and a know like the
20:14
you guys but when I got looking
20:16
for goods store for is a never
20:18
find them and I deserve look and
20:20
look and I don't come up with
20:22
anything any good. and then when I
20:24
just moved through the world occasionally incredible
20:26
stories fallen my lap and I were
20:28
living in London over the summer because
20:30
we're producing this series of say nothing
20:32
and. I. Was on set one day
20:34
and there was a guy who was visiting the
20:37
Sat. He was a guest to one of the
20:39
directors and we got chatting. And.
20:42
He told me about a family he
20:45
knew and London they lived in in
20:47
I'm Maida Vale, nice neighborhood and in
20:49
West London. And they had a nineteen
20:52
year old boy named Zack and Zoc
20:54
had died. and twenty nineteen? He.
20:57
Was ah, you know, luxury building. a
20:59
luxury apartment building on the towns and
21:01
he went off the balcony and into
21:03
the Thames. and he died. And after
21:05
he died, his parents learn that he
21:08
had had a kind of double identity.
21:10
He. Had been a fabulous and he'd been
21:12
moving around London pretending that he was
21:15
the son of a Russian oligarch. And.
21:18
He got mixed up with some people that
21:20
are turned out to be quite dangerous people.
21:23
And he ended up dead and the authorities had
21:25
kind of looked at this and thought it was
21:28
maybe a suicide, but it turns out that. The.
21:31
The moment the week he went off the balcony,
21:33
he'd been in that apartment with a guy who
21:35
was in a Taurus. Gangster. And
21:38
so the piece that I wrote
21:40
was about. Ah, The
21:42
parents actually Matthew and Herschelle Rattler are
21:45
their names and how after their Sunday
21:47
at died it's it's a kind of
21:49
up, it's a mystery and away they're
21:51
both kind of coming to understand the
21:54
circumstances of his death, but also in
21:56
the process. They're. Coming to understand who
21:58
their son had actually bannon. Life in
22:00
a way that they they didn't really fully
22:02
grasp when he was a loss, Can.
22:05
I ask you to read an excerpt. From the story to
22:07
give people a sense you can indeed of got
22:09
one kid up the hockey hall of my phone.
22:12
Curtis. Ah, I'm. So.
22:14
This is actually it's it's are partly through the peace
22:17
but it's at the point right? I met Matthew and
22:19
Rochelle, the parents. In.
22:21
A chill rain Last fall I
22:23
visited the Rattlers. I'd
22:25
initially connected with them over the
22:28
summer, and we'd since had several
22:30
long and sometimes painful conversations about
22:32
their son. The
22:34
Maida Vale apartment his spare and
22:37
modern Rochelle writes about crafts and
22:39
design and the space with elegantly
22:41
decorated and bright and by colorful
22:44
glass bosses. Are frame
22:46
snapshots on a bookshelf showed
22:48
Zoc and his brother Joe
22:50
as little boys. Dressed. Up
22:52
in costumes and a school fair. Zoc
22:55
was a cute, fun goofball.
22:57
Rochelle said. Both. Rattler
23:00
parents are now sixty one.
23:02
Matthew as bespectacled, athletic and
23:04
bald. He. Has a conspicuously
23:06
analytical mind and an amiable
23:08
intensity, and he has coped
23:10
with the devastation of losing
23:13
a child by channeling his
23:15
energies into investigating Zack's demise.
23:18
Rochelle, a petite with lively eyes
23:20
and a tendency to smile even
23:22
when she's relating a sad story.
23:25
Joe. Drifted in and out as
23:27
we talk is twenty five with
23:29
corkscrew curls and has a casually
23:32
affectionate manner with his parents. In
23:34
the four years since Zack's death, the
23:37
family has had to confront the extent
23:39
to which the boy they thought they
23:41
knew. Had been living a
23:43
double existence. It.
23:45
Strikes me that. This story and
23:47
the store that you told us
23:50
before this horrible story of a
23:52
sort of fratricides on involves crucially
23:54
as you mentioned parents and it
23:56
just strikes me as such a
23:59
tough. Part of
24:01
the job at must be outta you talk
24:03
especially to parents and to family members to
24:05
whom these horrible things have happened and in
24:08
a certain of course being the chief character
24:10
witnesses and the ones who are often kind
24:12
of looking to you'd us to solve things
24:14
as well as double role have how do
24:16
you deal with that Part of it dealing
24:19
with his family's it's really hard. I mean
24:21
I don't I'm sure this is something will
24:23
talk about but I think the ethics of
24:25
true crime or pretty fraud ah in a
24:27
bunch of ways and I I don't exclusively
24:30
right. About. Crime. but I often
24:32
do, and I'm. I'm
24:34
very often sinking a lot about the
24:37
victims in off and the person that
24:39
the center of your stories already gone
24:41
by the time you start writing. ah
24:43
I'm and. I'm. Looking at
24:46
the impact that that last has had
24:48
to the people around them and that's
24:50
pretty raw and devastating. And I think
24:52
that the I'm. For.
24:54
A journalist to create is really
24:57
interesting interactions because. I. Mean this
24:59
is true. The Brothers. It was actually true when
25:01
the parents of any dish of the woman I
25:03
mentioned before who has been timeless, I'm. Sometimes.
25:07
There's a reluctance to talk initially. But.
25:10
When you go in you know you're
25:12
finding people and away at their most
25:14
isolated and vulnerable. You know they've been
25:16
living with this. Anguish. And
25:19
sometimes the people in their lives don't necessarily even
25:21
can fully grasp the extent of it. And as
25:23
a journalist, part of what I'm doing is I'm
25:25
a good listener. And. I will go in
25:27
and and if you talk like I will sit with
25:30
you. For. Three, Four five,
25:32
Seven Hours. And just.
25:34
Kind of here at all tumbling out.
25:38
The. Trick is. I'm
25:40
not a therapist. You know I'm I'm not
25:42
a minister. I'm. And.
25:44
So it's important for me to remind people.
25:47
That. Were doing
25:49
this intimate thing here. You're telling me about the
25:51
worst thing that happening your life. But.
25:54
At. A certain point it's like I'm gonna
25:56
throw the shades open. And. All
25:58
the sunlight going to come. The and and
26:00
like this conversation that we have yeah,
26:03
it's going to be reproduced in print.
26:05
And. On I don't want people
26:07
one that moment comes to feel betrayed
26:09
by it, were to feel like I
26:11
missed London and so I'm I'm actually
26:13
constantly even and little ways like I
26:15
will if I'm recording the conversation or
26:17
periodically just reach out and tap my
26:19
phone. To. Kind of ostensibly to
26:21
make sure that it's still recording, but also
26:23
just kind of remind them like you are.
26:26
On. The record here and when I go. way to
26:28
right. I'm. Not gonna be point
26:30
punches like I'm not Npr. I'm
26:32
not out here trying to be are you know
26:34
your been truly quest like I'm gonna tell the
26:36
story as I see it and I many use
26:38
everything. That. You've given me. To.
26:40
You find that you have
26:42
to use different skill sets
26:44
when you engage with say.
26:47
A victim's family you know we're obviously
26:49
his parents who have lost their son
26:51
is a sympathetic characters but then also
26:54
and all dark sun and in general
26:56
and your work you deal with a
26:58
lot of unsavory L M S L
27:00
you deal and industry friend since you're
27:02
investigating dislike London Underground as kind of
27:05
Russian related mob cigars potentially and so
27:07
on and you spend time with them
27:09
and listen to them. and and and
27:11
I'm a sign of strikes me that
27:14
these are two very different types of
27:16
engagement but perhaps. As.
27:18
A report you. Find that you
27:20
are using kind of like
27:23
a similar manner and in
27:25
both cases. Or or not. maybe
27:27
some. And yeah, I mean I think
27:30
it varies. I do think to some
27:32
extent I and probably different journalist heard
27:34
are different I'm I often But Truman
27:36
Capote in our predecessors the New Yorker
27:38
author of In Cold Blood. And
27:40
it's funny because I think different porters work in different
27:43
ways. For me, I'm always trying to close the distance
27:45
between. Myself. And the
27:47
person that I'm talking with find some
27:49
common idiom. Meet. Them where they
27:51
are. But if any of you seem the
27:53
terrific film company which has made about him
27:56
writing in cold blood or you know anything
27:58
about the story your he goes. Like
28:00
the High Plains of Kansas to
28:02
report on this murder and Truman
28:04
Capote is this like tiny, very
28:06
gay, extremely sort of places like
28:08
a big New York personality of
28:11
assorted big did not often seats
28:13
are in this corner of Kansas
28:15
and he shows up and he
28:17
didn't would dilute who he was
28:19
or try and sort of seem
28:21
like them. And strangely
28:23
I think sometimes I can work because I
28:26
do think that some people it's as if
28:28
like an alien has descended on planet earth
28:30
and it like tell me your stories and
28:32
I'm. I. I.
28:35
Try and meet people where they are
28:37
and sometimes I'm. You. Know I've
28:39
interviewed murderers and and drug
28:41
runners and any number of
28:44
other people I'm. A
28:46
run a lot about the similar
28:48
drug cartel in Chapo Guzman. I'm
28:50
a really bad Ira paramilitaries you
28:52
in a bomb cities and I
28:54
don't It's not that I suspend
28:56
judgment at all because I don't.
28:59
But. I do think that at some to go
29:01
back to to the kind of the milton
29:03
paradise. Last thing I don't think it helps
29:05
anyone. If. I look at those
29:07
people. I sort of both my arms and I
29:09
look at those people on I say look at
29:11
those evil people. They're so different from
29:14
you and me. Like we have
29:16
nothing in common with them to kind
29:18
of demonize these people. and like slam
29:20
my son the pulpit. I'm I
29:22
don't think shed any light on anything, and so
29:25
I am as often as I can. Try.
29:27
To understand why they do who they You
29:29
know why they do the things that they
29:32
do. Cleopatra He said before that you're not
29:34
a therapist and you're not minister. Or
29:36
something you are is investigators and i
29:38
see like that is kind of exp
29:40
ricky area with some of these crime
29:42
stories where. Investigators.
29:44
Who represent the law which is not
29:47
the you represent as an investigator has
29:49
sailed. You know this is something that
29:51
happened in the story the oligarchs son
29:53
where police. Cell to come up with substantive.
29:55
Answers and the Samuel. He is
29:58
left reeling. it's certainly happen. With
30:00
a nothing where you know the book.
30:03
Expands to take in the
30:05
troubles and. In Northern Ireland
30:07
in the seventies. But it begins with
30:09
the murder, the unsolved murder of a
30:11
mother of ten, and by the end
30:13
of the book. We. Know
30:15
who the murderer was for your
30:18
investigation. so we you literally solve
30:20
like a cold case. I
30:22
mean Patrick T. solved a cold. He as.
30:25
Long. As
30:27
if the other hand, it's it. Were
30:30
also days and kisses.
30:32
And a walk in the parks so is what
30:34
I know as you know that that actually puts
30:37
you in a very. Fraught position with
30:39
your subjects because. I would
30:41
have to imagine that they feel a lot
30:43
may be riding on what you find out
30:45
and on what you discover. How do you
30:48
approach that aspect of things you know you
30:50
you can't promise. To. Know in this
30:52
case to find out what happened to Zoc
30:54
Rattler. but I know that you as a
30:56
journalist want to. It's a weird your interests
30:58
converge and were to they diverged with. and
31:00
also we should mention that you're now expanding
31:03
this. That He said daddy. Daddy litigation for
31:05
the magazine actually works at your
31:07
now reporting our and. Or
31:09
yeah, I mean a couple
31:12
things. So one is that I think the
31:14
role of the investigative journalists to sort of
31:16
interesting, right? Because on the one hand we
31:18
have I'm. There's. All kinds with
31:20
would were at a disadvantage. These V
31:22
be authorities like I don't have subpoena
31:24
power. I can force anyone to tell
31:26
me anything. God when that the good
31:28
though over the be as be about
31:30
ah I'm I'm actually a subpoena power
31:32
I would love that I should say
31:34
just heard that agree. I recently met
31:36
with somebody who I will my name
31:38
I'm a source of mine and London
31:40
who I'm. You. Know is somebody
31:43
who may occasionally are over the years
31:45
has has resolve disputes in a physical
31:47
way down on us. We were talking
31:49
about the reporting that I'm doing and
31:51
some there are some individuals who won't
31:53
talk to me or won't tell me
31:55
what I was wanna know and this
31:57
guy very generous. They was like on
31:59
t was the next time you want
32:01
to talk to him just bring me
32:03
along with you and I serve gave
32:05
a little speech about you know journalistic
32:07
ethics and how I'm actually having a
32:09
are you know having somebody who might
32:11
do them bodily arm next to me
32:13
if probably not the best way to
32:15
get people to talk of the it's
32:17
but the I think if you did
32:19
that we'd be doing a to com
32:21
so about You allow me exactly I
32:23
yeah you're absolutely right President Disease rocked
32:25
investigative journalist that are not see I'm.
32:28
In. The case of say nothing. I.
32:30
Did at the you know it's it's
32:33
it's a a book about this terrible
32:35
abduction and murder of a mother of
32:37
ten in Nineteen Seventy Two, a woman
32:39
and Jean Mcconville. and at the end
32:42
of four years of researching this, I
32:44
figured out who had actually pulled the
32:46
trigger. and I after a lot of
32:48
consultation with lawyers in the Us and
32:50
Ireland and Northern Ireland and London. I.
32:53
Named this person in the buck. in the person
32:55
had never been identified before and is still alive
32:58
but. They. Were
33:00
arrested. Because
33:02
as an for very good reason, the
33:04
police have a higher burden of proof
33:06
than I do. and so I would
33:09
never have published the name if I
33:11
wasn't a hundred percent certain that I
33:13
was rights because it would be a
33:15
grotesque thing to accuse somebody of. but
33:17
at the same time this was a
33:19
coke is murder from Nineteen Seventy Two
33:21
are no living witnesses apart from the
33:23
person I accused. no physical evidence arm
33:25
and so nothing happened with it's. So.
33:28
I'm very mindful of that. and I think
33:30
the hard thing after Say nothing is it
33:32
In a way I either is as a
33:34
certain extent to which my reputation precedes like
33:36
if they if somebody googles me. They.
33:39
Do know that about me. And so in the
33:41
case of the brothers from the first time I
33:43
met with them, I said if I write about
33:45
this I need you to know it may be
33:48
a mystery that I don't solve. Ends. I.
33:50
Don't want you do. To.
33:53
Talk. With me. On.
33:55
The assumption that I'm going crack the
33:57
case because both because it puts pressure
33:59
on. The on but also because I
34:01
would be. it would be disingenuous of me
34:03
right to make. To. Make a promise
34:06
that I'm not going to be able to deliver
34:08
on. So the one thing I can tell you
34:10
as I will. Get. Into
34:12
this and throw everything I have at it
34:14
and try and arm shed some new lights
34:17
on the situation and in this case I
34:19
think the authorities had done such such a
34:21
terrible bungling job. Try to get to the
34:23
bottom of the son of the Death of.
34:26
Of. The brother son died on.
34:29
That almost any effort on my part would
34:31
be an improvement on what the police have
34:33
done. This and to have to have
34:35
a certain type of personality or character
34:37
to be a true crime. Reporter
34:40
a certain south for I like
34:42
at it it's only you can
34:44
do it no as know and
34:46
I think. You can I send my full
34:48
timers balls of steel? Bonus! I was. Gonna say
34:50
that. and then I was like when I. Saw you
34:52
wanna either. I know I really my
34:54
place by a is. It.
34:56
Strikes me as first was scary And you
34:59
know when you meet with these characters who
35:01
are have been known to resolve disputes in
35:03
a physical manner and and so on? It's
35:05
suggest even isn't on the level of that.
35:08
It seems to me like you need to
35:10
have a kind of like. A
35:14
very particular kind of attitude towards
35:16
your work. or kind of, I
35:18
don't know, does that make sense?
35:20
Because I'm pretty sure we have a colleague
35:23
move mobile son who's like. In.
35:25
The Trenches in Ukraine right now you
35:27
know, getting bombed and writing about it
35:29
and that's a level of. That's.
35:31
A level of bomb of bravery ah
35:33
and commitment that I don't have. I'm
35:35
not covering war and pretty careful. I
35:37
my wife on is even more careful
35:40
and has a strong point of view
35:42
about what stories I do and don't.
35:44
do you know have my my in
35:46
house council who occasionally. okay so that's
35:48
early years Wix years me away from
35:50
certain stores. Yeah, yeah, I think it may
35:52
also be true. Patrick, Is it not set
35:54
your young son one's face time with a
35:56
member of the similar? A. Drug cartel
35:58
is is also true. This is
36:00
a great the as was really funny.
36:02
I'm. Very. Funny or or a
36:04
high Very funny how hot the this is.
36:06
This is going back years ago So I
36:09
had I have two sons and the younger
36:11
one was about three or four and the
36:13
only one was about seven. We would go
36:15
on Saturday mornings. I would take them because
36:17
the older boy was doing kids karate and
36:19
on. The. Younger guy would come and
36:21
I would during the karate class I would
36:24
sit cross legged on the floor watching with
36:26
the other parents and your adds to the
36:28
my lap and I would give him my
36:30
phone and to entertain himself. He would tax
36:32
my wife just long strings of images. That.
36:35
Were sitting there. The little
36:37
guys sitting on my lap doing this
36:39
I'm said have turned out and suddenly
36:41
I hear this dissonant noise, something that
36:43
doesn't really make sense and I looked
36:46
down over his shoulder at the phone
36:48
in his hand and I see he
36:50
has somehow open space time and see
36:52
his face timing with this former lieutenant
36:54
from the sinner lowered drug cartel who
36:56
was one of my sources. like a
36:58
Saturday morning at nine am and us
37:01
know my that is looking at the
37:03
sky and this guy is looking at
37:05
my son. You know they. Can terrific
37:07
little face the build the frame on
37:09
his own. I honestly don't know which
37:11
one of them was more surprised. Ah
37:14
and I frantically hundred switch it off
37:16
and later tests tested him I'm very
37:18
apologetically and said i'm so sorry that
37:20
was my son ah on accident and
37:23
he he wrote back to the like
37:25
no problem. And
37:28
are like. To
37:31
see this. Is
37:36
his critics at large my that
37:38
a cascade tbsp do when we
37:40
didn't read through. Find. Out. The
37:50
best conversations I have with my colleagues are
37:52
the ones that happened when no one. Is
37:54
looking when we're not hundred percent
37:56
sure yet? what to write? Hopefully
37:59
having conversation. Like this can help
38:01
you figure out your own point of
38:03
view. That's kind of our job as
38:06
Washington Post opinion columnists. I'm Charles Lane
38:08
deputy opinion Editor and I'm Amanda Ripley
38:10
and and shipping colonists bring to bring
38:12
you into these conversations on a new
38:15
podcast called Impromptu All impromptu Now wherever
38:17
you us. So.
38:28
That our to widen are aperture. A little bit and
38:30
me and I'd like to know. First of all from
38:32
both of you at your relationships are teacher
38:34
clan. My own is a bit conflicted.
38:36
yeah, because I wanted to come clean
38:38
and say there are moments when in
38:40
the snobby side of me is like
38:43
a homing. No, no, You know all those.
38:45
People who were just gobbling up these
38:47
stories of murderer and one after another
38:49
and they can't get enough. And I'm
38:52
not like that. And then of course
38:54
you know something like The Jinx. Comes
38:57
on and thus. Those who
38:59
are murder. He belongs to one
39:01
of the richest families in New
39:04
York City for best known for
39:06
you know the guys. Also suspect
39:08
with his wife suffers from New
39:10
York. First made headlines after you.
39:15
Do remains also.
39:18
Realize Oh, and I'm and mercy
39:20
more. Yeah, and you know an
39:22
address glued. To my seat thinking well
39:24
course, I'm an investigator, you know. Here's my
39:26
i've got my investigative cap on I that
39:29
I can figure out what happened with Robert
39:31
Durst since so clearly there's something about the
39:33
stories that appeal to us for very good
39:36
reason and mean we're dealing with the extremity
39:38
of human experience. Yeah, whether it's about someone
39:40
who commit crime or. Someone who has
39:42
it was the victim of a
39:44
crime or or the family. The victim
39:47
of the crime and we want to
39:49
look into. These dark corners versus it.
39:51
Whether true or not, you know this
39:53
is where great art. Comes. From:
39:55
So what do you guys think it's behind some
39:57
of it's I mean what's your own relationship? Too.
40:00
Her crime fighter. I don't listen to
40:02
to crime podcast sir or anything like
40:04
that. But. There are certain
40:06
tax and the genre say that.
40:08
I think. Are. Important to
40:10
me on a cultural level, you know, I mean
40:12
and in cold blood that, ah, Patrick.
40:15
Just mentioned The Capote He, you know
40:17
it's. This cans
40:19
in story of these two.
40:22
Criminal. Drifters who.
40:25
Commit this and crime. But then it's
40:27
not just that, it's a portrait of
40:30
the whole community. Which. Is
40:32
just kind of like touching
40:34
and beautifully written. I.
40:37
Love Helter Skelter so you know
40:40
Googly Eyes the of book about
40:42
the Manson Murders because that was
40:45
really like a mystery. You
40:47
know it was a mystery. Some, but
40:49
beyond the satisfaction of that and and the
40:51
solving of that, there's just. This.
40:53
Whole cast of characters. There's this
40:56
portrait of culture at a certain
40:58
extremely volatile moment in American history
41:00
and so I am interested in
41:02
it when it's done very well
41:05
and when it's kind of expands
41:07
or view of what culture is
41:09
that a particular moment. Of
41:12
the group can also be used to sort of. Oh
41:15
god, or stoke our own senses. Of
41:17
history. Sometimes it is telling a story
41:19
about you remember right that you've digestive
41:22
at different stages of it's life rights
41:24
or member when this was on the
41:26
news and then I remember like Oj
41:29
from ago, different drivers, the classic example
41:31
of how I or just like even
41:33
words Simply as a New Yorker I've
41:35
always loved to Odds are. Ah,
41:38
Law and Order. Because.
41:40
It's as with some a headline stuff and
41:42
I remember and it's always so thinly veiled.
41:45
only since when it's like I'm on the
41:47
horrible domestic violence case between Chris Brown and
41:49
Rian Us and I'm I'm I'm with the
41:51
names were but it was like brisk Clown
41:53
M T on our Citizens and. He
41:56
needs. No. Did this. He
42:00
didn't mean to do it. He her. Boyfriend.
42:08
Nice houses and. Ala.
42:15
Caleb pray. This
42:19
is the thing that you remember right arm
42:21
and so it's it's It's interesting, so we
42:23
investigate our feelings about something Once we've had
42:25
the distance of time. I do think that
42:28
that's. Sort. Of part of the appeal. Somebody
42:31
may have noticed that there was
42:33
an unknown when it was a
42:35
year ago or so. Maybe not
42:37
even Netflix release this. this series
42:39
about Jeffrey Dahmer. From
42:42
Tuscany to you mate Now this is gonna
42:44
be. There
42:51
was a human shields. Freezer.
43:03
Each containing human heart. Of
43:07
the containing said male genitalia.
43:16
In the bedroom. Sale
43:18
was five. More schools.
43:22
And. It was massive. It was like the
43:25
biggest opening of anything ever on Netflix.
43:27
Ah, and their I just didn't get
43:29
it. It was well done, but I
43:31
just felt as though it was. It
43:33
was some. it just felt kind of
43:35
grizzly and it was interesting. I mean,
43:37
a lot of dollars. Victims were a
43:40
young men and boys of color and
43:42
there there is some interesting sociological stuff
43:44
in the series about the way in
43:46
which this is actually probably part of
43:48
the reason that he continued to committees
43:50
crossers long as he did and wasn't
43:52
apprehended. Arm but to me
43:55
the price you have to pay
43:57
in in Sociology, anthropology and of.
44:00
Reaching our understanding of something beyond the
44:02
crime itself is a fairly high. Bar.
44:05
And so I didn't. To me that dahmer saying it was
44:07
it was I didn't I was mystified that it did as
44:09
well as it did. However,
44:12
Or. That was produced by Ryan Murphy and an
44:14
earlier Ryan Murphy series which is the People vs
44:16
or J Simpson. The the dramatization us I thought
44:18
was fantastic and together with Vince I'm saying I
44:20
think actually with the passage of time that we
44:22
were able to look back we're both able to
44:24
look back to the passage of time and see
44:27
the ways in which see maybe things we didn't
44:29
know that the time but then also. If.
44:31
You remember when that series came out more
44:33
recently? They're all kinds of issues we're going
44:36
with in terms of policing and race and
44:38
so forth. I mean, the Residences in our
44:40
present moment where so profound that I thought
44:42
revisiting in in that series and then also.
44:46
The. At really incredible have any be
44:48
seen it but the yes the and
44:50
documentary ah ok made in America which
44:52
is just throwing and astonish August dancing
44:55
multipart documentary. The
44:57
reality of Black America
44:59
and way. To
45:02
only improve was.
45:09
First mooted was comes.
45:14
I love that. I mean, I I really go in
45:17
for that. So I think that when I think when
45:19
people approach things in a kind of. Thoughtful.
45:21
Sensitive way that absolutely is. Using
45:23
the kind of the whole bag
45:25
of tricks narrative tricks to seduce
45:27
you and por un and plan
45:29
your fears in your anxieties. I'm
45:31
fine with all that's on, but
45:34
I do think that You want
45:36
to. You want to think about
45:38
the fact that there are real
45:40
victims. Their families are still out
45:42
there. You want to kind of tell the
45:44
stories with a certain amount of sensitivity and
45:46
rigor, and then I think, ideally you want
45:48
to eliminate something larger ah, about the world
45:51
and not just sort of fixate on the
45:53
arm you know, As as very often the
45:55
case, they think it's almost a cliche, right?
45:57
The kind of dead white woman, the median.
46:00
The. First real, and then you never
46:02
really advanced much beyond that. Yeah,
46:04
I mean, I'm not immune. I just want to
46:06
be. Clear when I talk about my snobbery
46:08
like. I'm I'm not. I'm not
46:10
immune. To the.
46:13
Explicitly exquisite rush of like the
46:15
breath on the back of your
46:17
neck feeling like there's a lot
46:19
to be said for are watching
46:21
or reading or listening to something
46:23
that satans your senses in this
46:25
intensely. I mean you're talking about
46:27
a narrative bag of tricks like
46:29
one reason frankly like crime can
46:31
be very useful thing to tell
46:33
the speaker stories about the society
46:36
were in. Worth the moment in
46:38
the culture is because of suspense
46:40
and you know there's there's no
46:42
stronger narrative tool. The Not
46:44
Like I'm thinking i physically
46:46
your recommendation Patrick I've started
46:48
reading The Last Girls which
46:50
is Robert Cookers book about
46:53
the investigation am and the
46:55
victims. Of the Go Beach murders, you
46:57
know that book was written and twenty
46:59
thirteen. Or published in Twenty Thirteen and the
47:01
murder was found this year So that book
47:03
came out almost a decade before the murder
47:05
was named and I was starting to read
47:07
his books thinking, well, how's he going to.
47:09
Do this because I know that she
47:11
doesn't know who did this. Nobody knew
47:14
who did this until they pulled out
47:16
this you know horrifying architect from his
47:18
creepy little house and and Rihanna him.
47:21
And the way those it is, she
47:23
begins. With. Each. Of
47:25
the victims by giving you a kind
47:28
of snapshot view into their lives as
47:30
as young people as as children than
47:32
his young women and men. And this
47:35
to me. As
47:37
as and brilliant and moving and very unsettling.
47:39
After his gone through each of the victims
47:42
he returns to them but this time. They
47:44
were all you know, all working a sex workers
47:46
as escorts. This is how they all got. A
47:48
metre matter horrible end he returns
47:50
the people they became their aliases
47:52
moving into this next chapter of
47:54
their lives. That like you can
47:56
see this transformation happening for each
47:58
of these people and. One
48:01
obvious thing it does his recent are
48:03
the victims and not just the grisly
48:05
nature of the crime but you get
48:07
a deeper view into the stories that
48:10
the human aspect of what is going
48:12
on. And the
48:14
same time I thought to off a cannot read
48:16
this before I go to bed. not because I'm
48:18
afraid of someone bursting. And for the windows on.
48:21
But. Because you have this point of view
48:23
over what happened to these other people and
48:25
or something so unsettling about that like been
48:27
forced into this kind of intimacy with the
48:29
victims, not not even with the doer of
48:31
evil and just kind of knowing something they
48:34
don't. I think that. There's like
48:36
seductive about that as the reader the
48:38
you know audience. And there's also some kind
48:40
of horrible about worth of and of god's
48:42
eye view right? A sort of like surveillance
48:44
and almost complicity because assault. It's.
48:47
It's like you almost wanna yeah like this
48:49
it don't turn around is there was a
48:51
nice you know. By. For saying
48:53
what I don't say that are yeah professor
48:55
when I was of one can't leave here
48:57
Yeah you air right now and I feel
48:59
that I'm and I think it's brilliant book
49:02
I'm an and com last girls would recommend
49:04
it to to argue but I think in
49:06
a weird way I'm I don't know what
49:08
the conversations were when Bob Corker wrote that
49:10
book but I could imagine when you're pitching
49:12
that as a book to a publisher that
49:14
they say well we haven't found the killer
49:16
So what's the book rights And I think
49:18
the brilliance of it was that actually that's
49:20
com or I'm sure this was the intention.
49:22
From the beginning, right that was. it's not
49:25
actually about that. I. Do wonder
49:27
like. Your.
49:29
Experience of this You know, working on something that's
49:31
a magazine piece and then having a be a
49:33
book. And them working on
49:35
it for the screams of understanding
49:38
as you do maybe uniquely the
49:40
life cycle of these stories on.
49:43
One, But what do you think?
49:45
The entertainment industry. Wants.
49:47
And expects out of his stories and into
49:49
may be like has there ever been a
49:51
time when if you're on a drama set.
49:54
Or. Something And he knows that you know the
49:56
way that things are gonna put a strain
49:58
wildly from your original intent. In a way that
50:00
makes you feel different ethically about it than you did
50:02
when you're writing the story. Have you had to like
50:05
intervene and say that's not what this is Or yeah,
50:07
I mean it's hard. it's hard hard thing. I think
50:09
that the I have thought about this a lot in
50:11
the last two years because a number of things that
50:13
I worked on are you know in the process our
50:15
have then. Turned into
50:17
dramas and it's strange records for me, The
50:19
North Stars is soft. It's that everything is
50:22
factual, and it is sometimes the case that
50:24
people aren't crazy about what I publish or
50:26
that they don't want me to be writing
50:28
about it at all. Arm but
50:30
I'd I'd sir move forward And the
50:33
constraint for me as always that I
50:35
go out and I do the work
50:37
and I tell a story. that's true.
50:40
And the hard thing about drama is
50:42
that it's you do a very faithful
50:44
adaptation of almost any book. It is
50:47
going to be a bad adaptation that
50:49
the process of turning something into a
50:51
televised drama is is in. innately. if
50:53
it's gonna be good, you actually need
50:56
to sort of referred off a bit
50:58
and condensed certain sections and. Expand certain
51:00
others and takes or narrative shortcuts and
51:03
that's a thing that as an author
51:05
is like. It's a tricky thing right?
51:07
cause you're sort of their on the
51:10
sidelines watching them do this on I
51:12
am. Pretty good about does making
51:14
peace with the idea that there's like a a
51:16
cultural product that I create with my hands and
51:18
I put it out in the world and that's
51:20
mine and then sometimes there's an adaptation of it
51:23
that is just a more complicated things on what
51:25
I have tried to differently and in the case
51:27
of Say Nothing is I'm a producer on Say
51:29
Nothing and I have tried to be there. I
51:31
was there onsat I was trying to sort of
51:33
say i'm we want to get this as right
51:36
as possible. There are some short cuts you can
51:38
take absolutely necessary and then there are others that
51:40
I would say what's not Do that because you
51:42
have to That. This is a real story
51:44
about real people, their allies. They're out there. Yeah,
51:47
I mean have a strong dose
51:49
of ethics. Never, never never heard
51:52
anyone. Yeah, yeah. I'll
51:54
just spoiled. Hardest loss for everybody who.
51:56
Doesn't know what happens in and let you know that. saying that
51:59
at. The about
52:01
our. On. That know we are officially of
52:03
time. Catch her breath and keep. Thank you so
52:05
much for joining at a. They on. And.
52:10
Say you are looking apart. The
52:13
I. Like
52:30
using of critics at large as a
52:32
cascade Pbs ideas as doubles With happened
52:34
this past weekend in Seattle Something straight.
52:36
Newman and the entire. Team at the festival
52:39
for having as we had a blast. Or
52:42
senior Producer for Critics at Large
52:44
is ran in Corby and Alex
52:46
Parishes are consulting editor or executive
52:48
producer. Season. Valentino Come in as
52:50
head of Global Audio is Christian
52:52
and Alexis quadratic composer theme is
52:54
it and yet engineering hub. Today's.
52:57
And eight minutes with mixing by my
52:59
cookman and you can find. Every episode
53:01
of Critics at Large add New yorker.com/critics
53:03
and you can and should email us
53:06
at the Mail at New yorker.com With
53:08
the subject line critics, we've been getting
53:10
some terrific emails from you all and
53:12
we're figuring out how we can use.
53:15
Them. In shows down the line. In the
53:17
meantime we lowered hearings and Phoenix. I
53:35
I'm Deborah Treatment Six Netted or as
53:37
the New Yorker and host of the
53:39
New Yorker Fiction Podcast. On the podcast
53:41
I ask a great contemporary writers to
53:44
select a favorite story from the magazines
53:46
almost hundred year archive to read and
53:48
discuss. Together we delve into the story,
53:51
exploring it's themes, it's style and what
53:53
makes Six and Work. You can listen
53:55
to authors like The Tessa Much fact.
53:58
Talk about why we right. Lori
54:00
or attaching a story
54:02
or creating story is.
54:04
This inclinations that we
54:06
all have to stop
54:09
spinning. And
54:11
you can hear writers like George Saunders discuss
54:13
the nature. Of storytelling. On the first read,
54:15
you accept these things as descriptions and
54:17
then make you see the scene. but
54:19
every line as a chance to fluster
54:21
readers might. Feel,
54:23
discover new favorite authors and read old
54:25
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54:28
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