Review: HBO's Robert Durst documentary 'The Jinx' kills it again in Part 2

You can't recreate a phenomenon. But that doesn't mean the story ended when the hubbub did.

That's essentially the reasoning behind HBO's "The Jinx: Part 2" (premiering Sunday, 10 EDT/PDT, ★★★ out of four), a six-episode sequel to the blockbuster 2015 true-crime documentary about real-estate heir Robert Durst, which led to his eventual indictment and conviction in the 2000 murder of his friend Susan Berman.

The original series from director Andrew Jarecki, who spent hours interviewing a surprisingly cooperative Durst on camera, was a huge cultural moment, spawning headlines and endless dinner conversations. At the time, Durst – who was also a prime suspect in the disappearance of his first wife Kathie in the 1980s but acquitted of murdering his Texas neighbor Morris Black in 2001 – made the unwise decision to sit down for hours of interviews with Jarecki. The director confronted him with evidence, old and new, and in an infamous "hot mic" moment, alone in a bathroom, Durst said he "killed them all, of course."

Durst was arrested for Berman's murder in New Orleans on March 14, 2015, the day before the "Jinx" finale aired. Jarecki and his crew dutifully continued to follow the wealthy man's story, through his death on Jan. 10, 2022, at 78.

Any second act to a first show like "Jinx" will inevitably feel like a bit of a letdown. How do you top someone accidentally confessing to murder on a live microphone? Of course, you can't. And while watching Part 2, you might be seeking bombshells that don't arrive, at least not in the four (of six) episodes made available for review. But while we may know the ending to Durst's story, there is still plenty for the series to uncover.

Picking up precisely where Durst's story left off in 2015, with his newfound fame from the documentary, Part 2 is an account of the last seven years of Durst's life, which began with that arrest and ended with his conviction. To tell the story, Jarecki and his team had full access to both the prosecution and the defense in Durst's eventual trial, as well as many of the returning talking heads from the first season: friends and family of Berman and Kathie Durst, writers and commentators and lawyers. In lieu of interviews with the man himself, the filmmakers use a slew of recorded phone calls from an imprisoned Durst to various acquaintances.

"Jinx" is still that glossy, thinking man's version of the true-crime documentary. Jarecki, who has been chronicling Durst for nearly two decades, crafts episodes that are compelling and addictive, with on-the-nose needle drops of pop songs and carefully constructed cliffhangers at the end of each installment. And he doesn't have to work hard to make this story interesting, even in this epilogue-turned-sequel: Durst's life remains one of our most baffling, see-it-to-believe-it real stories. His murder trial wasn't any old murder trial.

Although still riveting and uncanny, it's a bit anticlimactic when compared to the original season. The 2015 episodes were so singular and surprising because Jarecki talked one-on-one with Durst. Seeing such a disarming man with infamous smarm and charm lie and twist under questioning was dazzling and dismaying, even before the final hot mic moment. Every true-crime documentary weaves its own narrative through interviews, archival footage and news clips (and what the filmmakers chose to exclude). Far fewer get the chance to confront the alleged killer.

There's also a self-congratulatory aspect in the first few episodes that borders on gratuitous. Yes, the documentary played a big role in Durst's arrest and eventual conviction, but the time for back-patting is at Hollywood wrap parties. Anyone invested enough in the story to tune into Part 2 probably knows all about the "Jinx" effect.

If it sounds like nitpicking, it is. 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.

True crime stories can't always give closure, but this time we know "Jinx" will bring us all the way to the end.

Of course.