Best Serial episodes upvoted by the community

S01 Episode 01: The Alibi

October 03, 2014

It's Baltimore, 1999. Hae Min Lee, a popular high-school senior, disappears after school one day. Six weeks later detectives arrest her classmate and ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, for her murder. He says he's innocent - though he can't exactly remember what he was doing on that January afternoon. But someone can. A classmate at Woodlawn High School says she knows where Adnan was. The trouble is, she’s nowhere to be found.  

S02 Episode 07: Hindsight, Part 1

February 18, 2016

It makes sense if you’re Bowe Bergdahl.

S01 Update: Day 01, Adnan Syed’s Hearing

February 04, 2016

February 2016: Sarah Koenig ducks back into the Adnan Syed case for a few days. There’s a hearing in Baltimore—a court proceeding that’s been nearly sixteen years in the making. Syed’s attorney will introduce new evidence, and present a case for why his conviction should be overturned. Sarah and producer Dana Chivvis will discuss what happens, day by day.

S02 Episode 03: Escaping

December 24, 2015

Bergdahl’s first year in captivity starts with an escape and ends with an escape. In between, he learns necessary, twisted lessons of survival.

S03 Trailer

September 05, 2018

Serial is heading back to court—this time, in Cleveland. Hear the trailer now.

S01 Episode 09: To Be Suspected

November 20, 2014

New information is coming in about what maybe didn’t happen on January 13, 1999.  And while Adnan’s memory of that day is foggy at best, he does remember what happened next: being questioned, being arrested and, a little more than a year later, being sentenced to life in prison.

S01 Episode 03: Leakin Park

October 09, 2014

It’s February 9, 1999. Hae has been missing for three weeks. A man on his lunch break pulls off a road to pee, and stumbles on her body in a city forest. His odd recounting of the discovery makes Detectives Ritz and MacGillivary suspicious. For instance, why did he walk so far into the woods - 127 feet - to relieve himself? And that’s just the start. A look into the man’s past reveals some bizarre behavior.

S03 Episode 02: You’ve Got Some Gauls

September 20, 2018

When a judge believes he knows you better than you know yourself.

S01 Episode 05: Route Talk

October 23, 2014

Adnan once issued a challenge to Sarah. He told her to test the state’s timeline of the murder by driving from Woodlawn High School to Best Buy in 21 minutes. It can’t be done, he said. So Sarah and Dana take up the challenge, and raise him one: They try to recreate the entire route that Jay said he and Adnan took on January 13th, 1999.  

S02 Episode 08: Hindsight, Part 2

February 19, 2016

Woulda, coulda, shoulda…

S02 Episode 04: The Captors

January 07, 2016

What's happening on the other side of the door?

S01 Update: Day 02, Adnan Syed’s Hearing

February 05, 2016

February 2016: Sarah Koenig ducks back into the Adnan Syed case for a few days. There’s a hearing in Baltimore—a court proceeding that’s been nearly sixteen years in the making. Syed’s attorney will introduce new evidence, and present a case for why his conviction should be overturned. Sarah and producer Dana Chivvis will discuss what happens, day by day.

S01 Episode 10: The Best Defense is a Good Defense

December 04, 2014

Adnan’s trial lawyer was M. Cristina Gutierrez, a renowned defense attorney in Maryland – tough and savvy and smart. Other lawyers said she was exactly the kind of person you’d want defending you on a first-degree murder charge. But Adnan was convicted, and a year later, Gutierrez was disbarred. What happened? 

Preview of S-Town, Our New Show

March 14, 2017 • 3m

We have a new show! Here’s a sneak peek of S-Town, a new podcast from Serial and This American Life, hosted by Brian Reed. S-Town is the story of a man named John who despises his Alabama town and decides to do something about it. He asks Brian to investigate the son of a wealthy family who’s allegedly been bragging that he got away with murder. But when someone else ends up dead, the search for the truth leads to a nasty feud, a hunt for hidden treasure, and an unearthing of the mysteries of one man’s life. Coming March 28.

S02 Episode 01: DUSTWUN

December 10, 2015

In the middle of the night, Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl grabs a notebook, snacks, water, some cash. Then he quietly slips off a remote U.S. Army outpost in eastern Afghanistan and into the dark, open desert. About 20 minutes later, it occurs to him: he’s in over his head. 

S01 Episode 12: What We Know

December 18, 2014

On January 13, 1999, Adnan Syed was a hurt and vengeful ex-boyfriend who carried out a premeditated murder. Or he was a bewildered bystander, framed for a crime he could never have committed. After 15 months of reporting, we take out everything we’ve got - interviews and documents and police reports - we shake it all out, and we see what sticks.

S02 Episode 06: 5 O'Clock Shadow

February 04, 2016

Why did Bowe Bergdahl walk off? 

S03 Episode 04: A Bird in Jail Is Worth Two on the Street

October 04, 2018

What happens when the right evidence points to the wrong man?

S01 Episode 04: Inconsistencies

October 16, 2014

A few days after Hae’s body is found, the detectives get a lead that opens the case up for them. They find Jay at work late one night and bring him down to Homicide. At first, he insists he doesn’t know anything about the murder. But eventually he comes clean. He tells them what happened on January 13th. A few weeks later, he’s back at Homicide and his story has changed. In some ways, these changes are small and understandable. In other ways, they’re big and confounding.

S03 Episode 08: A Madman’s Vacation

November 08, 2018

A teenager decides to cooperate.