If you didn’t have a television or leave your house in 2015, you may not be aware of the hit HBO documentary “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst.” Nine years later, season two is airing on HBO and its streaming services.
Nine years seems like a long time between seasons but it’s nothing compared to the eternity the loved ones of Kathy Durst, Susan Berman, and Morris Black have been waiting for justice. These three, all closely connected to Robert Durst, disappeared or were murdered between 1982 and 2001.
Robert Durst, or Bob, as he likes to be called, was a very affluent and well connected New Yorker whose first wife, Kathy, disappeared in 1982. Today, the incredibly wealthy Durst family owns more than six million square feet of real estate in New York and Philadelphia.
When viewers meet Bob in season one of “The Jinx,” Kathy’s disappearance is unsolved but many people believe Bob killed her. By all accounts, they had marital problems and Bob had many problems of his own, such as––in true Fredo Corleone fashion––being passed over in favor of his younger brother in the powerful family business. Bob also claimed that his father forced him to watch his mother commit suicide when he was a young boy, though his brother asserts that neither of them were home when their mother jumped off the roof of the family home.
In 2000, almost 20 years after Kathy’s disappearance, one of Bob’s closest friends, Susan Berman, was found murdered in her Beverly Hills home––that’s ‘Beverly’ not ‘Beverley,’ which proves to be incredibly important. Susan was the daughter of legendary Las Vegas mobster David Berman. At the start of season two, her murder is unsolved.
Finally, and perhaps most ghastly of all, the dismembered body of Bob’s neighbor, Morris Black, was found in the Galveston Bay in 2001. By this time, Bob was living in Galveston, TX, disguised as a mute woman. He attempted to pull off this charade by simply wearing a dress and wig and never speaking. However, he let Morris in on the secret and the two would often watch television together.
All the information above is thoroughly investigated in season one of “The Jinx.”
Bob himself participated in the first season––probably despite passionate pleas from his attorneys not to––which likely contributed to the show’s success and definitely led to the show’s impact on the cases that have surrounded Bob for decades.
Throughout season one, Bob comes across like an awkward grandpa in an expensive sweater. While he seems a bit off and has the dead eyes of a shark, he is charming, funny, and likable. It makes for superb television, and filmmaker Andrew Jarecki does a fantastic job of coaxing information out of Bob––something seasoned detectives and cross examining attorneys have struggled to do repeatedly.
Indeed, without Jarecki’s team, Bob likely would never have been charged with the murder that is the focus of the show’s second season. In fact, Bob prepared to flee the country after viewing season one’s penultimate episode because it was clear that he’d revealed too much––though he had no idea what was coming in the season finale.
Which leads us to season two, the first four episodes of which have already aired. The remaining two will air later this month. In season two, viewers meet more of Bob’s living (for now) friends including his wife Debrah Charatan, his sort-of girlfriend Susie Giordano, his high school friend Stewart Altman and his wife Emily, and pornographic country singer Nick ‘Chinga’ Chavin and his wife Teresa. Chinga delights the audience with such gems as, “I don’t have that same moral hatred of murder and murderers” and “What do you do when your best friend kills your other best friend?”
What indeed.
From Teresa (the only one of the aforementioned who seems at all clear headed), viewers learn that Chinga once came home from a dinner with Bob extremely upset. It’s thought that Bob may have confessed or implied he had a hand in one or more of the crimes that have followed him for decades. Season two viewers also see trial footage of witness testimony that seems very damning for Bob.
However, without Bob’s direct participation, season two moves much more slowly than season one. A big draw for season one viewers was the feeling that Bob could, at any moment, say something outrageous or incriminating. Which he did.
But if season two is anything like season one, the next two episodes will be game changers. The last two episodes of season one likely altered the course of justice. Will there be more of the same in season two?
