Serial - Episode 2

Serial Podcast

Episode 2: Their relationship began like a storybook high-school romance: a prom date, love notes, sneaking off to be alone. But unlike other kids at school, they had to keep their dating secret, because their parents disapproved. Both of them, but especially Adnan, were under special pressure at home, and the stress of that spilled over into their relationship. Eventually Hae broke up with Adnan. And then, depending on who you ask, Adnan was either understandably sad and moping around, or full of rage and plotting to kill her.

I think I mentioned some of episode 2's stuff in my episode 1 blog, but that's okay.  

In this episode Sarah talks about how the prosecution's case is based on the fact that Adnan is furious with Hae Min not only for breaking up with him, but for making him disrespect his religion.  However, as Adnan points out from prison, if he was truly upset about disrespecting his religion, would he continue to behave in the exact same way after Hae Min breaks up with him?  He claims he wasn't upset about the religious aspect at all, nor that upset about Hae Min breaking up with him.  While he wasn't happy about it, one of his friends pointed out that he was a "player" so he didn't have any trouble finding other girls.

Jay - the friend who claims to know the truth - told the police that Adnan had a plan to get Hae Min to drive him home in her car that day.  It would be a rouse to get her alone so he could kill her.  Ironically, I really doubt he actually needed a rouse.  If he simply asked her to go for a drive with him, I bet she would.  Even after they broke up she apparently continued to be friends with him - she would call him, give him presents, etc.  She didn't seem overly upset by the breakup.  In fact, one of the reasons she broke up with him was so she could date another guy named Don, who worked with her.  And to top it off, it appeared that Adnan and Don were cordial with each other.

Several classmates remember a variety of things from the day Hae Min was murdered.  Some have no recollection of Adnan asking for a ride, some do remember some sort of discussion about it at lunch time.  However, many, including Adnan, thought it weird because Adnan had his own car, so why would he ask for a ride.  The owner of a convenience store at the high school remembers seeing Hae Min after school that day, with her car, but not with Adnan.  And some friends who remembered a conversation about cars and rides at lunch time also remember that Hae Min, at some point later in the day, did tell Adnan she remembered she was busy and wouldn't be able to give him a ride.  He didn't seem to care.

Apparently Adnan had claimed to need a ride because his own car was in the shop.  The podcast didn't go into any details as to whether this was actually true.  Or maybe the plan was for him to drop it off that day, so maybe it hadn't gone anywhere yet.  This might explain why Adnan didn't seem to care too much, because he still had his own car to use, he'd just need to make other arrangements to drop it off at the shop.

Regardless of what actually happened with both cars, Hae Min wasn't seen again after the convenience store lady saw her with her car, alone.  What happened after this point still remains a mystery.