Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal explores the links between the Murdaugh family, one of the most prominent families of South Carolina, and five deaths that took place over six years. The docuseries is now streaming on Netflix.
Story
The docuseries first explores the influence that the Murdaughs enjoy in Hampton County. The family, comprising Alex and Maggie and their two sons, Buster and Paul, is almost untouchable.
Paul’s friends claim that he had a drinking problem; he would often get drunk and do reckless things. One of his drunken activities resulted in the death of a 19-year-old girl, Mallory, in 2019. Paul’s family went to great lengths to protect him from being punished by the law.
In 2021, Paul, along with his mother, is found murdered on his family property; someone shot the two. Their deaths result in an investigation that connects the family to the deaths of two other individuals — Gloria, their housekeeper, and Stephen Smith.
From then on, things keep getting complicated for Murdaughs, a family that was able to hide too many secrets using its influence. Then arises the question of who killed Paul and Maggie and if it was the same person who was somehow responsible for the deaths of Stephen and Gloria.
Positives
The testimonies of the people, who were on the boat that Paul was driving, provide a detailed account of the accident as well as a glimpse into the relationship that they shared with Paul. These interviews and the footage obtained recreate the whole incident.
Negatives
The events in the docuseries are scattered all over the place, especially in the last episode. The jump from one topic to another appears to be random when there seems to be no link connecting them.
As the name suggests, the docuseries covers popular scandals of an influential family. While there is evidence pointing in their direction, it does not seem enough to pin the crimes down on one individual. Hence, there are no conclusions.
The docuseries remains dull for the most part, as there is not much new information, except a few details, provided. One can obtain this information from the internet, which makes the viewers question the purpose of the docuseries.
Verdict
Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal cannot be considered a revelatory docuseries, as most of the information about the case is already available on the internet. The viewers can watch it for the accounts of the boating accident, but apart from that, it remains dull.
Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal
Director: Julia Willoughby Nason, Jenner Furst
Date Created: 2023-02-22 21:43
2.5