The Letter Season 2: Ripple Effect - Podcast Rankings and reviews

I’m not one to leave reviews, because… blah blah blah time, blah blah effort, blah blah blah no one really cares. BUT, this podcast warranted a review. I cannot say enough good about it.

I’ve been a true-crime podcast junkie since I stumbled on MFM while sitting in my car waiting for my 80-yr-old mom to finish playing her cello in a concert with the Southwest Symphony in Southern Utah. (I know, I know, how do an accomplished musician and a BYU French professor produce a child who is addicted to murder stories?)

Anyway, I’ve listen to hundreds of hours of true-crime podcasts. Some are good. Some are great. Some are funny (shout out to My Favorite Murder). Some are too detailed. Some are not detailed enough. Most are grizzly. THIS ONE, though, is in a category all its own.

Here is the best way I can explain my experience: New neural pathways form when we encounter a new piece of information or a new thought. I genuinely feel like I experienced neuroplasticity as I listened to this podcast.

A huge thank you to everyone who was involved in the making of The Letter. The vulnerability of the families, and their willingness to share something so deeply personal, is valued more than I’m able to express.

Side note to ExMos: I’m not LDS (though I was a True Blue Mormon for 48 years), and I tend to avoid Utah-based stuff in an effort to not trigger my own religious trauma. I took a chance clicking on anything KSL-related, and I’m so glad I did! Yes, there are the religious references, and yes, there are serious Relief Society voices, but the honest, vulnerable human side of these families and their tragedy comes through in a way that made those little Mormonism reminders fall to the wayside.

I’ll say it again, WOW! Been waiting on the release of this one. While listening to the 1st Ep., I was pretty sure I knew where this was going, but what I wasn’t prepared for was myself, a grown man from S Alabama, driving down the road to work and slapping tears out of my eyes, listening to the last couple of minutes of the 1st episode. The forgiveness, and love from this mother, who surely, at one time did not even want to wake up so many mornings, was one of the most touching things I’ve ever heard come out of speakers. And something tells me that we’ve only scratched the surface of “goodness” of Zack’s family.

Every episode has my heart breaking for every person in this season. Death affects us all in so many ways already but the horror and tragedy of murder is so much more complicated than we can understand.

This podcast is beautifully done, telling this story in a way that is respectful to all involved parties. As an ex Mormon, I know it is hard to talk about the church without personal opinion or biases. I am in awe at the respect and objectivity of this podcast, especially being Utah-based, because we do often see biases and opinion outweighing facts on both sides (Mormon vs non Mormon). Thank you for staying objective while being kind and respectful to everyone’s views of this case. It helps create the narrative that we should listen to the stories of these teens and realize how important forgiveness is, and that people can mourn for their choices and are allowed to try and be better people.

George deserves to show that he has been working to be a healthier and better person, despite the terrible thing he did. Yes, it was horrible, and yes, no one will never forget what he did. But how do we improve as a community if we don’t allow people to truly regret and repent for their actions?

Found this by accident and appreciate the skillful storytelling of the two cases. I don’t completely understand the extent to which the families went but was interested enough to stick with it. Well worth listening.

I listened to most of Season 1. The podcast does not acknowledge the possibility that the killer is simply lying. He tells his friends that he wants to try killing someone and then does. Once caught, his story is that he was suicidal and only shot other people because he happened to have a mental breakdown. So everyone just buys that? Seems to me that he has every incentive to appeal for sympathy. I wouldn’t give him any.