"In the Dark" reaction #1

The podcast starts off strong with a gripping first episode

Few television programs are more chilling than true crime shows. “Dateline,” “Forensic Files,” “Unsolved Mysteries” and others come to mind as examples of the gripping late night shows that leave viewers guessing at every turn.

“In the Dark,” a true crime podcast hosted by Madeleine Baran, emulates many of the same characteristics that make those television shows so riveting. The first episode of the show’s second season dives headlong into the case of Curtis Flowers, an African-American man convicted of the 1996 murder of four people in a furniture store in Winona, Mississippi. In the 21 years since, District Attorney Doug Evans has tried Flowers’ case six times, each time putting the latter’s life at stake.

The legwork done by the “In the Dark” team is extensive. From the use of the transcript of Flowers’ initial trial to the interview of Randy Stewart, the father of Derrick “Bobo” Stewart, to the phone interview of Flowers’ friend James Douglas, no stone was left unturned.

Like many true crime shows, “In the Dark” hits a high bar for the details it includes in its reporting. The story of the Douglas incident and the inclusion of the Fila Grant Hill shoes stick out as examples of the thoroughness the team showed in its work. Baran proves herself as a great storyteller in the podcast, and after listening to the first episode, I look forward to diving deeper into the show’s dissection of this unique case.