Everyone is talking about Netflix's Making a Murderer for good reason: it's far beyond upsetting. But it's really, really necessary to watch. It's also necessary to remind yourself that this is taking place 10 years ago, in this country. (Most of the time it seems like circa 1970 in some far off place where rules don't mean much). Sometimes you have to stop watching. Sometimes you have to look things up, or check the laws, or ask everyone you know how this possibly happened, and continues to happen. After the first episode you think, "What's left? They told the whole story in an hour." But it's just the preface, which is mind blowing. A lot of really good articles have been written about the series already. Plenty of theories that weren't given any consideration at all in the trial have come to light. Most importantly, the project has pointed out major flaws in the American "justice system." Or, maybe the thing most crushing about this series is that it's NOT so surprising. After the things that have happened this year involving the police and the ones we're supposed to be able to trust, maybe this seems pretty much on par. I've got a friend who just took a job as the executive director of justice reform: she's fiercely smart, and while the job seems impossibly huge, I have to believe that there is hope--that somehow justice can still exist.