Who am I to judge?
Criminal review
Production company – Vox Media Podcast Network
Rating – 
Another AJ morning commute recommendo this week. Feeling the need for a new true crime series, but being wary of the quality of a lot of them, I gave this one a go. Apparently the only problem was that the episodes were rather short, but that’s not the be all end all for me, so I subscribed and hit play on episode 1.
I’ve been listening to a lot of true crime podcasts recently, I think I’ll be concentrating on those for the next few weeks just to clear some of the backlog. But anyway, on with the review.
So what’s it about?
Criminal is a true crime podcast. Each episode looks at a different case, with first hand accounts by witnesses and victims. This is no “murder of the week” type show. In fact, the range of cases is remarkable in itself.
The podcast dates back twelve years, and is currently on episode 385! That’s plenty of choice, and plenty of opportunity to find a story that will satisfy any crime craving you may have.
Presented by Phoebe Judge, the description states that “A show about people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle”. The last two of these are the most important. There will be many times while listening you will be grinding your teeth at the prejudice or incompetence of the legal system, who quite often just want to get someone convicted to close the case.
Is it any good?
While the sheer breadth of subject matter is staggering, there is plenty of opportunity for covering a lot of lesser known stories. If you’re like me and listen to shows from start to finish, episode one is a great case in point. I guarantee you won’t have heard a story like that before.
Unfortunately the episodes are way too short. Much like the previously reviewed I Could Murder A Podcast, there is a lot of build up and then a quick summary of the outcome. This kind of style gets annoying after a while, because you constantly end up in a state of anticipation to really learn about the outcome. The episodes really should be about half an hour to an hour longer. Unless you have real problems with attention span, you’ll see what I mean.
This next criticism isn’t any fault of the podcast really, but more to do with the platform that releases it. As you know, I can easily spend 8 hours a day smashing through loads of episodes of a show. I swear to god though, the sound of Ina Garten’s smug voice talking about chatting to Nathan Lane is enough to make me want to snap my phone in half. As is the ridiculous valley girl accent of the pet MRI advert. I’m sure the creators don’t get to pick what adverts get played, but my god, some variety would be nice. As I say though, this is an observation, and it doesn’t affect the score I gave the podcast.
Final thoughts
For what it is, it’s a perfectly fine podcast. If you find that you only have the time or attention span for shorter episodes, then this will be perfect for you. The range of stories is staggering, and while there will be some that you already know, there will be plenty of new ones.
Personally, I prefer longer episodes, just because they have the time to expand on the cases and offer a more fulfilling listening experience.
You can get Criminal here:
https://www.greatpods.co/podcasts/criminal-951467
For more great reviews, I recommend GreatPods