Criminal: Episode 53: Melinda and Judy

October 24, 2016 12:41 PM

When Melinda Dawson was seven years old, she learned that she was adopted under mysterious circumstances. As she got older and had children of her own, she tried to learn something about her biological parents. And when she went to the county courthouse and asked to see a copy of her birth certificate, she discovered that she was an unwitting participant in something much bigger and more complicated than she could have imagined. 
posted by bq (10 comments total)

The last three episodes of Criminal have been AMAZING and after finishing this one I just had to create some posts for discussion. I can't believe I've never heard of this store (about the Hicks clinic) before. Waiting until the second half of this story will be difficult.
posted by bq at 12:42 PM on October 24, 2016

Yeah, agreed that the recent episodes of Criminal have been great. But this did not go where I was expecting it to go. I did not expect another crime on top of the Hicks clinic!
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:15 PM on October 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

when it finished as 'aaaaand stay tuned next week!' I gasped. AGHGHSDGL I CAN'T WAIT!
happy to see you've added the FanFare!

this podcast kinda keeps outdoing itself. it's consistently interesting, even with "lighter" stories from time to time, so just as it lulls me into that sweet listening spot, it, like, nonchalantly clotheslines me and I don't realize till the credits start.
posted by cluebucket at 5:56 PM on October 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

Criminal has been really great. Few if any lowlight episodes and always happy to find it in my feed.
I discovered in shortly after Serial S1 and am enjoying it so much more than I did Serial S2.
posted by Megustalations at 2:25 AM on October 25, 2016

I was also surprised that there was a cliffhanger! Such a great episode. Consistently great podcast.
posted by radioamy at 2:33 PM on October 25, 2016

This fanfare post succeeded in turning me on to this show!
posted by Diablevert at 5:36 PM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

I gasped when the "when I heard she was murdered, that was the first thing I thought." landed. Whoa.
posted by Zephyrial at 2:24 PM on October 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

I gasped when the "when I heard she was murdered, that was the first thing I thought." landed. Whoa.

Man, me too. I was really into the clinic as a crime story but the structure and this turn made my blood run cold.
posted by carbide at 10:43 AM on October 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

Thanks for this post--I wouldn't have known about the episode otherwise. I don't listen to this podcast regularly though I've heard it's good. Seconding everyone else saying I didn't expect it to go where it went and that I can't wait for part 2!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:33 AM on October 29, 2016

I was expecting this to go somewhere very different and holy shit I cannot believe I have another week to hear part two.

(I'm super excited to hear what the new Radiotopia podcast will be, all four of the finalists sound really interesting.)
posted by jeather at 4:18 PM on October 31, 2016