The Jinx: Episode Guide | Sky Documentaries (2024)

The Jinx: Season 1 Episode Guide

When The Jinx first launched in 2015, it ended up becoming one of the most definitive true crime documentaries of all time.

Tracking the life of eccentric billionaire heir Robert Durst, filmmakers Andrew Jarecki, Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier were able to blow three unsolved murder cases wide open with their investigation, interviews and footage.

To date, the series finale provides a plot twist that couldn’t have been made up by the team behind Succession.

Now, the creative team are back for a second season of the Emmy Award-winning series, tracking the eight-year aftermath of the documentary, and how far its impact spread.

Now with a second series too, here’s what you need to know, and how the first series broke down.

Where to watch The Jinx in the UK

Sky is the exclusive home of The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst - with all episodes of season one available now.

You can watch the series on Sky Documentaries, on demand via Sky Go or by streaming on NOW.

Season two launches on Sky Documentaries and NOW from Monday, April 22, with new episodes airing weekly through to May 27.

Season 1 Episodes Recap

The Jinx season one ran for six episodes, tracking the life of Robert Durst through flashbacks and interviews with those involved.

Episode 1: A Body In The Bay

Running time: 41 mins

In 2010, shortly before the release of their movie, All Good Things, filmmakers Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling are contacted by Robert Durst - the real-life inspiration behind the movie.

Durst, flattered that his life, and the disappearance of his first wife, has led to a Hollywood blockbuster starring Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst, offers them the opportunity for an on-camera interview - the first he’s ever done.

Soon, he is being interrogated about a number of bizarre deaths he’s connected to - including the October 2001 death of his neighbour, Morris Black - whose body was found dismembered in trash bags, floating in Galveston Bay, Texas.

Each episode ran between 36 minutes to 49 minutes in length, and originally ran on HBO in the United States from February 8 to March 15, 2015.

Episode 2: Poor Little Rich Boy

Running time: 44 mins

Told through two time periods - 1982 and 2013, Jarecki and Smerling take Durst back to the beginning of his life as the son of powerful New York real estate magnate, Seymour Durst.

The eldest of four children, Robert claims he was present when his mother dies by suicide, and talks of the pressure he received from his father to follow into the family business, despite not wanting to.

Shunning the all-powerful lifestyle, Robert marries Kathie McCormack, and together they move to Vermont and open a store, but soon the lure of the Durst Organization comes and he’s forced to make a choice.

In 1982, after nearly 10 years of marriage, Durst contacts the police to claim his wife has been missing for five days. Soon, their picturesque life of a penthouse apartment and an upstate, lake house getaway is being picked apart by everyone, including her family and friends.

Episode 3: The Gangster’s Daughter

Running time: 42 mins

In 2000, Robert Durst’s longtime close friend, Susan Berman, is found dead in her Los Angeles home, having been shot execution-style over the Christmas holidays.

The daughter of a pronounced Las Vegas mobster, Berman first met Durst in college, and she became a fundamental help to him navigating the public eye after Kathie’s disappearance.

Investigators quickly narrow-in on Durst for the death, as the style of killing and lack of struggle would likely require the murderer to be someone she knew and trusted.

Shortly before Berman’s murder, it emerges a new tip had come in to police regarding Kathie’s disappearance, prompting them to reopen the case.

Less than a year later, Durst is arrested for murder – of Morris Black in Texas.

Episode 4: The State Of Texas vs. Robert Durst

Running time: 49 mins

In 2003, Durst is standing trial for 71-year-old Black’s murder.

Initially, the case was considered cut-and-dry by legal professionals, with evidence including blood being found in his home and the ‘female-mute’ alias he lived by in Galveston Bay proving compelling.

But in a standout move, Durst doesn’t deny killing Black, and instead his counsel lays out an argument for self-defence.

However, with a defence team led by Dick DeGuerin – at the time most famed for defending Waco cult leader David Koresh - reasonable doubt sets in with the jury.

Episode 5: Family Values

Running time: 44 mins

The world is reeling following the verdict of the murder case, with everyone from Jon Stewart to Saturday Night Live turning Durst into a moment of entertainment.

But while Durst celebrates his freedom, it’s been 33 years since the death of Kathie Durst, and her loved ones are still fighting for some kind of breakthrough or progress.

Without even a body to bury, and desperate for some kind of closure, they continue to dig further, hoping something will crack the case.

Episode 6: What The Hell Did I Do?

Running time: 36 mins

The series finale brings us up to 2015 – with the filmmakers beginning to wrap up their time investigating the life of Robert Durst.

Between All Good Things and The Jinx, the team had been looking into Durst’s life for a decade. Durst had become elusive and difficult to contact.

But then one last interview proves to be the game-changer, with a toilet break and eight words off camera blowing everything they’d worked towards wide open.