CHARLOTTE, N.C. — “Every time you think it’s finished,” WSAV-TV reporter Andrew Davis says of South Carolina’s Murdaugh saga, “there’s another turn.”
No statement better sums up the twists and turns laid out in “Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty,” a new three-part HBO Max documentary series about Alex Murdaugh and his family’s legacy of power, corruption, entitlement and murder. The series debuts on the HBO streaming service Thursday, Nov. 3.
Davis is one of several journalists interviewed for the series, helping explain the complicated case alongside local residents, victims, friends and attorneys.
But with so much that has already been written, podcasted and televised about the stunning collapse of the powerful South Carolina family in the nearly 18 months since Maggie Murdaugh and her son Paul were murdered at the family’s Colleton County hunting lodge, one has to wonder: Do we really need more?
The answer is yes. Even for those who have read every word, listened to every podcast and watched every true-crime TV special — or for those who have no idea what any of this is about — “Low Country” is a pretty engrossing watch. The series is extremely well done — several notches above any of the TV specials that have come before, with impressive access to many people close to the case.
Based on an advance screening of all three episodes, here’s a breakdown of what to expect from the HBO Max series, along with details on how and when to watch. (Note: If you know nothing at all about the case and want to be surprised as the series unfolds, you might want to skip to the end for info on the release and accessing HBO Max.)
First, about that ‘Low Country’ title
Yes, the HBO Max series does use “Low Country” as two words in its title, but the filmmakers appear to be using the misspelling as a play on words, as the documentary lays out the bad behavior of the Murdaughs as they abused their out-sized influence in that rural area of the state for generations.
Plus, the first episode is titled “Kings of the Lowcountry,” signaling that they know the difference.
An intro to the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh
The documentary follows the progression of the murder investigation of Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, throughout the three episodes, tacking backward and forward in time to explore the other bizarre circumstances surrounding the Murdaughs.
The whole thing starts with eerie, nighttime drone footage of a secluded cabin while Alex Murdaugh’s frantic 911 call plays. We get the basics of the murders from news coverage at the time, and from the residents, friends and local experts interviewed by filmmakers.
As we learn about the deaths — and about Hampton and Colleton counties — we are constantly reminded of the power of the Murdaugh name.
We’re also told that “what took hundreds of years to build literally crumbled in one year,” and that the events about to unfold are “a Southern version of a Mafia story.”
Mallory Beach, Stephen Smith & Gloria Satterfield
“Where the Murdaughs go, death seems to follow,” novelist and former journalist Mark Ethridge tells filmmakers.
The murders of Maggie and Paul are the thread through all three episodes of “Low Country,” but the series also examines other important elements of the Murdaugh saga.
— The boat crash and the death of Mallory Beach. The filmmakers backtrack early in the first episode to examine the February 2019 boating accident that took the life of teenager Mallory Beach — an accident that by most accounts, was caused by a severely intoxicated Paul.
Heartbreaking interviews with Beach’s boyfriend, Anthony Cook, who was in the boat at the time of the crash and was injured but survived, with Cook’s parents and with the parents of another teenager injured in the crash, add depth to a story that has been told countless times before.
The documentary works to sort it all out, from Paul’s culpability to Murdaugh’s working behind the scenes in the hours after the crash to control the narrative and protect his son.
It also posits the question asked by nearly everyone after the murders of Maggie and Paul: did the boat crash and lingering hostility play some role in the killings?
— Who killed Stephen Smith? The second episode of the documentary does a deep dive into the mysterious death of Stephen Smith, whose body was found in the middle of a rural road in Hampton County on July 8, 2015.
His mother, his twin sister and his cousin are all interviewed, painting a picture of Smith as a funny and intelligent young man surrounded by family and friends who loved him, a nursing student with big plans for his future.
Was Smith’s death an accident, or was it murder? From the very beginning, the Murdaughs have been talked about in connection with Smith’s death. In June 2021, the State Law Enforcement Division reopened Smith’s case based on based on information gathered during the Murdaugh double homicide investigation.
— Profiting from tragedy. Episode 2 also gets into the death of the longtime Murdaugh housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, and it’s a jumping-off point for an explanation of the vast financial fraud Murdaugh is accused of committing through his former Hampton law firm.
In addition to two counts of murder, Murdaugh is facing more than 80 counts of financial fraud-related crimes. The charges are related to Satterfield, who died from a fall at the Murdaugh home in February 2018, and many others — local clients, poor people, minorities, the disabled — going back more than a decade.
— Who shot Alex Murdaugh? Perhaps the most bizarre part of this whole story is the alleged shooting of Murdaugh as he allegedly tried to change a tire on his Mercedes-Benz GLS sport utility vehicle on the side of a rural Hampton County road just months after the murders of his wife and son. His version of events was pretty quickly determined to be false, and even though Curtis Smith, a longtime Murdaugh friend, was arrested and charged, there’s still much we don’t know about how or why it happened.
Circling back to murder and an upcoming trial
The series ends where it started: digging deeper into details about the murders of Maggie and Paul, and the state’s case — as far as we know right now — against Murdaugh as the person who pulled the trigger.
The final episode, titled “The Milk Ain’t Clean,” takes a closer look at the relationship between Maggie and her husband at the time of her death (the two were living apart, according to the HBO series), and breaks down Murdaugh’s alibi. We also hear recordings of phone calls from prison between Murdaugh and his only living son, Buster — shocking conversations that indicate a lack of worry or remorse on the part of Murdaugh.
Murdaugh’s trial is slated to start in late January 2023, and will no doubt attract the attention of millions of people outside of South Carolina. And nearly everyone will be watching for — to borrow from TV reporter Andrew Davis — the next turn in the labyrinthine Lowcountry saga.
How to watch ‘Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty’
HBO Max is the streaming service owned by Warner Bros., which owns HBO.
“Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty” will not air on the HBO cable channel, but if you pay for HBO on cable, you likely have access to HBO Max (use your same log-in info).
All three episodes of the series will be available to stream on Nov. 3.
Cost: A subscription to the HBO streaming site HBO Max costs $9.99 per month with commercials and $14.99 per month commercial-free. The commercial-free version is 4K HDR. You can pay for a full year upfront and get a discount, paying $99.99 or $149.99 for the year.
How to watch: Download the HBO Max app and sign in with your HBO Max, HBO or HBO Now ID and password. You can watch on iPhone and Android devices, Apple and Samsung TVs, Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles, Chromecast and Chromebooks, and laptops and PCS. For more information and to sign up, go to hbomax.com.
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