Yesterday morning the second season of Serial, the record breaking investigative podcast from This American Life, was released on the internet to massive fanfare.
As was previously rumored, this season will explore the case of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a US soldier who - in 2009, was captured by the Taliban while serving in Afghanistan and held captive for five years. Since returning to the United States in May of 2014 following a prisoner exchange that saw the country turn over five Taliban soliders, Bergdahl has been the subject of heated controversy, with many of his fellow soldiers saying that he was never captured; instead alleging that he deserted his post for reasons unknown.
"People started saying Bergdahl shouldn't be celebrated. Some of the soldiers from his unit called him a deserter, a traitor. They said he had deliberately walked off their small outpost in eastern Afghanistan and into hostile territory." Reads the official synopsis on Serial's website.
In March, the Army charged Bergdahl with two crimes under the Uniform Code of Military Justice: one count of "desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty" and one count of "misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit or place." The latter carries a possible life sentence.
In the first episode of Season 2, Bergdahl, who has not spoken to the press since the ruling, finally breaks his silence.
"This story - it spins out in so many unexpected directions," writes host Sarah Koenig in a newsletter. "Because, yes, it's about Bowe Bergdahl and about one strange decision he made, to leave his post... but it's also about all of the people affected by that decision, and the choices they made.''
The first episode can be streamed on Serial's website or Pandora.
