The final episode of the phenomenally popular Serial podcast has aired. We ask our staff where it’s left them.

Nina Kenwood is 65% sure Adnan did it

From the very beginning, I loved Serial. After the first few episodes had aired I began pushing it on people mercilessly. I have several friends I think are deliberately not listening to it because I mentioned it to them too many times. I went all-in on it – I read a lot of stuff on Reddit, I read Rabia’s blog, I listened to the Slate Serial Spoiler Special podcast. I was deeply committed.

I thought today’s final episode was a perfect ender to the series. It pleased me because I had felt the last few episodes had been strongly pro-Adnan and this episode felt more balanced – providing perspective and theories from all sides and dropping in some juicy new information. I didn’t feel manipulated to feel one way or another. For what it’s worth, I agree with Sarah: there were not enough hard facts in this case to convict a seventeen-year-old boy to go to prison for life. Saying that, my gut instinct has always been that Adnan is guilty. In the end, I would say I’m 65% Adnan did it, 25% a random serial killer did, 10% Jay and Jenn did it.

My favourite episodes of the podcast were: The Deal With Jay, The Best Defense is a Good Defense and What We Know

Elke Power is firmly on the fence

I’m still on the fence. While I loved this program, found it incredibly compelling and, to be honest, addictive, I could not switch off the part of my brain that has been worrying about the fact that these are real people and any speculative thoughts I’ve had could be incredibly hurtful to anyone involved. I also feel terrible for saying that because Sarah Koenig and the Serial team have clearly always taken this fact and the consequent responsibility seriously. However, they’ve really engaged with the evidence (such as it is) and experts in a way I haven’t.

For what it is worth, I agree with Nina and Sarah – there just isn’t enough evidence for Adnan to have been convicted. It’s incredibly worrying that he (and others like him) was convicted and also that there are so many inconsistencies in all the stories around this case. I wasn’t as quick to reject the possibility that Mr S. was involved – the statistics regarding people with a propensity for exposing themselves escalating into sexual offences weren’t really addressed, although, to be fair, it wasn’t clear if he was just an innocent guy who enjoyed frolicking in nature or someone who wanted an audience. I still have questions about all the people who have knowledge regarding elements of the murder. I really want to know what happens with the Innocence Project – these questions are not going to go away!

My favourite episodes of the podcast were: The Deal With Jay and The Opposite of The Prosecution

Emily Gale is pinning her hopes on Deidre to sort this whole mess out

I’ve ended up feeling less sure than ever. After listening to episodes 1 to 6 pretty much back-to-back I was convinced that Adnan was guilty but also that Jay was a little more guilty than he was admitting to. Episode 7, featuring the Innocence Project, made me think I’d got Adnan completely wrong. Deidre Enright, the head investigator, was the most confident-sounding voice I’d heard across all the episodes and when she took on the case I thought, ‘Great, Deidre knows what she’s doing; I’ll just wait and see what Deidre decides!’ Unfortunately we didn’t hear from her much at all (until this most recent episode) and I soon slipped back into my theory that Adnan and Jay were both involved in the murder in some way and that both were still lying about the events surrounding that particular day.

The loose theory that Adnan could have disassociated himself from the memory of his involvement, that he truly believes in his innocence now, seemed plausible to me but then again I am a writer of fiction so maybe that’s just the story I like best and the one I’d want to write. But these are real people, and had I been a juror there would have been too much doubt in my mind to convict Adnan. I’m still pinning my hopes on Deidre sorting this whole mess out later down the line.

My favourite episodes of the podcast were: Rumors and The Deal With Jay

Bronte Coates is too busy over-empathising to pay attention to facts

Adnan’s story is seriously the stuff of my nightmares. I am not exaggerating when I say I genuinely worry on a regular basis that one day, and I don’t know which day, someone will frame me for a crime I didn’t commit and, consequently, I will be sent to prison. Throughout the season I’ve always strongly empathised with his situation (if he is indeed innocent) and have never quite been able to get over the horror of what it would be like to be wrongly sentenced to prison for life. I actually had to stop watching Orange is the New Black for this very reason.

And even though I empathised with Jay as well, I can’t quite get past the fact that he could be so intimately involved with this murder and be served a far lesser consequence. Put simply: when Jay started crying in the courtroom I teared up a little but couldn’t shake off my ‘what if he’s wrongly sentenced someone to life in prison’ but when Sarah read out heartbreaking words from Adnan’s letter to her, my ‘what if’ momentarily vanished.

I guess what I’m trying to say is I really, really don’t want to go to prison.

My favourite episodes of the podcast were: I can’t separate them from one another! I just view them as one long episode.