7/12/2023 0 Comments Benchmark full proof reviewBurden of Proof doesn’t traffic in classic shock value, but a different kind of horror: the maddeningly slow experience of watching one’s whole world fall apart in real time. Most true crime twists are jaw-dropping, gasp-inducing this is visceral in a different way, a deep gnawing discomfort in the gut, almost paralyzing in its severity. Everyone onscreen and off can only watch as the truth that defined not only Cynthia Hill’s show but Stephen Pandos’ entire life begins to unravel. Three years into a seven year filming process, with one phone call and no prior warning, the show’s foundation comes undone. There are turns and surprises throughout, but the biggest twist comes about halfway through. But as it turns out, the only question harder to stomach than “how do you live with the gut-wrenching yet legally unprovable truth that your parents killed your sister?” is its heartrending follow-up: “how do you live with the possibility that, all this time, you might have been wrong ?” Hill’s curiosity had been piqued not as an investigative reporter but as a documentarian fascinated by the human impact of violence. This is rare for a true crime series, but less so for a documentary – which, at that point in time, Burden of Proof was. Hill and her team, the police, the victim’s family, and the show’s audience are all unified in their belief in the parents’ guilt. So Burden of Proof starts where most true crime shows end: with answers. Stephen Pandos (center) meets with investigators in ‘Burden of Proof.’ HBO The trail having gone cold, the case was closed once more in 2009, leaving investigators, onlookers, and family alike convinced of Ron and Margie’s culpability but with no means to conclusively prove it. When the case had been reopened in 2006, all evidence pointed towards them, though without the original 1987 case file (which had suspiciously gone missing), there simply wasn’t enough for a conviction. He already knew who did it, everyone did: his and Jennifer’s parents, Ron and Margie Pandos. Hill began work on Burden of Proof in 2016, when mild-mannered Stephen Pandos messaged the Emmy award-winning documentarian on LinkedIn about the disappearance of his younger sister Jennifer from her bedroom 30 years prior – but not because he wanted Hill to solve the case. Director Cynthia Hill recently referred to Burden of Proof as “an ‘anti-true-crime true crime series.’” And while it does fall back at times on familiar genre conventions, Hill’s characterization is apt - especially seeing as it was never intended to be a true crime show at all. The show ends on the same note, which leaves it diametrically opposed to its true crime peers: sometimes there is no definitive truth, and we need to learn how to live with that. HBO’s true crime docu-series Burden of Proof starts in a different place, with shifting and contradictory accounts of a 15-year-old girl gone missing that emphasize the unreliability of memory. The job of the true crime doc, then, is to uncover it. The core tenet of this loosely defined genre is that the truth is out there. Mysteries yield to solutions, uncertainty to certainty. or (insert ominous music) is he? It’s not as if it matters much - whether it’s Dateline gore or prestige phenomena, the true crime formula rarely varies: start with questions, end with answers. What happened, who did it, and why? Or maybe it’s a character-study: open on photos and testimonies depicting a man who is charming and kind. A severed limb here, a pool of blood there, a voice-over narrating the tableau in grim detail. Overall, I find Kirkland Single Barrel to be a significantly better and more rewarding sip.Evidence in the 1987 disappearance of Jennifer Pandos in ‘Burden of Proof.’ HBOĪ show opens on a scene of carnage. While I am happy to have a bottle, I won’t be picking up a replacement for this. While it is a robust 125 proof, that high alcohol content in a young bourbon means ethanol prevails throughout and leaves the whole experience as a hot, simplistic experience. Score: 84 Would I buy again? No matter what the hype says, Benchmark Full Proof is still a budget bourbon – and it drinks like one. The heat overpowers the mouthfeel a bit and results in a less than stellar palate.įinish: Medium length finish that dries the palate and leaves cinnamon and orange peel. Palate: Strong heat, brown sugar, burnt wood, white vanilla, sweet corn meal, with a touch of classic Buffalo Trace grape and fruit notes. Then moves to ethanol mixed with candy corn, yellow frosting, apple, and lemon peel. Nose: Starts with strong, deep oak with a metallic underbite.
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