A new Murdaugh series debuts on Netflix. How is it different from the others?
A new documentary series about South Carolina’s Murdaugh family landed on Netflix this week, following previous series and specials on HBO, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, Oxygen and Investigation Discovery.
Alex Murdaugh, formerly an attorney in Hampton County, is on trial for the June 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, both found shot to death on the property of the family hunting lodge in Colleton County.
But the reason this story has become a national obsession is because of the family drama that started long before the murders — including the fatal boating accident that took the life of Mallory Beach in 2019, with Paul allegedly at the helm.
The Netflix series, “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal,” does look at the murders of Paul and Maggie, but focuses much of its time on that boat accident — how it affected Beach’s family and friends, and how the Murdaugh family worked to control the narrative of the crash and cover up Paul Murdaugh’s involvement from the start.
Does the Netflix Murdaugh series have anything new?
Key points from the Netflix series:
▪ Paul Murdaugh’s girlfriend: The first episode leans heavily on interviews with Morgan Doughty, who talks about Paul’s personality, both the good and bad aspects: his playful side and sense of humor, his serious drinking problem, his relationship with his family and with housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, his reckless and violent behavior (including his physical abuse of her), and the way his family always got him out of trouble.
▪ More photos, videos: We get a lot more photos and videos of Paul, taken by Doughty and their friends. The videos give a much more intimate view of Paul and the friend group than we’ve seen so far. The photos and videos also show us more about the night of the boat crash.
▪ More interviews with Paul’s friends: In addition to Doughty, we get interviews with other friends, including those on the boat the night of the crash. Beach’s boyfriend, Anthony Cook, appeared in the HBO series and he’s back in this series, along with his parents. We also hear from other parents of the kids on the boat that night, including ...
▪ Mallory Beach’s parents: Beach’s parents, still visibly devastated, are interviewed in Episode 2 and give an account of the night of the accident and how they learned their daughter was missing. It’s heart-wrenching.
▪ The case against Paul: Beach family attorney Mark Tinsley lays out the case against Paul Murdaugh — details we would likely have learned in Paul’s trial, had Paul not been murdered. Tinsley is very effective in delivering evidence that Paul was indeed driving the boat that night (the Murdaughs accused passenger Conner Cook of being the driver).
▪ Reenactments: There are a lot of reenactments in “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal,” interspersed with archival video and interviews with those close to the case.
▪ Other deaths are covered: The Netflix series doesn’t ignore the other deaths connected to the Murdaugh family. Episode 3 gets into the mysterious 2015 death of Stephen Smith, found dead in the middle of a rural Hampton County road in the middle of the night. Buster Murdaugh, Alex Murdaugh’s oldest son, was rumored to be connected to Smith’s death. It also explores the 2018 death of housekeeper Gloria Satterfield at the Murdaugh home, as well as financial crimes related to her death.
How to watch ‘Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal’
All three episodes of the series were released on Thursday, Feb. 22 and are available to stream.
To learn more about subscription plan options at Netflix, visit netflix.com/signup.
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This story was originally published February 23, 2023 at 9:22 AM.
