Summary
The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox covers Amanda’s release from prison in Episode 7, but it’s far from the homecoming she expected.
And just like that, Amanda Knox is free. But there’s a difference between “free” and “not in prison”. What does freedom even mean to a woman who has just spent four years of her young life in a foreign prison for a crime she didn’t commit? Early in Episode 7 of The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, I thought her acquittal, most of which occurred in the previous episode, was brushed over too lightly. But I eventually realised that was the point. The emotional whiplash that Amanda was subjected to in the aftermath of her release, not to mention the savage media coverage, the relentless hate mail, the character assassinations, and the constant fear of the court’s decision being reversed in arcane judicial proceedings continuing abroad, has to be felt, and felt deeply.
This is a brilliant episode for these reasons. It begins with Amanda leaving prison to a jubilant serenade from her fellow inmates, and it ends with her languishing in her bedroom in America, still a prisoner of the same story. The only thing that has changed is the colour of the walls. The portrait of Amanda painted by the reporting around her initial trial, that of a sex-mad satanist murderer, is the one everybody believes. On some level, she’ll never be free.
The details of Amanda’s return home are fraught with subtle sadness; how she slips into Italian without realising, and looks around for permission before opening doors. She has exchanged the bars on her windows for the crushing sense of guilt she feels over her family’s financial woes, the social cell she can’t escape. Everyone looks at her sideways and gossips about her behind her back. She has panic attacks. Her parents are cagey about everything from how much money they owe to the severity of the threatening letters Amanda is receiving.
What to do? Amanda is understandably hamstrung by the idea that her truth has never been enough. She was honest in the very first instance, and nobody believed her. The absence of any evidence to prove her guilt doesn’t prove her innocence by default. She was convicted on the basis of the truth; the truest aspects of herself, the naive, fun-loving American girl, formed the outline of the story that condemned her. The Foxy Knoxy persona exists because of the machinations of Giuliano Mignini, sure, but he filled in the outline Amanda herself provided by staying obliviously true to her nature.
The press and social media and letter-writing weirdos cling to this persona indefinitely, because it’s more salacious and entertaining than the idea of an innocent woman being wrongly convicted. Scandal drives clicks. This is why Amanda’s television interview to promote her tell-all memoir goes so badly wrong, turning into an excoriating interrogation. Think about the ratings.
The memoir isn’t the worst idea, but it overlooks the reality that the truth isn’t enough, at least not when it’s coming from Amanda. And it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. As mentioned, the television interview designed to promote it is used as an excuse to lambast Amanda, to remind the audience of all the things she was accused of beyond murder. Shortly before Amanda embarks on the promotional tour, her Italian lawyers call her to tell her to keep a low profile to avoid prejudicing the jury in the trial following her acquittal being overturned and kicked up the court system. She can’t win.
The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox Episode 7 does a fantastic job of using the distance of these trials – there are several, enough to almost lose track – and the bizarre, specific stress of her fate being decided at such a remove. One of the standout sequences is when the verdict in what will apparently be the final trial is announced, and she’s forced to watch it on TV with everyone else. She’s acquitted – again. But even then, there’s a caveat; the trial left open the possibility that she was present at the crime scene. It has no legal significance, but it contradicts Amanda’s official testimony, the story in her book, and thus her truth. If not a murderer, as far as the public is concerned, she’s at the very least a liar.
And thus we understand why Amanda would return to Italy and confront Giuliano Mignini, which we saw way back in the premiere. Her story isn’t over; can’t be, until the author of it is held to account for the fiction. Only then will Amanda Knox be free, whether she’s in prison or not.
