Making a Murderer season 2 just achieved what the first season never could.

There’s something different about season two of Making a Murderer.

It feels less dramatic, less sensationalised somehow.

It also feels more… real.

Since season one aired almost three years ago, we’ve been able to step back from the story and see it for what it really is.

Two men who may or may not have brutally raped and murdered an innocent young woman. Two families and a community that have been torn apart from this savage act of violence. And, most importantly, a young woman who lost her life in the most horrible of circumstances.

Watch the trailer for season two…

In the first season, Teresa Halbach was noticeably missing from the narrative. We knew she was a 25-year-old photographer, who was killed sometime after she visited the Avery property on October 31, 2005.

We knew she had a brother and an ex-boyfriend who were actively involved in the search for her and the subsequent trials of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey.

But that was all we really knew.

In this season, Halbach plays a much larger role.

In the first episode, we learn a lot more about the kind of person Halbach was. The filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos actually interview Chris Nerat, one of Halbach’s college friends.

Through snippets of interviews he’s able to paint a clearer picture of Halbach’s life.

Nerat met Halbach at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay where they both worked on the school paper. He remembers her positive and infectious smile.

“I figured they were going to do the show anyway, so I might as well talk to them,” he told People recently. “I spoke because I thought that Teresa needed someone to speak.”

Also in this season, the people in her life are examined more closely as possible suspects, and their motivations and connections to the case are questioned.

We learn that her life – like everyone else’s – isn’t simple or black or white. It’s complicated and full of possible suspects.

Later in the season, the filmmakers actually recreate Halbach’s final moments. We get a sense of who she was and what she was doing the moment her life was abruptly taken from her.

We also get a better sense of the impact the ongoing trials and appeals process, plus the subsequent media attention, is having on the Halbach family. They’re constantly being reminded of the worst day of their lives.

In season two, it’s finally made clear that Halbach is the real victim in this story.

Hopefully, Halbach’s presence this season will help to remind fans that amid all the true crime intrigue, there’s still a family grieving.

You can stream Making A Murderer season two on Netflix now.