# *Serial* is Back [Serial Season 4 - Guantánamo](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/podcasts/serial-season-four-guantanamo.html) Much like [Season 3](https://serialpodcast.org/season-three), *Serial* is focusing on one location and trying to unfold its intricacies week-by-week. This time, it's the beastly island prison of Guantánamo. *Serial* is also a beastly podcast. It popped off with its [first season](https://serialpodcast.org/season-one) about Adnan Syed, essentially birthing the modern day true crime podcast. Since then, it's become a [production company](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/podcasts/serial-productions.html) and had it all be [bought](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/business/media/new-york-times-serial.html) by *The New York Times.* That means the feed is inundated with episodes and promotions from all of Serial Productions other shows[^2], which have kept the lights on in between seasons. It's packed with ads[^1]. But the show is still good. If you liked Season 3 in particular, I think you'd enjoy this fourth round. I think the two parter on Amhad Al-Halbi drifted a bit outside the core that is supposed to be Gitmo.[^3] I have beef with design and production decisions (see above)[^4]. But the important bit is the story is good, honest, and fair. So far, I think that is the case. [^1]: I think dynamically inserted ads. I guess I'd need to cross compare to know for sure. [^2]: This does work on me sometimes though. For example, I just banged through *[The Kids of Rutherford County](https://www.nytimes.com/column/the-kids-of-rutherford-county)*, a tight four episode show that is just buck wild. [^3]: Not unlike how I've drifted from the core of just telling you that Serial has returned for a fourth season, by complaining about production nitpicks and practices. We all drift from time to time. 😅 [^4]: And below. The show notes in the podcast player are useless. They don't even have a link to *The New York Times* website where all of this now lives, which is precisely where *TNYT* wants you to go. The credits mention the neat diorama-style art (very *Hitman GO*), but you can't even see the art in the podcast player, because they don't use episode/chapter art. And because they don't link to it. For a show that was and is so popular to the medium, they aren't leveraging it to its full benefit for the listeners sake, the advertisers sake, or their own.