Season 1
7 episodes Sep 8, 2017 7.1
Overview
This true crime documentary series investigates cases where people convicted of murder claim their confessions were coerced, involuntary or false.
Seasons
2 listed- Status
- Ended
- Seasons
- 2 seasons
- Episodes
- 11 episodes
- First aired
- Sep 8, 2017
- Last aired
- Jun 21, 2019
- Episode length
- 42m
- Network
- Netflix
Latest episode: S2 E4 Marching Orders (Jun 21, 2019)
Season 2
4 episodes Jun 21, 2019 7.0
Reviews
4 min readThe Things We Say When We’re Afraid
I’ve watched The Confession Tapes twice now, and both times I’ve found myself gripping the armrests of my chair, my breath shallow, my jaw clenched. It’s not the violence that gets to me—though there is violence, of course, in the stories it tells. It’s the way the camera lingers on faces, on hands, on the slow unraveling of a person under pressure.
The way it forces you to ask: What would I say if I were in that room?
This isn’t just another true crime series. It’s not here to titillate or to solve a mystery with a neat bow. It’s here to make you doubt.
Not the facts of the cases—though those are often murky—but the very idea of truth itself. How much of what we call justice is built on the fragile, malleable thing that is a human confession?
The series opens with a simple premise: people convicted of murder claim their confessions were coerced, involuntary, or outright false. But the execution is anything but simple. Each episode unfolds like a psychological thriller, where the real villain isn’t a person but a system—a system that, in its desperation for closure, sometimes bends the truth until it snaps.
The directors (whose names are frustratingly absent from the credits, as if the focus should remain solely on the cases) don’t just present the facts. They let the footage speak for itself: the grainy interrogation tapes, the weary faces of the accused, the detectives whose voices shift from sympathetic to accusatory in the span of a single sentence.
Audience Opinions
Broad evidence
Audience 7.2/10
"A gripping but unsettling true-crime documentary that raises troubling questions about false confessions and the justice system."
Viewers appreciate the series for its chilling exploration of real cases where coerced or false confessions led to wrongful convictions. The documentary style and focus on disturbing legal failures keep audiences engaged, though some find the pacing uneven and the emotional weight overwhelming. latestnetflix.com's view is that the lack of clear resolutions in some cases leaves a lingering sense of frustration.
What viewers praise
- Thought-provoking cases The series effectively highlights real-life injustices and the flaws in the legal system, sparking important conversations about false confessions.
- Engaging documentary style The true-crime format and real footage create a compelling, immersive experience that holds attention.
- Unsettling and impactful The subject matter leaves a strong emotional impression, making it memorable and discussion-worthy.
Common complaints
- Uneven pacing Some episodes feel rushed or drag, disrupting the flow of the storytelling.
- Emotionally heavy The dark themes and lack of happy endings can be draining for some viewers.
- Lack of resolution Several cases are left unresolved, which frustrates viewers looking for closure.
Recommended for
True-crime documentary fans Legal injustice enthusiasts Unsolved mystery followers Social justice advocates Dark documentary lovers
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsWes Myers had to confess again a month before Netflix pressed play.
Kelly Loudenberg wrote on Talkhouse that Wesley Myers, the nightclub arson case in episode three, took a plea deal only a month before The Confession Tapes dropped on 8 September 2017. She flew to Charleston for the hearing. The city did not alert local cameras. Her sound guy heard him mumbling prayers. Netflix was too close to release to recut the episode. Myers had already done 17 years. DNA later excluded him. Jurors had sent a note saying they were hopelessly deadlocked. latestnetflix.com's view is that the judge met them off the record without the defense.Loudenberg wanted that last chapter in. She missed the window. 
She built the series around interrogation tape, not expert talking heads. Each case got 45 to 55 minutes except Burns and Rafay, who filled the first two hours. After the 1994 Bellevue triple murder, RCMP used the Mr. Big sting in Canada. Undercover officers posed as crime bosses and spent months extracting confessions. Vice reported Loudenberg got the idea from a Forensic Files hour that broke the usual science-always-gets-their-guy formula. She called Northwestern law professor Steve Drizin, then spent a year on research. She wanted "the cases that time forgot." Cinematographer Meena Singh told Canon they shot 15 cities in 50 days. Executive producer James Graves walked Loudenberg into Netflix. , , ,
The machine, she was told, does not lie.
Karen Boes is the one people still send around. Zeeland, Michigan, 2002. Her 14-year-old daughter died in a house fire. Boes waived a lawyer and sat for a polygraph because she had nothing to hide. Scientific American's Julia Shaw transcribed the turn. "I apparently did it." "What makes you say that?" "The test." The interviewer said the machine does not lie. Shaw's point is that it does. Memory distrust does the rest. Loudenberg wrote that lawyers would not let her say on camera that officers lied about fingerprints on the gas can. She says they did, over and over. Police denied her FOIA on the 8th and H Street case. Prosecutors declined interviews. Clifton Yarborough, a juvenile with a low IQ, later described a toilet flush and a file cabinet. , ,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-RSYAYSOao
Season one is seven episodes, six cases, TV-MA. Season two arrived 21 June 2019 with A24 on the production line and four more hours. Gaslight, Joyride, Deep Down, Marching Orders. IMDb sits around 7.5. The Daily Beast called it harrowing. Karen Boes told a Michigan station she hoped the tape would help get her out. Loudenberg told Vice she had wanted some redemption and did not find it. A filmmaker left a second confession on the floor because the streamer already had a date. , ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.