Amanda Knox’s ‘Twisted Tale’ show let’s her own the story
While I’m sure ‘The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox’ will be controversial, I hope it ultimately shows the world who Knox is, flaws and all.
Amanda Knox and Monica Lewinsky reclaim truth in Hulu mini-series
Amanda Knox and Monica Lewinsky confront media myths and reclaim the narrative in Hulu’s new series, “A Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox”
For years, Amanda Knox has been trying to reclaim the narrative that has defined her for nearly two decades. Thanks to a new television series, she’s getting that chance.
The first two episodes of “The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox” debuted on Hulu on Aug. 20, reintroducing everyone to a case they thought they knew from the perspective of the woman who spent four years in prison in the sexual assault and killing of Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, while the two were studying abroad in Italy. Knox was ultimately exonerated in 2015.
I was largely unfamiliar with Knox before watching the show. I vaguely remember seeing details of the trial on cable news as it unfolded, but she and I didn’t have a proper introduction until I clicked “play” on the first episode of this series.
Knox’s story is akin to thousands of stories in the United States of people who have been found guilty and ultimately exonerated of crimes they did not commit. She does not need to be perfect, or even likable, to be innocent.
I was 20 years old once. I can’t imagine being in this situation at that age – alone in a foreign country where you barely speak the language, suddenly arrested in the death of someone close to you. I don’t think I’d handle it well, and I’d probably make mistakes – just like Knox did. While I’m sure this show will be controversial, I hope it ultimately shows the world who Knox is, flaws and all.
The story of Amanda Knox is a crime drama rollercoaster
In 2007, Knox was studying abroad in Perugia, Italy. That Nov. 2, Kercher was found dead in the home she and Knox shared with two other women. Days later, Knox and her boyfriend of one week, Raffaele Sollecito, were arrested in Kercher’s death.
In the series, you see how quickly a case was built against Knox. As soon as Kercher’s body is discovered by the police, you see them talking about her in Italian, judging her quirky demeanor and her eagerness to help. By the end of the second episode, she is being hit and tormented during interrogation by detectives who are certain she is the one who committed this heinous crime.
While only two episodes of the show are out and the murder trial has yet to be shown, we know how this plays out. Knox, labeled “Foxy Knoxy” by the tabloids, goes on trial. She is lambasted by the media for her sex life and her mannerisms.
She was found guilty, acquitted in 2011, retried in 2013, found guilty once again in 2014 before being acquitted for a final time in 2015.
I’ll admit, I didn’t find Knox (played by actress Grace Van Patten) particularly likable at first. It was easy to judge her actions early on. In the scenes following the discovery of Kercher’s body, Knox is shown kissing her boyfriend while the cameras flash. In the second episode, she’s shown doing yoga poses at the precinct. But by the end of the second episode, I was empathizing with her.
Knox might have ultimately been exonerated, but the case will follow her for the rest of her life. The show gets at that, too. In the first scene of the first episode, we see her in 2022, back in Italy to meet with the man who prosecuted her case. This inclusion of her entire story is intentional, and something Knox fought for as an executive producer on the series.
It’s important that she still be seen as a full person, whose life must continue after the trial is over and she is acquitted. Knox now has to exist with this caricature of herself in the world, a caricature that she had no say in creating until recently.
Amanda Knox television show is her reclaiming her story
Knox isn’t the only famous name attached to “Twisted Tale.” Monica Lewinsky, another woman whose life has been defined by the media’s representation of her, is also an executive producer on the show. The pair met in 2017 at a lecture they both attended and grew to become friends.
“When we met, I saw in her the pain that I saw in myself,” Lewinsky told The Hollywood Reporter. “She was desperate to get out of this box she had been put in. But you don’t often see people reclaiming a narrative in public.”
In fact, Lewinsky is the one who brought the idea to 20th Television after reading a profile of Knox in The New York Times and learning that she wanted to take her story to the screen.
Lewinsky admits that their stories aren’t similar, but what is similar is how the two women were treated by the media.
It’s nice to see a woman use what she’s learned and the tools at her disposal to help a fellow maligned woman. Lewinsky has been able to rehabilitate her image in recent years. Knox should be given the same opportunity.
I’m sure there are still people who believe Knox to be the culprit, who might not realize that a man named Rudy Guede was convicted of murder and sentenced for Kercher’s death. There may be people who dislike that she has chosen to make a show telling her side of the story, including Kercher’s own family.
Still, I think it’s important that Knox be able to reclaim the narrative that so many people have internalized about her. She might not be perfect – she acknowledges as much. But that doesn’t mean she should have to live the rest of her life with a reputation she doesn’t deserve.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter: @sara__pequeno
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