Crime's sufferers are the edge of this Knife

Today’s guests describe their podcast as a show about folks who have been dropped into a narrative that they didn't start, but are left with the obligation of finishing. The ensuing conversation with Hannah Smith and Patia Eaton never truly gets past the investigation of that idea.

As a result, no more true-crime podcast content may fall into your earholes without an accompanying volume of thought previously considered disproportionate going to the victim.

The Knife represents solutions journalism applied to a genre that thrives on suspense and humans’ attraction to the lurid. On today’s WCS podcast, Eaton and Smith and I examine many facets of true crime—a category that exists as something beyond entertainment for many women—with little regard for your expectations of the category.

My impetus for steering our talk that way is the The Knife’s experiential, slow-journalism feel. The weekly show’s easy mix of trustworthy voices, empathy and pervasive curiosity will take certain listeners back a couple of years, to another well-written and diligently-reported podcast.

The first couple of true-crime stalwart The Opportunist’s seasons might put you in mind of the new show, but The Knife would be The Opportunist after having its mind blown by a survivors rights course in which it got an “A.”

The Knife’s Hannah Smith and Patia Eaton

Smith and Eaton connected on that show, a podcast that did not linger with its victimized subjects as does The Knife, but was my idea of legitimate true -rime podcasting. Smith’s lead voice was supple and soothing. Season One’s unveiling of cult leader Sherry Shriner, an incredibly memorable Internet villain, quickly made Smith my favorite figure in a genre I know very little about.

But a lot of people dug The Opportunist, which mainly still drops episodes because humans have loyalty to brands. At the show’s height though? It spurred conversations and illuminated one of America’s great unprincipled and lurking types. Scroll through the last few seasons of Smith and Eaton-free episodes and you’ll find a cascade of disappointment among Kast Media subscribers. Many sound defrauded by recent iterations of the show.

Here’s hoping these true-crime aficionados find The Knife.

The hosts live in Los Angeles. Patia Eaton co-wrote and produced on The Opportunist. Her background is in scripted television and—as she explains in a really funny Sojourn anecdote—horse riding. Her atypical experience at Washington State University unpredictably took her to Hollywood.

Hannah Smith has produced shows across many genres, including nonfiction storytelling, scripted fiction, comedy, news and culture, and, of course, true crime. What’s important for my selfish purposes is that she produced the best stretch of the WeedWeek podcast run, featuring me and Alex Halperin.

Essentially, this enterprise is journalistic busking. Tips are acceptable and even encouraged.

Our WCS discussion revisits one prescient Weedweek episode that featured Mike Tyson, but there were so many great shows and moments. The great Barbara Ehrenreich joined us before her passing. Harry Mack and Matt Barnes played ball, too. Off the top of my head, Axios and Forbes had the Hannah Smith version of our show on their year-end top 10 lists. And the three of us laughed an awful lot.