Diksha Sundriyal
The previous episode of Hulu’s ‘The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox’ followed the story from Raffaele Sollecito’s perspective and ended with him and Amanda being found guilty for the murder of Meredith Kercher. The sixth episode opens with this guilty verdict, which throws Amanda into a depressive daze. As the judge announces her more than two-decade-long sentence, she finds it difficult to stand or even breathe, and is basically dragged into her prison cell as she cries and pleads with the officers. For a moment, it looks like she will be stuck in the Italian prison for years to come, but then, something changes. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Amanda Tries to Come to Terms With Her Verdict
As Amanda is taken out of court, she hears her family calling out for her and telling her they love her, while her lawyers tell her that there’s still the appeal that they will start working on immediately. While the guilty verdict confirms Amanda’s image as a murderess, her parents give a press conference where they assert her innocence. When they meet her in prison, they try to console her, but Amanda seems to have regressed into herself. Her mother says that they’re working on the appeal, but also mentions that it will take up to two years before it can materialise into a court hearing.
The idea of spending one more minute in prison is devastating to Amanda, so hearing that the appeal, which may or may not go her way, will take about two more years throws her into a pit of depression that seems impossible to come out of. Don Saulo tries to cheer her up by telling her to focus on things one hour at a time, to try and find something to learn or something she enjoys instead of counting the hours and minutes she has already spent in a place that she feels she shouldn’t even be in the first place. Despite his kind words, the only thing she can think about is a bird trapped inside, trying to find her way out, but failing. When her father visits her, she breaks down, and when he starts crying too, she realizes that perhaps, there is no getting out of Capanne, after all.
Things get so bad that Amanda starts to contemplate suicide. She looks at the way other prisoners have found their freedom. In the shower, she almost slits her wrists, but the thought of the newspapers labelling her suicide as another indication of her guilt makes her stop. Four months pass, and her mental state seems more stable. It is also partly because of Cecilia, another American prisoner who was put in the same cell as her to take care of her. She reads Amanda’s letters, a lot of which seem to be in her support. People even sent her money for her defense, but the prison officials confiscated it. She tries to get her mind off things by doing yoga and teaching it to other prisoners, while also helping some of them read and write.
A Letter Sparks Hope in Amanda
When Edda visits Amanda in prison again, the latter seems to have gone through a massive shift. She seems to have accepted her fate, and instead of fighting it, she is now focusing on what she can do to make her days even a little bit better. Her mother sees it as a sign of giving up, and she tries to reassure Amanda that things will change with the appeal, but her daughter is not getting her hopes up, which breaks down Edda. She wonders whether Amanda will still be herself by the time she gets out of prison. Meanwhile, Amanda witnesses a prisoner’s child being taken away because they have turned three and can be weaned off now. Another prisoner informs Amanda that the baby will be taken away to an orphanage, and this could perhaps be the last time the mother and child see each other.
In her cell, Amanda practices piano when Cecilia tells her about a letter from an expert. This person talks about studying methods of interrogation where several time-tested techniques are used to make a person break down and confess to things they haven’t done. The description in the letter reminds Amanda of all the things the cops did to her, forcing her to sign the confession. She talks about it with Chris, highlighting how everything the letter-writer mentioned is precisely what was done to her. She laments that had she been a bit stronger, she would have understood what was happening to her. Chris consoles her, pointing out that grown men more experienced than she have fallen to these tactics. She was just a twenty-year-old kid who didn’t know what was happening to her. He also expresses his happiness about seeing the spark of hope in her again and mentions that her mother would be happy to know about it.
Amanda shares her findings from the letter with Raffaele, and he, too, confirms that similar tactics were used on him as well. However, he talked to his father about it, who revealed that an Italian court would not allow an American expert to speak at the trial. When Amanda counters that they could get an Italian one, he mentions that there is no Italian expert. He also reveals that Mignini has been caught up in a case regarding abuse of office in the Monster of Florence case. He is being tried, but because the case is still ongoing, he has been given the benefit of the doubt, which means he still has his job as the prosecutor. Not only that, he has also made it clear that when the appeal happens, he will demand a life sentence for Amanda and Raffaele because he thinks their current sentences are too lenient.
Amanda Refuses to Make the Same Mistakes Again
Realising that Mignini has raised the stakes, Amanda takes charge of her situation. By now, she is fluent in Italian, she knows what went wrong in her trial, what things were used against her, and she is not ready to let it bring her down all over again. She begins by exercising her right to get the judge’s report on her case. She studies it diligently, picking up everything that was used by the prosecution to paint her as a monster. Meanwhile, Don Saulo goes on a walk and runs into Mignini at a cafe. It seems that the priest has known the prosecutor since his childhood days. Inevitably, the conversation steers to Amanda, and while Don Saulo speaks in her favour, Mignini seems to be in no mood to change his views about her.
Finally, the trial begins, and Amanda is fully prepared this time. She wears the right clothes and expressions, refusing to let the media and the prosecution use anything but facts while talking about the case. While she is hopeful that this time the judges and the jury will start on a clean slate, she is also worried that they might come with their biases and throw her back into Capanne’s pit of despair. Things look good right off the bat as two independent experts are brought in to study the DNA evidence, and they end up pointing out about 50 ways in which the evidence was mishandled and protocols were violated. The video made by the prosecution at the crime scene while collecting evidence is used to show how they messed up the investigation. With that, the entire argument of the prosecution is dismantled.
In the cell, Cecilia tells Amanda not to make her bed and break her toothbrush, which means she is not coming back. That day, despite the hope of being released, Amanda writes a letter to her mother, telling her how she is ready for the guilty verdict as well, and asks her not to leave her life in limbo. This rings strongly for Edda, who seemed to have forgotten about her younger daughter while worrying about her elder one. Then the day comes for the final statements. Mignini points out that Amanda lied about Patrick Lumumba to hide her own crimes, which shows that she is lying about her innocence, too. Amanda, too, gives a statement where she talks about feeling guilty for implicating Patrick and ruining his life. She expresses her condolences to Meredith’s family, and eventually talks about being innocent in the entire matter.
Amanda Waits for the Verdict While Contemplating Her Future
The time comes for the jury to make their decision, and while everyone waits for the verdict, Amanda decides to go back to Capanne. She sits with Don Saulo and asks him if he has ever felt loneliness, and he talks about how he got into the life of the priesthood at the age of seven. He reveals that he and the other kids were told not to mingle and form friendships, so he never had anyone to talk to. It was then that he felt pangs of loneliness, but now, he doesn’t feel lonely anymore. She tells him about the lists she has made, where she has jotted down the things she will do based on the different outcomes of the verdict.
She knows what she will do if she does not get her freedom, but what really nags at her is that she doesn’t know what she will do if it does turn out in her favour and she is free to leave Capanne and Italy and go back home. To give her strength, Don Saulo gives her a cross that features a dove, symbolising freedom. He knows she is not religious, but he asks her to see it as a mark of strength, resilience, and survival, no matter the outcome. He tells her he loves her like his granddaughter, and she reciprocates his words. He asks her to sing a song for him, pointing out that this could be the last time he hears her sing in prison. As Amanda starts playing the piano, a call comes through to the prison officials, who receive the message that the verdict is in. The verdict is not revealed, but anyone familiar with the case knows that Amanda is finally free.
Read More: Chris Robinson: Where is Amanda Knox’s Husband Now?
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