Can I interest you in a limited series about a serial killer? What if I told you that for once this serial killer wasn't in America either (yay, we don't suck for once!) And what if I added that the man playing the killer is creepy as hell? Oh, I've got your attention? Excellent, let's go!
Oh... don't forget to turn your subtitles on.
I'm not sure what it says about us as a society, but Americans are obsessed with anything to do with serial killers. Now, most of them happen to be here in the states like say Ted Bundy, Jeff Dahmer and John Wayne Gacey, but this time we're gonna go on a journey down to the heart of Thailand, specifically to Bangkok.
The story told in the show here seems ultimately predictable... I mean, we all know it's about a serial killer right? So knowing that and putting it the side, I decided to focus on what else the series had to offer. Don't get me wrong, seeing the method of murder was a part of my list of curiosities, but I knew there should be so much more to this. So let's see here...
What Worked
1. The story writing: This is both equal parts infuriating and fantastic. In fact, it's fantastic because it's infuriating. Spoiler alert: Most of the story does not come from the perspective of our main baddy, Charles Sobhraj. Instead, we're shown things primarily through the lens of Dutch diplomat Herman Knippenberg as well as the main muse of our killer, Mariee-Andree Leclerc, a French Canadian.
So why is that infuriating, Sean?
Easy, I want to know the thoughts of our serial killer! What makes him, him. Where are all the motivations, the backstory, the juicy details? It takes about six episodes to get into those questions and my frustration and desire for answers were at an all time high. I almost threw my remote at the TV a couple times thinking about how badly I wanted to know what made him tick. I'm still heated over this and I finished watching it a day ago!
Spoiler alert and fun fact: Charles Sobhraj is still alive, and he was not interviewed as a part of the creation of this series because the writers figured the only thing they would get from him is an attempt to manipulate the truth to fit his claim of innocence, so that probably played into the way things were written too.
2. The creep factor: Man oh man oh man, despite the audience not knowing much about his character, Tahar Rahim does a phenomenal job making Sobhraj look creepy as hell. One minute he seems like a normal functioning member of society that you would consider putting your trust in and then... Bam! You're his next victim and you don't even know what hit you.
No seriously, the show never fully explains what he used to turn people into victims. It's just known that it's a pretty serious drug.
As icing to Rahim's cake, Amesh Edireweera makes your skin crawl with his portrayal of Ajay Chowdhury. I'm not going to go into much detail so I can limit spoilers. What I will say to this is just... man he's good.
3. Playing with your emotions: This piece is specifically manifested through Mariee-Andree, played by Jenna Coleman, aka my new celebrity crush.... sorry Rachel. The range of thoughts and feelings towards her character can flip from anger, to skin crawling, to pity in the snap of a finger. After thinking about how she looks like she's gone full fledged serial killer in her own right, I was yelling, "run bitch runnnnnn" at her whenever she had a chance to get the hell out of dodge, and then would find myself pissed that she couldn't get her head out of her ass and book it back to Canada. Ten minutes later I'm finding myself pitying her and thinking to myself how I don't know how you would ever feel safe leaving a guy like that. Friends close and enemies/serial killers closer, eh?
What Didn't Work
1. The Story Writing: Wait, Sean, if this is what worked, why is it also what didn't work? Good question. It's because I almost quit the watching the series before I finally got my need for back story on Sobhraj satisfied. If I had gone the whole show and never gotten an explanation about him I may have broken my TV. I just wanted them to tell me what he was all about and when it seemed like it wasn't going to I was very tempted to leave it and go find something else to watch. Again, blood still boiling.
2. Career Saving Moves: This isn't so much a problem with the show, more a problem with people. Specifically Herman's boss, Ambassador van Dongen. This guy couldn't give two shits about his own people getting brutally murdered, no matter how much evidence Herman put together. He was more concerned about being a typical bureaucrat and sticking to meetings and paperwork and keeping his career in tact. If there's one person that I'd nominate to be sucker punched in the face I'd leave Sobhraj and Chowdhury to the side and choose this guy.
Ambassador van Dongen, please kindly go fuck yourself.
Final Thoughts
All-in-all this series is well worth the watch. Despite my feelings of anger and frustration I would highly recommend it, in part because I have to admit that those emotions came from how well things were writing. I don't know if I'd call this the most enrapturing series I've seen about a killer... or just a general public figure (Tiger King can't be beat), but if you need something new to watch and you want to be drawn in and feel the itch to binge the whole show, this is where you need to turn.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
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