Monday, June 28, 2021

"The Serpent" Review

 

by John Zenoni



For those into true crime shows, I recommend the story about ruthless killer, Charles Sobhraj, aka ‘The Serpent’, in the Netflix drama by the same name. There are eight episodes in total and I will say the first one definitely didn't start off catching my attention right away, as I had hoped as it had a little bit of a slow start. But I decided I needed to give the series a shot and I'm glad I did.
The story is based on Sobhraj and his murder spree in the 70’s along what was known then as the ‘hippie trail.’ He would meet up with young couples and/or single people traveling through foreign countries with the intent of exploring new culture, having new experiences and living life just carefree and end up doping them with drugs and robbing them or, in some cases, poisoning them and worse. Along the way, he has help from his girlfriend, Marie-Andree and cohort/friend Ajay. Ajay would find travelers with money or jewels and would introduce them to Sobhraj.
Another couple, Herman and Angela Knippenberg, eventually gets involved in this story. Herman is a Dutch diplomat who hears about the disappearance of a young Dutch couple and as he digs more and more into the investigation he gets onto the trail of Sobhraj.
The overall story and episodes dealing with the case and investigation into disappearances of these people is definitely intriguing and keeps your attention. The flaws that I see with this drama are the going back-and-forth timeline as it does get annoying at times and there are some slow moments - perhaps some repetitiveness is more what it is - at times. But I have to say that the cast does a great job, including Tamar Rahim as Sobhraj. He definitely gives the character the creepiness factor that is needed.
Definitely an interesting story and execution of it.

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