Portrait of smart, ruthless criminal Charles Sobhraj

The Serpent, Season 1
Netflix
Cast: Tahir Rahim, Jenna Coleman, Billy Howle
Director(s): Tom Shankland, Hans Herbots
Rating: 4.5/5

The ‘70s were defined by disco music and bell-bottoms. In this glitzy period lurked a snake-like criminal whose acts shake you to the core.

‘The Serpent’ follows the undulating journey of Charles Sobhraj (Tahir Rahim), currently lodged in a Nepal jail. It shows his time-tested modus operandi: take advantage of foreign travellers—the “hippies” because no one would ask about them. He would help them, drug them, and kill and rob them. He would then dispose of their bodies to use their passports and impersonate them.

Charles thrives but his undoing comes when he targets a Dutch couple whose tragic end comes to the notice of Herman Knippenberg (Billy Howle), a diplomat in the Dutch embassy in Bangkok.

The chilling series switches between English, French, Dutch and Thai, so pay attention to the subtitles. The scenes are shot beautifully and attention is paid to recreate the ‘70s.

At one point, Tahir reminds us of the quintessential calmness of Tom Cruise in the face of difficulty, but that dissolves quickly when you are hit with the realisation that this story is based on real incidents.

This series doesn’t elevate its protagonists as heroes but rather tells the story of how a serial criminal was caught, thanks to one diplomat for whom every life mattered. A lesson we ought to learn as we battle a pandemic.