It's hard enough for me to judge a fictional documentary show that examines a crazy, older, yet renown, case involving a serial killer named Charles Sobhraj, which is what The Serpent tries to emulate. That's not even taking into account the fact that I knew absolutely nothing about this entire story going into it.
With that in mind, I could look at this show in two ways. The more difficult of the two would be grading its accuracy, its ability to convey the impact of the real-life story, and how successfully it both positions the killer as evil (which, sadly, missed the mark at times), and represents the victims and others involved. In that sense, I really am not qualified to speak on that, but I will say that, after finishing the eight hour-long episodes, I didn't really walk away feeling good about its resolution. I also wasn't convinced at how realistically a lot of events would've transpired considering the show's 1970s setting (the lack of technology plays a factor, though it was fun to see the power of print media back in those days). But neither of those qualms was enough to distract me from liking the show.
Looking at The Serpent more through the lens of a critic and from a creative standpoint, the rough edges are too disruptive to ignore (I'm coming for that time-jump mechanic later). About halfway through the show, the story progressed in ways that finally gripped me, thanks in large part to an enthusiastic, overly zealous investigative diplomat who was self-motivated enough to protect those for whom no one else cared or to whom no one paid attention. But a terrible structure, mediocre acting, and poor pacing near the end completely cluttered the flow of the show.
The Serpent tells the story of Charles Sobhraj manipulating new acquaintances amidst his many travels (across Thailand, Nepal, and India among other places) with his charm to drug them and steal their identity, all part of a front for his jewel-selling operation. The '70s setting does lend the story plenty of believability (again, I realize these events really happened, but I'm looking strictly at the narrative structure fill in with an abundance of creative licensing). It's a time when hippies roamed wherever they pleased, and lived life one day, one drink, even one pill or line at a time. So naturally it makes total sense for people to join league with someone they've never met, but with whom they're willing party, travel, sleep, or even conduct business. What a great, care-free lifestyle, right? That is, until one by one, a person or couple goes missing, then turns up dead weeks later with naught but a cause of death to explain what happened to them.
Tahar Rahim plays the dubious Sobhraj to mixed results. He somehow was the perfect choice for a smooth-talking, shallow, conceited serial killer. He flaunted the big shades and well-tailored suits well, and he exuded that male-centric take-charge attitude both with his business and in his interactions with women at a time when men were the breadwinners and women needed to be subservient. But at other times, Rahim was a total bore. Rahim also has the kind of face I feel like I've seen so many times before, yet this was my first time watching him at all. He seriously looked like so many different actors, including an Asian version of Adam Driver. It was eerie.
Then there's Sobhraj's main squeeze, Marie. The character is in a lose-lose situation. At times, we are coerced into feeling a small amount of sympathy for her. Once she gets involved with Sobhraj, Marie becomes powerless. She doesn't have the means to break out of this situation, and it's not like a serial killer is going to let the prize of his eye leave, especially when she has all kinds of dirt on him (she "claims" she never knew he was actually killing these people they come across, but that level of ignorance is a ridiculous notion). But at other times, she keeps falling for his same charming tricks and convinces herself that his promises of starting a new life together once they cash in on "the big one" actually will come to fruition. Mostly, though, Marie is just there to be a pretty face.
For a serious serial killer, it seemed a little sketchy how loose Sobhraj was about his dirty work. Sure, he kept the actual killing part pretty close to the chest, but it's not like he was ultra secretive about it. He had a close cohort named Ajay who even did some of the kills himself. I suppose flirting with disaster is sort of the point to him, though, right? Sobhraj has the type of arrogance that shows off how close he can fly towards the sun without getting burned. Even in his later years, when he returns to Nepal, it seemed he wanted to prove he wasn't afraid of getting caught (especially considering he had been caught and escaped before) when he posted a picture showing exactly where he was.
There's no way he ever would've been caught in the first place if not for one man: Herman Knippenberg. Herman, a Dutch diplomat, is the show's saving grace. Once he gets a whiff of some of these missing-persons cases (one of which involved Dutch people, triggering his patriotism), he starts to connect the dots. He cleverly ties these crimes together, and he eventually figures out Sobhraj's involvement and methods. But his problems are three-fold: 1) He doesn't have enough physical evidence at crucial times, 2) He doesn't have the backing from the Dutch embassy to make his pursuits across international borders easy, and 3) He becomes so obsessed with the case that it puts pressure on his marriage. He's such an easy guy to root for, yet I found myself wishing I could just yell at him to pause and remember he's married.
You know what else made me want to yell? The structure of the actual storytelling itself!
Okay, so I'm already sick of the time-hopping mechanic as it is. Jumping back and forth to show something in the past that gives context for the present is so contrived and hollow. It's an overdone mechanic. This show does it every single episode, and multiple times. It's such a mess. The central event covers a couple of days at the hotel. So we have to go weeks or even months back in time to see how the latest victims wind up there. Then we have to jump weeks or months ahead of their time at the hotel to see why those past events are important to Sobhraj's story, Herman's story, or whoever else said context served at the time. But it gets worse. Later in the show, we start going years into the past to find out about Sobhraj's secret wife and child, then we jump back to a later time in the present. I'm telling you, this was the worst construction of a story I've ever seen in a TV show (and I still watch This Is Us with my wife every week).
When we finally get out of that time-hopping jumble, it's time to see how the pursuit plays out. Herman and his team get a seemingly major victory when Sobhraj is apprehended, but as we see multiple times, he's always got another trick to play. He's a slippery one, like a...wait for it...serpent! He did end up in jail, but there's more to the story after that.
The show had just enough highs that all the lows didn't make me feel like I wasted my time. But it was a grueling show to get through. Definitely not one I'd blindly recommend to anyone.