The Serpent (TV Mini Series) Episode #1.1 (2021) User Reviews

Episode 1

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 2 January 2021]

The first episode was very stylishly shot to give it a vintage 1970s setting in the Far East.

Based on true facts. This is a dramatised story of Charles Sobhraj. A thoroughly nasty piece of work.

Sobhraj was dubbed the the Bikini Killer. He preyed on western tourists in the Asian Hippie trail with his partner Marie-Andrée Leclerc (Jenna Coleman) and other associates.

The first episode sees Sobhraj (Tahar Rahim) using his charm and cunning posing as a gems dealer to lure a young Dutch couple in Hong Kong to come and party in Bangkok. The plan is to rob their money.

He also targets Theresa, an American traveller on her way to a Buddhist monastery in Nepal with some travellers cheques. She is having a wild time before she becomes nun.

Sobhraj seems to hate western tourists. In fact the first episode seems to have characters that show their disdain for hippies.

It is a junior Dutch Embassy official Herman Knippenberg (Billy Howle) who is on Sobhraj's tail as he tries to discover what happened to the missing Dutch couple.

The episode can become confusing as it is set in several timelines and it keeps flitting between them.

Knippenberg's scenes are set a few month after the events.

The first episode is a good set up. It opens with an interview that Sobhraj gives to a journalist where he claims that he was found not guilty of murders and cannot be tried anywhere else in the world.

At eight episodes, I do wonder where it will be going. There is a hint it will meander a bit, mainly because it is one of these BBC/Netflix co-productions which always seems to be padded.

Pity about the casting

[scarlettcapetown · 6/10 · 3 July 2021]

Why was Billy Howle chosen to play a Dutchman if he is physically incapable of pronouncing the language! As if the Netherlands have no actors.

Interesting start

[Calicodreamin · 6/10 · 5 April 2021]

An interesting start to the series, introduces the key characters and starts delving into the mystery and intrigue. The back and forth on the timeline was a bit disjointed and flustering. Decent acting and cinematography.

An uninteresting pilot

[theoledoux · 6/10 · 25 April 2021]

In a pilot, you want to be intrigued by the story. You want to be grabbed by a show. You want to be excited for what is to come. This episode fails at this. Does this mean it is bad? No. The setting (70s Asia) is cool, but the acting is unconvincing. Probably won't watch the rest to be honest.

Very interesting!

[federicaschena · 7/10 · 16 May 2021]

Definitely invested in this show: i didn't know this story at all so i'm very curious about that, i love the 70s vibes, the costumes, the photography, the music and he is creepy af, so i'll probably have nightmares about him tonight but i think it means that the actor's performance is on point right?

Can't wait to watch the next episode to discover more about those characters and this story.

Good start

[dierregi · 7/10 · 28 February 2022]

The setting in the '70 of this story based on true events gives it an immediate nostalgic flavour and it is very well made.

Even if the actors playing the main roles of Sobhraj and Knibberg have been criticised, I found them suitable for their roles. It helps that both are not famous actors. Tahar Rahim as Sobhraj is suitably magnetic and enigmatic, even if perhaps not ethnic enough, given his origins. During his conversation with Dutch backpacker Willem Bloem, he complains about being discriminated and so does Bloem, but their features have nothing that would make them stand out as non-white.

Howle as Knippenberg is also convincing as the unexperienced embassy official. The jumping timeline, with its two month earlier, four months later is slightly annoying, but not difficult to follow. I don't care that much about accents, so this first part is intriguing enough and seems to have of a story to keep me watching.

[8.5] Naivety and greediness will annihilate you

[cjonesas · 8/10 · 30 March 2022]

Episode 1: Superb 70s settings, costumes, clothes and songs, quality in production, macho evil enigmatic lead as well as his mistress, ingeniously and depressively portrayed, one who basically lives in his shadow and sooner or later, either takes her own life or is destroyed physically and psychologically by her dark Icarus.

The 'Dutch' actors, I agree, weren't well chosen IF they couldn't speak fluently. Big mistake that unfortunately tend to be repeated for many languages.

One can also wonder, how and why the portrayed tourists were that naive and of course greedy to a certain degree?!

A good and quality start to a partial biography of an evil creature.

Why all the Bad reviews ?

[nicofreezer · 8/10 · 22 September 2021]

I need to interfere here because of all the non deserved Bad reviews. Most boring TV shows nowaday gets good and Bad reviews. And the Pilot of "Le serpent" is a very well directed and filming épisode, well acting and storytelling style. I dont think you can dislike such épisode, at worst you can be not interested in the story but even so you have to put it a 6/10. If you are interested in the story you cannot put less than 8/10, for how great the episode is Directed and played. You Can feel a lot of mastery from the director.

Masterpiece

[anaita-15029 · 10/10 · 29 December 2021]

Very surprised that it is not rated more then 8. Absolute masterpiece ! Acting superb, stylish , chilling and very dramatic . Loved it , bravo to the cast.

Utterly boring pilot

[merijnsterk · 4/10 · 11 May 2021]

Where the trailer and plot seemed very promising, the first episode is lacking in almost every aspect.

Bad casting, mediocre acting, dull dialoges and so on.

What could've and should've been a gripping start and series as a whole The Serpent by Netflix is sadly enough just not.

Charmless. Acted by a cast that seems inexperienced, badly directed and a screenplay not particularly fleshed out.

[blpkst · 5/10 · 22 June 2021]

The Serpent is based on true events of a criminal mastermind who committed his crimes in Bangkok in the 1970s and was able to entice others into his web to poison, drug, rob and kill unsuspecting victims backpacking to broaden their horizons. Jenna Coleman (Young Victoria) plays his girlfriend who seems to get off on the power she wields by pretending to be his wife and has left her moral compass at the door. She is also acting like an actress who just got her first job.

Attention is given to costumes, locations, cars and sets to create the 1970s world when these crimes happened but the same attention to develop the characters fall short of the mark. Billy Howle who plays the embassy attaché and the only person who cares that people are being murdered seems way over his head. In episode 2 he is on the phone while smoking and seems to have just lit his first cigarette. He should have practiced smoking because he is not in the least convincing. The killer is charmless but menacing and perhaps that's the hold he has on those helping him kill his victims. I am not sure I will be able to stay with the series. We go back and forth in time which seems more gimmick than anything and does little to enhance the story. The characters and production is amateurish at best. I am underwhelmed. This could have been riveting with the right cast and right direction but isn't that true of any production.