As the episode begins, we see a young Charles Sobhraj (Tahar Rahim) getting married on November 5, 1969 in Paris, France. After the intro, Ajay Chowdhury (Amesh Edireweera) looks through the old passport belonging to Charles and Juliette Voclain (Stacy Martin). He finds a picture from their wedding tucked inside. Herman Knippenberg (Billy Howle) talks to Paul Siemons (Tim McInnerny) about his report going out to every embassy. Paul says that won’t help before giving Herman a handgun, but Herman isn’t eager to take them. Herman says he isn’t taking it because he isn’t like Paul who agrees because he knows how to stay alive. Paul forces him to take the gun regardless.

Nadine (Mathilde Warnier) and Remi (Gregoire Isvarine) talk to Angela about Charles and Ajay while Herman yells about the pond being empty. He steps inside and asks about the water lilies. Angela (Ellie Bamber) says her bad Thai made the gardener mistake her and get rid of them. When Herman storms off, Angela admits she is worried and we jump over to Karachi, Pakistan. Charles and Marie (Jenna Coleman) exit the bus and Charles says he knows a place they can sleep. Charles says they’ll stay a few days until he can find the most suitable client for the gems and they need to wait for Ajay. Although they’re friends, Marie says it doesn’t mean they want him living with them his entire life. Marie isn’t happy with the rundown motel so Charles says they’ll have luxury hotels when they arrive in Paris.

She goes inside to check in while Charles says he is going to make a few calls. Once she gets a room, Charles calls Paris, France and tries to find a buyer for the gems. He tries to convince Madame Boeder to buy the gems. Max was arrested for embezzlement so Charles thinks he can use that to his advantage. Charles is told that they worked with Max Ayga for 15 years and they don’t trust replacing him with someone they’ve never met and someone who is uncertified. Charles promises he’ll take care of both issues. He reveals he already sent them a sample and they receive the parcel from John. He tells them he’ll be at his hotel in Karachi and they can reach him there.

He gives them the phone number to the payphone before paying a young boy to watch it and answer it for him. We warp back in time seven years and Charles tells his mother she can congratulate him. She asks if she should congratulate him on his wedding or his release from prison. He explains today’s greatest joy is that he’ll have his own family and a different future but his mother wonders how it’ll be different. His mother steps away and he finds out that Juliette hasn’t told anyone about her pregnancy yet. He doesn’t care about that and wants to make sure everyone knows they’re leaving, but Juliette says she isn’t sure she wants to have a child in India. Charles wants better for their child than France. He says he doesn’t belong in France and police are arresting him on any pretext so he can’t grow there.

He claims the police always come to him when an Asian commits a crime around there. Charles promises that they’ll come back someday, but Paris will kneel for them when they do. We jump forward 7 years to Bangkok. Herman hears something in the middle of the night, rolls off of the bed, and grabs his gun. He points it toward the doorway. When the light turns on, he finds a terrified Angela standing there. He calls her a stupid woman for sneaking upon him. The next day, Gilbert Redland (Adam Rothenberg) talks about the investigation but Herman can barely stay awake. A man with the Canadian embassy tells him he has nerve for shoving the report in every embassy mailbox. He also refuses to believe a Canadian woman is involved. The Ambassador enters and tells the man, Mr. Bastien, about Herman’s investigation.

Then, he orders Herman into his office. He reminds Herman that his duty there is to influence softly and invisibly. He goes on to say he is only defending him because it is his duty to his kingdom and the embassy. The Ambassador tells Herman to take a three-week holiday and we see Lawana (Apasiri Kulthanan) hanging around in the background. As Herman leaves in a vehicle, he notices water lilies in the pond nearby and gets out. He removes his shoes and watch before climbing in. He grabs a bunch of the lilies and passes some to Yotin (Kenneth Won). He takes them back to his place and tells Angela about the holiday. Angela tells him she put bread on the table while he took classes for the foreign service and she believed in him.

She accuses him of flinging his career in the garbage with one hand and putting her life in danger with the other. She admits they need a holiday before telling Herman to get out of the pond. Charles and Marie go out for champagne and toast to Paris. He tells her they’ll have to leave a lot behind now they’re going to France. He wants to make sure Marie can really leave it all behind and forget everything because he wants them to feel that they can be innocent. Ajay interrupts their conversation before sitting down. He tells them about Knippenberg being sent away so he thinks Charles is going to be okay. Ajay says he is going to need new clothes for Paris and Marie thinks he’ll need new character as well. Charles sends Marie back to the room to get cigarettes before looking at the passports and other items in Ajay’s bag.

They talk about Juliette who Ajay claims was in a completely different class than Monique. We go back five years to Bombay, India. We see that Charles and Juliette have a baby girl named Madhu. Charles only says he has a job before leaving them. He ends up in New Delhi three weeks later where the most celebrated hotel, the Ashoka, was the site of a jewelry heist. Charles has a bag full of jewelry when he calls Juliette and asks her if she saw the newspaper report about the Ashoka Hotel before confirming it was him. The police catch up with him though so their new life isn’t going to start now. Five years later, we return to Bangkok and Nadine finds out that Charles’s room is being rented out. Remi is glad since it means they’ll never see Gautier again, but Nadine is worried the police might’ve missed evidence.

He says they should leave it behind if the Knippenbergs have done so. Meanwhile, Angela and Herman hang out on the beach. Herman gets a call from Nadine about the flat being rented out. Herman tells Angela about the landlady wanting to rent out Gautier’s apartment again and having it cleared out. Angela tells him to call the airline and she’ll pack their belongings. Ajay asks Marie about her love life. She asks if he got her things but he left behind her notebook because Nadine found him. She doesn’t understand why Ajay is coming to Paris and says the nasty things he does for Alain are over. Ajay wonders what was in the notebook since it has her so upset. She slaps him across the face before he grabs her and reminds her of the past and the Dutch girl screaming for her. She calls him a vile monster.

He says she is the same and they both know his name isn’t Alain yet they play a role for him. He goes on to say Monique is only there to take the place of Juliette who was his wife from Paris. Monique goes to the church and uses the confessional to talk about her fear that Charles will kill her. When she says she doesn’t recognize herself, the priest says it isn’t love. She is asked to make her confession but she leaves in a hurry and Ajay watches her go. Ajay meets with Charles and tells him about the diary and confessional so he thinks they should get rid of Marie. Nadine, Herman, and Angela meet with Paul at Kanit House so they can search the apartment. Nadine shows Paul a picture and he says they think they’re Bonnie and Clyde. Herman finds what looks like Helena’s backpack while Paul removes a loose panel and finds bottles of sedatives and disassociates.

There is also a bottle of Kaopectate. Herman knows it and says you get a bad stomach and it blocks you up. He knows the bottle contains something else. Paul explains he poisons the kids and tells them to take this because it’ll make them better but it only makes them sicker. Then, Paul finds several passports and Angela finds Monique’s diary. She says there is no mention of Alain and Monique keeps talking about Char. Nadine suggests it is Charles and they realize his name isn’t Gautier either. Paul says it is smoke, but Herman says it is his life and everything they’re doing will shackle him. We go to Delhi 4 years earlier and Charles spends time in a cell. He hurts himself before we hear a report about the jewel thief faking the symptoms of appendicitis so perfectly that the surgeons removed the organ at the infirmary.

Juliette listens and learns that Charles drugged the guards and fled. He shows up at her door and he tells her they need to leave now. He grabs a bunch of money he had hidden and says they need to leave India immediately. He learns his daughter isn’t there before we jump ahead two weeks and travel to Afghanistan. They argue about Madhu being safe with them and Juliette says she wasn’t so she sent her back to France. He wonders why she is still with him since she thinks life with him is so wretched. The tire falls off of the car and they don’t have a spare. She realizes he stole the hire car as the authorities get close. She complains and says she doesn’t want to go to prison since she did nothing. He tells her to shut up since whatever happens will only be temporary and they’ll be together again.

Both are arrested before we jump ahead four years to Karachi. Charles confronts Marie and asks what she told the priest since Ajay thinks they should leave her behind. She says all she told the priest was what she wrote in her diary. She says it tortures her but she loves him. She knows he hasn’t been honest with her and she wants to know about Juliette. Ajay apologizes and says he was angry. Ajay and Marie get into a spat trying to prove who has been more loyal to Charles. Marie wonders what people will think of Charles when they see him in Paris with a little brown thug. Charles doesn’t like that statement and wonders what he is before the boy lets him know he has a phone call. She tries to smooth things over before Charles goes for the phone. Boeder wants to know if Charles and his associates are going to come see them in Paris. Charles says they haven’t agreed on a purchase price or fee yet.

He tells them it’ll only be two of them. Meanwhile, Angela does her best to translate Monique’s diary. They learn about Suda who Nadine says is Charles’s Thai girlfriend. Monique writes about the things Charles does and whether she should care since they’re only drug dealers. She says Marie is terrified but Monique has to stay calm. She mentions her entire name Marie-Andree Leclerc. Angela worries that the woman barely knows any more than they do. Herman finds pictures of Charles’s parents and finds out that his mom upgraded to a French Naval Officer. We move to Paris and Charles calls his mother. He tells her he is going to be in Paris and would like to see her. He admits he wants to see his child again and he wants her help, but she isn’t eager to cooperate. He goes outside and gets into a car with Ajay before saying it’ll take 14 days to drive from Karachi to Paris.

He tells Ajay he’ll never need to speak to Monique again. Charles takes Ajay to a private location and says they need to have a conversation. He admits he can’t rely on Ajay anymore and he is only good for gutter work. He throws money in his direction while saying he was his errand boy but he is nothing now. Charles says Monique was right and Paris is no place for a little brown thug. He says he wants Ajay gone and it is time for him to make his own way in the world. Then, we return to Kabul, Afghanistan three years earlier. Juliette is allowed to see Charles who is still locked away. She confirms the charges against her were dropped since she didn’t do anything besides marrying Charles. She tells him she won’t be there when he gets out. He learns she is going to divorce him.

Charles returns to Monique who thought he had left her to return to Juliette. He agrees to tell her about Juliette so she’ll know why he’ll always deny her. Charles blames Juliette for him being imprisoned and stealing his child. He heard she died when he got out of prison and he doesn’t grieve for her. He goes on to say Juliette was the worst thing to ever happen to him. He swears Marie is the only one in his life now. Herman learns that Marie calls her parents in Levis every weekend and Monique shames her for it. Angela encourages him to come to bed but Herman says Gautier’s mother and Leclerc’s parents have to be in the evidence somewhere. He lashes out at her when she tells him to just stop. She steps away and Herman calls Bastien (Collin Stinton).

He tells him he has the woman’s full name and the town in Quebec where her family still live. Bastien meets them the next day and says he had the Canadian Mounties pay them a visit on Herman’s behalf. They now have a forwarding address for Leclerc so they know where they’re heading. Charles and Marie make it to the German-French border. Their passports are checked and they’re allowed to pass into France.

 

The Serpent Review

This was another excellent episode of The Serpent. We’re getting close to the finale and the intensity is climbing rapidly. We can feel that something big is coming soon. Ajay has been shut out by Charles who decided to pick Marie instead. They’re going to France in hopes of seeing Charles’s baby and finalize the gem transaction.

However, Herman is right on their tails and they won’t be able to run forever. The episode did a good job of showing us how much the investigation impacted the lives of Herman and Angela Knippenberg. I am eager to see how they’re going to end the show.

Either way, The Serpent has been excellent and it has only gotten better with each episode. The acting from the main roles has been great as well. I know they took some artistic liberties with the story but it hasn’t been outlandish. In fact, we can say it has been respectful to everyone involved. This episode was excellent so I’d give it an 8.5 out of 10. Past and previous recaps of The Serpent can be found on Reel Mockery here.