Netflix’s latest limited series, The Serpent is based on the life of the serial killer, fraudster and thief, Charles Sobhraj, who was half Indian and half Vietnamese, but grew up in France. He killed and stole from Western tourists, throughout the Hippie Trail of Southeast Asia during the 1970s.

Here is why the internet can’t stop talking about it:

1. Tahar Rahim is absolutely magnetic as Charles Sobhraj.

The French actor’s portrayal of Charles is terrifying, for all the right reasons. He manages to recreate the dead eyes perfectly and mirror the madness that the serial murderer reflected. 

2. It gives you goosebumps at the end of every single episode. 

Though we know the general premise of the series – Charles is horrible and people around him die, yet every single episode manages to surprise and shock you.

3. The character of Charles has not been glamorised, the makers make it clear that he is indeed a criminal. 

The makers made sure to not get in touch with the real Charles out of respect for the victim’s families. They just watched the footage of his interviews and were sure that it was all they needed from his side. 

4. The show recreates the 70s at every single location, which couldn’t have been easy. 

Shot predominantly in Thailand, the crew had to make the locations look like Delhi, Kathmandu, Afghanistan, and Paris for other scenes. Due to the pandemic, the shoot had been cut short in 2019 and so they wrapped it up by creating sets in UK, which honestly couldn’t have been easy considering the different timelines. 

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5. Jenna Coleman. Yup, just her being absolute perfection. 

6. Some incidents in the series are absolutely unbelievable, but so was the life that Charles lived. 

The writers actually had to cut out parts of the story because they though nobody would believe them. And yet, we were left shaken when we watched the series. 

You can binge-watch this 8 episode limited series on Netflix.