There’s always a tricky question of semantics when it comes to stories about criminals who deal in deception.
The lines between the points where one persona ends and another begins make it difficult to focus on who the “real” figure at the center is.That’s true for “The Serpent,” the eight-part limited series about the life and crimes of Charles Sobhraj, but only to an extent.
Though Tahar Rahim plays all forms of the man who led an international crime ring, he exists for most of the series as “Alain Gautier.” What begins as an alias — the origins of which the audience sees in fits and starts as the series progresses — comes to encompass all of what allowed him to grow his intercontinental passport- and jewel-laundering scam, ensnaring a growing net of murder victims and accomplices and enemies along the way.
In the process, the show surrounding him
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