Having watched a number of documentaries about serial killers ( a slightly disconcerting opening perhaps) it strikes me that there are essentially two key types. One I would call private, the other public. The former are those who keep their actions and activities to themselves (or possible an accomplice) and whose activities only become apparent after they have been caught and the realisation is made that they have been doing this perhaps for a very long time. Example of these people would be ones like Jeffrey Dahmer and Fred and Rose West. The other sort seem to want to ensure that their victims are found and examples of those might be Ted Bundy (as shown very well by Zac Efron in the Netflix series ‘Shockingly Evil…’ or Jack the Ripper.
The subject of this series, I felt, rather feel in between these two categories, targeting young hippie travellers on the trail to enlightenment in the 70’s in the Far East. But he had the charismatic personality that seems to be one of the key characteristics of the second type of killer as indicated above.
The story unfolded over a considerable time and many locations but the film-makers, generally, managed to keep clear control of this by indicating the exact and relative times of the events that we were being shown. I particularly liked the way they varied showing initially earlier events and then followed up with the later related/consequential ones but with other situations, the later results and events, then preceded by what led up to it. Hope i’ve explained that clearly!
Very encouraging to see how good people - Knippenberg in particular - are, finally rewarded for their passion and determination. great series that did not make the error of glamourizing the central villain although they were quite kind to his foolish accomplice from Canada.