The Serpent – Season 1 Episode 6 Recap & Review

Bonnie & Clyde

Episode 6 of The Serpent begins with Charles and Juliette getting married in France 1969. As we soon find out, Juliette was Charles’ first love. She’s also pregnant too.

Fast forward 2 years and both Juliette and Charles find themselves in India. Only, Charles is found out for stealing diamonds and trying to make a quick buck off the back of the Ashoka Hotel. He’s arrested, although he feigns appendicitis in order to make a quick getaway.

This brings him back to Juliette, intending to leave with their child. Unfortunately things don’t go to plan, especially when he learns Juliette sent their girl back to Afghanistan.

So off they go, to Afghanistan to try and bring their daughter back. In the middle of nowhere, their car breaks down. In another nod to this Bonnie and Clyde romance, the pair look at each other as the police show up and arrest them.

We jump forward to Pakistan during 1975. Charles and Marie head off after using Ajay’s connections to find a suitable place to stay. Their accommodation is ironic too, especially given they’re now eking out a living. Charles tries to strike out an international deal with prospective buyers in France but it’s clear this pair are beginning to run out of time.

Ajay shows up and greets Marie, who’s less than enthused to see him. In fact, Marie and Ajay both come to blows upstairs when Ajay confirms the worst – Marie is just a replacement for Juliette – Charles’ previous wife.

News of this argument reaches Charles too, as the trio come to blows later in the day. A call from France sees the deal start to go ahead, but tellingly Charles tells her that only two people will be flying over to greet her.

Charles makes his choice and kicks Ajay out of this operation, telling him to leave after literally throwing money at him.

Meanwhile, Herman finds himself on edge, suffering from bad dreams and lashing out at the others at the embassy. The Ambassador has Herman’s back but tells him he needs to be careful and lay low. He also questions his loyalty to the firm.

Eventually he orders Knippenberg to go on holiday for 3 weeks and get out of Bangkok. Angela sees the state her partner is in too, encouraging him to take up the Ambassador’s offer.

While he’s trying to relax, Herman receives an urgent call from Nadine. Gautier’s apartment has been rented out, meaning any potential evidence there could be lost. Angela instinctively realizes what this means and tells him to pack up.

Back in Bangkok, the makeshift group head in to check the apartment. In fact, they intend to comb through everything piece by piece. While they do, the group find a whole stash of narcotics, including poisons hidden inside antibiotic bottles.

Among all this gear they also find Marie’s diary, which refers to Alain by his real name – Charles. This is more than enough for them to work through as they begin to comb through the specifics of Marie’s diary.

Herman is obsessed, determined to find the truth and eventually finding it courtesy of Bastien. He gives them the address to Charles’ family, as they set their sights on Paris. Now things are starting to get very interesting!

The Episode Review

While not quite as endearing as the other episodes this season, especially with Charles and Marie on the run, this chapter does work quite well to pay homage to those Bonnie and Clyde vibes.

It’s clear that Charles is trying to replace Juliette and taking out his anger on all these unsuspecting tourists. This is, of course, no excuse for what he’s done but it does go some way to explain his disgusting actions.

The way he completely discarded Ajay is telling unto itself too, throwing money at his right-hand man and telling him to leave. It’s clear Marie has managed to get under his skin a little and it’ll be interesting to see how this dynamic plays out in the episodes ahead.

For now though, this chapter starts to close the gap between Charles and Knippenberg. With two episodes to go, absolutely everything is on the line now. Roll on episode 7!