You’d be hard pressed to find a fictional hero as compelling as Herman Knippenberg, the Dutch diplomat in Netflix’s The Serpent who initiates an international investigation into the crimes of Charles Sobhraj, a con man and killer responsible for at least a dozen murders.
Knippenberg, the on-screen character, fills the series’ truth-seeking detective role. But unlike his cinematic predecessors, Knippenberg has no business handling the investigation. He’s a diplomat. He’s told to hand over his findings to the Thai police. He doesn’t carry a gun. He refuses—at least initially—a gun. What forces him into obsessiveness and compulsion isn’t some sort of ego drive—I’ll show them I’m right!—nor any killer-hunting fetish; Knippenberg appears driven solely by his duty to office and country, and to the families of two travelers found dead in Thailand.
How Knippenberg…
