The Fall on Netflix: Why did I sympathise with a Serial Killer/Paedophile/Rapist?

*SPOILER ALERT* If you haven’t watched the show please click away and come back if it means that much to you.

ALSO:

PSA: *In no way am I justifying this fictional man's crimes at any point just offering a perspective and thought to how psychological issues in a person can affect who they may be or who they may become*

Nor do I support murderers/paedophiles or rapists, at all.

Paul Spector played by Jamie Dornan. A married father of two kids in Ireland. The programme depicts two dichotomies of Spector, a loving and devoted father versus a twisted serial killer who is being hunted down by Irish police, specifically case lead Super-indent Stella Gibson.

Later on, in the series, it comes to light that he was abused as a child by a paedophile priest in a boys home. The psychologist referenced something that really stuck with me and fascinated me enough to write this piece, he said: “When young children are abused, they experience fear and anxiety. They then attempt to contain those feelings by acting out sadistically. If a person is able to do to others what he fears may be done to him he may no longer be afraid.”

I think to an extent I sympathised with the idea of a tortured soul, someone who may be in a vicious cycle and fighting demons and compulsions that I cannot understand which may lead them to do ghastly things.

Spector gets shot whilst in police custody and falls into a coma, once awake seems to have amnesia. He becomes a changed man, his mannerism, his violent outburst seem to disappear and for the most part, I genuinely believe at this point the bullet may have caused a reversal of his genetic disposition and he is truly not the serial killer he was.

I believe I always look for the best in a situation where sometimes there truly is no redeeming someone who cannot be redeemed.

Which brings me onto why I had to put this idea in the bin... it was a façade. Stella saw right through it, where my empathy probably got the better of me. I’ll say she’s a better detective than I am for sure.

The mind is a complex thing, who can know it’s true power and extent? People are driven by their innate desires and sometimes these desires are products of their experience. The mind of a cold killer is an interesting one.

The show was pretty chilling, a guilty pleasure of mine... that sounds wrong. More that I love psychological thrillers.

Anyways those are my thoughts, let me know what you think?

-Lero x