The Fall is a British/Irish series that follows the killing spree of a serial killer in Belfast, Ireland. He seems your average Joe, a husband with a wife and two small children, but inside he carries a lot of hatred toward women and society in general.
The film’s main protagonist is Stella Gibson, a British police detective brought in to solve a high-profile rape and murder. But soon after she arrives more rapes and murders follow and she quickly deduces it’s the work of a serial killer.
The strength of this series falls on the shoulders of Gillian Anderson who plays Stella and on the writers who’ve plotted a terrifying look at just how vulnerable we all are. We see Paul Spector, the serial killer, easily slip into women’s homes, play with their lingerie, move things around, and take photographs of himself while there, all undetected by the women he is stalking. We see his unsuspecting wife who is so self-involved she doesn’t notice his long absences or how disturbed her children are becoming. We see the victims who, even if they are smart enough to call the police, are quickly made to feel silly and foolish.
It’s a sad commentary on how society is male-dominated which means crimes against women go unreported, undetected, and often never investigated.
10 out of 10 stars.
There are three seasons. In season 1, Stella discovers there is a serial killer stalking the dark-haired women of Belfast. In season 2, she narrows the search down to Paul Spector, a grief counselor who was abused as a child when he was sent to a Catholic orphanage where he was repeatedly raped by the head priest. In season 3, Paul is caught and shot and claims amnesia which makes prosecuting him almost impossible until Stella uncovers past crimes that were before his apparent amnesia.
If the screenwriters made this into a series of novels, I’d buy them.
Reviewed by Jill.
Leave a Reply