Look beyond its clickbait-y title, and Should I Marry a Murderer? is, in fact, a fascinating, twisted, and often stunning love story where romance opens the door to murder. This three-episode docuseries follows Dr. Caroline Muirhead, who falls for Sandy—a farmer, a hunter, a tall, strong man who, by her description, seems capable enough to care for you even during an Armageddon-level disaster. Caroline, a forensic pathologist, believes she has found her Prince Charming on Tinder, and charming he certainly is. His gentlemanly politeness even impresses Caroline's parents. However, all good things eventually come to an end, and poor Caroline is forced to wake up from the utopia of her love affair when Sandy, one day, confesses that he and his twin brother, Robert, killed a man.
The victim was Tony Parsons, a 63-year-old retired Royal Navy officer and cancer survivor who had suddenly disappeared during a charity cycle ride. After Sandy's confession to his fiancée, it is revealed that Tony was struck by Sandy's vehicle, and Sandy and Robert—both heavily drunk—decided to bury him on the Auch Estate instead of going to the police or calling an ambulance. As the documentary progresses, an even more horrifying detail emerges: had the brothers chosen to do the right thing and simply call for medical help, Tony might have survived. He could still be alive. What was going on inside Sandy and Robert's heads at the time of the incident? Why did they take such an inhumane step? Should I Marry a Murderer? offers slight clues by discussing the boys' father, who, by introducing guns and violence into their young lives, may have desensitized them to acts of aggression.
Caroline is deeply overwhelmed by Sandy's behavior. He operates on the extreme ends of kindness and bitterness, so one moment he is warm, gentle, and affectionate, and the next, he displays no remorse whatsoever regarding his actions. This, coupled with the crushing burden of guilt, leads to Caroline's downward spiral. One part of her loves the version of Sandy who is caring, friendly, and full of warmth. The other part is disgusted by his coldness, hostility, and rudeness—traits that primarily surface when he is intoxicated. On top of this, a woman from Victim Support Services notes that the police failed to offer proper support to Caroline, who was clearly a vulnerable witness. David Green, speaking on behalf of the police department, defends the officers by arguing that Caroline did not fit the criteria necessary to receive aid from Victim Support Services. She is, after all, a highly educated doctor.
I hope Should I Marry a Murderer? ends up making the viewers challenge the stereotypical notions about educated people. To excel professionally in your chosen field is not the same as excelling in the field of life. A school or college education may prepare you for a career, but it does not necessarily provide inner education. Caroline is undoubtedly a skilled professional, yet she was not taught how to deal with deeply personal, real-life crises or immense psychological pressure. She is someone profoundly afraid of being alone, which perhaps explains why she enters another relationship so quickly after a devastating breakup—one whose details remain frustratingly vague. If you peel back the layers, one could argue that the larger culprit is society itself, along with an education system that often fails to equip individuals with the philosophical tools necessary for true self-understanding. The fact that Caroline seems to seek fulfillment through male companionship speaks to a traditional conditioning she perhaps never fully examined or challenged.
The docuseries itself does nothing particularly groundbreaking in terms of form. Caroline's story, however, is so inherently thrilling that its narration alone proves more than sufficient to captivate the audience. This is precisely the kind of demented, dysfunctional tale Aanand L. Rai might gloriously explore in one of his romantic dramas. Caroline's experiences could genuinely serve as inspiration for such a production. Perhaps my admiration for Rai's cinema—well, most of it—helped me understand Caroline's absurd decisions with greater empathy. I could connect the dots. I could see where she was coming from. I was also thoroughly captivated by her account. Should I Marry a Murderer? remains consistently tense and gripping, doing a respectable job of sustaining brisk momentum throughout.
It's funny how life works. Had Caroline never created a Tinder account, she would never have met Sandy, and Tony's body might never have been found. Look at everything from above, and you begin to recognize what appears to be a foreordained pattern. It is no wonder the sun appeared on that cold day at the precise moment Tony's body was lifted from the ground. It feels as though someone, somewhere, was keeping an eye on everything—as though it was all meant to happen.
Final Score- [6.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times