Spare Me Your Mercy Series Review: Deaths, Debates, & Doubts
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
‘Spare Me Your Mercy’ is like an episode off popular crime shows, where a serial killer is on the loose, and a bunch of clueless cops are scrambling to solve the case.
Directed by Wo Worawit Khuttiyayothin (‘Century of Love’, ‘Laws of Attraction’), the eight-episode Thai series is based on the novel “Euthanasia” (การุณยฆาต) by Sammon. JJ Krissanapoom Pibulsonggram plays primary protagonist Thiu, a serious young cop, who transfers from the big city to his village to take care of his terminally ill mother. When Thiu’s mother passes away before he makes it to the village, he begins to be get suspicious of the circumstances under which she died when another terminally ill patient dies prematurely in the village, with clear signs of home intrusion. As he probes the case, he becomes entangled with the village’s beloved doctor Dr. Kantaphat, portrayed by Tor Thanapob Leeratanakach.
Now since the series is called ‘Spare Me Your Mercy’, viewers can guess a major twist in the tale within the first five minutes of the series, although, to the creators’ credit, it’s revealed in the first episode anyway. We all know something is fishy about the doctor, even Thiu finds him suspicious, but the doctor’s radiant smile and inherent charm begins to slowly melt his heart. Everybody Thiu meets during the course of his investigation only has words of praise for the Doc, labeled as ‘angel’ by many. But perhaps he has too soft a heart and is killing off his own patients as an act of ‘mercy’, because he cannot watch them suffer?
Some of the other suspicious characters in the tale are a senior nurse called Onanong (Fresh Arisara Wongchalee), Somsak the director of the local hospital (Gandhi Wasuwitchayagit), and a young pharmacist called Boss Chanchai (Aelm Bhumibhat Thavornsiri). Each of them seem to have their personal agendas. Aelm Bhumibhat Thavornsiri stands out as the eccentric Boss, who is revealed to have a tragic childhood, marred with abuse, and severe trauma. Boss is quiet on the outside, but emotionally turbulent and unwittingly malevolent. Fresh Arisara as nurse Onanong serves as steady supporting character, who is always by Dr. Kantaphat’s side, almost like a protective maternal figure.
‘Spare Me Your Mercy’ isn’t the most suspenseful thriller, you can see the twists coming, but it does raise a powerful question: should euthanasia be legal in Thailand? There are two doctors in the series who stand on opposite sides of the debate, one calls it nothing but murder, while the other sees it as offering terminally ill patients, who are expected to die in a few months anyway, a dignified death without inevitable suffering.
The quaint remote village where the story is set in, offers a visually pleasant backdrop for this divisive debate. One episode is particularly moving, where a local tribe is shown to be prepared for one of their members to die, welcoming his death with rituals, instead of drowning in tears of grief. The community spirit, traditions, and emotional connections between families offers a fresh break from stories set in big cities. The background music is also good, particularly a track called ‘Just A Tale’ by Nont Tanont, which fittingly plays behind a romantic sequence in the show.
JJ Krissanapoom Pibulsonggram and Tor Thanapob Leeratanakach as the police-doctor protagonists have great screen presence, although the romantic tension between them isn’t electric. But well, this isn’t a romantic-drama, so it’s okay. However, since the suspense is slim, ‘Spare Me Your Mercy’ could’ve been a lot more entertaining as a 2 hour movie, instead of being an overstretched eight-episode series.
The climactic episode is a mixed bag, but at least it doesn’t take a conventional ‘happy ending’ route, instead offering a charged confrontation between the protagonists, closing the story on a grey note.
Rating: 6 on 10. The series is on iQIYI.
