Netflix’s Ghoul
Episode 1: “Out of the Smokeless Fire”
Directed & Written
by Patrick Graham

* For a recap & review of Episode 2, “The Nightmares Will Begin” – click here
We see glimpses of a man in a cell, bleeding himself into a cup. He then uses the blood to draw a symbol onto the floor, like the beginning of a ritual. Mysterious, no?
Then, we’re introduced to a dystopian India. Sectarian violence has rendered the country hostile, and the government’s gone to extreme measures to contain it. A team of heavily armed cops is bearing down a suspected terrorist cell hiding out in an abandoned complex. They see a man in in a darkened hall telling them: “Everyone is dead.” This is clearly not America, because the cops don’t fire him full of holes immediately like maniacs. He approaches, repeating the same phrase, over and over. He reveals his stomach carved up in the same symbol as on the floor earlier. The cops are looking for Ali Saeed (Mahesh Balraj), and the man points down the hall.
The cops find Saeed inside a room, seemingly unconscious. He’s next to a pile of massacred bodies. However, Saeed is awake, and he whispers something to the captain none of the others can hear.
Jump back a month.
We see a symbol in graffiti like the one the man had carved into him over a sign about terrorists. The city’s divided into sectors. Everything’s unsafe, to some degree. Residents were taken from their homes recently by order of the government. They were stripped of their “legacy” and “books.” Suddenly, the regular citizens of India were said to be “anti–religious” simply for following their culture. People were swept off the streets, never to be seen again in some cases.
Nida Rahim (Radhika Apte) believes the government – called the Force – would’t just “take innocent people,” but her father Shanawaz knows different. Nida’s a believer in the system. She sees her own community as “misguided.” This is disappointing to her father. They wind up coming upon a roadblock. Dad’s worried because he’s been teaching outside the approved curriculum in the classroom. In a country and city under radical government surveillance, this isn’t good. Shanawaz is pulled out of the car by military personnel and hassled. This prompts Nida to pull rank— she’s a part of the “Protection Squad,” affording her, to an extent, some privilege.
Nida works at the Academy, where she’s taught one important rule: “Anyone can be a terrorist.” She’s taught not to trust anybody. That means no one, not even her father. The leader of the Academy instils all the recruits with a sense of patriotism based on a love for country and nothing else— it is family and friend. Will Nida turn her father in as a potential terrorist? Has she been brainwashed that deeply? As it turns out, the answer’s yes. Wow.
At the Ministry of National Protection, Shanawaz is interrogated. He doesn’t yet understand his own flesh and blood has turned him over to the authorities. Soon, she tells him the truth herself, and he’s taken away for “re–conditioning.”
Back to the present day. Nida’s told her father is doing well. Although things have come up in the investigation, so Lieutenant Colonel Sunil Dacunha (Manav Kaul) has ordered they be taken care of immediately. This means Nida has to leave training for a while. She’s brought, blindfolded, to a secret facility: Meghdoot 31, an advanced interrogation centre.
At the centre, Nida is further evaluated by a woman named Laxmi (Ratnabali Bhattacharjee). After that’s finished, she’s brought in to join the team. We discover more of her character, that she is a Muslim and she’s asked if this will “be a problem.” She replies terrorists are murderers not Muslims, rather they only “think they‘re Muslims.” I love this scene, it lays bare the differences between regular Muslims and extremists so fast and so well. Nida is taken through the various floors of Meghdoot 31, where the prisoners are housed, as well as a “self–sustaining underground city” below the facility built in case of a nuclear attack. She’s shown certain prisoners. Also, she sees the interrogation room, where the bloody floor’s being mopped.
Later, Nida’s brought to see Lt. Col. Dacunha. They have a talk about her arrival. He can tell she’s uneasy. He explains she has the highest scores at the Academy, and everyone considers her a “brave example” of a patriot for turning in her father. She’s told Ali Saeed is being brought to Meghdoot 31. Her reason for being there is to interrogate Saeed, hopefully resulting in his confession. While Dacunha believes in her, Laxmi doesn’t trust her and wonders if she shouldn’t be locked up, too. There are suggestions the lieutenant’s an alcoholic. Could cause problems. He’s got hidden personal problems, which reveals themselves as we go along.

“No one is innocent here. All are guilty. They are all monsters.”

Many at Meghdoot 31 see their jobs as duty. One of the interrogators, Babloo (Mallhar Goenka), isn’t one of them. He’s questioning what’s seen as duty, and what’s plain immoral. The prisoner Ahmed, whom Nida saw cowering, mute, has been treated brutally during interrogation, yet he’s revealed nothing. Babloo doesn’t feel so confident in their methods anymore. There’s others, like Chaudhary, who have trouble remaining composed with the prisoners, verging on being court-martialed. And Laxmi, she’s doubting their colonel, to the point everyone’s noticing.
Now, everybody awaits the arrival of Saeed. He’s transferred over to Dacunha at Meghdoot 31. His presence is akin to a mystical force, even the dogs can’t stop barking. That is, until he exits the transfer van, and everything goes quiet.
Whoa, this was better than I’d even expected! The trailer looked excellent. I’m incredibly excited about foreign horror, so it’s nice to see Netflix and Jason Blum hoping on board to get this miniseries to us. Loved the opening episode, can’t wait to dive into more.
“The Nightmares Will Begin” is next.