Netflix’s Ghoul
Episode 2: “The Nightmares Will Begin”
Directed & Written
by Patrick Graham

* For a recap & review of Episode 1, “Out of the Smokeless Fire” – click here
* For a recap & review of Episode 3, “Reveal Their Guilt, Eat Their Flesh” – click here
With the arrival of Ali Saeed (Mahesh Balraj), Meghdoot 31 is on high alert. The prisoner is brought inside, but refuses to say a word, not even verifying his name for the soldiers. Captain Lamba (Rohi Pathak) and the others can get no response. Thus begins the enhanced interrogation we’ve heard about so much post-9/11, and Saeed is given his first beating. After that he’s chained, hung from the ceiling, and they beat him more. Nida Rahim (Radhika Apte) is urged by Laxmi (Ratnabali Bhattacharjee) to “hit him.” She tries speaking to him instead, and hears him say her name. Nobody else hears it, though. Ali remains quiet, but Lt. Col. Dacunha (Manav Kaul) insists they’ve broken the worst of the worst. They initiate all the Guantanamo Bay tactics, like changing the heat every hour, cranking heavy metal music constantly, and so on.
At night, Nida has nightmares. She sees a hooded figure. She removes the hood and sees her father. Then she takes out a gun, shooting him in the head. Standing nearby clapping is Saeed. She wakes immediately in fright hearing noises in the dark. Her father reaches out from the shadows, scaring her. But when she flicks the light on, she’s all alone.
It doesn’t help everyone else at the facility’s having nightmares, too, from Laxmi to Babloo (Mallhar Goenka). Nida has a talk with Laxmi. She denies having any nightmares, though she reveals what occurred with Saeed the evening prior. He called her “Nidu“— her father’s nickname, the one only he uses. Laxmi acts as a helpful ear, only there’s something not quite right about her.
The real interrogation has commenced for Prisoner 753. Nida goes on with Officers Harish Gupta and Vivek Chaudhary. It’s grim satire to see how they’ve got all this high-tech equipment for everything else, then the interrogation room is like a medieval torture chamber, down to the gritty, uncleanly state of the room itself. A harsh juxtaposition, perfect for dystopia.
They haul Saeed out of a box like the Gimp from Pulp Fiction. He’s been forced to listen to heavy metal the whole time. They prop him in a chair and he keeps a stone face, as Chaudhary and Gupta prepare more medieval shit for the “fucking traitor.” The two men do a little taunting while Nida observes. Suddenly, Saeed asks if they hear the noise— “like a baby crying.” And everybody does when they take a moment to listen.
Saeed starts talking about things he shouldn’t know. Fly-on-the-wall-type stuff. This starts an argument between Gupta and Chaudhary about their nasty past. Nida tries breaking them apart. The surveillance system’s all gone haywire. Saeed is no mere terrorist. There’s a supernatural horror about him. He’s manipulating them all without moving a muscle. It’s already resulted in Chadhary stabbing Gupta, just as the other soldiers burst in and arrest him.
Now Lt. Col. Dacunha insists on sitting down with Saeed. He plays the tough guy. He talks about his family line, going back to the Portuguese Inquisition. He comes from a long line of interrogators, confident there’s “a place where every man ultimately gives up.” He gets no real reaction from Saeed, who mumbles to himself, chanting. On the security camera, Nida notices something. She goes to get one of the other prisoners, Maulvi, asking him to translate. He’s talking in “ancient Aramaic,” a language he doesn’t even know. He’s chanting “finish the task.” Maulvi talks of sin and eating flesh, warning Dacunha should leave.
Except Saeed starts speaking in a voice not his own— Prerna, the lieutenant colonel’s wife. This pushes Dacunha to start serious torture, as Saeed talks about him beating his wife. He electrocutes the prisoner, several times, insisting himself “a hero,” trying to convince himself, as well as the others watching. He’s on the verge of killing him when the electricity blows. And from the darkness, the prisoner calls Nida’s nickname once more. Too fucking creepy.

“We are all guilty”

In the dark, everyone’s scattered through the facility. Nida wants answers from Saeed, unsure of what he knows about her father. She tracks the prisoner down, but he’s become demon-like, his face and body changing. Somewhere in the dark she hears the cries and groans of somebody. Her only light is a torch. Saeed begins speaking to her in the voice of her father. Soon, Nida finds the others. She sees Saeed’s been on the floor the entire time, unconscious. Everyone’s a bit confused, and Nida insists the man “isn‘t human,” which is exactly what they’re all thinking.
What’s clear is, the prisoner’s unveiling the sin of all their lives, in the perfect place of all places, a torture house. It’s a great way to juxtapose what’s seen as the greater good in times of war/rampant terrorism versus its true morality, as justified torture and murder— horrific violence in the name of stopping violence and it really only ever begets MORE violence in a cycle.
Faulad Singh has been called upon. He’s the type of man who deals with a “problematic prisoner.” Meanwhile, Ducunha debates the situation with Nida, who starts to wonder if there’s some way their prisoner anticipated everything, that he’s set these events into motion himself. The lieutenant colonel denies it. However, we know different, don’t we?
Ghoul‘s really doing it for Father Gore. Solid creeps, not totally reliant on jump scares and focusing on atmosphere, plus the character development and the pacing of the episodes is all spectacular.
The final episode – “Reveal Their Guilt, Eat Their Flesh” – is next. Wish this was a longer series. There’s also comfort in shorter shows these days when everything’s so bingeworthy.