I watched the second episode of The Fall and was originally thinking of a comment to make about how serial killer Dad is so used to giving baths and doing laundry that he got confused and gave his victim a bath and did her laundry... but the end of the episode had him giving some of the victim's jewellery to his daughter, and I stopped laughing along with serial killer Dad and started finding him pretty creepy.
I have since watched the balance of the episodes of the first season, and have found him increasingly creepy. He really makes my skin crawl. However, I have to acknowledge that although my first post (perhaps somewhat jokingly) found him unconvincing in meeting the standard serial killer profile due to his young children and purportedly happy marriage, I think the show has been pretty effective at showing his motivations and compulsions in a manner that is very believable.
Things that initially seem ludicrous ("my alibi is that I was committing a felony at the time of the incident") are perhaps more indicative of a mind that's not right and makes decisions and judgments differently from those of us who are not serial killers. The one aspect I think would have assisted in explaining his motivations would be if he had a female boss. I suspect that was written otherwise because the show creators didn't want the show to seem overly misogynistic, and I think ultimately it was a good decision. Similarly, it might seem to work better if Gillian Anderson were a brunette, but it would also be a little too "on the nose". I like the parallels they set up between the two of them, in a way that feels organic when it could otherwise be cliché. I find her deductive leaps a bit hard to credit sometimes, but the advantage is that each revelation comes as a surprise to the viewer as well.
I like how much thought the creators have put into the series, and will plan to watch the second season too... in part to make sure that Serial Killer Dad gets the justice that's coming to him in the end.
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