Terrorist on the run : The Fall of Carlos

If there were any remnant of sympathy you might have had for "Carlos" during the first two parts of the miniseries, you're pretty much sure to have no sympathy at all for him in part 3 and at the conclusion; in a pattern fairly typical of stories about the rise and fall of a criminal mind or criminal enterprise (think of the 3 parts of the Godfather), but the third part, the declining arc of the story, the protagonist - Carlos - becomes narcissistic (he even undergoes liposuction), paranoid, physically decrepit, and extremely violent, his worst traits exagerrated as his actual power wanes and his better traits obscured. Carlos no longer seems to be fighting for a cause, but only for himself and his ego. The third and final part of the miniseries follows his from country to country in exile - even his former Arab backers, happy enough to use him when he was in his prime - have no use for him any longer. He's horrible to his (various) wives and indifferent to his cadre. Perhaps most telling - if there was any virtue at all in his earlier acts of terrorism it was because he, in his warped way, believed he was fight for the oppressed and because he was willing to put his life at risk in service to the cause. Late in his career, he reverts to the completely craven behavior of planting car bombs and suitcase bombs, that detonate with no warning in fact - no bravery there, just pure cruelty. And there is little talk of any cause other than revenging slights and affronts. Still a totally powerful and captivating series, but hardly a heart-warmer.