Freefall: The Crimes of Emile Cilliers
About this episode
This episode explores the real-life crimes of Emile Cilliers, drawing parallels to the character Dorian Gray from Oscar Wilde's novel.
In his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde tells the story of a handsome young man who makes a deal with the Devil—his soul, in exchange for eternal youth and beauty. But there is a portrait of Dorian in the attic of his house, and as he moves through the years with his handsome face not aging, the portrait ages—and it also begins to show the poison seeping through him as he lives his life in soulless, selfish pursuit of hedonistic pleasures. He drives a young woman to suicide and doesn’t feel bad about it. He becomes more and more of a toxic force in the lives of the people around him. And when his friend finally calls him out on it, Dorian murders him. He couldn’t bear the fact that his best friend could see him for what he really was—the true, monstrous face behind the handsome façade. It’s a hell of a metaphor, and it’s what we’ve said so many times on our show about narcissists: that they want to indulge themselves at the expense of everybody else, but would rather die than be exposed for it. Today’s story is about a real-life Dorian Gray, a man who used his charm and charisma to lure in a talented, intelligent woman, only to throw her life into chaos and leave…
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