Wanted – The Escape of Carlos Ghosn review: Apple’s exciting true crime series is worth watching for one mind-blowing episode

While he is undoubtedly a fascinating figure — the show initially seems to harbour loosely disguised sympathies for him, and even goes so far to suggest that he was framed in a palace coup — he isn’t nearly as interesting as one other character, who is introduced towards the latter half of the show, fundamentally altering its energy through sheer presence alone. After roughly an hour and a half of standard storytelling, The Escape of Carlos Ghosn pulls a fast one and turns into the movie Argo in its third episode.

This is when Ghosn, locked up in his house and forbidden from communicating with his wife, secretly hires someone — a man who can only be described as a middle-aged Tyler Rake — to orchestrate his extraction from Japan. His name is Mike Taylor, and he is introduced as a former US Special Forces soldier who currently daylights as a high school football coach, but actually runs a shady security business through which he arranges the rescue of kidnapped people.

Taylor is featured prominently in episode three, which is easily where the four-part series — executive produced by Formula 1: Drive to Survive’s James Gay-Rees and scored by the band Mogwai (!) — peaks. The escape is narrated in thrilling detail, with carefully crafted dramatic recreations interspersed with vital commentary by all the key subjects, including Taylor, his son Peter, and Ghosn himself. In fact, the series is tremendously well-researched, and it’s a relief to see filmmakers not cut corners in a non-fiction streaming series for once. Just last week, Netflix’s Depp v Heard documentary couldn’t be bothered to get even one person of note on camera.

But The Escape of Carlos Ghosn features not only the man himself, but also several journalists who closely covered his case, former colleagues, and those who were caught in the crossfire of his seemingly cavalier antics. Is he a victim or a villain, the show asks in its final episode, as it finally litigates Ghosn for his actions. While it most certainly tried to paint him as an Icarus figure in the first couple of episodes, the series appears to have a change of heart as it proceeds.

Unlike the recent The Hunt for Veerappan documentary, The Escape of Carlos Ghosn isn’t in awe of its subject, although it has an admittedly difficult time ignoring his audacity, especially in that terrific third episode. Even if he was guilty of white collar crimes, the show asks, did he deserve the treatment that was handed to him? The series is organically suited for a follow-up, and even if his story doesn’t progress much in the coming years, Ghosn seems like the kind of fellow who’d be sure to supple filmmakers with enough material to make up for it.

Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn
Director – James Jones
Rating – 4/5