I’ve seen a lot of bad reviews, though, so maybe it is supposed to be taken seriously and I’m the only one laughing at seeing a man pray to the virgin Mary for the souls of the people who he just killed with a sheet of gold leaf.
I can’t remember whether or not this is the one that got seriously into the opium trade towards the end or whether I’m confusing it with some other semi-historical series set in around that time period, but yeah, I think it was intended to be more serious despite some of the loopier aspects.
The odd thing about the world’s dumbest firebomber is, why did he do it? There’s no obvious profit to him in shoring up the curse, since he doesn’t seem to want to charge admission to the cave or anything.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we discovered he was a mook working for someone else. Even then, the ultimate motivation of the person responsible is just as mysterious as why the only modern “spontaneous combustion” case mentioned by the good doctor was the one in which the coroner seems to have been tripping balls. (Well, okay, that isn’t so mysterious—most other cases have been investigated and found to boil down to “cigarette or other obvious ignition source + drugged, drunk, disabled or predeceased victim who couldn’t escape the fire”.)