Catch the Ghost

Partnes in (solving) crime

My little aromantic heart really appreciated that the slow burn between the main leads culminated in a comparatively subdued romance, but still dealt with huge emotions. Their partnership was delightful. The mystery was quite gripping too and kept me entertained until the end, even though not every twist was all that twisty.

Since I focus most on the characters in the shows I watch, I must also emphasize how much I enjoyed the whole cast. Although I was at first a bit wary, when I realized how many characters were neurodivergent and/or mentally ill, because that comes with many pitfalls, I was pleasantly surprised by the rather competent portrayal of these realities.

Most importantly though, the Yoo Ryung is a lovely main character, and I'm baffled by the less than charitable comments about her in some of the other reviews. As far as I'm concerned, she's not only entertaining to watch, but also has a strong moral compass. Being a teensy bit head-strong and having a style that is maybe 1 % less attractive than that of many K-drama heroines aren't negative qualities in my book. The story also praises and rewards her all the time? So it's not even like she offends the conservative sensibilities of K-dramas?

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The lead actors performances are what really elevate this drama and make it better than what it really is. The way they capture the sorrow, the pain, the fire, the determination of their characters is superb. I've never seen Moon Geun Young in any other dramas, just a couple of rom-coms from her younger days (both of which are utterly delightful), so I have no experience seeing her in this sort of role, but when you watch her dig through a practical mountain of garbage while sobbing her eyes out because she's so desperate to find her sister, that can do nothing else but hit you in the gut. As for Kim Seon Ho, the only other project I've seen him in is Strongest Deliveryman (where he almost steals the entire show, his performance is so good), and he seems to have a particular talent for taking his characters and making them feel Real.

And that's really why I finished this drama. There were a lot of things I enjoyed about the story, but nothing that would have kept me watching if the leads hadn't been so well-portrayed. The mystery, as invested in it as I was at the beginning, really struggles in the middle, and while the conclusion gets some things right, it also gets some things wrong. The case of the day format sometimes works and sometimes doesn't (although that's something I think could have been overlooked if the over-arching mystery had been a little better). And the biggest flaw/frustration of the drama for me was Ma Ri. She's unnecessarily aggressive toward the female lead and makes some Really dumb decisions in relation to the central mystery because of it.

This is a drama that does some things well and some things not so well. I would suggest, if you're looking for a drama where the crime/mystery element is really compelling and well-paced and well-written, that you maybe look elsewhere. But if you like dramas with compellingly portrayed leads, then this is definitely a good drama to watch.

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The original plot had a lot of potential, but they didn't know how to keep the episodes interesting and interesting. I was sick of everything at first, but thankfully the acting was good, and I really enjoyed their friendship and romance development. Further, the detectives were so stupid when investigating the Ghost case, and the Subway police were doing everything but their job, that it could have been better.

And I had no sympathy for the majority of the characters. The main female lead was annoying the majority of the time; she was nice for three seconds. The second female protagonist? Just move on, girl.

Besides that, while the weekly case was not bad, it made NO difference in the main plot. They squandered so many episodes by doing nothing. I even thought that any case would help build the ghost case, but it didn't, which disappointed me greatly. They didn't give any hints about whom the serial killer was during the drama, and then they just brought a bunch of random facts and tried to connect everything together. Did it work? Not particularly well, but never mind.

Oh, and the last episode was exhausting. Many doors remained open, and I believe they were mostly playing us. Another thing that irritated me was the number of plot twists in the final episodes. I mean, did this roller coaster really need to return to the same location? Wasn't very nice, haha.

Finally, the drama could be easily cut down to 12 episodes. Anyway, it's not a bad drama, but the only way I could finish it was to skip everything. I'd give it a solid 5, but because of the actors' performances, I could tolerate it a little longer. Will I watch it again? Never before in my life.

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I enjoyed watching this show. It had a good suspense story with adequate twists and turns. FL was annoying in the beginning but her behaviour was almost justified towards the end, so it's ok. ML was a total sweetheart character throughout and his show of emotions without any inhibitions towards the FL made their love story really really adorable! The scenes where he was jealous, were some of the cutest scenes! <3

Acting: Acting wise, everyone was good, nothing exceptional but really good quality acting by everyone including the support cast, especially the whole subway team and that disguising chief inspector( his disguises were really top class! Lol)!

Music : I don't actually concentrate on the OSTs much, but here that ending song had some really nice vibes!

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Catch The Ghost (2019) - I was scared watching this expecially on the train rails scenes that is why I don't watch this at night alone. It has fun scenes and I found myself laughing over those scenes. Although not a fan of Moon Geunyang, I acknowledge how good she is - both her 2 roles here is greatly portrayed. It's a decent crime drama for me, and I like the fact that most of the scenes in the drama really revolved around the train station - a first for me. Kim Seon Ho is also great her, but since Geunyang is so good already, I think he was overshadowed in terms of acting.

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As you guys already know, I'm on a Kim Seon Ho's vibe these days, and one of the dramas that I wanted to watch the most was "Catch the ghost". One thing that catches my attention was the fact of this drama don't be in any stream and don't be mentioned in the Dramaland as others. I heard that Netflix will add it soon, but we don't have any date confirmed until now. Considering my first impressions, I thought that maybe some gossip made the drama flopped, but I didn't found anything. I'll start with the fact of this drama doesn't fit any specific gender. If you look toward the posters, you will see that each one has a different perspective and theme. Comedy, action, thriller, romance... We can see everything here, but the comedy keeps stilling the scene. This is a drama for everyone who enjoys a good laughing but also an instigating plot. "Catch the ghost" tells the story of Go Ji Suk (Kim Seon Ho), the chief of the Subway Police, a calm officer that just do what his job tells him to do, and Yoo Ryung (Moon Geun Young), a patrol that dreams with getting a place in the same department. Both of them know each other in the subway, after a mistake made by Ryung, and when the officer applies herself to be Ji Suk's partner in the Subway Police, their lives are shaken by their extremely different personalities. The extreme care and wisdom of Ji Suk and the impulsivity and sense of justice of Ryung are a disturbing combination, but very effective. The officers do their best to solve the cases of their department, including the big mystery of the murders that are happening in the Subway by the criminal known as "Ghost". The main plot spin around the Ghost case, but in the first episodes we can see other small cases that shows up in the day by day of the Subway Police.

Let's talk about the characters:

GO JI SUK, THE SURPRISE BOX

The personality of Ji Suk is one of the high points of this drama to me. The way how he puts the care with your mom as a priority is something very impressive and remarkable, even with all the sadness that this brings to him. Ji Suk is extremely responsible, but because of the need to keep his job, he ends up as a rigid and lazy officer, losing his passion for the purpose of his role and turn into an accommodated civil servant, that doesn't want to get out of your comfort zone. The mother of Ji Suk develops Alzheimer when the detective was close to being promoted into Metro Police, making him chose a place less dangerous and with a flexible schedule to take care of his mom. In the first episodes is hard to see all the nuances of his personality, and only in episode five he starts to show what he really wants and thinks, and this happens because of Ryung's influence in his life. As I mentioned in the beginning, I'm all Kim Seon Ho these days, and I have to mention his performance. You debut too late, baby! I wish that he had all the opportunities that he deserves. Seon Ho is a great actor, and I think that this comic side is the gold for him. His expressions and comic attitudes aren't forced and I always laugh a lot when he does something funny because is so natural. If you don't know this fun side of Seon Ho, I recommend that you watch some videos of "2 days and 1 night". Besides the funny, he also delivers a great emotive performance, mainly when he is interacting with his mother. My heart was broken every time that he shows up all dressed up.

YOO RYUNG, THE NO SENSE

Okay, this character was a little hard for me to accept. The personality of Ryung isn't something that captivates me at the first sight. During the episodes, I started to understand her attitudes, but yet... I think that she acted many times with selfishness and zero trust for anyone. In the first episodes, we found that Ryung had a twin sister with autism and her suspects are that her sister was the first victim of the Ghost (this isn't a spoiler, is in the beginning). Because of that, Ryung passes through the rules and even the people, as Ji Suk, to get what she wants. I get so upset in some moments when the character just messes up everything to her chief and didn't show any regret about it. As I said, the traumas are acceptable, but yet I felt that she has no empathy with Ji Suk's feelings. But some high points of this character is the fact that she is very brave and determined. Her overkill did with Ji Suk got out of his comfort zone, bringing balance to both of them. Moon Geun Young is a remarkable actress in Dramaland, mostly because of her role in "Autumn tale", but I never had seen her perform before. This was her comeback after four years and I liked very much her performance, mainly with her job doing two characters and one with an especial condition. I hope to see her in other projects from now on.

HA MA RI, THE UNWANTED

Okay. Can anyone explain to me this character? Because I gave up on her from the beginning, and I got so mad because I hated a character that had my name. The detective Ha Ma Ri (Jung Yoo Jin) is the ex-girlfriend of Ji Suk and chief of the Metro Police. She was also the partner of Ji Suk when he acted in this department, but when he asked for a transfer to the Subway Police because of his mother, Ma Ri didn't accept this and broke up with him, saying that he was weak and with no ambition. In another hand, Ma Ri didn't have the entire fault because Ji Suk didn't tell her anything about the situation, but even so. Her posture in the episodes was just ridiculous. She didn't take any responsibility for negligence in the missing of Yoo Jin, and starts to act in a very offensive way with Ryung and Ji Suk, being just unbearable many times. We can't see regret in her posture, a change of thoughts... Nothing. She just goes with the road and starts to cooperate in some moments because she didn't have any choice besides that. Anyway, this character was totally unnecessary and terrible for me. Jung Yoo jin is amazing and I wanna see her as a female lead in a great drama soon.

THE DETECTIVE SQUAD

I not gonna mention one by one, but the detective team, Subway and Metro, was very cool for me. The subway officers were very funny and useful to the plot, making the story fluid and soft. I will do an honorable mention to Kim Woo Hyunk (Ki Do Hoon), that even with no chances in the love triangle, was a consistent and interesting character.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

I didn't like some details in the plot, mostly in the ending, but I won't give any spoilers here. If you wanna know about it, I'll let the link of my blog in the next post with this text in Portuguese and with the spoiler part. As I said at the beginning of this text, I thought this drama was underrated considering the story and the development. I don't think it is a perfect drama, but I also think is necessary to exalt the good points. I believe that the success of Kim Seon Ho will push this drama into the middle of Dramaland.

I will put this as a GOOD ONE (★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★)! If you are looking for something fun and at the same time intriguing, you probably gonna like this one.

See you soon!
XOXO, Mari.

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I was about to give up on this genre because they all seemed to go the same way, a strong start and then every reason why one started watching in the first place dwindles away. so ahhhh... this was a breath of fresh air after watching some aimless shows. it kept my interest from the first episode till the end. no plot holes, the ML and FL were fun to watch. This was definitely a well thought out storyline. no useless characters, everyone had a role to play in bringing this story together and I must say they did a good job. Definitely worth watching, a thriller with a little sprinkle of romance:)

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Male lead can catch my heart anytime he wants

This show was really good ! I kinda expected some supernatural elements with the title and the poster's general vibes so I was a little disappointed at first but it didn't last long fortunately ^^

I loved the female lead she was badass and funny and I understood her sense of responsabilty mixed with guilt towards her twin sister, it shows that nobody is perfect when dealing with an autistic relative... I'm glad the male lead could relate to her and defend her in front of the metro division (I was so angry with them !!) In fact some scenes were very emotional I didn't expect that (many tears were shed haha) The male lead was adorable, he often made me tear up whenever he was with his mother and his chemistry with the female lead was great too ! The actor playing the main villain was also fantastic (I was fooled until the very last revelation lol)

The only character I had a hard time with was the ex girlfriend, I could understand the pression put on her shoulders but her behavior with the female lead was just mean and unjustified. I would have liked it more if a friendship bloomed between them...

Overall it was a good show and I wasn't bored watching it. It was just a litle hard sometimes to follow their reasoning in resolving the cases but maybe I'm not smart enough xD I found the ending satisfying and the OST is very pleasant too so give it a try !

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Unexpectedly enjoyable crime scene investigation drama (with romance and comedy!)

I don't understand why Catch the Ghost isn't a more talked about drama! It was something that I came across and caught my eye in passing on complete accident. Overall, the plot and atmosphere are very similar to Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, but done like 1000% better! I wasn't a fan personally of SWDBS (I know, heathen, aren't I? :D) because the silly, slap-stick comedy and the Criminal Minds-like creepy, thriller, mystery moods clashed, giving me whiplash (and the creeps!). Catch the Ghost, while similar in plot, did a much better job in balancing the less silly, but still very entertaining, comedy with the creepier villainess scenes, which I was so grateful for.

STORY:
I really loved the story, which took me by COMPLETE surprise. I expected to just be "meh" about Catch the Ghost, but left and right, I felt surprised by how fresh the plot was. For example, Go Ji Suk's mother has dementia and he has been working his ass off to make sure she has everything she needs, with top notch care. He is such a good son and his decisions, while they might appear despicable if you don't know what's going on, are so endearing if you realize what fuels them. Yoo Ryung's story is also so incredibly unique - her twin sister, who has a cognitive disability, has been missing for 2+ years, with NO IDEA what has happened to her (fearing the worst case scenario); how often do you see this? Usually it's a parent or child. And because of these unique backgrounds, these 2 MCs mesh so well together! They understand each other and there's no pity, which literally makes all the difference for them both.

I also found the constant twists and turns in the plot to be well thought out on the writer's end. Right when you think you've figured out the "obvious" plot, you find out more details that change everything! I loved that! I was on the edge of my seat for every episode (especially since there was a sprinkle of creepy, with the ominous music, in every episode to remind us of the danger!). The real Subway Ghost and their story really isn't predictable (at least not for me!) and it's awful and tragic and unexpected!

I adored the supporting Subway Police detectives - their father-son relationship (literally, but not for real! XD) was HILARIOUS! They provided a great deal of comic relief outside of the MCs.

What I didn't like so much: Ha Ma Ri got on my nerves near the end of Catch the Ghost. She was so jealous. OF EVERYONE! And due to her inferiority complex, she was NASTY to everyone. She's the type of person who if she is reprimanded, she has to find fault in someone else and reprimand them to negate (?) her own guilt/responsibility. Every time her ugly behavior reared its head, I just felt like screaming, "And THIS is why Go Ji Suk left you!" (not the real reason, but still XD). She was "redeemed" in the end, but her behaviors up until that point just don't sit well with me. *shrugs*

I also do need to acknowledge that there were a couple of plot conveniences in the final 2 episodes that I can't look past because they're just too *convenient*. Like, I'm really glad we got a happily ever after, but at the same time, I found myself thinking, "that would NOT have just happened!" LOL.

ACTORS:
I've seen a lot of these actors before and enjoyed many of them in the past, so I'm not surprised that they were great here too!

A couple notable mentions:
I've seen Kim Seon Ho in a number of dramas (way more than I thought! lol), but this performance is what has me an official fan! His acting was great! I loved the way he was able to convey his feelings so well through his tone of voice and facial expressions.

I haven't seen Moon Geun Young in anything before, but she was good here! I'd definitely be willing to give her a chance in the future again!

The actor who portrays the murder (who will remain unnamed to remain anti-spoiler XD) also did a fantastic job in their role too! Really had me wavering!

OST:
I enjoyed the OST - it layered very well with all the scenes, especially the instrumental OST (the creepy ones were DEFINITELY creepy! Haha!).
My favorite vocal OSTs are: Highlight by Roh Tae Hyun, Wanted by ABRY (so catchy!), Feel My Heart by Kim Woo Sung
My favorite instrumental OST is: Lost by Young Ik Park (Perfect Run is the PERFECT investigative instrumental by the way, similar to the Mission Impossible theme song!)

REWATCH VALUE:
So the big question is: Will I rewatch this drama? Hmmm likely not just because I know who the serial killer is *now* (I didn't even look up spoilers in advance because I wanted to be surprised). But I will MOST DEFINITELY be rewatching scenes and/or watching MVs. The MCs are absolutely adorable together - who wouldn't want to rewatch that? ;D
I would 100% recommend this to people, especially if they liked SWDBS since this is way better! Don't miss out!

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