Mouse

It's Perfect! (In my humble opinion)

I hate suspense and serial killers☺️ They scare the hell out of me and kept me wide awake at night🤣.

The only thing (or person) that made we watch this movie at first is LSG! And I'm glad that I did. The story is superb! The twists are mind blowing! Every week I'm always looking forward to Wednesdays and Thursdays as the ending of the eposides from episodes were cliff hangers!

It's hard to watch kdramas for a non-korean like me. Keeping up with the plot and remembering the names, especially the victims, are a bit challenging . But this drama is worth every migraine it caused me😍. So start binge watching MOUSE now!

The last episode where moochi and ba reum talked made me cry a river (no sarcasm intentnd) . It's sad that it has finally came to an end.

🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀

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This story is a vendetta against psychopaths or killers?

I was excited about the show as a fan of this genre and I did enjoy the first couple of episodes but then it got frustrating. it had too many plots running parallelly. some of it was quite unnecessary and was just put to just keep the story dragging and to keep the audience at the edge of their seats. it felt like the writer hated psychopaths and was hell-bent on portraying them as monsters or evil things. Like every psychopath is born with a heavy desire to kill. This story is a vendetta against psychopaths or killers? I know the story is inspired by a true case but what was the writer trying to focus on? the heinousness of the crimes committed by psychopaths and their psychology or the suffering of the victims and their families? Well, for me it failed to do both. This show contributed nothing to this genre. It was purposefully made complicated with so many backstories and plots within plots to make this story have some meaning. The first half of the show felt like it was bait for the audience and the other half failed to deliver what we were promised.

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Oh Bong-yi Was Right! Trust Your Intuition, Ladies! See point 3, example 2

1. What did this series gain from the constant disrespect and blasphemy towards Christianity? The series could have done just fine without it, despite the ending.

2. For a lot of viewers, myself included, the plot twist and introduction of way too many characters and subplots made this show too convoluted. The soundtrack was alright but after a while gets repetitive. There were times I could accurately guess what song will come on for the next scene.

3. There was lots of subtle misogyny, which isn't unique to this series or this part of the world. It could be taken as a critique of Korean society. Or, is it a normalization of said behavior to the viewers as if it's okay?

- For example, in episode 1, we're reminded about women's biological clocks. Yet, a Rutgers Uni study proves that men have a biological clock too, with declining quality of sperm at around 35-40 years old. The dad's age plays a role in fertility and if the pregnancy has difficulties or not; plus it impacts if the child has developmental issues such as schizophrenia or autism. Why wasn't the husband reminded of his biological clock, too? In that same episode, the husband decides he doesn't want his wife outside her room, so he tells her she looks tired. This controlling behavior was done under the guise of caring about her wellbeing. Initially she resists this, but gives in, and is physically led away, which was really condescending and weird. Does she not get to decide where she goes, when, and who she talks to? Is she just some object that can be moved around?

- Episode 2 shows the grandma cursing out her own granddaughter (Oh Bong-yi) who went through childhood SA, like a typical misogynist boymom. Turns out, Oh Bong-yi's initial dislike toward Bareum was correct, but she was pressured and gaslit into giving him a chance. So wrong how her grandma notices a button missing on a strange man's clothes, but not her own granddaughter's wound, and doesn't even offer her medical assistance. Then, the grandma was creepily trying to groom her granddaughter into getting in a relationship with an older guy that she wasn't interested in, and talking about her perversely behind her back to the guy. And then she assaults Oh Bong-yi for not being interested in Bareum, while demeaning her sense of self esteem. Why was there cute-sy music during these scenes, as if it's endearing and acceptable? It's sad the writers turned her into a pick me, when initially she had strong boundaries, and didn't seek men's validation. She still was admirable for having the guts to confront the guy.

- In episode 14, Bareum decides to get revenge for a boy victim, but when another victim is a girl, suddenly the psychopath becomes soft hearted and can't do it. This sends the message that boy's lives are somehow more important or valued than girl's lives.

4. It almost feels like this series wants people to start sympathizing with psychopaths, as subconsciously, the brain can't separate reality from fiction when viewing media. When the next big news story about a criminal comes out, will people who watched this series react with more sympathy to men who do evil things? Near the end, it was as if the perpetrator expected to just apologize to the victims, and the victims would forgive him by letting him slide and turning himself in - yet he knew how people in prison had 0 guilt over their crimes. Male entitlement knows no bounds. But there must be a woman behind all this, manipulating this otherwise noble man to do such heinous crimes! /s

5. If I'm correct, the killings specifically encouraged by Choi Hong-ju and Dr. Daniel Lee focused on active child predators or serial killers, such as Kang Duk-soo, not innocent victims. If Choi Hong-ju's manipulation didn't play a role in actual innocent people being killed, then she should be given a medal, not imprisoned. Some of Bareum's killings were done before any of Choi Hong-ju's manipulation. Regardless of if someone was whispering in his ear or not, he chose to do what he did, and he should take full responsibility.

Choi Hong-ju used her guilt (about being forced to lure victims for the head hunter, despite being a child and unable to refuse or face death), into a motivating factor for manipulating Bareum (contrasted with before, when the head hunter was controlling her). If Choi did not intervene, more innocent people would've been killed. In this series, it doesn't seem like the authorities would've done anything if she told them. If Bareum's psychopathic tendencies were an unstoppable force that the law couldn't stop, then, in a way she saved lives? From my understanding, I don't really think Choi Hong-ju should've been arrested.

6. I'm surprised there wasn't more of a focus on the blatant violations of medical ethics in doing such a surgery. Dr. Daniel Lee showed psychopathic tendencies himself with his experiments on mice, despite doing this to research the psychopath gene, it was still cruel and inhumane to the animals.

It looks like the show writers blame the heinous actions of a man all on a woman pulling the strings. It's as if there's the implication that women having political power is bad, or that wanting to nip the problem in the bud and reduce crime is evil. As if men should not be held accountable for their own actions, or something.

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Rollercoaster of Emotions and Great Acting!!

This was such a well written and original series.❤️
[⚠️ SPOILER]
JUST IMAGINE!!!
What if a psychopath serial killer who doesn't have any kind of emotions like compassion, kindness, fear, forgiveness, sense of right or wrong etc. Unaware of his wrongdoings. Not even a human he's a COMPLETE EVIL. If he were to suddenly feel emotions and have a chance to repent, just imagine the overwhelming guilt he would experience. Previously enjoying bloodshed now hating himself for it. Trapped in such a guilt that he can never escape from. I think this was his last help/opportunity from God to repent and preventing him from committing further sin. I've watched many psycho thrillers but never came across something like this.

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A Disturbing Thriller That Feels a Little too Real

What started off as exciting and thrilling has escalated into relentless violence and disturbing elements. I am the type of person who is interested in psychology, so I found this show to be fascinating in many ways. However, I’ve decided to drop it because of the negative effect it had on my life.

As a Christian and a film major, I have to take extra care in the many films and shows I watch to check how they fit into my standards and mental well-being. If you are anything like me, I found the good in this show to not outweigh the overall evil feeling portrayed. The more I watched and thought about it, the less at ease I felt and less enthused I was to continue. I low-key have had several nightmares because of it.

“Mouse” is truly an intriguing show with psychological and sociological concepts spread throughout with the wonderful production. However, there is no breathing room. The struggle with morality and depiction of such disturbing violence towards adults, children, and animals pushes gratuity.

I made it pretty far, but it’s not worth it to finish; and that’s okay.

As always, my "rewatch value" is simply my entertainment value instead. I also rate not only music but sound. The production team has done a great job so far with this one, so I applaud them and the actors' hard work!

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Complicated but somehow satisfying

This was one complicated drama. It is the only drama that got my brain working too hard till I gave up theorizing.
But the ending and another ending on the special episode shine some lights into the questions I had for the last eps.

First, a standing ovation for the production crew and director. The actors said that the director was very precise on how the story will go on and how they act their characters (kudos to that).

Story wise: It was long , complicated and detailed. But after watching the interviews with the actors and the last extended ending, I get why they had to make it long and detailed. The story line was made so that viewers will be able to understand the whole story (it was told in many different perspectives).

All the main characters deserved standing ovation too.
Lee Seung Gi (Jeong Ba Reum) is really breaking barriers with his acting career. Him playing a serial killer is truly amazing.. the way he portrayed the serial killer sent shivers down my spine. Originally I though he will be the good guy but boy I was so wrong. He fooled viewers really well hiding behind the "good"character. His gazed and eyes when he was revealed to be the serial killer is truly scary.

Kwon Hwa Woon (Sung Yo Han) character was too mysterious and had everyone thinking he was the serial killer. But as we were revealed the truth later on, I took pity on him. He was one of the most pitiful character in the whole drama (the other one is Det. Sang played by P.O. who got wrongly killed off later towards the end). His acting was really good portraying a cold character.

Lee Hee Joon (Ko Moo Chi) scene when he witnessed his brother getting killed was truly heartbreaking. He deserved an award for that scene alone. I'm gonna miss his rough but soft heart character the most. He really is a good actor.

As for the girls... they portrayed their characters well. I sympathized with Bong Yi a alot and I think she forgave Bareum in the end as he was her first love after all.

Overall.. this is one drama that got my brain so tangled up in the theory of who is the real killer.
If you can stomach serial murders story then please watch this. True, all murders are cruelly described but was blurred completely so it won't be too visuals for people to see.
Although I won't watch it again anytime soon.
Hope other people will enjoy this drama as much as I did. ^^

PS: The OST hv some really good song. Check that out as well.

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Had the urge to write a review after that great ending.

It's kinda hard to begin with the part that made me fell in love with this drama, but the scene where the killer was revealed shocked me to the point I was in denial for a moment. (XD not joking) I would love to talk about more but this will end up with me spoiling everything for the new viewers... I had no complaints about the drama until the final episode, as I enjoyed every single episode and it made me feel all sorts of emotions throughout the entire time I spent watching this show. Watching this show has been such a wonderful journey to me and I truly hope that Mouse will get the recognition it deserves. Thank you, to everyone who has made Mouse possible, I appreciate every single drop of hardwork and effort you've put into making this masterpiece.

PS: The ending was bound to happen, but I did not expect it to be this well done. Also that additional scene after the credit was oh my god... Nevermind I don't wanna talk about it 💀

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The best thriller series ever

Of all the thriller kseries i have watched, the best one so far. Right from episode 1 till 13 it never seizes to amaze you and go woah and omg with its plots and twists. Each episode has only kept me hooked up to the next episode. Started with the 1st epsisode and didnt wanna stop until i reached all 8 (as the rest werent released yet) and wow it make me more anxious and curios about the upcoming episodes. Still going great. Not a single scene or episose has bored me yet.... The rating is too low for this series. It definitely deserves a 10. The fitsr series of Lee Seungi that im watching and already love this series be ut Ko Moochi or every characters in this series.... its just soo good

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Painful to watch, if you actually like thrillers.

After painfully going through 2.5 of it's episodes, I'm finally giving up. This show is just not sitting with me right. Its story is actually really loose. Random guy whose parents were brutally killed when he was just a kid, mind you he almost got his brother killed. Now, he becomes a drunk, angry and emotionally unstable but worry not he's also a cool detective who keeps getting big cases even though, he goes to crime scenes while being drunk and tells conspiracy theories to the media. He can't let go of his grudges too. All other characters sounds loose to me. Policemen are just having fun and making jokes at their job when there's a serial killer on the loose. They keep pushing comedy in it even though it's supposed to be a thriller?

I recently watched Mindhunters and this show act likes they're doing something by keep mentioning western serial killers but hardly doing any research on it. Instead, they just made some random pseudo science bullcrap about it being in genes. Even though, it mostly depends on the childhood environment of the person.

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what an amazing amazing amazing dramaaaaaaa!!!! basically, it's all about psychopaths, their biology which is to have no emotions and the what if, 'what if they have the emotions', and anything's related, the police, the media and the victims and their families. it's my first time listing reasons instead of doing it in paragraph, cause I have so many things I love about it. so here we go:

what I love:
1. amazingly and nicely and well written SCRIPT. from the first scene to the last one, the script was meticulous and detailed, all parts are important, and even tied up perfectly no plot holes. all i think while i watch this drama, is that this script deserves all the appreciation, awards and loveee.
2. probably the best STORYLINE for a crime thriller drama, it progresses with a nice paced not too fast not too slow, with unexpected twist, put you on the edge of your seat, give you thousands of mixed emotions, it makes you focus to each lines to each scenes. and by the time you feel like it will be draggy, they give you something new, they give you another reason to not get bored. love it!
3. freakinnn amazing ACTING!!!! shttt damn it, give them the best actors actresses awards especially to lee seung gi and lee hee jun. they're crazy, top notch the highest tier acting. they absorbed and brings the best out of their character, the emotions they brought on their eyes ughh... one second you are mad and angry and the next second you're crying with them. you felt their pain, their anger, their love and their guilt... name it, name all of the emotions they serve it, and they serve it well. kudos to lee seung gi, lee hee jun, park ju hyun, kyung soo jin and all others
4. gives you roller coaster of EMOTIONS and mixed of it. as I said in previous point, name all of the emotions you will feel it. and it will play with your emotions like it will even make you question, 'should I feel like this? ' 'shouldn't I feel like this?'
5. i love bong yi x ba reum relationship, cutest and innocent :') actually all of their relationships
6. the bgm though, it just intensifies everything, making it even betterrr, whether it's sad or thrill or some cute scenes yo im in lahv

ps// ep5 amazing asf, prolly my favourite episode

what I kinda dislikes (hence reason why it's not 10)
1. the last 3 to 4 episodes feels a littleee bit hmm draggy? and it wasn't as interesting as the earlier episodes. not saying its boring, it's just less interesting because the earlier episodes put my standards and expectations too high.

one thing to say for disclosure, WATCH IT! if you haven't please do. thank you :)

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