Beyond your expectations.
Wow. Do you ever watch something so good that it puts you in a daze and takes over your mind entirely? Well, Beyond Evil is perfectly that. There are so many things about this drama that were a hit that I don’t think I will be able to cover it in this review. Most of the things are observations and emotions that you feel with each passing episode. How can every episode manage to be superior than the previous one? They seemed to have done it in this!One of the best things about this drama is the acting — every actor/actress has given it their best. And Shin Ha Kyun? What an amazing actor. So worthy of the Baeksang he won! And Yeo Jin Goo, despite his young age manages to give back to back hits and bring characters alive like no one else done. Considering his offline personality, he has hit Han Joo Won’s portrayal out of the part. Apart from the leads, the supporting characters have done an incredible job as well. All this wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for the well written script — if the characters weren’t layered and realistic.
Plot wise, this is an absolute thriller. From the first episode we are drawn in, given details and made to suspect almost every single person in Manyang. One thing I absolutely love was how the plot was laid down so well and wasn’t dragged. When something is revealed, it is acted upon! It’s fun to watch this if you are analysing and theorising on the motives and wondering about the plot. Perhaps this experience has made it more memorable for me.
Music wise the drama manages to bring out all the right emotions. The way each scene has been filmed — such brilliant camerawork.
I’m in awe of everything about this show and looking forward to more projects from the people involved in the making and acting. Beyond Evil is an experience that will remain a beautiful heartbreaking part of you. One which you’ll want to go back to watching while knowing all you do. Please don’t disregard this drama for the hype, it is worthy of all the praise it has received.
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This review may contain spoilers
Doubt everyone, Trust no one!! Oh my Dong Shik n Jiwon ah!! :)
At times, Boring.But Overall, a VERY GOOD Crime Thriller.
Could have done well in 12 episodes, instead of 16.
Now, One of my favourite Crime Thrillers !!
(All, bcz of the Main Leads :) )
Maintained a GRIPPING SUSPENSE, thereby making the viewer SUSPECT EVERY CHARACTER in the drama :)
DOUBT EVERYONE!
TRUST NO ONE!!😂
Well Written and Well Acted by Both.
****
Pacing is lil slow in the middle of the drama.
Few episodes in the middle contain Repetitive Content Fillers, going over the same dialogues or the same content is talked about in different styles, without going forward in the story.
These are like unnecessary Revisions to the viewer.
Though irritated watching those scenes, I just kept staring at Dong Shik n Jiwon's chemistry n their sarcastic fights in those scenes :)
Am a Crime Drama enthusiastic n an ardent fan of mystery / detective / suspense / crime Genre n yet Pacing should be right and good, to enjoy a show, even of favourite genre.
This would be GREAT n SUPERB, if those minor Repetitions are excluded.
**** CHARACTERS & ACTORS:
Two male main leads are police officer and police detective - older and younger partners in investigation but act as rivals all the time, haha.
One is a Lonely Cold Prince n another, is a Wounded Lonely Knight.
Older is Cool n Social, while younger is Cold n Not Social.
One uses intelligence (goes by law) n the other uses physical strength (looks like he acts by impulse, sometimes)
One is serious n the other looks goofy :)
Older one is suspected to be a murderer of the crimes in the past (and also suspected to be involved in the death of his ex partner in investigation).
Dong Shik/ Shin Ha Kyun's smirks are Evil and misleading at times, I suspected him too, haha
One (Dong Shik) gives Evil Smirks all the time, while doubting someone/something :)
n the Other (Jiwon) Never Smiles, not even a faint smile :O
BOTH their ROLES (both actors) have EQUAL share of IMPORTANCE.
Their styles of handling the Law is so DIFFERENT n yet they are so SAME to bring Justice!
The BROMANCE is Good.
Both the Main Leads are equally CRAZY😂 and make the viewer to SUSPECT even BOTH OF THEM at some point :o, can't really tell whether they are GOOD or EVIL initially. And So as the story progresses, IMPRESSIONS on them, KEEP CHANGING.
Almost from the beginning of 2nd half of the story, they are FRIENDS IN DENIAL🤭 and have lil arguments about Law, Trust and Morals sarcastically, that's so funny! :)
****
Towards the end, the BROMANCE is so HEAVY :)
There is absolutely ZERO ROMANCE in this thriller.
To be honest, at times, found chemistry ONLY between these two Main Leads n not with any other female character, haha.
Their relationship progression, in simple words:
Hatred / Strong Suspicion on each other, being a criminal in hiding -> Good Rapport :) -> Intense Chemistry :)
Their Intense Stares, calling each other CUTE (sarcastically), Rare but Hard Hand Holds at times, are misleading 🤭
Is it really Just a Bromance, Just a Heavy Bromance, huh!? I doubt it :)
(I'll leave it to your imagination n I take a No, as an answer to this question, hehe)
****
Jokes aside, finally they have become CLOSE BUDDIES to the extent of taking gun shots for each other, I LOVE Their FRIENDSHIP :)
In the end, Dong Shik calling "Ji won ah" for the first time is so endearing! n Ji won gives faint smiles only to Dong Shik!! :)
Finally Our Crazy Cold lil Prince learnt EMPATHY bcz of his partner, in the company of, in his journey with our Crazy Kind Knight, haha.
That is called Character Development (char arc is so good for Jiwon)! :)
****
Almost Every character in the drama is suspected to be a murderer in the past crimes.
The Suspense of who the actual murderer is, well maintained till the end.
There's a Surprise Twist in the end - an unexpected character turns bad.
In the end, All received what they deserved in terms of Law, including the Main Leads and AM HAPPY WITH THIS ENDING .
****
OST - opening instrumental music, ending song suits well to the mood of the drama.
**** RATING & REWATCH:
My RATING is 9 / 10.
Would be 9.5, if there are no repetitive content fillers in the middle of the drama.
Then it would be One of the Best Crime Thrillers.
Now it ended up with being just a VERY GOOD Crime Thriller (which is a GOOD point bcz it didn't end up as a Bad thriller with Worst Pacing)
Will Rewatch, only for the chemistry of the Main Leads 😏🤭
Though there is no point to rewatch n enjoy crime thrillers, once the mystery n suspense are revealed n known to the viewer.
U can't enjoy that suspense n the thrill that U felt, the first time
n Yet I can re-watch it, just for my Dong Shik n Jiwon ah! :)
****
Just a FUN THOUGHT:
The POSTER / Cover Photo of the drama (both of them sitting in a chair, handcuffed to each other) is Creative and Funny - WHO ARRESTED WHOM!? :)
"Partners in Investigation" but Both of them are so eager to arrest each other throughout the first half of the drama and actually, did so at least once ;)
Or
Both Tamed the Wildness of Each Other n Binded themselves :)
****
NEED SEASON 2!
Just finished watching and I MISS THEM already! :(
Oh my Dong Shik n Jiwon ah! :)
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WORK OF ART!!!!!!
Beyond Evil is an absolute masterpiece. The suspense, the plot, the characters, the setting, everything about this drama is nothing short of a PERFECT MYSTERY THRILLER. Every episode will keep you on the edge of your seat suspecting everyone and no one at the same time. Heck you CANT EVEN TRUST THE MAIN LEADS yet alone the suspicious group of people surrounding themThe underrated thing about this drama is the tension and TSUNDERE BROMANCE the 2 leads have. They are both geniuses and crackheads at the same time. I love how important the supporting characters are to the story and how uniquely different everyone are contrasting one another.
GIVE THIS DRAMA A SHOT AND YOU WILL BE ADDICTED!!!!
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That said, as much as I'm no stranger to these kinds of genres I have to say that this drama can be pretty dark, heavy and intense. In which it might get a bit taxing to watch as almost every character in this drama seems suspicious and makes you wary about everyone. And the way Lee Dongsik kept acting very suspicious at times can be pretty exhausting to watch as one alternates from wanting to believe he was innocent or guilty, and it gets worse when almost every character in this drama behaved in similar ways. You can't help feeling like you're being gaslighted to believe anything you're being told and later get fooled over and over, throughout the drama by almost every key character. It gets pretty tiring if you're the kind who easily becomes engrossed in the plotline and is treated with constant gaslighting and manipulations from the characters.
On the bright side, it made the plot very unpredictable yet on another, it makes one question whether or not you should continue watching the drama as the main character tried too hard to act as the ultimate villain, just because they've become quite disillusioned with how the law works. It only really gets better or tolerable halfway towards the end, partially because the truth starts to finally get unravelled and the main characters start to become much more honest with each other, and we realised how some of the earlier behaviours had just been a false facade/
Overall, it was a good story though you do need to have quite a bit of patience to get through the first half of the drama before being able to properly appreciate the mystery and storyline.
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The best thriller of the year.
One of the best dramas in the world.Perfect.
The actors are great actors.
I loved since ep1 i couldnt wait for the next episodes
Love love love
I hate when I am between episodes 6 to 14 of any show. Because I can't wait for the two last episodes, because I know all the waiting, waiting, guessing.... It drives me over the rails!
But when it comes I hate because when is over I will miss, because I may not find anything as good.
I know your feelings.
It was perfect crime thriller, it had everything corruption, serial killers, love, abuse (Park's mother she abuses him, by castrating his maturity), devotion, betraying, spirituality, friendship, good looking people, and showed a lot of Korean culture. Brilliance
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This review may contain spoilers
A rare masterpiece in psychological thriller genre.
When you watch a psychological thriller there are certain things you expect. There'll be one killer at least, it will be full of plot twists, focused on characters' psyche and the killer's grand reveal in the last ep. And that's what I expected from BE but boy did it prove me wrong.When I think of BE the immediate things that come to my mind are trust and family. BE breaks and constructs many layers of this concept while keeping the plot moving.
What does Beyond Evil mean? I think Dong shik answers it for us when Ji hwa confronts him about his lies. He tells her what she already knows that there existed no law that could judge the sinners and bring justice to the victims. Law is written by man and conducted by the ones who studied it. Humans are inherently flawed because we are social beings, we rely on a community and so everything is subjective.
But evil wasn't created by man. It was born through life but birthed out of nothingness and co-existed with the good because there is no good without evil and no evil without good. So when our law proves useless it should be the "creator" who rules.
See the killer is revealed fairly early in the drama and the bad guys are pretty much known, the intricacy of BE lies in how the characters react when the killer is right in front of them.
Many times both Dong shik and Ju won are faced with a decision, to kill or not to. They are handed that power but the inherent good in him fights back the urge.
How can a person keep taking lives? How is it that immense guilt and fear don't drown them? Evil can't be controlled by humans, hence it is beyond human comprehension. It is simply beyond evil.
At least that's what BE told me, I wonder what it will tell you. You just have to watch it for yourself then. :')
(PS: One of the best OST ever. There is something truly special in pairing strong, intense scenes with an acoustic guitar. The music fills you with that anticipation and the acting brings in the dread. Spectacular.)
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Worth Your While!
This drama is not light, funny, or fluffy, even though it had a few amusing scenes for comic relief.However, if this is your type of genre, then you will love every single moment of this rollercoaster!
SHK did an exceptional job in this drama and really turned me into a fan. His best work yet, in my opinion.
I was a little confused with YJG's character in the beginning because he wasn't contributing to the plot at all, but I now understand why the writers did that. You have to let it marinate before you smoke it!
The acting was amazing, the plot was thick and full of twists, and the OSTs complimented the scenes perfectly.
Nicely done overall, I recommend this 100%!
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This review may contain spoilers
The drama Beyond Evil as a philosophical parable about human relationships.
The plot of Beyond Evil is well twisted, and a new intrigue is revealed behind each denouement. But at the same time, already in the first episodes, I felt that Beyond Evil could be more than just a good detective. And I was not wrong.
From the very first episodes, we plunge into the drama, like into a fabulous whirlpool. We get to know the life of a provincial town. We watch Lee Dong Sik intently, trying to figure out what is behind his extravagant behavior. Shin Ha Kyun in this role masterfully balances on the border of light and shadow, sober calculation and madness. In the meantime, we are wondering who he is - a "fallen angel" or a bright angel who fell from a height and broke his wings. We look into the faces of all the heroes, trying to determine which of them is the monster. And gradually we are imbued with the mesmerizing beauty of this world and its inhabitants.
At first, Han Joo Won was perceived as an outsider. "Young master" in an expensive suit, completely alien among the ordinary people of Manyang. And it's not just about social status. Han Joo Won chose this role for himself - an independent observer who looks from above at the ugliness of this world and does not touch the dirt. However, the further he progresses in his research, the more personal it becomes, and the mask of equanimity slips from his face. This is how a classic detective story turns into a psychological journey - to feelings and memories walled up in the basements of the soul, into a journey to someone else and to oneself. Because these two processes always go together - to find yourself, you need to see the other and be seen. Find your own reflection in the other person's eyes.
The drama Beyond Evil is a real maze of reflections. Each significant event, the history of each hero has its own reflection. Some of them are false, some of them are true, but all these fragments, put together, allow you to see the truth. There is such a method of image restoration - from several dull and even distorted reflections, you can recreate a real image. We recognize heroes by the way they are reflected in each other. And each new meeting, each new dialogue is another step towards finding a real face. This approach makes the image of each character multidimensional and deep.
The drama really captures all aspects of the relationship. Family relationships – healthy or toxic. Relations with oneself, relationships with the world, social relationships - the law and its implementation. Morality as the ability to contact. Breaking up relationships like disappearing. The attitude towards the deceased loved ones and the ways of dealing with loss, with death. Relationships are alive, supportive and healing. Relationships are codependent, burdensome and suffocating. Personality always lives in a relationship. Fencing off from the world, a person cuts off a part of himself and, ultimately, can completely die as a person. This is how a person turns into a monster.
“Everyone in the city is like one family,” says Han Joo Won of the residents of Manyang. And he is absolutely right. All heroes are connected to each other by a whole network of threads. But somewhere these are the supporting threads of life, and somewhere they are suffocating fetters. The family image is central to the drama. Everything begins with it - everything ends with it. For each of the heroes, this word means something different - a project, a burden, a duty, a dream of absolute happiness. But for everyone, it carries a lot of weight. Thus, a small town turns out to be a global metaphor for a community, a social family, in which our humanity is born, but sometimes dies.
The density of connections and meanings in the drama is so great that not only each character, but the whole world of the drama is felt as something living, animated. The city of Manyang is not just a place of action, but an independent character. The whole city, as an integral living system, exists according to its own laws. The Beyond Evil story is the story of Manyang's illness and healing.
What's also great about the Beyond Evil is that there is no moralizing in it. Despite the great semantic load, the author does not reduce everything to one idea, does not teach, but shows reality in its complexity, even paradoxicality. Each character is a part of a big picture, an element of the inner life of an integral system. But also everyone is a separate unique person, with their own choice and responsibility for this choice. The story of the Beyond Evil is the story of Manyang, but it’s just as much the story of two people meeting. It is no coincidence that all the main scenes are "doubled". If you look at the titles of the episodes, you can see that the pairing is "sewn" into the very structure of the script. As if the whole story is a long dialogue between two, a series of questions and answers. Each character in the drama is interesting. Each has its own story, its own drama, its own unique personality. But the main axis of the whole story is the meeting and dialogue of the two main characters.
Lee Dong Sik and Han Joo Won, so different, but equally extraordinary, strong in spirit, but practically buried under the rubble of their own psychological trauma. Throughout the drama, they continually drift apart and collide, let go and catch each other, meeting again each time on a deeper level. They go a long way from mutual irritation, exploitation, projecting their fears and expectations onto each other, to true mutual understanding. Throughout the entire drama, the characters stare at each other - with suspicion, with rage, with interest, admiration, tenderness. But invariably - with intense attention, as if looking for something very important in each other's eyes. And in the end they find and return to each other the opportunity to be themselves - whole, feeling, alive.
In my opinion, Beyond Evil, like no other drama, showed us an example of perfect human contact. At that difficultly attainable level, when you see and accept another as he is, in his true essence. The bromance of the main characters of the Beyond Evil is so beautiful that it overshadowed all the drama love lines for me. In fact, this is a "love story" - like the love of one soul for another soul. Someone sees them as a mentor and student. Someone sees them as father and son or even as a couple in love. In my opinion, we were specially shown these relations at such a level of generalization that each viewer is free to interpret them in his own way. For me, they are the embodiment of the idea of an existential meeting, beyond any categories.
The Beyond Evil is a theatrical chamber drama. But this simplicity of the means has a deep meaning. The real challenge for an artist is to show everyday reality as something magical, wonderful, and sometimes monstrous. And the Beyond Evil succeeded to create a heroic epic in the scenery of a small provincial town, where a butcher's shop, the basement of an old house or a reed field feel like a mystical place. Where dramatic battles and wonderful metamorphoses take place in the dialogues between the characters. Magic is created in the Beyond Evil, not taking away from reality, but immersing it in it. This is the fantasy world that really exists - in the space of the human psyche, in relationships between people.
This is a huge burden on the actors. They don't just need to play their characters, the actors pretty much create the world and atmosphere of the drama. And they also need to show the development and even the rebirth of their characters. Many characters in the drama wear masks. But in the end all the masks will be removed, ripped off or washed away by the rain. And under someone's mask we will find a monstrous grin, and under someone's - a beautiful face. Shin Ha Kyun and Yeo Jin Goo play characters whose faces change throughout the drama. In each new episode, they experience new trials, different emotions, but their eyes express not only situational emotions, but also profound personality changes. In some scenes, they need to act so subtly that it is like walking on a tightrope. A slightly different expression - and the impression would be wrong. But the actors are perfect in every shot.
The talent of all the participants has created an amazing artistic world. It's like the famous Doctor Who machine - more inside than outside. And you can dive into this depth over and over again, finding new nuances and meanings.
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One of the best thriller drama I have ever watched...
One of the best thriller drama I have ever watched. Chemistry between actors was great.The way secrets and suspects were revealed one by one was a very good idea.
One murderer was revealed before the drama's mid-episode, but that didn't slow down the action. After that, there was still a lot to reveal and the drama was engaging until the very end. Most of the time, when we as viewers thought the characters couldn't keep any more secrets, new facts came out.
The first part of the drama was shot in such a way that, as viewers, we did not know who was the perpetrator and together with the characters we discovered new facts. In the last few episodes, viewers and characters already knew the perpetrators but were looking for evidence of their guilt.
There were so many sad and surprising scenes in this drama. I also really liked the cooperation and friendship between the characters.
I really love this drama. It was great.
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Outstanding performances all around !!
Incredible! Just truly incredible! I don't watch much crime thriller dramas. I prefer real life crime/thriller documentaries if I'm being honest. So this might actually be the first drama of this genre that I watched. And I must say, WOW!However, I didn't really get into this drama until around episode 4. The first few episodes were good, especially the way Lee Dong-Shik's (Shin Ha-Kyun) character was introduced and the way the story was suggesting him to be the perpetrator. But it was definitely more like a cat and mouse act for those first episodes. At around episode 4 when more "suspects"/"possible suspects" gets introduced along with their individual stories, is when it starts to get interesting.
This is when the plot really starts to grab you as it starts to make you question and guess who is the real suspect among all the characters. Then more of the background stories of the supporting casts is also shared which thickens the plot even further. I really liked the way they end each episode on a cliffhanger as well, and that it makes you want to watch the next episode to find out what's happened.
In terms of the characters and acting, I really have to give it up to Shin Ha-Kyun and Yeo Jin-Goo because their chemistry and their acting in this drama was just another level. I have never seen Shin Ha-Kyun in any drama before this so I didn't know how good he is and my gosh is he SO GOOD! The way he acted a some-what psycho -ish character but then also had those gut-wrenching emotional scenes, it's unreal. I got scared by his psycho smile, but then also cried and felt heartbroken for him at the crucial stages of the drama.
Yeo Jin-Goo was just as incredible. He really held his own and it's dramas like this that makes you forget how young he really is because of how good and how mature he acts. I will say though that his character is very serious, I don't think Han Joo-Won ever smiled but that's not bad thing. This drama is a crime thriller after all and he's already proven he can act comedic and funny in Hotel De Luna already. This drama just showed that he can do both serious, emotional acting as well as comedic and funny.
Big ups to the supporting cast too. They were all impressive in their acting and their chemistry as a whole. At the episodes where a certain character is being suspected, I really did think that, that person could be the bad guy because of how well the/she acted. On the other hand, when it turned out not to be him/her and the real story of that person is revealed, that certain character's acting complimented that story change too. I felt suspicious of them then felt sad/sympathetic/angry...seriously lots of emotions.
A special mention to the OST/sound mixing too because I think it's a big part of what makes a good drama. And I must say, the soundtrack and sound mixing in this drama is just perfection. I didn't really know what type of soundtrack to expect from a crime thriller drama but golly its good. The sound mixing especially during tense scenes was also very very well done. It did hype up the tension a lot and added so much to the scenes.
Overall, this drama is truly amazing. The story, the cliff hangers, the never ending question of 'who did it'...it will grip you to the very end. It's worth all the accolades it received and certainly worth all the hype!
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One of the best dramas EVER!
What to say about this drama that completely escapes the cliché? I have never seen such a complex story in my life, full of plot twists, minutely interconnected events. And the best thing is that even being a story full of details, they managed to show us all these details in just 16 episodes. Your head fills with theories. It fills with outbreaks because all the time you think one is the culprit, because all the time someone appears who took actions that impact the main story. The entire cast's performances were perfect, but the one that caught my attention the most was Yeo Jin-Goo. His performance was FLAWLESS! We could feel from here all the emotions that the character felt through his performance.Each episode that ended was a different impact.
In short: a perfect drama, with a perfect story, with a perfect cast and a perfect acting!
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Beyond Evil? Beyond Amazing.
A thick story with some logical yet sudden twist and turns, leaving you to guess what will happen after each episode, alongside some amazing performances from a stellar cast, that's right, this is what happens when watching Beyond Evil. I feel like Beyond Evil is best watched when you take it slow, episodes are "heavy" so you will need to take your time with it, but it's definitely worth it if you do. Shin Ha Kyun absolutely shone in his role, as did many other cast members, but I thought I had to mention Shin Ha Kyun himself here as I will remember his performance in Beyond Evil for a very long time, I definitely need to watch more dramas that have casted him.The OST is, for me anyway, the strongest OST of 2021 by far currently, I have literally been listening to it when exercising at the gym. Re-watch value could be considered low here, however, there are two things to consider: like before, episodes are heavy; and also consider my re-watch value rating is normally considered lower compared to most people when writing reviews.
I highly suggest for everyone to watch Beyond Evil!
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