Through the Darkness

Kim Nam Gil shines in lacking profiler drama

I wanted to love this drama but came out thinking it could be so much better. My criticism might seem harsh but since people usually rave about this drama I will focus on the negative aspects. That doesn't mean I didn't highly enjoy watching it and still gave it a 4/5 rating.

The argument 'Through The Darkness is a lesser Mindhunter' has been made so often and it might be true, but that is no valid criticism of the former so I won't hold that against it. In general I'm tired of the automatic reflex to compare every Asian drama or film to Western media and will judge it on its own terms.


Through The Darkness tries too many things at once. There are dozens of crime shows or dramas that focus on the police procedural aspect of crimes. We don't need one more.

The theme of building a new organizational structure and developing a new angle in police work is vital and is well told.

The actual profiling, the interviewing, analyzing clues, hypothesizing, coming to conclusions is not given enough room and breathing space. They seem to gloss over or misunderstand basics of profiling, starting with body language they exhibit to what they discuss before, during or after interviews. At one point we are told that they have done hundreds of interviews. This is an informed attribute since the understanding and knowledge base that should come with this amount of experience simply isn't there. Through The Darkness takes a very long time for the profiling to get off the ground and for the profilers or interviewers to actually understand their job.

Literal Title: Those Who Can Read Hearts Of Evil. Can you, though?


The main character Song Ha Young is all over the place. He is at times overwhelmed with anger and repulsion, is highly judgmental, empathic, analytical, sensitive, righteous, obsessive, stoic, starting to become evil, understanding and volatile. Of course he can be all those things but I fail to see a natural progression of those psychological states.

The drama feels both rushed and drawn out. They could've easily made it into a 16-episode drama, expand on cases, show more interviews and allow scenes to linger for a little bit more for impact.

This is mostly a quiet job in a dark room and Through The Darkness focuses very much on the thrill of the crime instead of the thrill of the crime analysis.

The music adds to that as many scenes have underlying music made to heighten the tension and thrill. Since the music competes with the dialog it takes away from an already tightly scripted scene which isn't allowed to shine on its own.

It seems the creators didn't really trust their material.


All the involved actors are great and Kim Nam Gil does an outstanding job with a very difficult, not very flashy, very introverted and highly sensitive character. As far as I know he has never played anything like that before (Lovers Vanished and One Day come close) but he is made for it.

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Watch a documentary instead

I've tried my hardest to complete this show... but damn. I really couldn't. The trailer and synopsis hooked me in and I went in knowing it was based on a non-fiction book but what I really did not expect was how slow it was. It was advertised as a thriller but its most definitely not. Instead, it's an extremely slow burn with no end in sight.

The story is told in almost like a documentary-like fashion. The main character (Kim Nam Gil) is portrayed as eccentric, aloof yet empathetic and "special" in a way only main characters are. This "special" quality is what landed him the newly created role of a profiler. Predictably, no one appreciates the profilers from the start and look down on them, scorn them, and they are allocated the worst office in the building. Of course, the profilers are full of tenacity and overcome these various challenges to finally attain the recognition they deserve. It's a tale as old as time, and anyone can see through the plot of this show right from the first episode. Nothing groundbreaking at all, and nothing to keep viewers watching through the end. In addition, the culprit for each case is revealed right off the bat so there is even less payoff to watch and try to figure out who the murderer is. What we do get are long drawn out interview sessions with serial killers showing off how crazy they are. After a while it just got ... boring. I'm not sure why either. I've watched the Criminal series on Netflix where it's set 100% in the interrogation room yet it was a million times more exciting that this show. Which is disappointing. The characters also don't experience any growth at all; the profilers still treat each other like strangers despite working together for YEARS. Main character retains his "specialness" all the way and his only fault is being too empathetic. Meh. Oh, and there was also this strange subplot about this reporter girl which added 0 things to the plot and only served to show how "special" and "empathetic" that reporter girl is. I thought the show wanted to force a romance between her and the main character but seeing as how nothing happened even at the 11th episode, I guess not.

The acting is fairly good, if you don't mind watching people behave like they're in a constant state of depression (which I guess is true considering the heavy stuff they deal with constantly). The show is the epitome of the saying "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" because literally all characters are raging workaholics who do not seem to have hobbies outside of work. Which makes it hard to see the range these actors can show.

Conclusion: watch only if you can stomach extremely slow paced dramas with no payoff at all. This is not a thriller - though there are some "thrilling" fight scenes. If you prefer more traditional police procedural shows, this is not the one for you. I honestly feel that juvenile justice, a show supposed to be about judges, has more thrilling police investigation scenes than this show LOL, so make of this what you will.

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