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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Not Good Enough

Korean Drama " Through The Darkness " is a chronicle of criminal cases through the lenses of a homicide team.

The drama has some interesting aspects, like the first few criminal cases. But, quickly, it became predictable and messy. Especially messy due to the time jumps that got confusing and tiring. The entertaining factor got less and less with the episode as well.

The performances, on the other hand, were all pretty great and aided the drama a lot, mainly since the main characters were dominating the scenes.

The cinematography, on the other hand, was messing the timeline.

So, overall, 4 out of 10.

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