Blind (2022)

Exciting, yet gloomy thriller. The murder case being tried by a jury is just a kick off for more…

"Blind" is a fabulous, exciting, somewhat dark thriller.
"Blind" weaves its fictional story around 'survivors' of brutal child abuse and severely traumatizing exploitation as kids. These 'survivors' meet each other and their perpetrators 20 years later as adults. Each of those involved tried in his/her own way to come to terms with the past and lead a more or less normal life. Not only the abusive childhood, but also its psychological effects on their later life are a severe issue - and become a topic here. In addition, in this context complex interdependencies between the perpetrators of the time are dissolved and - against the background of a brutal variant of public vigilante justice - the original roles as perpetrators and victims are turned upside down.
"Blind" is haunting. The focus is on a murder case that is being tried by a jury. More murders follow. The dramaturgical setting is to some extent perhaps a bit reminiscent of an Agatha Christie novel - insofar as suddenly almost everyone in the case-related group of the selected jury could be the perpetrators... the distribution of roles between judges, investigators, victims and presumed suspects is also becoming increasingly opaque and fatefully intertwined. To pretend that one can turn a 'blind' eye to what used to be is no longer possible. Everyone must now look at the past and (even if it is perhaps a little late) bear the consequences. Magnificent.


----- SIDE NOTE: ---Child abuse - a sad and highly topical issue in South Korea ---
The thriller obviously saddles its story on the unspeakably sad topic of child abuse, which due to its unbroken topicality has increasingly made it into South Korea's series and film productions of recent years (among others "Children of Nobody" and "Mother" as drama or "Miss Baek" and "Bring me Home" as movie.) Many a well-established member of society prefer to look the other way when unbelievable deals are being made concerning minors, as long as they might even benefit themselves. And any 'survivors' can be glad if they manage to split off the traumatic experience to some extent - nevertheless most often PTS comes right along. Usually, those ´survivors´ until old age are psychologically still stuck in that desperate helplessness and inner agony of the past.
A South Korean government study from 2021 reveals, that abusive trafficking in minors has been rampant and even increasing in recent years. There is an acute need for action regarding more effective education in all public areas - from prevention to investigation and criminal prosecution up to employee training. A big problem with this: usually police officers or other officials are directly involved and work together with the traffickers, who specialize in the ruthless exploitation of minors. If the children and young people survive this, the psychological consequences of these deeply traumatizing experiences will be very hard - if at all - to be overcome. They are left helpless at the mercy of adults (who actually should take good care of them) and utterly hopeless in the face of a society that turns a blind eye to their torment. The only thing that is left: feeling betrayed and/or obviously of no worth whatsoever...
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PS:
It may be that in reality a larger task force would have been set up to investigate the serial murders of the jury members. In my opinion, however, the KDrama didn't take anything away from keeping the circle compact in order to tell the story in its essential entanglements in a powerful way.

P.P.S.:
At last, I don't want to leave a pleasant detail (I think) unmentioned. We have seen it so often in KDramas: within the social ranking in South Korea, the older colleagues are obviously allowed to rebuke the younger ones with a shove, a kick or a snap on the forehead. (In view of my German socialization background, that is unheard of, but ...) In "Blind" one can now observe (among other things) that a transformation in this natural ranking behavior may be starting to happen within the younger generation: a colleague police officer in "Blind" actually gives back to his colleague and stands up for himself. So far, I have seen this rather rarely, if at all. Until now, as a rule in comparable situations, the fist usually remained in the pocket. In the mass consciousness, KDrama is relating to, starting 2022 such physical rebuke might obviously no longer be tolerated as a matter of course. Stand-up-for-your-rights seems to/wants to become possible - like a wind breeze of change coming up within a hierarchical tradition since centuries chiseled in stone...

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Great!

I have no complaints about this drama. I think it does lack music compared to most of the dramas I've seen but I understand why, I think a lot of music in scenes wouldn't suit this drama. I love the storyline, I feel like I have a reason to suspect almost everyone. The cast is also incredible! Any drama starring Ok Taecyeon is a masterpiece and he's one of my fave actors, he's so versatile and expressive. Ha Seokjin is new to me and he's very impressive, especially the way his acting flows naturally. EunJi is also new to me and she did really well and made her character feel very real. Overall, I love the vibe of the drama. I love how everytime a new episode comes out, I understand more of the story but at the same time I start suspecting more and more people. Definitely worth watching for me. the plot has a way of making every character suspicious but at the same time not suspicious. There's great details and the way the actors portrayed their roles just made it even better. 9/10 at least for me. I know many people dislike "loop holes" but personally I dont care about that stuff. the drama is thrilling so I love it. Personally I kind of hope Sungjun (male lead) has disassociative identity disorder or like a spilt personality because sometimes he seems very evil to me and sometimes he feels very sincere. I feel like he also doesnt remember much at some moments.
I really like SungJun and SungHoon so far so I hope they expand on their relationship and I kind of want to see some wholesome moments between them. Anyway, I love how this show is going and I cant wait for next episode!

edit: after watching episode 4,5,6 I changed my mind. I dont like this show, I love it! I also love that Sung Jun always tries to joke around with his brother, I find that funny especially when his brother reacts awkwardly or seriously. I really like it, especially the scene when Sung Jun hugged his brother in episode 6 even though his brother didnt hug back. I hope to see more of their relationship and Im loving the story. Sung Jun is either the killer who had disassociative identity disorder and doesnt remember doing it OR he is just very unlucky and always just happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Edit: I finished this drama while it was airing but forgot to update my review. So my final thoughts are, I quite like teh ending. It did surprise me but I think it was fitting and I can easily conclude that blind is my favorite crime/mystery drama! Strongly reccomend. I know it has some plot holes, but it's a very fun and interesting watch for fans of murder mystery.

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