Nine Puzzles

Has a grip on you but can be a bit lacklustre

I thought the plot twist would be that the FL has some type of mental illness where she has an alter ego that commits these murders but she well has no idea. The other things I was fully convinced was that the captain of the station was the murderer because the handkerchief thing I mean I think it’s illegal to tamper with evidence in a crime scene. This profiling job so fr like these people are hella observant like is there a course they teach in the police academy to make these people notice things and people’s ulterior motives???? I am happy it didn’t have any romance in it.


“Why would someone kill one person to build a place where another can live” ~ Lee Seung-Joo

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They should rename the 5 puzzles instead

I would like to write a prolonged review of this show but I couldn’t care much for this Disney production…the script is lagging and lacking depth specially in character development. Though I like the flat affect of the male lead, the female lead was so irritating to watch. I liked her in the Witch series but being a narcissistic neurotic character is not her cup of tea. Maybe it’s her acting of poor direction but how can a police department tolerate an individual to just insert herself when she wants to. Rich girl bratty behavior driving. Lamborghini in a PD reminds me of another show, “Bad Boys” with Will smith and his Ferrari. And please enough of the slight of hand magic trick redirection in scriptwriting. That is so….80’s? My wife truly enjoyed it as she felt entertained but my mind was constantly finding flaws….i just struggle to watch this.

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SUSPENSE THAT HOOKS YOU

This drama kept me hooked. The chemistry between the female lead and male lead is one of the highlights. Their scenes together feel natural and make the story more engaging.

What I enjoyed most was the female lead’s character. She’s unpredictable in a way that makes you curious about her next move. Her presence adds a layer of excitement and keeps you watching closely.

The suspects and villains are also good written. Each one brings tension to the story, and I found myself guessing and doubting almost everyone at some point. However, the mastermind behind it all felt a little underwhelming. Her backstory and motives weren’t explored enough and some parts of her arc had plot holes. It left me thinking the show could have gone deeper into her story, especially in showing how she carried out her revenge.

On the other hand, the drama shines in its cinematography and acting. Every scene looks polished, and the performances are convincing across the board. Each episode builds suspense bit by bit, and the slow reveal of the bigger picture made want for more.

This drama overall is an entertaining watch with good acting, a strong lead duo, and suspense that carries through each episode. While the main villain could have been written with more depth, the drama still delivers enough twists and mood to keep you invested until the end.

Plot 8/10
Acting and Characters 9/10
Cinematography 9.5/10
Writing 7.5/10
Pacing 9/10
OST/Score 8/10

Overall 8.5/10

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A Classic Puzzle Mystery That Plays It Too Safe

From a mystery thriller perspective, the show is intellectually solid but dramatically restrained. Its puzzle-driven structure is well thought out, rewarding careful viewers with logical clues and a cohesive mystery. However, it lacks the sharp, memorable twists that define truly great entries in the genre.

More notably, there is a clear gap in how the crimes are portrayed. The series often does not show how the killer actually carries out the murders, which weakens the tension and realism. In a genre where method and execution matter, this makes parts of the story feel incomplete.

There are moments where the show almost reaches a higher level, especially scenes that hint at psychological intensity, like when a character watches a killing tied to their own intentions. That kind of moment genuinely gives chills, but the series holds back instead of fully diving into it. Showing more of these could have made the story far more impactful.

As for the cast, the criticism feels unfair. The performances are grounded and natural, fitting the tone of the series well. They may not be flashy, but they do exactly what they are supposed to do, and they do it well. If anything, the cast helps keep the story believable.

In the end, Nine Puzzles is clever and well-made, but for a mystery thriller, it plays things too safe to truly stand out.

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A mysterious ride, with anticlimactic ending.

I liked a lot about the drama, the fact that the villain was a female, the fact that it shed light on how capitalism kills. But it was seriously unsatisfactory, disappointing and anticlimactic that we weren't shown how she kills and how she executed all of that, the part I was look forward to the most... Too many plotholes coz a single person, all alone could'nt have executed all that. How did she even get Kang Chimok's wife to kill him... she certainly wasn't mind controlling her.
How she did the last killing, how she even got in Do Yoonsu's office, how she got into hospital room, why how Ina's parents were killed, wanted to see the other pov of the killer finding Ina, what actually happened when her uncle died, who was that guy classmate of her and why was she so shocked when yacht owner mentioned him, his son? too many unanswered threads.

The cast was phenomenal, the direction good, the scene of The One City unbuilding was so well executed, I just wish they had wrapped up the story better.

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Loved it!

October 2025
This drama was SO good! KDM is fab in it, as is SSK, and I actually loved their chemistry, which surprised me for some reason.

The character of Yu I-na, is both strong, and yet fragile, at the same time. She is unique, clever, infuriating, troubled and utterly likeable. I thought KDM captured her perfectly.

Kim Han-saem is a traditional, dedicated, tenacious, and principled detective. He has always believed that Yu I-na was responsible for the death of her ex-cop Uncle.... so when, as a profiler, she ends up working with him, he isn't impressed, to say the least.
Thankfully, she is very single-minded in that respect, and disarmingly frank, so he slowly gets beaten down.

Together they begin to unearth truths that lead to some shocking discoveries.

I was totally grabbed by this. I loved the acting, characters, writing, pace and plot. The episodes flew by and there's a lot of story, which didn't feel compromised by the relatively few episodes.

Any shortcomings, I honestly didn't care about.

I kept changing my mind about who the baddie was, too... it never felt obvious!

I SO hope there will be a S2.
A favourite of this year, for sure.

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THIS IS SLEPT ON

This show is SLEPT ON! I've never seen anyone talk about it and didn't see it get promoted at all and it is so good! I loved the mystery of this show so much. I really want it to have a season two, but I doubt it will because of how little popularity it has.

I loved Yun Ina and Han Saem so much as characters. Ina was such an interesting character to watch. I loved how you questioned if she was the killer or not multiple times throughout the series. Han Saem was fun to watch as a detective as well! I loved their banter together too.

The mystery of the murderer(s) and what the puzzle pieces meant was so cool. I loved trying to figure what was happening. I did solve who the killer was pretty early on but that's pretty typical of me, so I don't think it's necessarily super easy to guess.

I don't have any complaints about the show at all and truly loved it from start to finish. Highly recommend!

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Flawed but Fascinating

I just finished Nine Puzzles, and honestly, I really enjoyed it despite its flaws. The story kept me hooked from start to finish, even if some parts didn’t make total sense (seriously, how did the killer pull off those murders?). The mystery was engaging, and I loved the tension between the leads, Kim Da-mi was fantastic, and Park Kyu-young’s acting added a nice contrast. The last few episodes lost a bit of focus, shifting away from the main duo’s dynamic, but the ending was haunting and beautiful enough to leave a strong impression. It’s not perfect, but it’s stylish, emotional, and memorable. I’d give it a solid 7/10 definitely worth watching if you like dark, character-driven thrillers.

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Overall, super fun.

So let’s start this off, I will list down the things I liked and the things I didn’t like in this.
- Plot overall, I enjoyed it. I’m quite a fan of mystery and triller novels so I found this fun to pursue, I started suspecting both of the Drs around mid drama but I felt like there wasn’t enough conclusive evidence. I never truly suspected that Yang Jungho was the killer but I was sure he was either an accomplice or knew the killer. And that led me to « oh so he must be protecting an orphan from the orphanage he lived in » but the question was who? Considering that we didn’t know enough about the Drs and everybody else, it was a bit tough to navigate but that made it all the more fun.
- I think a vital part of mystery and triller series or novels, is actually explaining how the murders were done, so I’m relatively sad that didn’t happen here, I’m glad we got a small clue as to why lee miyoung’s death was prolonged compared to the others (the music) but it didn’t feel satisfactory in a way not showing the murders, even though Ena in her analysis did predict pretty accurately how they did happen.
- I think that showcasing Ena as a bit emotionaless is supposed to be « oh she has a higher IQ and less EQ than the average person » so it’s more than her being quirky or weird, it’s that she genuinely has less EQ which crumbles a bit at the end when we see her talk with Lee Seujong and trying to convince her to not kill herself. There were definitely other scenes where you see her emotions seep up a bit, but that one was the only one in which we see her vulnerable in a way.
I think that’s overall it, I don’t have a lot of complaints because I genuinely felt excited watching this, it gave me that thrill of « oh let’s actually try to find the killer before Ena does » which was fun.

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Stunning show that was let down by pacing and writing

The show looks gorgeous, the production value overall was amazing, the acting was good for the most part. But still, I considered dnf-ing after episode 4. The mostly strong performances kept me watching.

The first episode really hooked me. The setup is great and I loved that we had an ambiguous main character. In the beginning, I found Kim Han Saem a bit too grumpy and distrustful, but he really grew on me and was my favourite character by the end. Son Suk Ku gave such a strong performance and played the character with a lot of nuance. Kim Da Mi is a solid actor as well, she was believable as this quirky but traumatised young woman. However, she went overboard on the quirky mannerisms and expressions a few times. She also really cannot pull off smiling / laughing in a moment of confrontation or tension, it just looks like someone's trying to act and doesn't succeed at making it look natural or fitting in the scene. She unfortunately ventured into annoying territory too often to still make her a good lead that you feel for (which is not Kim Da Mi's fault, it's writing and directing, I think). The rest of the cast was really amazing, no notes.

Now comes the biggest issue: the pacing and writing. The show is just too long for the story they had. 2 or 3 episodes less would have made it much tighter. Unfortunately a lot of the conclusion is quite predictable. If you look at the reddit discussion, most people clocked the therapist as at least very suspicious very early on. Her storyline is ridiculously badly written. You mean to tell me a 7 year old can't give enough information to find her mother at an amusement park? Her mother doesn't go back to look for her there? No one in the orphanage could put 2 and 2 together for a child that was on the missing list and this child? And she stopped killing for 10 years because no one recognised the puzzle pieces? Come on. She could've send the puzzle pieces to anyone in the police force or to the press, as she later does. And when she puts her hand in her pocket at the end, the cop doesn't shoot her hand? They just let her burn herself and watch her die in agony, Jesus Christ.
The characters were mostly consistently written, but Jung-Ho really irked me. He just let her continue her killing spree and wanted to take the fall. As soon as he realised it was her and that she wouldn't stop (which she told him flat out when he went to give back her handkerchief) he should've arrested her. I understand his guilt, but I don't understand his motivation for letting her keep going. Also, I-Na was always so perceptive (almost ventures into the knowing by magic trope) and then she goes to Dr. Hwang's house and it is very clear from the pictures that he's gay, but she still thinks he has a crush on Lee Seong Ju. Doesn't make sense. I also don't like the messaging about mental health and mental health professionals. There are already too many shows and movies out there that demonise mental illnesses or make therapists manipulative evil people you cannot trust.

I wouldn't really recommend this show, nor would I watch a second season. It is really strong in some parts, but lacks depth and a true vision or story that needed to be told. Maybe that's the point, though, since they constantly reference movies and detective novels that shaped the genre. Unfortunately, this show went with the cookie cutter formula that was new and fresh in the referenced works, but feels old and boring now.

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“There is so much more to tell, 11ep aren’t enough.”

Nine puzzles. Read this if you have already finished, I tried to make it spoiler-free, but in the end, I couldn’t manage, so there are a lot of spoilers!

I think, like in the title I said: “There is so much more to tell, 11 episodes aren’t enough for it”, I think it was a bit too much “condensed”, maybe something was even cut. It has great potential for sequel and prequel! The start felt slow->medium->quick-> SPEED END 🤣I think there should have been more episodes, for more details, like how the killer killed, the whole reason, her life, and then normal ending—not open one.I think the killer has more potential, because right now it feels that the killing doesn’t suit her, there aren’t enough pain for her yet, there should have been more reason, for her to end up like this. like not reasons, but I think she should have been main character also, and then she, the ”killer”, would make the story much better with less plot-holes, and more enjoyable. Maybe then the plot-twist wouldn’t work, but it would halve more “emotions”, “slice of life”

—————-

I just finished it, and readed quite a few reviews/explanations. The most I liked the ending/11episode.

I liked how everything in the end was connected (*even tho not everything, so it wasn’t all connected, there are plot-holes; Like others said, it would have been better if the case were more explained, how the killer killed and the reason), also…It would have been better, if there would be clues for the watcher. If you like plot twist, this is great for you. Before watching it, I read few review, that there was a plot twist, so I almost guessed right who was behind it, even thought zero logical clues until 8-10episode; maybe my intuition is good. But the plot twist wasn’t plot-twisting for me, I think the reason why the killer is killing doesn’t fit right….Because it wasn’t explained why all those people died. I understand some dieds, but others were abit out off…I’m thinking there will definitely should be season 2! And maybe The killer wasn’t the only one involved! Or…She didn’t die…The last died—it might have been killed by the “new” killer! I have theory, that the new killer wanted that Ina would continue doing the case, so after she resigned, he/she gave Ina new puzzles! It might be one of peoples near Ina like her colleagues, so she would be back! I also think Curry mom is involved!because it was mentioned 2times, about how his mom won the lottery, what if it wasn’t the lottery?So the case isn’t finished, not yet…

Honestly the best part of this show is I Na and Curry relationship/friendship.

For anyone who doesn’t have anything to watch, I think this is great show, go watch it! But if you are new k-drama fan, I think there are plenty better psychological thrillers out there.

Extra: https://me.mashable.com/entertainment/56835/nine-puzzles-ending-who-is-the-killer-all-deaths-explained

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