Yandere and a Serial Killer?
That is a mind-blowing combo. A young man who is going around and killing people through a dating app that was designed by the our FL. They meet and perhaps it is her unique disinterest or lack of fear of his presence -- he takes an immediate interest in her after they kill a cat that was hit by a car 'together'. It's a strange scene. It draws him to her immediately. I loved this so much (I'm a weird one, what can I say?) -- and I can't say much else without ruining it, aside from the fact that it's definitely got a mature rating for a reason. I am surprised by the lackluster reviews for it.Was this review helpful to you?
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a serial killer who entered the app "Somebody"
(WARNING, LONG REVIEW AHEAD!!)so i'll really try my best to explain this drama so much since the overall story seems very interesting for me. from an dating app and love, to sexual assault and murder. I also read from an review that this drama has so much potential, most especially this drama was psychological one. But after all completing all the episodes from this drama, that how explains why this drama was complicated but at a same time, giving so much potential to viewers as well. I think this was too far from any kdramas I've watched, but this one feels like a western type of series as well.
Plot:
So it explains about a student from becoming a developer as she invented her called app AI social connecting app "Somebody" where anyone could talk and chat with each other. Well due to sum's communicating problems, she made her invention until Kim Sum was part of the team of the app. Until cases regarding the app was spreading and getting involved from a murderer slash serial killer, Yoon O. From murdering most women who get involved by the app (or like being matched). He has different identity to his personality, where he acts like what women likes, but he acts like his true self to Kim Sum, who was also a murderer. and Kim Sum as she was (kind of) responsible of the case, she get's to know Yun O untill she fell in love with a serial killer. She was so needy to love and sex and at the same time both of them were murderers to begin with. I kinda had a hard time explaining the story because it was pretty messy to begin with. Involving Yun O's story without the background story of his childhood days, and I was thinking maybe because of his trauma(?) or something bothers him that he turned to be a murderer. And with that, Kim Sum's friends got involved due to the dating app. And the problem of the story evolves the app overall that messes their lives from the beginning. So one of Kim Sum's friend who also got involved, Gi Eun as she was a detective, while Mok Won was a shaman as she senses spirits between her friend Kim Sum and her match from the app, Yun O.
And with that, the ending was hmmm very surpising for me. I really thought Kim Sum would ended up falling in love with benefits regarding love and sex with Yun O. But due to her decision making with her friends and for the safety of her colleagues as well, she killed him. And for me, I think it needs more background story of Yun O and Kim Sum and I think its not just me, but there is something really missing, that's why I rated it not a perfect rating but just a good one.
Characters and Cast:
HOOOOO this one was far exceeding so much with my expectations. I was thinking did they tried to be away from their characters because this one was far away from kdrama land haha. The characters from this story (while some of them) were hypocrite and desperate from what they like as well. I guess the characters were something that I was never expecting to be because from the plot itself, it was away from the overall story of the drama. Just the outside background of their lives. Now I'll go with the casts, especially I watched this drama because I was really interested of Kim Young Kwang's choice of drama projects after all this would be my second time watching his role from kdramas.
First of all, Kim Young Kwang acted this role FAR FAR from his previous roles especially my last kdrama that I watched with him was the secret life of my secretary. He made this role far from his career as well! but not to make myself look weird, but he really looks very attractive and all those *ehem* scenes from this drama. He need roles like this especially regarding murder or dark themed genre of kdramas to sum up everything. Kang Hae Lim, I never expected to see her change from her supporting role from Live On kdrama. She turned from her role from being a bully or a mean girl, to a desperate young adult women who seeks for love and sex. I was really surprised by her chosen projects and her acting career path as well. Both of the casts has something that gave chemistry in me. But I was thinking if they were comfortable filming "those scenes" and I saw that they were in touch on instagram since they followed each other as well. kinda sus haha. And also with the other cast, Kim Yong Ji as I a saw her from the last drama appearance of a kdrama I finished watching, The King: Eternal Monarch. But in short, she changed so much as well from this role. With the casts, the bts photos seems like they were happy with their roles and the bond they had with the production team and the actors and actresses who were involved. I'm rooting for the three of them actually.
Overall, this drama was giving me that feeling of darkness and feeling of emptiness in me, But it gave me a creepy vibe on the end haha. I was really surprised as well, but Hoping that these casts would have a greater recognition as well.
I would say this drama was only good for time kill. since I skipped some unnecessary scenes to it, but overall, it was a pretty good one. BUT not for beginners as well since it needs more patience and understanding.
but in a positive side, looking forward to the casts other projects! especially to kim young kwang <33
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Should've been either a movie or a 16-ep season
Just finished this show, first I need to note that I watched the entire series with noise cancelling headphones and 10/10 would recommend, I LOVED the soundtrack and felt it completely enhanced my entire viewing of this series. The suspense scenes especially.It is kind of a confusing show, but that's why I give it a higher rewatch value, I feel like it deserves 2 watches to grasp the story a lot better.
Now for the title of my review; I think that they could've cut out a lot of scenes/made a lot of scenes shorter (the space 39 scene especially) and it would've done well as a movie, albeit probably a little bit more confusing. But I also believe they could've fleshed everything out so much more to stretch it to a 12 if not 16 ep series as I'm left with so many (basic) questions about the main characters. The scar on Yun O's back? What his mom actually did to him? The accident that left Gi Eun in this state, and more about her past as an officer, how she met Mok-Won, more about Sum's parents & upbringing. I could go on and on.
Anyways, still think it's worth the watch and will hopefully rewatch it in the future!
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Not my cup of tea but still a great art piece.
If you have become familiar with my reviews on MDL you will know I'm not a fan of violence in general and therefore it's a given "Somebody" wouldn't be exactly a favourite of mine. Nonetheless, I don't hate it at all: the acting is magnificent and the storyline comes full circle in the end.I think the ambience deserves it's credit as well because for many many times I felt terrified of a reality that wasn't even mine. If you are a fan of this genre and more slow paced pieces of media, you will probably enjoy this title as well.
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Somebody : A Chilling Psycho-thriller with Room for More(18+)
So apparently, this is the third project out of the 8 KYK projects that I have watched, which probably means he’s wormed his way into my subconscious watchlist. Let’s be honest, he’s unsettlingly good at playing men who make you question your judgment. I’m giving Somebody a solid 8 out of 10. And that’s coming from someone who doesn’t usually gravitate toward the thriller/psychological genre unless it’s spiked with enough suspense to keep me fidgeting.Now, let’s get into it. The pacing? Contrary to what some critics said, I didn’t find it slow at all. In fact, if anything, it felt like it ended just as it was warming up. There were so many narrative threads that could’ve been stretched further, especially the cat-and-mouse potential between Yoon-o and the authorities. Imagine a full-blown chase with an elite cybercrime unit, criminal profilers scrambling to figure him out, and Yoon-o always staying three steps ahead. That would’ve been delicious. But instead, some episodes leaned on filler scenes that didn’t add much, almost like the show wanted to be a 16-episode ride but had to cram into half the time.
Maybe I’m projecting because I grew up watching too many Western crime thrillers where every breadcrumb trail matters and the villain practically becomes a puzzle to solve. 'Somebody" had all the ingredients for that kind of tension but didn’t fully commit. The psychological angle was sharp, but I kept wanting more friction between predator and justice, more smoke and mirrors, more unraveling, more...chess.
That being said, I genuinely don’t have anything bad to say about the show as it stands. It’s atmospheric, stylish, and deeply unsettling in the best way but there’s so much unused potential here, and it’s killing me (pun only slightly intended).
Still, Somebody was gripping. Creepy in the way that lingers. Kim Young-kwang delivered a performance that made my skin crawl while keeping me hooked, and for that alone, it deserves some praise. Definitely not your average weekend binge, but one that’ll haunt your thoughts for a bit and maybe make you delete your dating App.
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Not for people who like typical Korean Thrillers. hide your kids, hide your wives
Come into this with an open mind. there is sex and gore but if you've seen a naked person and fake blood before, you wont die watching it. there is a skip forward button for a reason, i suggest you use it at those parts. if ur american there is less sex than grays anatomy so you'll be fine.btw the dudes' glasses are why i gave it a lower rating, like who is the stylist because those glasses were bigger than his head??
Plot can be hard to follow for the faint-hearted romance lovers who dont understand shows with layers, respectfully.
I was gonna drop it but im glad i watched it till the end because OMG....
the ending was really good, dont listen to people who say its bad. they only watched Vincenzo and think theyre an expert in thrillers.
not gonna watch this again tho. i cant stand it horrible story building. You feel like the writers forgot about some characters at times because i cant even tell you the name of one of the main characters.
but super great u should watch :)
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Unconventional art cinema for a kdrama
The whole shooting style of the drama is unconventional art cinema, it's so niche up to the point it's like a very dark and gritty tech noir. The pace though is painfully slow, there are lots of details to look for but the structure of the story itself is pretty confusing with some unclear intentions by some of its characters. It would be better if they could reduce the runtime of some episodes, but at least the resolution part is quite breathtaking. For the portrayal that is sort of broken romance blended with modern crime, they do hit the mark this time.Was this review helpful to you?
DAMAGING PORTRAYAL OF AUTISM
While the actors deliver strong performances, this drama really misses the mark in its portrayal of autism. The suspenseful plot keeps you hooked, but the way it depicts the autistic female lead is problematic; it paints her as a psychopath with no empathy. On top of that, the implication that she’s drawn to the serial killer because he’s "just like her" (possibly on the spectrum) just reinforces harmful stereotypes.It’s frustrating to see a 2022 drama use these outdated and damaging tropes instead of offering a more nuanced representation of autism. South Korea, do better!
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why am I conflicted in wanting a killer to find love?
Finished watching this, yes I know I'm so late to the party but I honestly am so glad I gave this show a shot.JUST WoOoow. Ok.. I'm not 100% wanting them to have a happy ending but that was a tragic & sort of a sweet twist of a love-story/horror. on one hand...i felt like I wanted them to find happiness together even though yes he is a serial killer.
add to that a cast of badass women,who definitely didn't ask permission. each of the women in this cast had their own strengths and were unapologetic in using their power to get what they set their sights on.
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Definitely something else
This for sure was an odd one. It started interesting and that is why I even continued; the whole AI/Someone theme was pretty nice but it went just downhill with hella weird ending.Story
Story was fine, but storytelling? Or rather lack of it? Not so much. Plot depended on illogical decision made by characters is a bad storytelling. So many tropes that were abandoned and never explored and to be honest unlike other series, I am not even disappointed by this since they were pretty unimpressive. I am mainly talking about things like Gi-eun and Seom relationship, what was even their problem? It was mentioned briefly and resolved in one scene after like the shortest dialogue ever or Yuno being abandoned by his mother (it was mentioned once and never brought up again). Some dialogues were very vague. Also, whole police theme was just waste of time and brought nothing to the table. Overall, it just felt pretty flat but pacing was good (with rather abrupt ending).
Characters
The biggest fault I have with this series are totally unrelatedeble characters and their decisions. But the worst character was probably Gi-eun. She did not bring anything to the table and her decisions were the worst. Yuno was also not it, just your typical psycho. Seom was just weird and annoying at some point in the story. The only interesting character was the Shaman and only her actions were logical. Oh, yeah there was also Samantha, her role probably should have ended with being in the company, because there was almost nothing coming out of her involvement.
Acting/Cast
What saves this series is definitely acting. I think cast did great job in trying to capture that odd, eerie vibe and this is what distinguishes it from the others.
Still even great acting cannot save so-so story and badly written characters. Music was fine, I guess but nothing out of this planet. I would rate it 6. I probably only finished this because it was quite short. There is nothing making me to want go back to it. I would only recommend if you are looking for something different than your average Netflix K-drama.
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Love it or hate it
I'll start off by saying I really like this drama, especially with how they used the soundtracks. I'm also a fan of the psychopath/serial killer genre and I like how the "cat and mouse" portions were executed. I just felt letdown by the pacing issues that resulted in some early episodes being a bit of a drag and the last episode a rush to tie up loose ends. Some of the writing wasn't great too, with characters (looking at you, Gi-Eun) making the world's dumbest decisions and putting themselves in harm's way repeatedly. Mok-Won's character also felt really random and underutilized, with the show taking pains to carefully carve out her backstory as a shaman, show her meeting girls in the club etc etc and all that just for her to basically not have an impact on the conclusion at all. Instead, I wished they would have tried to flesh out Fingers and Samantha more, as they had close to 0 screentime yet had a serious part to play in affecting the ending.The acting was amazing, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the female leads are actually rookies. Kim Young Kwang was also excellent and he really embodied the character perfectly. The cinematography was next level and I really liked the arthouse vibe of it. Too often Kdramas devolve into the cliche "slow-mo" while staring at each other type scenes with the cheesy OSTs blaring in the background and I would say this drama stands out among the rest with its cinematography. The creative use of the soundtrack was also fantastic and I'm so glad to be introduced to Schumann's Vogel Als Prophet lol.
This is an extremely polarizing show and you will either love it or hate it. I can see why many have dropped it - plot that meanders aimlessly in the beginning, characters making horribly stupid decisions, excessive sex/nudity scenes, but I would still encourage thriller fans to give this a chance.
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HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL BUT MEH..
The trailer was so well made that it’s probably the best thing about the series. Such a promising storyline with so much potential but ended up being a huge let down.The cinematography and acting was good but that’s it.
I hated the pacing of the story. Weird and unnecessary plot lines that ended up being half baked. Most characters lacked depth (the Shaman? Samantha?) and there was not much character development of the MCs either- like I literally still know nothing about the serial killer. We get a brief flashback of how it started and a mention about potentially being abandoned but nothing else. So how was he before he started his kills?
It’s great that they included a disabled character who’s also a police officer but does she have to be made that dumb? Like, I can’t even..
There was no build up in the MCs’ love story. One moment she’s curious and attracted to him and then almost suddenly they’re deeply madly in love?? Like what?? How?? Felt very superficial..
So many episodes but so much nonsense and a lot of the important parts that should’ve been explored, just left out.
It’s almost like the main point of the story was the unnecessarily prolonged explicit scenes (which btw does not add anything to the story) and the rest are just fillers.
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