Consistently excellent writing and acting
There aren't separate criteria for story and writing and this drama is where there isn't a very dramatic plot but the script quality is so much better and more consistent than most that it really deserves highlighting. So much do that it drive me to write a review. The ending works as well. While much credit must go the the original story it was based on, keeping it up through 16 episodes of drama shows very strong writing talent. This mostly covers realistic relationships rather than drama fantasy relationship dynamics.The acting quality in the large cast ensemble is very very good and some support roles allowed talent to shine. Kang Gi Doong is an actor I'd seen in other dramas but hadn't realised how very versatile a range he has or how talented in comic scenes until this. All the main roles were excellently portrayed. The romantic leads all have tons of charisma and it was impossible not to fall for them.
It seems unfair not to mention Jo Han Chul, Kim Tae Woo, Kim Yoo Mi, and Kim Sun Young all of whom are excellent. One reason I love Korean dramas is the number of good real parts for actors over 40 even when the main roles and audience is a younger demographic. Society is multigenerational in a way UK and US tv rarely depicts.
It is wrenching to see the unintended impacts of some aspects of Korean workplace culture on those, most often women, who have taken career breaks. What a waste of talent and skills for society as well as so harmful for the individuals affected.
The publishing industry was displayed well - that was rather more romanticised but some harsh realities were depicted too.
There was a near miss non-consensual moment that I felt uncomfortable with. I'm not usually very keen on, "I know your feelings better than you do yourself" because it is usually a toxic and dangerous misreading but in this cosy watch and given the relationship concerned it was justifiable.
I will happily rewatch and be enchanted by this (including the sweet end credits text that changes each episode) again.
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The flaws aren't the performances
The writers of this clearly had ideas but didn't handle them well. The confusing or irritating elements were further muddled by editing and quite likely also by some director decisions.Allowing for the plot-linked changes, there were major failings on basic consistency within each character and their having credible rationales and actions for what they did. Bad psychology. Jung Sa Bin most frequently came over as worryingly erratic and irrational in her behaviour and that undermined the narrative credibility really badly. That's on the writers, not the actress. While Choi Dae Chul was given a largely more credible path for Seo Tae Ha, there was a jarring change in a relationship with a main character in the final episodes where the writer's made his character's reaction to it an unbelievably full u-turn. Kim Hee Jung was also given a character whose scripted behaviour broke suspension of disbelief for me.
The script had some clanging contradictions (mob lackey going to kill a female car passenger when later reveal is that mob has a rule against targeting any women) and some very heavy handed moments despite some really well-written scenes. Painful inconsistency letting the whole thing down. There was a lot of frustration even with apparently overlooked consistency issues that were eventually addressed, as it left the viewer grated by the internal inconsistency too long so the respinse to the good bits was too polluted.
That's a real shame because this show was aiming for a lot of subtlety (in performance and script) and when it got that right it was beautiful. I liked the camera work a lot too and the soundtrack was a perfect fit.
Jang Ki Yong did what was possible with a difficult character who seemed almost designed by the writers for long periods from episode 5 on to disengage viewers. One major change to the reborn person lacked any explanation.
Jin Se Yeon delivered as well as anyone coukd have with what they gave her. A pity for the actress that she was given a mess.
Lee Soo Hyuk was very well cast and his performance was very well judged and executed, though a few of the lines he was given were a jarringly bad fit for the character or just made no sense. There was one whole long scene that really made my blood boil because they'd written themselves into a corner giving him so few people he could be shown to discuss his inner feelings with so Kim Soo Hyuk behaved with brutal insensitivity and undeserved cruelty in a massive breach of relationship etiquette that seemed really out if character and repellent. Dishonourable. I was outraged on behalf of the other party, who to Kim Soo Hyuk's knowledge was entirely innocent of fault.
Lee Seo El had a character written with little subtlety in behavious or character, which stood out compared to the rest. I can't judge her oerformance because I can't decide what was writing or direction and what the actress brought to it.
Kim Jung Nan had an good role and did well with it, as did Choi Kwang Il. Some of their one-on-one conversations with a main character were really well scripted and captivatingly well played by eveyone in the scene, making them high points for me.
Jang Won Young gave a good performance in another of the support roles.
Jung Sa Bin's social circle wasn't given a lot of screen time or plot to work with and always seemed oddly peripheral to her life, including not being called in fast or often when she was taken sick, leaving the live interests most oriminent in hospitals.
The child actors were pretty solid, though the stand out for me was Lee Joo Won in the early episodes.
I have a very major problem with a non-consensual kiss forced on an unconscious character who has made their lack of romantic interest in the kisser very clear at that point.
There is one emotionally wrenching scene played out at a graveside where someone has just been laid peacefully to rest that made me furious - that scene could have been played out exactly like that but with just a cut to even a very slight change in location (even eithin the graveyard) rather than as an (in the context) desecration of the peace of the dead.
I watched to the end but those who decided episode 4 or episode 20 were good stopping points made valid choices.
The final episode should arguably have ended as elevator doors shut on a scene - what followed that point was no improvement. If you priceed further, I strongly advise against watching the very brief Epilogue right at the end which is a hot mess with no redeeming features.
My favourite moments included a beautiful proposal but the standout memories for me are actually two really unique scenes one just a tiny moment) between Kim Soo Hyuk and Jung Sung Eun.
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History of police detection excellent. Not a thriller.
A great dramatisation without being insensitively sensationalist and dramatic about traumatic real world history.Great cast. Very well acted.
Good script, however I see why some were thrown by the pacing and some of the choices. It isn't a thriller nor an action movie. It is a window onto bits of history and the slog work that produced culture change and results to produce a new policing era where profilers became an accepted widely-used investigation essential.
It also reflects (for me) not that wealthy societies produce serial killers but that wealthy societies have the resources, record-keeping, and nurturing of new talent to start noticing patterns that betray the activities of the such killers.
The true crime book it is based on seems not to have been glammed up for the screen, so it lacks the kind of pacing, thrills and character arcs that screenwriters inject by altering the history. Though I'm sure there was a fair amount of tidying and adaptation done (I'm not sure the book it was based on is even available in translation.) Those expecting a thriller or even a police procedural wouldn't find that here.
There was an odd set of editorial lapses in
episodes 6 and 7 with messy chronology so bad that I considered dropping it if they didn't stop. They stopped. The rest of the series didn't suffer from that and the last few episodes were very satisfying.
Possibly my favourite Kim Nam Gil performance because it showed his excellence - consistent restraint and subtlety, in contrast to the many roles where his charm and comedic talents sweep his audience off their feet. Kim So Jin gave a strong, tight performance - I loved the gradual change in the professional relationship without changing the character. Jin Seon Kyu, the ever-watchable Kim Won Hae, Lee Dae Yeon, and engaging Gong Sung Ha form a strong ensemble. I can't fault the acting of any of the main police team, or the cast in the many non-police roles.
Aside from some moments in the first episodes, there is a refreshing lack of sexing-up the crimes, which fits with the ethical consuderations around the investigations. It is far better than Criminal Minds and Mindhunters in those respects but those comparing it with those shows are making a mistake - the tone and much of the story focus is entirely different. Criminal Minds was abandoned by Mandy Patinkin for very sound reasons - serial killing as entertainment disgusted him - I think he'd approve of this show for being more what he thought he was getting into. (I admit I'm guilty of watching many CM seasons because I loved the team .) Mindhunters had a lot more merit and it was certainly interesting seeing some of the same prejuduces against innovation being fought in Korea decades later but the Federal structure, investment, cultural and period differences were an entirely different context. The fight to to develop and show the value of profiling in crime prevention and capturing perpetrators is something this shares with Mindhunter but the details are all so very different.
I have seen some criticisms highlighting that the co-workers don't follow the common show pattern of becoming a close found-family who socialise a lot together. While I accept that as a convention in entertainment media, that isn't what most workers find in their employment. Certainly not in the UK and I suspect not in Korea; there'd be far less loneliness in the world if that was a real norm.
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