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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