latteholic

He likely died from hitting his head on the bathroom floor after passing out from being drugged.

I personally enjoyed this one and found the concept really fascinating. Sure, it could've fleshed out a few things and offered a more conclusive ending, but I think the plot and characters give you enough to interpret without spelling everything out. It feels like an art film stretched into a series (quiet, ambiguous, open-ended). Not everything lands, but if you enjoy subtle storytelling and room for interpretation, it's worth watching.

Ooo... Looking forward to Twelve! Can't wait to see Ma Dong Seok punching evil in the face with his cosmic fist.
Also Mary Kills People has interesting premise and I live for complicated women, moral ambiguity, and that flavor of "I'm doing something deeply illegal but also maybe right???"

Ngl. That title had me thinking something happened to Hyun Bun for a sec.

I found it pretty silly that both Oh Ji Hoon and Park Jung Je were treated as suspects. Park Jung Je was even put in a holding cell, despite the fact that the police should have known that Kang Ji Mook was the last person to see Min Jung alive. Ji Hoon arrived at the shop later, and Ji Mook specifically told him that Min Jung is sleeping and won’t be joining the get-together. This happened after Ji Hoon saw Min Jung with Park Jung Je/stalking her, meaning Park Jung Je was clearly not the last person to see her still alive. It’s Kang Ji Mook.

On top of that, both Ji Hoon and Jung Je had reason to believe that Min Jung got home safely. Jung Je literally saw her go in the direction of her house, and Ji Hoon confirmed it later with Ji Mook when he stopped by. So it’s odd that everyone was acting like no one saw her after she left the police station.

I’ve been really enjoying this drama so far. The directing and acting are impeccable. The writing is quite solid too. I esp love how the layers of each character are gradually being revealed. That said, I do think the writer dropped the ball on the procedural aspects around ep 6 and 7. More on that in the spoiler below.

I think I finally found the Candy of male lead character.... lol.

Loved the dynamic between Choi Woo Sik and Jo Jin Woong, it had this layered, almost familial quality that added a lot of heart to the story. The mystery itself was solid, not mind-blowing, but compelling enough to hold my attention. I was a bit let down that Park Hee Son didn’t get more screen time, he’s always great, and his role felt underused here.

Also, I think the plot was clear if you’re paying attention (and watching with a good sub). There’s a scene that explains the money situation pretty directly, so I’m not sure where the confusion is coming from. Overall 7/10.

well, I did think about it, and it actually shows how hard it is to fight a system like that (run by a massive global organization with unlimited resources and airtight secrecy). It’s not about flashy takedowns or overnight wins. The resistance was always going to be slow, painful, and built on small cracks in the armor, like forcing them to do what I mentioned in the spoiler. That's not nothing.

Agree. I thought it was clear from the show that everyone who didn’t return is assumed to be dead, including 246 (and no one even asks about him?). That’s why it’s so messed up that only Gi-hun was brought back alive. They were trying to break him with survivor’s guilt, the weight of being the leader of the revolution that caused the death of tens of people including his best friend, and maybe even 001, at least from his perspective at the time.

But season 1 was like that too. The tug of war was essentially one group killing another for survival, just like the hide and seek game. And during the glass bridge scene, the villain was literally killing people by forcing them to go first to test which panels were safe, or throwing them off if they hesitated.

iirc, it was mentioned in Season 1 that the games happen globally. One of the VIPs said Korea’s Squid Game was the best, which implies there are other versions in different countries. So honestly, even without Seasons 2 and 3, they could have created spin offs set in those other countries.

It did feel like a meandering subplot, but I wouldn't say it was pointless. The detective called the coast guard to rescue 246 and the mercenary leader, which brought the coast guard close enough to the venue and forced the Frontman to destroy the whole place to cover it up. That disruption means the game can’t be held in Korea again anytime soon, not until they find a new secret location and rebuild everything.

what triggered the game being shut down in Korea for a while, until they could find a new venue and a new recruiter to start it up again.

I agree the cop storyline felt meandering, but it's....

This was a fun and engaging 12 episode watch with an interesting story, well paced weekly cases, and plot twists that mostly landed, though a bit more foreshadowing would have made them feel more earned.

I liked that the ending didn’t rush to wrap things up in the last 5 minutes like many other dramas, but instead giving time for the aftermath to settle. The characters are likeable, the villains are convincingly awful with occasional nuance, and the procedural side was handled well. While the crime team outside the main cast is still portrayed as somewhat incompetent, their failures felt more grounded rather than just there to make the leads look good.

My only (very minor) gripe is that the actresses playing the two female officers didn’t quite look physically prepared for their roles. As someone who really loves strong female characters, I would have appreciated either a more visibly trained look (something like Lee Si Young in Sweet Home) or at least more effort/struggles shown in the choreography to make those scenes taking down bulky criminal guys more convincing.

cmiiw, but I don’t think the show ever said that evil spirits just cease to exist. Even when Yeo Ri summoned the Grim Reaper, it was to forcefully send the eight feet spirit to the Ten Courts of Hell. Every spirit still has to face judgment there for what they did both while they were alive and after death.

Bibi wasn’t swallowed by the eight-feet spirit. He was a deity, so he simply vanished after the eight-feet spirit consumed his pearl.

Btw, I also loved the scene where the Queen Dowager apologized to the female water ghost for her son’s wrongdoing, it was such a quiet but powerful moment. And how the water ghost didn't want to move on to the afterlife yet because she still wanted to hang out with Yeo Ri.

The 8-feet spirit is made up not just of the soldier, but also the souls of the villagers, as shown in the funeral rites scene. They weren't ascending to heaven but moving on to the afterlife, where they'll face judgment in the Ten Courts of Hell.

It's implied that because Gang Cheol sacrificed himself to save the humans (and breaking the cycle he helped create by choosing to ascend a hundred years ago), the Jade Emperor gave him a choice: either ascend to heaven as a dragon or stay among humans (with his imoogi powers intact). Personally, I think it might’ve been more thematically powerful if the choice had been to live as a regular human instead. But then again, we wouldn’t have gotten that scene of the blind shaman getting struck by lightning multiple times.

I did want to see Yeo Ri take down the eight-feet spirit too, but I think it would’ve felt a bit unsatisfying. The drama didn’t build up the worldbuilding enough around how she could summon the grim reaper, esp since the spirit was made of the villagers’ souls, and she would’ve needed to identify each one. They kept saying it could kill her, but I wish we’d seen more of the mechanics, because the scene was visually so cool.

Narratively though, I think it had to be Gang Cheol in the final showdown. The curse began when he chose to ascend instead of helping the villagers. Yes, the king was selfish, but Gang Cheol admitted he could’ve saved them. That’s why he was stuck for 100 years among the humans. The flowers that finally bloomed after 100 years, him having the the pearl that can calm the spirit and send them to the afterlife, how the soldier said that he was angry at the deities for not helping the villagers, it all pointed to him completing the circle. His sacrifice felt like the only ending that really closed that loop.