Two Shows for the Price of One
This is a very interesting little show that's hard to talk about or recommend. The main issue is that the first five episodes are one type of show, and then the sixth and final episode takes a turn and does a completely different type of story. In a way, it does conclude the plot elements that have been introduced, but by going off in such a weird direction, it doesn't feel like a real conclusion. It ends up like some kind of fever dream that is unsatisfying as an end to the story, but the story up to that point was really interesting. And the show is well made overall. So it's tough.The first five episodes are a cop drama with a supernatural element - the main character's ability to see the line connecting people who have had sex. There are also glasses that give this ability to anyone, and Somebody is secretly giving those glasses to various people. The glasses also seem to have an addictive and corrupting influence on the person wearing them. Ultimately, people knowing these details about others leads to a lot of murder and death, one way or another.
The really fun part is when the detective finally gets the glasses and starts using the information they provide to solve a crime. It's neat because the red line in an inarguable fact, but the facts can be misleading, and he still has to dig further to find the truth. The cases that come up are all generally interesting and engaging. I also want to give huge props for story structure here, because the main girl's plot integrates nicely with these anthology cases. It's very well done for the first five episodes.
The sixth episode is completely different. It takes a full-on supernatural turn. We've had the supernatural involved from the beginning with the power to see the red lines, but usually in a real-world setting with a fantasy element, you would introduce all your magic in the beginning and then that's where it stops. The rest should function like the real world does. The sixth episode apparently breaks that rule, although it's hard to be sure because it just gets very trippy and surreal and I'm not 100% sure how I was supposed to interpret all that. We seem to have an afterlife/parallel dimension, a demon (?), and ghosts or something, maybe? It's all very different.
The sixth episode also seems to introduce a new supernatural rule that it doesn't then follow through with, which I can't go into detail on without spoilers. And the whole thing tries to leave an open ending, but it's a pointless addition as far as I can tell.
It's conceivable that the sixth episode could have gone off in a very magical direction and yet done it successfully in a way that made the ending satisfying - I'm not sure how, but I'm willing to admit that it might have been possible to do that. I do not think the sixth episode actually did succeed, though. I would have preferred an ending that stayed grounded in the real world like the previous five episode did. Our nemesis could have just been a murderer, not a demon (or whatever she is).
So it's hard to recommend. I can't even say, "Just watch the first five episodes and skip the sixth" because then there just isn't any ending at all if you do that. I guess all I can say is that it's only six episodes, it's well made, the first five are very interesting, but just be prepared for an LSD nightmare of an ending.
Honestly, I watched it for Lee Soo Hyuk, so I got what I came here for.
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