Somebody (2022)

Should've watched this on 1.5 speed.

I'm gonna be honest, first episode was great; I had high expectations. But it all went downhill. The pacing was terrible, probably just not my type of pacing but I literally had to skip some parts because it was just a 2 minute long shot of someone's face. The story could've been pretty good, but it wasn't. At some point I didn't know what was going on anymore. Especially the last two episodes, what was going on man. I was so lost and confused but atleast the ending made some sense.

Besides all that, I loved the acting and cast, they did great! I just didn't like most of the characters.

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No depth, just vibes

All right, the story begins with such an interesting premise and it’s an intriguing beginning, but unfortunately the initial episodes are the only bit of excitement you might feel as a viewer and the plot makes sense to an extent because after that, it moves based on how hot and sensual each of the characters are. The drama is wholly explicit, which isn’t a problem if there’s a story backing it but it might just be soft erotica with a romanticised version of a serial killer. The cops in this drama have got to be the stupidest team ever — everything done in the plot is motivated by how sexy the characters can be. Of course the acting is spectacular and so much could have been done with a well written story, but we barely get to see anything but their visuals. I did love the music in this drama though, it set the mood and added to the tension which wouldn’t have existed otherwise. Overall a disappointment, you can still give it a watch as it’s only 8 episodes.

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Something you would not normally enjoy watching but interesting

Clever to come up with the title “Somebody” that was not meant literally.

This was one of those dramas whose imperfection made it to perfection in relation to its artistic sense. If this would be a movie, it could be a good entry to any international film festival. It has a style of narration that leaves the interpretation of the whole story to the viewers.

I had these uncertainties in the early episodes but eventually appreciate it later on. It digests the topic of psychological conditions and the imbalances that lead someone to go astray. The character of Kim Young Kwang wasn’t entirely hateful and I got to pity him in the end. I have this hypothesis that he was ready to change but was not given a chance. His encounter with Kim Sum (with a special condition as well) to whom he developed a sincere affection made him capable of showing mercy to the people closest to her. It was the power of love that held him back to harm them. But that love was not strong enough for Kim Sum to choose him over her friends. Although justice was served, my heart bled for the character of the ML. for he badly needed guidance and love the most in the story.

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Long.

Bro for me when I first watched this show I was interested from the first characters, the murder mystery surrounding Yun-oh and the connection to Sum, I thought I was in for a rollercoaster. HOWEVER as I want went on I realized very easily that this show is going to be longgg. 8 episodes isn't that bad, it's better than most shows. And okay to be fair I dropped the show thinking I wouldn't watch it again after completing 3 episodes because I was very, very bored however I thought of continuing just because I was interested in how it was going to end. The style of the show is fantastic there's a lot of quiet moments and beautiful shots of just Sum but then there's also a lot of boring moments that will make you wonder why you're watching this. I really enjoyed the last minutes of the first episode where Yun-oh is revealed to be a killer. We have some moments between the two which I believe is actually interesting, I don't know why but the dark elements of them being together intrigues me. Obviously this couple is bad, I don't even support it but seeing how the two share the same feelings, being the only ones who feel out of place made me want to see how it would continue. Like why didn't he kill her? Why is he attached to her? YOU KNOW?!? Messed up relationships like theirs is really interesting but then we'd have some unnecessary parts mid way aka the rest of the side characters. Okay cop lady made me so BOREDDDD like girl I know it's for the plot but maybe? Maybe? Next time why did she go by herself in some demolition zone with the guy that legit left her??? Ummm like okay? AND btw we spend like a whole episode with her just being stuck and the boring ritual sorry... LOL I don't even know why??? Then afterwards we move onto where everyone finds out Sum is dating him then idk they just kind of let it??? From episodes 7-8 Yun-oh likes her, like really likes her... And I was kind of surprised- Because I legit thought he would kill her but okay sure understandable I get clinging onto the first person that you like and she did too. Afterwards skip to Yun-oh's backstory which wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be??? Kind of disappointing how it just chucks up to mommy issues and accidentally killing the first woman he meets on the app woopsiesss. Moving on- We get to the last episodes where Sum tricks Yun-oh to get killed with a razor blade to his eye, perfect slice btw, and neck and just like the cat she killed it was to spare both of them. But also um idk in revenge of all the girls he killed I thought his death would be more extreme? However I liked the part where Sum regained her control after being with him. Tbh I thought the actor for Yun-oh was sooooo good, like his scenes were probably the best part of the show, I kind of feel bad for saying this but everyone else was just meh characters to me, like I didn't really cared too much abt them even Sum... Sorry. Overall on the messed up factor I liked it. On the plot- ummmmmmmmmmm it's ight and the acting was alright. I wouldn't sit through this show again and I don't really recommend something like this to anyone who wants something dark. AND THERE WAS SOOOOOOOOO MUCH MISSING POTENTIAL THIS SHOW COULD HAVE BEEN GREAT. Also the hand thing was really weird lol. Overall 6.5 because I really like Yun-oh's actor. Thanks for reading.

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Gritty but ultimately disappointing

Not sure whether this was made to shock more than thrill and have us biting our nails. That's how it turned out for me and the shock wasn't, sadly, in a compelling storyline, but the fact it is very different from the vast majority of K-dramas, with sex, nudity, swearing and sex talk.
Sadly the sex scenes felt too unnatural and gratuitous in several instances.
I found the plot very disjointed and one particular, very vulnerable, character's actions had me losing all sympathy for her situation and totally lost credibility. Utterly stupid decision making.
The Shamen was.... ??? Really, like, what was her purpose.
The police were a waste of space and screen time; inept and utterly useless.
The actions of supporting characters with the aforementioned vulnerable character in some latter episodes, were frankly unbelievable and totally ruined those scenes for me.
By the end, I was not at all surprised at how weirdly it was left.
The cast were very good (only reason this gets a 6 overall from me), but the story could have been so much more.
I would not watch this again.

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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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FAV DRAMA OF 2022

I have been seeing the picture of the drama on Netflix for a while and then one day, decided to give it a try. I wasn't expecting anything when watching the first episode but then I got really intrigued as the episodes passed by. the ML appeared and then I KNEW I would love the drama. I am fond of psychopath / sociopath ML or concept of stalking / obssession (Just as the american serie "YOU").

I absolutely was amazed by the acting of the two protagonists, less by the female police officer. I thought it was really new to see explicit scenes in a Kdrama. I got very much bored of the amount of sex scenes to be honest. I can tell that this drama is not for everyone. I saw in the comments that a lot of people were triggered already by the "cat scene" in the beginning which I understand. I think it's really worth watching the drama even if you do have to skip some scenes for the most sensitives ones.

I loved how raw and real the acting and the atmosphere was. Really had a "Art et essai" vibe and the soundtracks were so great ! I'm looking forward the actress who played Kim Sum (FL) on other dramas. Same for Kim Young-Kwang (ML) who is, in my opinion, one of the best actor playing as an evil protagonist I've seen until here. I didn't know him until "Somebody" so, seeing him acting in "The Secret Life Of My Secretary" was weird to me.

To sum up, the best drama I've watched this year for the realness and darkness of the drama.

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I was left with more questions than answers

Story: At first, I thought that the story was okay, so I kept watching. Maybe everything will come together in the end. At least that’s what I thought. The story was confusing, and it made no sense to me. I am not sure if it had potential, but the execution was bad so we will never know.

The whole execution felt so weird to me. We never found out anything about the Yun O’s past, nothing on what gave him the motivation to start killing people. Also, his mother is mentioned and Gi Eun wanted to find out more about her but then she forgot about it, and she went back to pursuing him even though her life had been in danger twice already and she barely made it out alive. Yun O even broke into her house.

Kim Sum has been taken advantage of by Samantha for so many years now as it is obvious that Samantha only cares about money and success. It feels like she sees people as South Korean Won symbols. She even threatened Yun O that she would expose him to Kim Sum, if he doesn’t stop communicating with Kim Sum because Kim Sum is her income source. It’s not like she has her best interest at heart.

Moreover, another thing that struck me as odd, some of the characters like Samantha for example, have evidence that Yun O is up to no good so instead of calling the police, she just lets him be and continue killing people.

At the end, we see Kim Sum killing Yun O. What happened to his body afterwards? Did the police find him?

I was left with more questions than answers, to be honest. My list of examples is long, but I think I should stop here.

Cast: The acting was tolerable, maybe apart from Kang Hae Lim (Kim Sum) who had to play an autistic person. I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to autism so I will exclude her. Besides, it wasn’t her acting that bothered me the most.

Kim Young Kwang’s acting was mediocre to say the least. What up with those smiles all the time? Those dramatic pauses? If you give people cringey smiles, they will think you're dangerous?
He had the opportunity to show us something when he got upset and broke Somebody in Kim Sum’s garage, I expected some kind of emotion but no.

OST: The OST was okay. It seemed like it was mostly used to give the scenes a dramatic tone.

Overall: I feel like I wasted my time.

Score: 5/10

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Misunderstood

I'n only writing this after reading lots of reviews that bash some of the plot choices they chose to make in the drama. I think the direction of the story and character development is partly misunderstood by most people. I do share some opinions but i want to lay out other possible meanings.

The story feels quite purposely made to be open to interpretation, but it also explains a lot about the characters in a way that it's not directly conveyed, but rather "alluded" unto, and it can easily be missed depending on how you take it. Let's tackle different points.

Yuno's victims: it's easy to question why did his victims ever go to meet a stranger that they knew absolutely nothing about. Yet this does happen in real life. Hell, even i am guilty of this. So it's not that unbelievable. Besides, Yuno might have tried to lure other people that were not shown maybe because his tactics failed and they were smart enough not to pursue him, so they never fell to be his victims. Maybe they only showed us the women he succeeded into luring, and coincidentally, only the women that were lonely and horny enough to take such a risk.

Yuno's backstory: this is most commonly misunderstood as something that was not dwelved into enough, and while it's true, they actually gave us important information during a scene where the bestfriend trio was talking about how mentally deranged individuals work. They talked about childhood trauma being closely connected to one's mental health and such, but they also said that some people just never want to change, be it traumatic childhood or not. This could very well be our peak into Yuno's past. We know his mother abandoned him, but that can be the reason he became a sociopath as well as a fruitless detail, as we know too little to establish if it was traumatic enough. Maybe Yuno was born with sociopathic tendencies that were only accelerated by certain things happening such as his mother's abandonment, or the first time he's shown killing a woman by choking her during sex. Maybe his mom abandoned him exactly because she feared being around her son, so it was not a trauma induced disorder at all. Or maybe his mom (or dad) absolutely abused the shit out of him and they made him be what he is (was) today. Could be any of these.

Gieun: this is the one thing i agree with as her being dumb asf. I just kept forgetting that she was a cop because she made choices so dumb i hardly believe anyone would make, let alone a cop, such as the second encounter with Yuno. She really thought she did something when she showed up the second time alone in her scary wheelchair, ready to confront the very same FLEXIBLE man that let her out to die. Great thinking. I couldn't empathize with her.

Shaman lesbian: while i get that that was thrown into the plot randomly, i feel like it adds to the realism of the show. It shows that people have unconventional upbringings, it makes it feel less "planned", if it makes sense? Just like real people. She goes out clubbing, she goes with many women, she is dedicated to her shaman lifestyle be it for family reasons or whatev, that's fine. This is a character that has a life outside of her usefulness to the main story. That alone deepens her character. I felt like the very fact that she was a lesbian but opposingly also a shaman, showed her character well.

Besides these misunderstood points, i can only criticize some of the dialogue. I get it - it's made to be driven by silence. Subtlety in the acting, in their expressions. Even selfinterpretation. But sometimes i feel like they overdid this side, only to take a lot from the dialogue, leaving it almost superficial and nonsensical at times.

But again, this can also be interpreted as it being intentional. Yuno and Kim Sum fell in love not over talking for hours and hours about all kinds of things, but over saying only what is necessary, and most importantly, they fell in love over recognizing their similarities and shared needs. They needed each other for what they lacked and what they had. They needed each other because they were both alone, because they were both misunderstood by the rest of the world. It's something deeper than saying "its unrealistic how they fell in love, they barely even talked."

Overall, i think this was a fine drama. The actors showed impeccable acting, as the acting was what held this drama up. The ost had some memorable moments for me, like when they played that beautiful cover of Scarborough fair. I liked how they managed to fit that song into a sadder, more grim rendition.
My score is not a 10 because of the poor dialogue in certain parts (where it was needed) and the weird ass blunder by Gieun. And also because i did not think it was THAT great of a story.

Thank you for reading my take on it.

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Subjectively dreadful

This review is not a synopsis of the storyline, but rather a rant about the cinematography.

While I personally found the story itself interesting, and the characters initially intriguing, the whole show was awfully produced. From unnecessarily long, one-cut scenes (imagine a regular show where a scene sometimes feels long-winded, slow and awkward, then multiply that by 10) and a lot of silent, eventually extremely boring moments, each episode became exceedingly more dreadful. I understand the producers were attempting to create an eery, uncomfortable feeling with this, but they dragged each scene on for a lot longer than needed. This type of cinematography might be perfect to some (few) people, but I would argue the average person would lose interest rather quick and find it annoying.

I found myself yawning a lot and skipping 2-3 minutes every time there was a sex scene or emotional scene, because basically nothing was said or done for most of the duration that could not be summarised in the first 10 seconds. It's not that it even made me feel awkward (which it did), it just felt so insanely and dreadfully boring.

The show had so much potential and the two main characters were well-written, although sometimes irrational and confusing (I assume that's what psychopaths are like and the producer wanted to convey that). I feel it's a shame it got butchered by an awful attempt at being different and "edgy".

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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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