He Is Psychometric (2019)

Crime/mystery/psychological drama with a bit of comic relief on the side

I love this one. Story started off some kind of highschool love story with a touch of paranormal.

Then it turned into a crime/mystery/psychological drama with a of comic relief on the side. At first i thought there's not much on screen chemistry between the ML and the FL. But as the story progresses, I grew attached to the characters.

I also like that part that the FL was not just a pretty face. Yes she was bruised by the experiences she had while she was still young, but she was never weak or too broken..

Same with the ML who also had a rough childhood. A little rough around the edges but he still managed to be a young man with a good moral structure.

With sixteen episodes, the writers managed to give almost everyone a good backstory. Showing viewers who's who or what happened to the characters development. And oh, it has a happy ending. So, I'm happy. Good story, good actors, good OST..

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A mixed bag in the end . . .

The strengths of the show are the endearing two main leads and the fact that being a pyschometric is not an easy fix. Crimes can be complicated - seeing one piece doesn't mean you have the truth.

The mood of the show, however, changes dramatically between the first half and the second half. The first half is 'two young people solving mysteries and falling in love' and the second half is 'can you catch a psychopath before he kills more people.'

It also looses steam. Ultimately, at about episode 12, I just wanted it to be over. Something that could be wrapped up in one more episode took another 4 to finish.

I grade on other criteria as well:

Complex Themes -7
I enjoyed the three main themes. They were unique though only covered shallowly and easily covered in 1 - 2 episodes: 1) just because you 'know' a part of something don't presume you know it all - there often are no easy explanations solutions/fixes 2) it is a societal/community problem if the police are corrupt, and violent men are allowed to terrorize families. 3) if you try, you are capable of change - you are not a prisoner to the circumstances of your birth
Character Growth -6
While one of the themes is character growth, character growth isn't shown much on screen. We are told of changes but not really shown them.
Nuanced Women -7.5
There are strong interesting career women in the show, as well as female family members and friends. They were not complicated, intriguing or central to the plot. But it was refreshing to see so many female-female relationships given screen time.
Cinematography/Production Values - 7.5
Competent, but not particularly creative or interesting. There were a couple of group fight scenes that were stylishly done.

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This is just an average show. The plot is good and the twist at the end is also good, but there are elements in the drama that made me feel like I didn't care what happened. The female lead was not a good fit..she didn't seem to be able to keep up with the rest of the cast in acting and there was very little chemistry between her and Jinyoung. The pacing is also slow at times..I started to skip watch by episode 10 and didn't really miss a lot. This could have been much better with a fewer episodes.
I also think that shows like 'Just between lovers' and 'Healer' handled storylines of dark past and interconnected secrets way better than this show did.

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I watched until episode 11 -- then I struggled for one-and-a-half years to even pick it up again. I finally managed to work my way through the last episodes in the course of another six months.

One main reason for this is the main male character, Lee Ahn, who I thoroughly disliked. He is cocky and self-assured without having any abilities to support it -- and it feels that he thinks it's enough that he is himself and has this psychometry to be allowed to flaunt rules.

Another is the romance, which felt forced and superfluous. Is it not enough to share the same traumatic childhood exerience? To have the same goal? Why does it have to be romance, when partners and eventual friends would have made enough sense?
I did not feel any sexual or romantic attraction between them. For the longest time, Jae In seemed to be more annoyed than romantically interested.
They wouldn't do a romance arc if the young people had the same gender, so why force this into a good mystery?

Because the mystery plot was quite good otherwise -- the storyline of the dangerous stranger whose identity is slowly revealed and how he connects to the mysterious Kang Seong Mo was delightfully muddied by the storyline about corporate fraud.
It seemed that we knew everything already in episodes 11 to 13 or so (which is also part of why I had trouble continuing at that point) -- but then there's a surprising plot twist!
(The story telling though was a bit too slow in the last episodes.)

Kang Seong Mo was by far the most interesting character, and his actor subtly portrayed his emotions -- emotionless robot, even though it seems to the other characters, he is not. Without him, I would probably not have made it through the drama.

An honourable mention for Jae In -- one of the few female characters in a drama who can hold her own -- yes, she "needs" to be saved by the male lead at least once, but other than that, she is indispensible to the plot, and actually more competent than Lee Ahn.

Overall, it's not bad -- just not something I liked. If you don't mind romance in your mysteries, cocky male characters and slow pacing, then it might be for you.

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As an Ahgase ,the first one im attracted to is Jin Young . Im a fan of his vocals and now his acting . The character that is portrayed by him is super exciting and he performed well since the very first episode where he is portrayed as a rebel student .

The story itself is too deep and has a lot of hidden meanings . Regardless of how hard people try to help you , you shouldn’t believe that particular person too deeply . I literally cried at the ending episodes when the real villain is revealed . The storyline and plot since ep 1 is interesting and it gets even thrilling towards the end . The chemistry between the lead characters are so strong and it really works so good job to them

In terms of casting , all of the actors and actress did a splendid job indeed . All of them were immersed into their characters which makes us immersed into the story as well . The pain , tears , happiness and etc could be feel by the viewers as well

This is a roller coster series which you can find your emotions mixed and you will feel addicted ever since ep 1 . Thus , I am really suggesting everyone to watch the series and enjoy and rate them . They did a great job and they deserve that

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Good one ,this drama is litter similar to come and hug me ,story line is different but the trauma the characters were faced in their respective drama is slightly same and because of it some became criminal and some become victim having lots of regrets but at the end they just keep on going with the smile face and waiting for the memories to be fade with the time.
I like all the characters their story line , one thing make me sad that the second lead actress story come to end ,I thought they both will end up with the love story and all the time I am waiting for it as well ,secondly I thought there may be love triangle but the way both the 2nd lead characters story come to end that make me sad .Rest all is good about the drama . There is no funny moment in the drama ,It is a murder mystery drama with lots of sad emotions but sweet love story.

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It’s so-so

As a fan of thriller mystery dramas this show for me is 7/10. The plot is good and the acting is decent but the twist is kinda predictable in my opinion. The repeated flashbacks are sometimes unnecessary to the episodes but overall it’s an okay drama. The standout actor to me is the hyung, it was hard to figure out if he’s in the good or bad side and I think that’s a good thing when you watch a mystery drama. The characters being mysterious adds thrill to the plot. For the music, it’s so-so, not in the line of OSTs that you would want to add to your playlist like other soundtracks.

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Great Show

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Cho Byeong-kyu: guru of limping characters

Adorable orphan himbo with uncomfortable superpower meets smart, confident girl on a quest to clear her father's name.
This is basically the core character dynamic of this drama. We also get the unfailingly entertaining big brother/little brother/unconventional found family combo that always seals the deal for me.
He is Psychometric manages to go even beyond the excellent weaving of relationships among interesting characters and builds upon a comfortably intricate plot.

There are only two downsides in this otherwise outstanding drama.
First and foremost, it is notably lacking in the suspense department for a thriller. We come to expect every turning point of the plot (except for the main one that is, however, given out with 3 episodes of not-so-subtle hints before the final revelation) because it is foreshadowed clearly just before its occurrence.
The story itself remains engaging nonetheless, it is just not very thrilling.

My second criticism is about the choice of founding much of the plot resolution on a (M. Night)Shyamalan type of twist. It is a cool gimmick but decreases, inevitably, the whole drama rewatchability.
These are the main drawbacks in terms of screenplay, but I don't think they affect much the drama's overall enjoyable vibe. The cast, in fact, makes a very fine job in drawing the viewer's attention.

My favorite character is Kang Sung-mo, which is played by the impressive Kim Kwon. He is a new entry in my kdrama hotties' Olympus as I don't think I've encountered him in my previous viewings.
His character is definitely the most complex as he undergoes a progressive humanization throughout the story. Starting from an inscrutable, rational, super-human (as in "very-little-like the humans we know") upstanding hero (on the metaphorical pedestal of a rooftop apartment) that functions almost like a deus-ex-machina for the young protagonists, he descends all the way to the underworld (the subway abandoned station, the underground prison) becoming the irrational, sub-human executioner driven by the need for survival, protection and revenge.
Although a diagnosis of alexithymia makes everybody question his ability to feel emotions, we are often reminded that being unable to express emotions is indeed different from being unable to feel them.

Park Jin-young is fairly convincing as the warmhearted himbo. His Lee Ahn is cute and endearing and does a great job of lightening the tone even when the story grows darker. The character also serves as a counterpoint to Sung-mo, in many ways. For example, where a teenager Sung-Mo made a terrible choice (he regretted soon after) because he felt trapped in the absence of trusted adult guidance, teenager Ahn was able to turn his life around and overcome his anger (thanks to the guidance of the very same Sung-Mo).
Shin Ye-eun also does a decent job, although she isn't particularly brilliant. I think the main couple has the highest romantic tension in the high school episodes and it mellows out later on. The actors have chemistry, but it feels friendly in nature more than romantic. I think it is a writing choice resulting from the intention of focusing more on other plot points and themes. In this respect, the brief moment of angst between the main couple was a bit useless and felt perfunctory.
The second couple is much more entertaining, in my opinion.

When reaching the end of this drama someone might think the writer is implying that a bad seed is a bad seed and it is impossible to transcend genes and conditioning.
Both father and son seem to be condemned to the same fate of isolation from society. They are both behind bars, yet there is a fundamental difference in their confinement. Whilst the father is sentenced to never leaving those bars, not even the invisible ones tying him to his horrific childhood, Sung-mo is instead finally allowed to escape the prison of his past through atonement. I loved the fact that despite the terrible murders he committed, the writer didn't opt for an unredeemed suicide and instead told us that the hardest choice is asking for forgiveness and living to atone for the hurt caused.
It is a very Christian solution and, in fact, there are explicit Christian references all throughout the drama as it is also apparent with the theme of forgiveness that recurs in the relationship dynamics of the characters every so often.
The writer makes another important point by including a reflection on collective responsibility. The monsters in her story are the product of a faulty and corrupted society.

I believe there is also a theme of disgust: people picking their nose and leaving boogers under the desk, people eating things found on the floor, people touching corpses, people pulling nose hairs and flicking them in other people's faces and ongoing talks of festering wounds. Is it because human condition is inherently execrable? Who knows? I don't.

I really liked the visual representation of psychometry although it didn't make much sense with the shifting POVs (does Ahn see things from hi POV, does he see them from the object POV? It varies).

The title of the review refers to the fact that it is funny (only to me) to see Cho Byeong-kyu limping again after watching the Uncanny Counter (albeit chronologically speaking HIP comes first).

Female Empowerment Score 4/5 we had to sacrifice the female detective to convince men to take responsibility for their actions. On the other hand, I love the natural comradery, the girl friendships. I also love that the women in this drama are smart and don't wait around to be saved but, instead, become the hero they need.

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