Catch the Ghost (2019)

What I loved: The main couple, and the other subway cops.

What I liked: The case-of-the-week format.

What I was meh about: The main plot. It was draggy in the middle, but kept me engaged in early and late episodes.

What I hated: Ha Ma Ri, the metro police in general (they're terrible at their jobs).

The driving force of this drama, for me, has been the personal stories of Go Ji Suk and Yoo Ryung. Both of them are very warm-hearted people who have had to take care of their disabled loved ones all on their own, so they both have experienced a lot of suffering. The case-of-the-week format worked for me as well, with each case having Ji Suk warming to Ryung's style of doing things more and more, as he comes to understand her drive to save people.

The main plot is admittedly weak, because the police seem ridiculously incompetent at finding clues to the Subway Ghost case. The way it's written, without Ryung's help they would never have figured out who the killer was. Lieutenant Ha Ma Ri is lousy at her job, because chooses to be a hateful bitch rather than be a good detective. Ma Ri ignores Ryung's pleas to investigate her sister's disappearance, as well as her theory that the killer used the subway tunnels. She also finds every opportunity to verbally spite Ryung and put her down because Ji Suk falls for Ryung instead of coming back to HER. Ma Ri could have been a great character, but instead she's just plain hateful, an incompetent detective with an inferiority complex.

I like this drama a lot, despite its issues. Some of the lines, like Ryung saying it was her sister's fault (if you've seen it you know what I'm talking about), made no sense at all, and irritated me because it had been established that due to her sister's Autism, her mental state was about the level of a two year old. How can a two year old be to blame for what happened? I can understand why the villain blamed her – he was out of his senses with grief and anger – but I don't understand why anyone else would blame her.
But 90% of the time I really enjoyed watching this drama. So I will recommend it to those who are a fan of slow-burn love stories that have a lot of spark, because the chemistry between Moon Geun Young (Yoo Ryung) and Kim Sun Ho (Go Ji Suk) is amazing in this drama.

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For starters, I am very picky with my dramas and I'm hardly able to sit through most of them if they don't have my fancy. However I do checkout a lot of new dramas and when I read the story and cast for Catch the Ghost, I immediately knew I would binge watch the whole show in a few days. And that is exactly what happened lmao. I waited for the show to be completely aired so that i could watch it in one go but couldn't help myself so I started watching it when only 2 eps were left to be aired in Korea. Somehow I still ended up having to wait for the last two eps as I watched the 14 eps in 2 days. The wait killed me...
Now for my review-
So the things I absolutely love about this drama:

Acting: Kim Seon Ho and Moon Geun Young!
I was so happy with both of their performances. Kim Seon Ho is such a good actor and he had my fancy ever since I saw his mini drama called You drive me crazy (another amazing drama) and he did complete justice to his character of a man who always tries to stay out of trouble, but finds his sense of duty after meeting Yoo Ryung.
Do I even need to say anything about one of Koreas most prestigious and critically acclaimed actress's, Moon Geun Young. She plays both Yoo Ryung and Yoo Jin really well and sometimes you'd feel like theyre actually being played by different actresses because of her versatility in both roles. The chemistry between KSH and MGY both in reel and real life is out of the charts for me, I had a LOT of butterflies, however dont expect a lot of skinship because there ISN'T a lot. (Side note: watch their interviews and the BTS of the drama, they're really cute uwu) The other subway officers are hilarious too. The "villains" acted well too and had us fooled for a good amount of time.

Story: For me the writing did get a little shabby at times and was sometimes stretched, but i find that to be the case for most investigative dramas. Catch the ghost is a breath of fresh air in terms of crime and investigative dramas as humour is also a huge part of it. Even if you're not impressed by the story, you'll forgive it as the humour makes up for it and doesn't leave you bored at any point. There are a lot of twists and turns so it's never monotonous at any point. The drama is very gripping towards the beginning and the end, although the few eps in the middle feel a little dragged

Music: The ost's are pretty good although none of them leave a huge impact on you. In saying this I dont mean theyre not good songs, I have a few of them in my music playlists too, for a matter of fact. The bgm isnt over the top which is also good.

Rewatch value: I would watch it again but maybe not for the story as the cats already out of the bag and I know the killer, but for the acting, humour and the chemistry between the leads.

Things I didnt like too much: The side characters like Ma Ri, Woo Hyuk and Won Chul (the PR rep of police) never caught my interest and were really good at making me annoyed. I didn't care for Ma Ri and her side story and was not able to sympathise with her. Sometimes, the characters did really stupid things and had the suspects escape multiple times becuase of their foolishness, which was very annoying. The metro team in general was so incompetent and it seemed like they were only able to crack the case because of Yoo Ryung. In the 2 years they solved the subway ghost case, they didnt have ANY strong leads and quite frankly did absolutely nothing towards the case, while the subway team solved it in just a week...

But overall I will recommend it to anyone looking for something entertaining with good acting and a new story. 9.5/10

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An Enjoyable Way to Pass the Time

A fun romance/crime drama that managed to keep me entertained for its 16-hour run time. It's certainly not groundbreaking but then again, it's not trying to be.

- 3 Pros -

1) The Couple
A strong couple is exactly what this drama needed and, luckily, the writers and the cast managed to deliver just that. Whilst they keep things relatively lowkey (there's no sweeping grand gestures or slow-mo gazing into each other's eyes), their chemistry is palpable in every scene they're in and the relationship itself develops in a way that feels sweet, natural, and surprisingly mature. It is very much a relationship of equals and, by the end of the drama, you can tell that their love for each other is rooted in mutual trust and respect. I feel it's still quite rare to see a truly healthy relationship in the k-drama world so it's nice to see Newbie and Chief Ko develop one that feels so normal.

2) The OST
A good OST adds another layer of colour and emotion any scene it's in and there are certainly a few of those in Catch the Ghost. Particularly memorable are Woosung's (The Rose) Feel My Heart, Roh Tae Hyun's Highlight, and ABRY's Wanted. They're on the more upbeat side and they normally made me smile and start humming along when they started playing (Feel My Heart Being an exception).

3) The Representation
Whilst Catch the Ghost isn't a particularly deep drama, I do appreciate its decision to tackle subjects like ASD and dementia. I thought both strands were relatively well handled (given SK's reluctance to address issues like mental health and neurological conditions) and I liked that the characters were allowed to be more than just comic relief.

- 3 Cons -

1) The Plot
The plot itself is really not that strong, especially with regards to the main crime. The pacing is bizarre at points (some key information gets revealed way too early) and there are leaps of logic left, right, and centre. It feels like the writers are trying a little too hard to mislead the viewer in order to fit in more plot twists but, because a lot of them feel so contrived, they end up being a lot less impactful than indented.

2) The Subplots
There are certain subplots I feel didn't get enough screentime to make their inclusion worthwhile. The Police Commander and her daughter had a really interesting relationship and it would have been nice to have seen it grow and develop. As it was, it just felt rushed and out of place, wrapped up too quickly for it to have any real impact.

3) The (Sort of) Love Triangle
This one is purely personal but I do hate love triangles with a passion so I thought I may as well include it. I personally didn't feel it was necessary or that it added anything to the story (when do they ever though?) and all it ended up doing was make me like one character a little less than I would have otherwise.

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Character wise: At the beginning, none of the main leads are likable. They each have their own flaws which can annoy you. I mean it definitely annoyed me to see one who was reckless while the other didn't want to do anything at all and leave it in the hands of others; however you do begin to see character development in the male lead, Ji Suk. He eventually became my favorite character in this drama because of his selflessness and sacrifice. The female lead, Yoo Ryung, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. This is where the extra patience comes in. Her character can be a make it or break it for the viewers. If you can't stand her character because of her actions, you'll end up dropping this drama because she doesn't have development until after her secret is revealed which is around ep 11. So if you can tolerate the frustration she will give you, then you'll make it to the point where she's becoming a bit more likable. The frustrating second lead Ma Ri just seems like an angry person overall. She's pretty much mad at everything. She does become better towards the last few episodes but the progression for her reaching that point doesn't make sense at all. It's like one talk and she completely flipped 180. And then we have second lead Woo Hyuk which honestly he didn't really seem like he had a big role. He has the looks but that's about it. He attempts to form a love triangle between the leads but it fails just because Yoo Ryung wasn't into the romance department. I will say that the subway ghost does have actor potential to be the next lead character after seeing his acting on here. His acting was really convincing and I say he was able to outshine all of the other characters.

Story wise: It was a good introduction. I think this drama started off strong with the plot, only to fall short midway and towards the end. I liked how these cases, or I called it side stories, ended up telling a story that the leads can relate too, though most of the cases related to Yoo Ryung. The plot began to drag for me as it seemed like every week it was the same old thing and very little discoveries on what the title of this drama was about, "catch the ghost" or in this case subway ghost. I like how you couldn't guess who the subway ghost actually is. The writers make you believe it's person or that person. You always have suspicions. That being said, I'm disappointed the way the last episode was handled. The subway ghost had a big revealing, had a back story, only to be scrapped off in the first 15 mins of the episode. We don't know if he was caught or he died. That remains unknown which is lame because I say he played a vital role to this drama. It's just an okay ending overall, not bad or even sad but just nothing really big to talk about.

SUMMARY: If you can withstand, have the patience, tolerate, the frustrations of the female lead, and secondary female lead, then you'll be able to watch this drama from start to finish. Is it worth it? Well, the progression of the plot is slow, the last episode is missing a lot of important details so it did felt rush, romance is there but maybe towards the last few episodes. You'll probably not missing much if you past on this but if you like the actor or actress, hey give it a shot.

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Great potential, horrible shit

I don't know how it happens but I came across the same type of drama again - a great potential, a great mystery and main root of the story story but the FL is a horrible trash of a person hurting everyone around her. However, even though she's such a trash destroying and behaving like shit towards literally all the people who care about her, she's just forgiven by everyone and a ML who should basically put her in a toilet and flush it 10 times runs like crazy to help her instantly after discovering her motives.

She suffered - yes. She suffered because of her own stupidity and being a trash of a person in the first place. We may forgive her due to the pressure she faced taking care of her sister with autism. Ok - let's say she might have collapsed mentally, she made a mistake and left her sister on a train, her sister "died" because of her so now she has a regret and an obsession. Ok - it is understandable. Due to that, she was obsessed with finding the "murderer" of the show - ok. I get all of that. However, when she found the only person helping her, taking care of her, she hid all of her problems and ran to the stupid secondary ML instead of pursuing truth with the ML who was helping her all the time already - he even risked his life for her while the secondary ML had literally no advantage and there was no reason to choose his help. Still - she just left the good and caring guy, chose the help of a SML without any real reason to do so. It wasn't logical even for the sake of her hidden investigation. Then she destroyed life of the ML, he lost his house, he lost his job, he couldn't support his mother with dementia - all because of her wrong-doings. What's even worse, she did all of that perfectly aware of his troubles (magically discovering them by a coincidence on a way). Of course, he did not know anything about her but she knew everything about him and all she did was destroying, breaking, leaving all the people who cared about her for people who did not care at all and literally did nothing to her as compared to those who as I said - risked their lives a couple of times - literally - the ML took a hit with a knife, attacked a professional boxer just for her sake when she was hurt by this boxer, saved her from disciplinary comitee a couple of times, he became her friend, her only family she's never had except of her sister - but she was only and consistently behaving like a total bitch towards him.

So she did all of that, used the ML for pursuing her goal, did not even reveal truth to him even after she made everyone's life hell and then - guess what - she gets into trouble again, our ML magically discovers truth by a next coincidence and what - runs like crazy to help her. She's forgiven by everyone, she regains her friends, everything clears up, the murderer gets arrested, a dead sister magically lives and a man who should again - kick her in the butt afterwards, at least after helping her if he's the real angel, he still does all he can to help finding that sister for her... when she does literally nothing (!!!) - and happy end.

Totally shitty shit. It's just disgusting. Such dramas should be really taken down because they promote wrong values, wrong behavior, wrong examples under a wrapping of the romantic, self-sacrificing, heroic and "pure" love. Such a bullshit. It's really stupid, just wrong. Simply - do not watch this shit, please.

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Gotta say, JS is one of the best MLs ever, and Kim Seon Ho is now on my top list of actors. He knows exactly when to emote and exactly when to keep it subtle, but with equal impact; his eyes do so much talking, even in the quiet scenes. The way his character is written is probably the best in recent years; they don’t write MLs like that anymore. The show was such a great mix of comedy, thriller and romance. I love slow burns done right, and this was the perfect example of that. The ML and FL made each other a better person, and that’s a solid foundation for a relationship. I really like how they came to respect each other before they organically fell for each other. I know some people had issues with the FL, but tbh I didn’t mind her. Her acting in some parts was outstanding (especially as the "other" person), and her character had a reason for doing everything she did that gets slowly revealed. Even the scenes where her character was played up for comic reasons were still staying true to her setup. Some of the other actors did phenomenally as well. The whodunnit for the overarching arc kept you guessing until the end, and the reveal made sense in the world the story created. The case-of-the-week, and the beautiful way human relationships were portrayed, made me reflect on myself and my role in the society. I love it when a show is able to do all of the above in an effective manner; this drama is such an underrated gem.

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The only reason this show has a plot is because everyone is horrible at their jobs and keeps messing up so they can drag the plotline into the next episode. The characters (except KJS) aren't engaging, the story is bland, and I started skimming through the eps halfway through. I could not stand the female lead and did not care about her story at all. I'm sure that kind of character will and has appealed to other people, but she wasn't for me -- her actions and motivations are all selfish, with little to no thought for anyone else, which would be fine if the show didn't just validate her every move and decision without indicating that she is actually wrong in this case. The case of the week format didn't work for me either, because while I don't mind that, each case was essentially the same, trying to prove the exact same point about the differences between the main characters.

It did make me want to ride the subway though.

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Touching story

I came to watch this drama after watching many famous crime/detective drama. I didn’t expect much because KSH and MgY both looked quite not so fancy there.

So few minutes into the first episode I wanted to skip it. The video quality was quite bad I suppose. Then, somehow I tried again and got hook. I knew KSH from 100 days my prince and Strongest delivery man but didn’t have much impression back then. After few episodes I was really a fan. I didn’t even feel like he acted or something. I just like him very much and MGY. I have never liked an actor like that in my 20 years of watching Kdrama.

Both characters have pitiful backgrounds which make me understand the struggles of people who must take care of their family members with mental illness and autism.

GJS as a character was beautifully written. First we thought he was just a coward policeman, who wanted an easy job. Then, his back story and his encounters with RY showed us a selfless individual who sacrificed his career and even love to take care of his poor mom. It’s very touching, very sad.

We live close to a family who has a girl with Down syndrome. Every morning when I get off the bus after taking my kids to daycare, I see her sitting in her chair with her mom next to the bus stop. She always try to reach out to something I never know. But it feels really sad. The mother has no choice but stays at home to take care of her. I really would like to ask how she is, but never have the courage to ask in another language. That’s why when I learnt more about the drama, I really appreciate how the writer used both humors and sadness to let the characters touch our hearts.

For the main lead, she’s really a strong one. She caused so much troubles for JS. But as the main lead, that’s what he needs to get out of his comfort zone and find fulfillment in his job and life. Together they make a lovable and strong couple. One of the best couples in Kdrama land for me. They are human, relatable and beautiful people around us.

Many incidents in the drama open my eyes about ongoing crimes nowadays and I love this fresh metro police theme. The commissioner Lady is awesome in my point of view. Other characters are nice and even the antagonist is there for us to feel sorry for him.

There might be some dragging in the end and some small holes in the plot, but if you like a humane journey to our hearts, you should definitely give it a try. There’s not much romantic scenes though. I guess it is because the female lead’s focus on finding her sister and it’s reasonable. However, it would be nicer if they let JS hug her more in the end.

Final point, please watch bts and interviews of this drama, they are lovely and fun. You’ll see how the team worked together and it felt so nice and heartwarming.

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I have to say, I am lowkey disappointed. I expected a bit more, and I don't quite understand why I kept skipping scenes. It was not bad, there were brilliant moments and the plot was intriguing and well written and executed. I started to find Yoo Ryung annoying and I don't know when that started. In the beginning I liked her a lot, she was cool and brave, hot tempered but sensitive. But half way through I kept skipping scenes of her crying and thinking about her sister. Maybe I just wasn't into that whole sister bond thing, I didn't felt it enough. But the reunion was indeed cute and satisfying.
The highlight of this whole show was indeed Ko Ji Seok. What a sweetheart, an amazing character and Kim Sun Ho captured him perfectly. He was literally the sweetest, and most precious boy ever. GO KIM SUN HO!
Even though many people hate on Mi Ran, I could weirdly understand her, she was frustrated and I was moved by the conversation between her and and her mom. She was an ass sometimes, but I still couldn't hate her.
But oh boy! The plot was so good! It kept changing and made the viewer wonder about the murder and victims. I liked the fact that they made the Subway ghost someone who had a "reason" to kill and not just someone with a mental illness. The role of his mother was way bigger than expected and it was heart wrenching. It was a wonderful way of unraveling the story even though I have to say towards the end there were a few minor holes.
Also, normally with crime-dramas I always wish for less romance, but this time it was the other way around. I wished for more sweet moments between the leads.
Anyway, I can say that it was not my cup of tea but I can understand why people like this.

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FL made the show annoying and unwatchable.

So first of all I want to say us that the FL is one hell annoying of a person. She is the epitome of nuisance. The ML looked out for her in every situation and what does she do? She treats him like garbage. And she doesn't seem to care for ML at all whereas the ML solved her every problem even he got suspended for her actions. For me I was very annoyed watching FL. I wished that they dont end up together. As for the story, the story was good and enjoyable. The only reason I finished this drama is for Kim Seon Ho and the story. I think Kim Seon Ho did a great job and his acting was superb. Overall I would recommend this drama to those who have nothing to watch at the moment.

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I don't know what made me think this was going to be a spooky season drama about cops that hunt down ghosts that cause chaos on the subway, but I think it rooted from confusing this drama with the one I watch before - Bring It On, Ghost. Both great dramas, but both completely different. I think I found this one solely because The Rose's Woosung sang on this drama's OST, so I had to watch it in order to jam out at the end of every ep.

The drama started off with a simple mission; the subway team needed to find the Grasshoppers (who were a team of pickpockets that have never been seen) and the metro team was in charge of finding the Subway Killer (serial killer to lured individuals by stealing their wallets, contacting them to get their wallets, strangle them to death, and then hide their bodies under the seat cushions in the subway). We have the chief of the subway team - Go Ji Suk, a promising young metro officer who quit the force to solve petty crimes to help pay and take care of his mother who was diagnosed with alzheimers; and Yoo Ryung, a fiery officer trying to find a way into one of the crime unit teams to use their resources to help further the search of her twin sister who disappeared 2 years ago (and a possible victim of the Subway Killer.) Yoo Ryung finds herself joining the Subway Team as Go Ji Suk's partner, but are always at each other's throats due to their conflicting ideals.

I did love the relationship between the two mains, but I felt like Ji Suk trusted too easily and Yoo Ryung was extremely selfish and secretive. Once we find out why it is, it makes sense why she did what she did, but it was painful to watch the process of it all. I must say though, once everything comes together and Ji Suk connected all the dots, there is a touching scene of him sticking up for her. It was my favorite scene in the whole drama.

Overall, I really enjoyed watching this drama. It surprised me how light and comedic is was in the beginning, and how dark it got whenever they got a clue about the Subway Killer. The drama only got better and better as it went on. The only thing that I wasn't a fan of, was that even though the drama took a dark turn, the relationship between Ji Suk and Yoo Ryung was very...PG...or really G rated throughout the drama. They did have some moments, but if you are wanting to watch a romance drama, it wasn't very satisfying. Yes, we get the happily ever after between the mains, but instead of a huge love gesture at the end...it was more like, the mains finally agreed to go out. It makes sense why it ended the way it did (given Yoo Ryung and all the stuff she needed to figure out before thinking about a romance), but I am very content with how Ji Suk came through, once he figured out Yoo Ryung and why she did what she did in the past. I wasn't in love with the characters in this drama (they were both extreme people on opposite sides,) but I did enjoy how the writer made them come together with both unexpected and tragic backstories, that were completely different, but somehow, the experiences they both went through made them into similar people.

Also, I was in love with how dark the drama was as well as it kept you guessing on who the killer was. Once you think you know, they throw in another curve ball. It was a little messy at times and there seemed to be a few plot holes, but overall, I was very entertained and I loved how everything made sense at the end. I almost want to rewatch this whole drama again, to see if I could figure out from the get go, just by the obvious clues they do give you, that I missed the first time, who the killer was. PS, I thought it was a little worth mentioning, but even though he messed up one time and I apologize for thinking you were the killer (in the beginning), Kim Woo Hyuk was kind of bae. After no one wanted to help Yoo Ryung find her missing sister, he decided to break the rules in order to help her. Unfortunately, Yoo Ryung had already made up her mind on him 2 years prior when his partner, Ha Ma Ri, wouldn't help her with her sister's disappearance. And speaking of Ha Ma Ri (as well as looking at all the comments and reviews, who all seem to have a similar view point), I am not sure if it is all the roles that she plays, but I am not a fan of any of Jung Yoo Jin's characters. She always plays this second lead (from the dramas I have seen) who somehow believes she always has the upper ground and does not let anyone forget it. In this drama, she was a great detective, but had had zero empathy towards people and she followed EVERYTHING by the book in order to impress her mother, the director. Unfortunately, her mother always seemed to admire great cops who showed empathy towards people - Ji Suk when he decided to take a demotion in the beginning of his prime in order to be there for his mother and Yoo Ryung, who decided in the middle of the Grasshopper investigation (if they followed, they could have caught them) to save a baker's son who had been kidnapped. Plus, Ha Ma Ri, after 2 years, still was hung up on Ji Suk and made missions personal when she saw his relationship with Yoo Ryung. I think that was one of the better scenes, when Yoo Ryung and Ji Suk switched partners during an investigation and we saw how Yoo Ryung effected Ji Suk in terms of what truly mattered during an investigation. He noticed it and so did Ha Ma Ri, and it was a turning point fo everyone.

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First episode got me hooked. I almost gave up 2019 because there was barely anything that kept me intrigued, but I thought with Camellia and this that things were going better!
I liked the fillers with the case after case format, and the fact that they successful blended thriller and romance. The slow burn made it evenly distributed through the drama and you don't have the impression of watching 2 different series.
The concept for the killer wasn't that unique tho, but it could've worked very well. The interesting part was how the killer planned the grasshopper thing to make himself an alibi. It's just that the pace was odd (they revealed those too early imo) and some tiny holes kept bothering me at a point I really couldn't ignore them like: how did the killer traced back all his victims? I mean his plan was to rob their wallet to lure them in dark places (and who sane in their mind would just enter those tbh) but how did he knew where to strike? What the metro police did those 2 years? They investigated...what? Both side leads where kinda unnecessary...the girl was just bitching because no one believed in her (tho I think the male lead was a dick not to tell her the reason to break up. Is this noble idiocy in reverse? Lol) while she was unprofessional and she put her personal feelings into the investigation (and seriously, 3 episodes on that damn telephone booth), the male side cop was intriguing at first...it was purposely suspicious but then he became just the trigger for the ml jealousy...meh. I thought that maybe he too had lost someone because of the ghost, but unfortunately they didn't delve into his character.
Also those are the worst cop and criminals I've seen in all my life. Cops that let criminals that they've been chasing for 3 years escape so easily (actually it even happened offscreen lol), criminals that keep their phones while on the run, fingerprints on cigarettes, coins and wallets. Like seriously those are legendary thiefs? XD
Female lead was annoying but I accepted that in her pov cops are untrustworthy (but why she couldn't judt trust the ml remained a mystery as why they go on night duty to sleep and how the ml lived after selling his house) and she was blinded by her sister's death (presumed lol) .
But usually autistic people are followed by professionals, they said she was taking care of her ALONE by the age of 10 and that's absolutely impossible xD
Overall wasn't that bad, but I was so excited at first that my expectations skyrocketed and I felt hard the disappointment twt I had a lot of theories, involving people like the nurse friend, the caretaker, the mysterious lady with red shoes, the other cops, that mystical door with the abandoned project of another line and it was very simpler than what I imagined xD

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