Mouse (2021)

Is the TRUTH REALLY THE TRUTH or is it just built upon LIES? Truly, a Game of Twists and Deception

P.S. I'll first give a warning because this drama has themes of violence, abuse etc. that are not suitable for viewers who are sensitive with these tags... Furthermore, the plot gets darker as the story reaches its climax so if you're uncomfortable with this, then you can sit this one out.. I'll also try my best to give a review that will not contain any spoilers.. lol

To be honest, I cannot understand what I felt after finishing this drama, the emotions I felt at that time were conflicting... However, as I thought about the events that transpired from the beginning until the end, everything ended the way it's supposed to end... Some may find it bittersweet while others may find it miserable but it all depends on the viewers perspective... One thing I can say though is that punishment was served fittingly..

Hands down, Mouse relayed its story well with its deception and emotionally thrilling situations that surely captivated its viewers... A drama befitting to be the Best Crime / Psychological / Thriller Drama of the year.. **applause**

With its gripping start as it revolves around psychopaths : Who killed who?? Who is the real killer?? What are the causes of their psychopathic tendencies?? etc. - One would argue if the Truth is really the Truth or just simply built upon Lies.. As the story moves further, everything slowly unravels to the point where what everyone might see in the beginning might not be true in the end..

The main cast did a really great job in portraying their characters actions and emotions most especially Lee Seung Gi and Lee Hee Jon.. From start until the end, they bombarded us with an array of emotions : Anger, Desperation, Fear, Frustration, Guilt, Sadness, Suspense, Sympathy or Empathy and most especially, Pity...

The soundtracks used for the drama also fits perfectly with every suspense that cliff hangers gives us for each episodes.. Furthermore, the cinematography was befitting especially with the heavy and dark atmosphere of the drama.

There were some scenes though that happened in the series for me which I find to be questionable or unnecessary for it dragged the plot a bit but overall, the introduction, climax and episodes near the end were quite good since the plot flowed well.. Some viewers may also find the pacing of the story to be slow however, I actually see this an advantage most especially that this drama is focused on the complexity of the crime and we also get to see progress or good development of not just the plot but also the characters in order for the story to not be rushed..

In conclusion, if you're looking for a long watch that will surely give you a roller coaster of emotions, then this will be for you... Although, this drama is fictional, we also have to understand that all the things the character had done in the story should not be taken lightly for those things are happening in real life. Still, the societal issues tackled within the series regarding psychopaths or serial killers are important and should be taken note of...

Finally, I'd also like to share the last line mentioned at the end of the drama said by one of the main cast...

"Did the deity / almighty gave that as a punishment for him or perhaps a chance for him to be saved?"

Indeed, it's a perfect rhetorical question for a great ending that will surely evoke all the viewers to ponder about it...

Moreover, this drama reminded me of what Martin Luther King Jr. once stated, “You know how confusing the whole good-evil concept is for me.” “In each of us, two natures are at war – the good and the evil. All our lives the fight goes on between them, and one of them must conquer."

These lines said by Martin Luther King Jr. would best describe the character in this drama... Applause for Mouse for doing a great job in transporting viewers in the mind of a Complex Character : A Psychopathic Killer...

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Why Is the Drama "MOUSE" is an EPIC drama?

There number of thriller movies and several dramas I have watched although they weren't all Korean, This drama hit the top of my watchlist of the this genre. The reason to watch this drama at first was the Actor Lee Seung Gi, but later I fall for the drama;
- the suspense
- curiosity (what will happen next? Who is the killer? Why? What? How?)
Several Questions pops while watching and also made me crave to watch more episodes.
I really want to thank the writer shower casing a unique story line like Mouse.
The reason that Mouse is better than other thriller dramas for me because no matter what new scenarios appear the writer never let us forget the beginning of the story and made every- small scene made more important later to remind our mind about the beginning, in my opinion there were no holes or empty scenes like other movie or drams i have watched.

The only thing made me regret is that I had seen few spoilers made less suspense and curiosity of the drama.

** Only advice is DO NOT WATCH ANY SPOILERS OF THIS DRAMA, IF U NEED TO WATCH IT, WATCH IT WITHOUT SEEING THE SPOILERS**

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A hit in a head that just makes you want more

There’re dramas that take time to get hooked on. And then there’s Mouse, drama that doesn’t give you a minute to think and kidnaps you for the over twenty hour long journey. And if by the warning sign at the beginning saying that child actors were provided with counselling we weren’t sure how serious it would be, after first episode the seriousness of the situation will be most probably completely clear. So hold onto your pants, this is going to be a wild ride with no seatbelts.

I’ve honestly couldn’t believe how intense was this first episode. It had this feel of a stand alone movie. With proper ending of it I’d gladly watch it in this form.

The drama revolves around existence of “murderer gene” which assumes that science is able to find a specific gene that can be found only in psychopaths and, very rarely in absolute geniuses. In the first episode we’re introduced to dr. Daniel Lee, scientist, who claims that can detect this gene and proposes to the general assembly to test all foetuses and abort the ones that are diagnosed with potential psychopath gene. We’re also shown two women who’s unborn children are supposed to have this gene and those women and their children will be our main focus point here. After first episode there’s twenty year time jump, after which we’re meeting our main characters:
Jung Ba Reum, kind young police officer who seems innocent enough to risk his own life to save a bird
Kim Mu Chi, detective and serial killer survivor with very high motivation of catching serial killers to get revenge for his family
Sung Yo Han- unsympathetic doctor with all the psychopath’s red flags

And here we are, we have two kids diagnosed with psychopaths gene and two candidates that could’ve been them, now the question is, was the science right?

Seeing that this drama had 20 episodes I was wary at first. I don’t trust dramas that are more than 16 episodes long. More often they tend to be too slow and motives dragged just to fill the time. Not this one. From the beginning till the very end writers provided us with a true killing speed. Viewer has absolutely no time for rest and a moment of inattention may cause that we’ll simply miss an important part of the story. Theories about who’s killer and who’s not change basically every episode and writers do everything in their might to not give us a simple answer. Every now and then they’ll toss us a hint that usually is just a trick. Even when there’s a seemingly strong proof of someone’s guilt, I’ve automatically felt unease. I was sure that it’s not the whole story. There’s so many “whos and wheres” and nothing is shown in it’s entirely so even pretty obvious scenes make us question what is true and what is not.

This drama basically has couple of beginnings. There’s obviously first episode, the very beginning of the story.

Second beginning is a second episode, when we are introduced to the actual main characters.

Third beginning is around sixth and seventh episode, when the story get’s a 180 turn. There’s change of scope, change of perspective and another problem, is the person we’ve pointed to as a killer, really a killer, or were we wrong from the beginning. This makes this drama so multidimensional, that after finishing it, we look at the beginning of it as a completely different show. After those 20 episodes, I felt the same as after watching three seasons of standard western tv show.

But the thing is that at this point the drama starts from the beginning we can say. We relive previous events from new perspective. Once again the viewer doesn’t know who to trust, and the same for Ba Reum, he as well is not sure what is real and what is not. Because here begins a bit of a fantasy motive, even though the writers tried to wrap it in as much science and logical explanation it still felt a bit far fetched. And this would be my only criticism towards the story. I'll not say more to make this review spoiler free.

The fact that some events are shown from subjective perspective of one of the characters makes them extra confusing. Oftentimes it turns out that there’s another side to the story. That this person only saw half of the truth and there’s much more to the story. In times when the same event is shown from perspective of three characters or more, viewer doesn’t know if he can trust his own eyes.

The story doesn’t really slow down even for a bit. Even when it seems that all the motives has been explained and everything supposed to be clear there’s always additional “but” lurking around the corner. New evidence, new memory, new character that shows up with additional information that can change what we thought we already knew for sure. This drama is why I have trust issues because even till the very end I wasn’t sure if this really is a final explanation to all of the events.
This was absolutely amazing drama. From the beginning till the very end. Ba Reum’s character, so multidimentional, so complicated was shown perfectly. And here a big kudos to Lee Seung Gi, it’s really hard for me to say, but I think that this was the role of his life and my only hope is that he’ll prove me wrong and that he’ll do it very soon.

This drama was extraordinary. It was rough, difficult, heavy on a stomach, but it was one of a kind. Mouse just hits you in the head but you still want more. Because the truth, even though it might hurt, is the most important thing here.

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Unexpected plot twist

I honestly knew from the very beginning who would be the predator but it's still very emotional and painful to watch the family of the victims suffering and how the victims died. This is a very emotional story and the plot isn't totally expected. I wasn't expecting all those truth that were revealed in the end. This drama totally kill it. The acting are excellent as well. No words to describe how incredible this drama is. I can't assure you won't regret if you watch this drama but I would really recommend this drama for all the thriller/ psychology/ mystery/ crime/ investigation drama fans' out there.

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Is it psychopath or the idea of psychopath that’s more haunting?

Blending barriers between the world of sci-fi and the realm of thrilling and gore-y realm, Mouse surfaces as somewhat a unique and intriguing Kdrama. As wild as it gets, the fantasy side of Mouse seems unrealistic by the books. Brain transplant is one of the surgeries that has never succeeded in real medical world. However, this drama excavate the uncertainty of that surgery into such damnable plots on top of wrecked plus wretched characters. In between those many many characters, the spotlight dims onto notable psychopaths (by genetics), which this drama revolves around.

Mouse started with a bang. The premise is rationally convincing although it is nowhere near realistic (psychopaths have hereditary genetics). Honestly, the pilot episode alone stood out and could've been a single movie. As the series jumped into the next 5 episodes, we began to learn our characters step-by-step although with murders going on. Things started to shift after Bareum's surgery. We were able to notice change in his behavior and surroundings being far fetched from the first 6 episodes. While his memory was still not fully intact, he's collecting puzzle pieces to be aligned, thus gathering everyone once again to reveal the truth.

As Mouse itself is a heavy plot-driven drama, it became a problem when the plot stuck with no progress. That was my problem during episode 7-13. These middle chunk of the series spread puzzle pieces like easter eggs through the bushes, many of them. Does it sound interesting? Yes. Was it actually interesting? Not so much. The problem is most of those puzzle pieces open new cases rather than adding new informations to the main case. It was all over the place. Well some of them were helpful and/or interesting: Dr. Daniel Lee, Oh Bongyi and Kang Duksoo, Detective Konam and cat tooth — the rest could be retold with a summary: Woo Hyungchul, Lee Jaeshik, and Kim Byungtae. I dragged myself watching those cerebral episodes as they didn’t really came off as entertaining. Thus being said, the middle part could’ve been trimmed and would’ve resulted a more compact 16-episode drama rather than a hefty 20.

The pacing of Mouse started to picked up again on the last third, reciprocating everything from the start. The creators were surprisingly consistent with the over-the-top delivery of the main plot (its backstory, recent past, and present). (Oh, watch Mouse: The Predator after Episode 15 by the way, most scenes are skippable as they were repeated but it gave new perspective). While I love the “main” twist and everything karma wise, something about OZ organization still irks me. The idea of “the bigger forces controlling things” felt cliched and unoriginal. Yet from that, the characters can step in and deliver the message to not spark a fire to the fuel. Psychopaths can be dangerous, but the people triggering them and protecting their crimes are worse.

Despite the consistency that Mouse centered on the seven deadly sins murder, the show had some subplots that were all tied yet felt dragged to be added. There might not be a room for romance here yet there were baits that can be seen as a filler within the main characters. Cho Hongju’s family plot felt not so remarkable as they dropped the premise and was remain untied until the very end. Some other psychopaths (as were mentioned before) felt like a filler. And The OZ, welp. Another thing, I found it a little strange that all of the psychopaths are male as the show did not explain in advance that the gene was only inheritable towards male individuals.

Now let’s talk about the characters, especially the main four. As this drama centered on Jung Bareum (Lee Seunggi), his arc was nearly terrific. The character development could not have been any better in this sci-fi thriller drama, and it would not have been delivered perfectly without his standout acting. (You can clearly sense his outstanding performance in Mouse: The Predator). Go Muchi (Lee Heejoon) is another amazing character. The tough main detective may have malicious intentions in the name of justice, but deep inside he was just a kind-hearted man. Contrary to the men, the female characters were not as spectacular. Most of the time, Choi Hongju (Kyung Soojin) and Oh Bongyi (Park Juhyun) only helped at certain parts of the drama and felt like a nuisance at other times. Nonetheless, the actresses delivered great performances.

Some supporting elements of the drama were accommodative but not so extraordinary. Most of the scenes happened in the dark (well, it’s a thriller one). I genuinely don’t have a problem with that but some times the shots couldn’t be seen clearly, especially during rainy dark scenes. The music is generally alluring and in line with the plot. They are thrilling but not to the point it was too scary like those horror jump-scare movies. Additionally, I genuinely appreciate the team to not harm any animals within the series and use CGIs that did not came off as tacky at all.

One thing that I would like to point out from Mouse is the ability for viewers to empathize with the psychopath. The writer did a great job in adding layers to pity “a mere” psychopath due to the suppressions that were put against them. Analogical to the real life, everything threatening can be reviewed. Is it really threatening or the idea of it is threatening. In the end, humans tend to go with the flow. Ironically, barked the wrong tree without knowing the real truth.

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Genetic psychopathy real or bluff?

Mouse was a very interesting show I was hooked from the very first episode! The show did a spin never seen before in crime kdramas and left me in suspense without a clue of what could happen which doesn’t happen easily so I loved that aspect! The entire plotline was very thought out and was executed in ways I didn’t even think of when brainstorming theories it’s definitely one of the best crime dramas this year. The entire concept of the show was something never seen before and it was very interesting to watch how they executed this plotline out. Watching this while it aired was definitely a great experience. Massive applause to Seunggi he really nailed the complex role of playing ba reum and it’s by far his best acting role. Ba reum was such a complex and tormented character Seunggi truly did execute the acting of his character very well . All other characters were also amazing! Including the child cast I really applaud all those included in the cast for they played their roles out really well. I loved moo chi and soojin’s character and so many others too :(( . I really think you can’t rate this below a 9.0 cause it’s that good, however, that doesn’t mean that the drama is perfect. I really did not like bong yi’s character and her romance with ba reum was very off putting because of the age gap. Their romance arc should’ve been left out or if they made her less annoying/ older this would’ve actually been a pretty good enemies to lovers (tragic). Also I feel like they could’ve made it slightly shorter (maybe 18 eps(?)) to reduce how some eps dragged a bit. Some people didn’t like how they added brain transplants as it wasn’t realistic,however, that wasn’t the case for me I actually really liked this aspect and it was very unexpected as for the unrealistic part the genetic gene thing was unrealistic from the start and this is a DRAMA btw so I don’t care for how realistic it is as long as it’s good :)) . Overall, it’s a must watch crime drama that you definitely should try out

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This is one of the best psychological thriller drama... Im rating this because it's absolutely deserve at least 9 ... Lee Seung Gi.......... I'm in love with his acting........ Everything in this drama was perfect ... The OST's and background musics are just wowwwwww........
I knew that from bringing that my poor yo han baby was innocent .... I'm thankful to writers and directors for the ending....
This drama didn't make me feel bored for a minute
The story was really good ..
I don't know what to say but one thing I know that this drama is a masterpiece

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My honest opinion

First of all, im a kdrama fan since 2016 and I love watching thriller, mystery, crime and suspense drama... Theres so many good dramas on my list but this one, this one really caught my attention this exceed my expectation! I thought it was just a simple crime drama but nah... This is a masterpiece even tho my head hurts a lot while watching this but in the end.... Its worth it!

. Theres this thing when you'll get tired of a kdrama in the middle because it gets boring BUT one of the biggest twist is what I LOVE FROM THIS DRAMA! I didn't know the lead will be the answer.

I salute to the writer of this drama! This needs to be so popular, and one thing I love not just the storyline but also the actors and actresses here. Lee Seunggi really portrayed the kind and also the killer one that makes me more scared of him. I love how the detective didn't save faces when acting... They're all great actors!

This is amazing! ♥

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