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Back in the 1990s, the citizens of Seoul were gripped with a paralyzing fear after a series of brutal attacks and murders occurred. A mysterious figure dubbed ‘Red Cap’ was stalking women on the streets then killing his prey, seemingly without provocation. His habit of striking at random made it impossible for the detectives to predict his next move. At the top of their minds is what could be triggering him. Aware of the American F.B.I. and its successful use of criminal profilers to identify serial killers, the head of the Criminal Behavioral Analysis team, Gook Young Soo recruits Song Ha Young, a quiet, reserved, incredibly perceptive former detective for his team. Gook believes using this new psychological method will give the police an edge in capturing 'Red Cap' and ending his killing spree. Homicide expert Yoon Tae Goo and her officers question the value of this approach and are resistant to entering such uncharted territory. To quell their scorn they need to convince that this radical crime-fighting approach will increase their arrest rates. Does Song Ha Young have the ability to gain the trust of callous criminals while seeing through them? Is he clever enough to outwit them? But more importantly, does he possess the emotional fortitude to withstand the process? (Source: Viki; edited by Lee C) ~~ Adapted from the autobiography of the same title, co-written by Korea's first criminal profiler, Kwon Il Yong and journalist-turned-author Ko Na Mu, depicting some of Kwon's field experiences. Edit Translation
- English
- 中文(简体)
- Arabic
- Русский
- Native Title: 악의 마음을 읽는 자들
- Also Known As: Those Who Read the Minds of Evil , Those Who Read Hearts of Evil , Inside Criminal Minds , Agui Maeumeul Ilgneun Jadeul , Akeui Maeumeul Ilkneun Jadeul
- Director: Kim Jae Hong, Park Bo Ram
- Screenwriter: Seol Yi Na, Kwon Il Yong
- Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Crime, Drama
Where to Watch Through the Darkness
Cast & Credits
- Kim Nam GilSong Ha YoungMain Role
- Jin Seon KyuKook Young SooMain Role
- Kim So JinYoon Tae GooMain Role
- RyeounJung Woo Joo [Crime Behavior Analysis Team member / Statistical Analyst]Support Role
- Lee Dae YeonBaek Joon ShikSupport Role
- Kim Won HaeHeo Gil PyoSupport Role
Reviews
Great actors but a declining storyline
The plot delves into the psychology of a murderer, understanding their intentions, and using the data to categorize murderers into some sort of personality types. I found the idea to be rather interesting as I personally like psychological thrillers. However, this series failed to hold my interest till the end.One would expect thrillers to be 'gripping' and you would want to hold your breath as they challenge the murderers and uncover details of the case. This was only largely seen in the first story in the series. Honestly, Part 1 of this series was captivating. The first few episodes were great, and shows promise to this series, however as the series progressed, I found myself skipping through the scenes. The acting was amazing, especially some of the prisoners they interviewed. However the series failed to explore more details in the psychology of a murderer, and somehow the crimes get more easy to solve. It seemed like a disappointment from the first few episodes and furthermore, there wasn't much character development. It was just a monotonous solving of crime after crime.
Overall, a mediocre thriller, not as dark as I would like, but it's an interesting watch for sure.
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Kim Nam Gil shines in lacking profiler drama
I wanted to love this drama but came out thinking it could be so much better. My criticism might seem harsh but since people usually rave about this drama I will focus on the negative aspects. That doesn't mean I didn't highly enjoy watching it and still gave it a 4/5 rating.The argument 'Through The Darkness is a lesser Mindhunter' has been made so often and it might be true, but that is no valid criticism of the former so I won't hold that against it. In general I'm tired of the automatic reflex to compare every Asian drama or film to Western media and will judge it on its own terms.
Through The Darkness tries too many things at once. There are dozens of crime shows or dramas that focus on the police procedural aspect of crimes. We don't need one more.
The theme of building a new organizational structure and developing a new angle in police work is vital and is well told.
The actual profiling, the interviewing, analyzing clues, hypothesizing, coming to conclusions is not given enough room and breathing space. They seem to gloss over or misunderstand basics of profiling, starting with body language they exhibit to what they discuss before, during or after interviews. At one point we are told that they have done hundreds of interviews. This is an informed attribute since the understanding and knowledge base that should come with this amount of experience simply isn't there. Through The Darkness takes a very long time for the profiling to get off the ground and for the profilers or interviewers to actually understand their job.
Literal Title: Those Who Can Read Hearts Of Evil. Can you, though?
The main character Song Ha Young is all over the place. He is at times overwhelmed with anger and repulsion, is highly judgmental, empathic, analytical, sensitive, righteous, obsessive, stoic, starting to become evil, understanding and volatile. Of course he can be all those things but I fail to see a natural progression of those psychological states.
The drama feels both rushed and drawn out. They could've easily made it into a 16-episode drama, expand on cases, show more interviews and allow scenes to linger for a little bit more for impact.
This is mostly a quiet job in a dark room and Through The Darkness focuses very much on the thrill of the crime instead of the thrill of the crime analysis.
The music adds to that as many scenes have underlying music made to heighten the tension and thrill. Since the music competes with the dialog it takes away from an already tightly scripted scene which isn't allowed to shine on its own.
It seems the creators didn't really trust their material.
All the involved actors are great and Kim Nam Gil does an outstanding job with a very difficult, not very flashy, very introverted and highly sensitive character. As far as I know he has never played anything like that before (Lovers Vanished and One Day come close) but he is made for it.