Mousetrap

A Revenge Thriller I Caught Myself In ?

Mousetrap is a really good drama and definitely one I’d recommend if you’re looking for a thriller with no unnecessary nonsense. The actors gave their best, and the performances keep you completely invested in the story.
What I loved most was the plot. Just when you think everything is finally over and you have figured it all out, another plot twist comes in and makes you question everything you just watched.
There were moments when I literally paused and thought, “Wait… what actually just happened?” 😭 Every connection, every character, and every little detail seems to have a story behind it.
If you enjoy revenge thrillers that keep you thinking and constantly questioning what’s really going on, I’d definitely recommend giving this one a watch. 🖤

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Cat & Mouse chase that starts strong, but becomes heavily predictable

A plot which follows an individual's identity being stolen and on a run to get his identity back from a person called 'The Rat'.
As a suspense thriller fan, I was intrigued to watch this show. The premise was strong and the trailer looked solid. However, when it came to execution, it really wasn't much impressive.

The story starts strong with initial couple of episodes. The tense atmosphere and the suspenseful elements made me hooked with this Cat & Mouse series. But with every passing episode, the plot became confusing and inconsistent, thus diminishing the viewing experience little by little.

The second half is sluggish and the story becomes predictable, long before it ends. Also, the overstretched episodes doesn't justify the product. The show could have been well-written and executed in 6-8 episodes, however it stretched itself more than it should have. The ending was predictable and not much convincing. The story kept me hooked, but the conclusion could have been much better.

Performance wise, the characters were fine. Not much exemplary standout act to be honest, but nothing much to complain about here. The character of Noja deserves a special praise and was easily the strongest character of the show. Too many subplots and side characters kinda put me off.

What I really liked about the show is it's visual style and catchy music. The editing, colors and the overall atmosphere brings the sense of unpredictability and suspense on the screen.

Overall, Mousetrap is an average suspense thriller, that starts strong but underwhelms towards the end. It tests your patience through it's runtime and with an ending that may not necessarily be for everyone.

My Rating : 3/5

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Laboratory Rats

In Korean folklore, the rat is not merely a pest, and it is no coincidence that it occupies the first place in the zodiac. But the rat is also associated with the legend of the Impostor (The Cut Fingernail). According to this myth, if a person throws their nail or hair clippings on the ground instead of burning them or disposing of them properly, a rat may eat them. By ingesting these pieces of human body, the rat absorbs the person's vital essence and takes on their exact appearance. It then takes the victim's place within their own family, driving the real human being away and making them appear insane. This tale served as a warning to children, teaching them cleanliness, respect for the body (which, according to Confucian tradition, is inherited from one's parents), and caution about what they leave behind. But while the white rat is a symbol of divine blessing, our rat here is black, a symbol of malice. Like a Rat is a thriller adapted from Ludovico's webcomic, which draws inspiration from this legend and attempts to put it into practice. Like Song Kang-ho and Choi Min-sik, Sul Kyung-gu seems eager to have a little "fun," taking on ambitious projects that only Netflix and Disney can afford to offer him, and here he does so with Field Mouse. So, does this adaptation succeed or not?

Je Mun-Jae (Ryu Jun-Yeol) is a novelist who has been living as a recluse for the past three years. He communicates with the outside world only through his friend, who takes care of everything for him. But one day, his life suddenly falls apart: he can no longer unlock his phone or access his bank accounts… and his friend becomes unreachable overnight. He cannot even prove his own identity because nobody knows who he is. He no longer exists as Je Mun-Jae, because a "rat" has stolen everything from him. Worse still, the police are convinced that he has committed several crimes and offenses, so he has no choice but to go on the run. His only hope lies with No-Ja (Sul Kyung-Gu), a former crime boss who has reinvented himself as a loan shark. The problem is that No-Ja has been looking for Mun-Jae for more than three years because Mun-Jae owes him a large sum of money. Mun-Jae convinces him not to kill him and promises to repay everything he owes if No-Ja helps him find the man who has stolen his identity, much like a doppelgänger. Paranoid and schizophrenic, Mun-Jae must piece together fragments of his past in order to separate fact from fiction. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Park Sun-Yong (Lee Kyoo-Hyung), who has been after No-Ja for a long time, quickly connects the two cases and sets off in pursuit of them. But who is the cat and who is the mouse, or rather… the rat?**

Like a Rat is exactly the kind of thriller that immediately grabbed my attention, only to gradually leave me wanting more. From the very first minutes, the drama establishes a particularly dark and unsettling atmosphere. The story places us inside the mind of a character whom we can never be sure is the victim of a conspiracy or simply being deceived by his own paranoia. Mun-Jae takes medication for anxiety, seems to be losing his grip, and no longer knows what he can trust. For a while, every possibility seems plausible: impostor, twin, hallucination, manipulation… And for a large part of the series, the drama plays remarkably well with this ambiguity. The story becomes a genuine game of deception revolving around identities. We think we have figured out who the victim is, who the impostor is, who the Rat is… before the story regularly comes along and reshuffles the cards. The revelations about Mun-Jae's past, the different identities, and especially Seo Yu-min gradually turn the story into one gigantic game of "who is who?" The most successful aspect is that some clues were there from the very beginning. The habit of biting one's nails, in particular, takes on an entirely different meaning once the revelations are known. The drama had therefore properly laid the groundwork for some of its surprises and does not rely solely on twists pulled out of nowhere. The first six episodes are particularly well constructed, gripping and dense, both narratively and in terms of the action scenes.**

But the screenplay deteriorates during the final stretch. I really enjoyed the beginning and middle of the series, but the final two episodes cooled me down considerably. The twists become increasingly numerous, sometimes at the expense of credibility. Miraculous escapes, ambiguous flashbacks that reveal either too much or not enough, and characters suddenly switching sides sometimes give the impression that the screenplay is primarily looking for ways to move the plot forward. The problem is all the more noticeable because the series had established such a realistic, dark and particularly believable tone up to that point. These shortcuts therefore clash strongly with what had made it so effective. The same goes for some of the action scenes, including one of the final confrontations between No-Ja and Park Seung-Gyu… Yeah, no, actually. I'm deliberately exaggerating, but that's the idea: the series becomes less rigorous precisely when it should be reaching its climax. A thriller of this quality should normally go out with a bang. Here, the tension accumulated over several episodes gradually deflates just when it should have reached its peak. It is genuinely unfortunate that the momentum fizzles out toward the end, which is sadly the series' biggest weakness. But that should not overshadow everything that works, because the suspense remains omnipresent from beginning to end.**

Like a Rat is directed by Kim Hong-Sun, who is a genre specialist, so we're in for something substantial. The direction is probably one of the series' greatest strengths. The cinematography is superb, the atmosphere is particularly well crafted, and the whole production has a genuine cinematic quality. The action scenes are also very successful. The chase sequences are particularly convincing and genuinely feel like watching a movie sequence, while the fights do not shy away from violence. The score perfectly complements the dark atmosphere and contributes greatly to the series' identity. Finally, the cast is clearly up to the task. Ryu Jun-Yeol carries a large part of the series on his shoulders with a particularly demanding role, especially in the scenes where his character's identity becomes the very heart of the story. But Sul Kyung-Gu is impressive. At 58, he has a presence that immediately commands respect and gives No-Ja enormous credibility. Alongside Lee Kyoo-Hyung, they form a particularly convincing trio. Their dynamic as gangster and police officer works because all three actors play their characters with such naturalism that they feel completely believable. The almost exclusively male cast also fits the series' criminal world perfectly.**

In the end, Like a Rat leaves me with fairly mixed feelings. I genuinely enjoyed being led down the garden path by this story and trying, episode after episode, to understand what was hiding behind this succession of identities and manipulations. It is rare enough for a thriller to maintain so much mystery without making me give up along the way. But precisely because of that, after such a build-up, I expected much more from the resolution. The series had created a fascinating game of deception and an atmosphere that gave it everything it needed to deliver a knockout blow, but it gets a little lost along the way by trying to make its story increasingly complicated. What bothers me most in the end is that some questions seem to have been deliberately left unanswered, even though answering them would have given the whole thing considerably more coherence. As for the open ending, I find it rather pointless: leaving something ambiguous only works when that ambiguity adds something to the story or allows us to look back at it differently. Here, I mostly felt as though I was being asked to keep thinking about a story that, above all, needed a better conclusion. So we are left with a gripping and often highly successful thriller, but also one whose potential has been somewhat wasted. The Rat certainly led me on a wild chase, but what it really needed was to know where its own burrow was.

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8/10 Mousetrap

8/10 Mousetrap
The central mystery is built around a man trying to take back a life that someone else has already stolen.
In an old Korean folktale, when a rat eats someone's clipped fingernails, they turn into that person. Moon-jae, a reclusive novelist who uses a pen name and hasn't left home in years, follows a solitary daily routine. Then the strange things start: his fingerprint won't unlock his phone, his passwords stop working, and one by one, the things tying him to his own identity slip out of his grasp. Stripped of his money, his name, and any way to prove himself, Moon-jae is plunged into chaos and sets out to hunt down a mysterious figure calling himself "The Rat," who seems to know exactly who Moon-jae is.
The characters may seem rather empty or lacking in certain ways, but it's interesting to see how they are the ones who ultimately drive the story forward. It's a story that keeps you guessing and searching for the truth, and I found it incredibly immersive-successfully modernizing traditional folklore into a dark thriller
If you appreciate atmospheric neo-noir thrillers and mind-bending mysteries that don't hold your hand, this series is absolutely worth your time.

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Tombé dans le piège

Difficile de ne pas être happé par le piège tendu par Mousetrap, ce thriller coréen qui brouille habilement les pistes sur l'identité et la culpabilité.
La série nous prend à la gorge dès les premiers épisodes, avec ce cauchemar moderne qu’est l’usurpation d’identité, et ne nous lâche plus.
Ce qui m’a le plus impressionné, c’est le jeu d’acteur, porté par un casting incroyablement juste.
Ryu Jun-yeol livre une performance phénoménale en incarnant à la fois l’écrivain reclus Moon-jae et son mystérieux sosie . Il distingue les deux rôles par des détails subtils, comme un changement de hauteur de voix, passant du grave au plus aigu pour incarner « le Rat », prouvant un talent rare .
Les seconds rôles ne sont pas en reste, avec Sul Kyung-gu en prêteur impitoyable qui apporte une énergie brute et une humanité saisissante au récit . Leur duo, né d’une alliance contre-nature, est un vrai moteur pour l’histoire .

Cependant, si la série est une véritable montée d’adrénaline jusqu’au bout, le dernier épisode m’a un peu laissé sur ma faim. La révélation finale est un coup de théâtre qui change toute la perspective , mais elle aurait mérité d’être un peu plus développée pour pleinement satisfaire. On reste un peu sur sa faim, même si ce sentiment d’inachevé colle parfaitement à l’ambiance troublante de la série .

En résumé, Mousetrap est une expérience captivante grâce à son suspense psychologique et ses acteurs magistraux, malgré un final qui nous laisse un goût d’inachevé. Une œuvre troublante et brillamment interprétée.

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¿Quien es en realidad la rata? ?

🐭 Mouse Trap

Mouse Trap fue una de esas series que empezás pensando que más o menos entendés por dónde va la historia y terminás completamente confundida preguntándote: “¿QUÉ ACABO DE VER?” 😭

Es una serie coreana de thriller, misterio y suspenso que gira alrededor de un escritor que, debido a un trastorno y a todo lo que ha vivido, termina siendo víctima de algo muchísimo más grande: alguien roba su identidad, se hace pasar por él y, de repente, su vida queda completamente destruida. Lo acusan de cosas que no hizo y termina teniendo que aliarse con un usurero para descubrir quién está detrás de todo, quién es realmente “la Rata” y por qué está haciendo todo esto.

Y DIOS MÍO, esta serie te obliga a estar pendiente de cada detalle. No es de esas que podés mirar mientras hacés otra cosa porque después no entendés absolutamente nada JAJAJA. Cada capítulo te hace sospechar de alguien diferente y cuando pensás que finalmente descubriste quién es la Rata, la serie viene y te dice: “No, querida. Te equivocaste.” 😭

Lo que más me gustó fue precisamente la manera en que juega con la mente del espectador. Hay momentos en los que dudás de absolutamente todos: del protagonista, del oficial, de las personas que lo rodean… y llega un punto en el que ya no sabés quién está diciendo la verdad y quién está manipulando la historia.

Y EL GIRO FINAL. 💀

Yo estaba literalmente como: “¿WHAT THE FUCK? ¿QUÉ PASÓ AQUÍ?”

Porque durante toda la serie creés que estás siguiendo la historia de una determinada manera, pero al final descubrís que muchas de las cosas que creías ciertas estaban completamente distorsionadas. El protagonista termina siendo mucho más oscuro de lo que imaginábamos y, de alguna manera, hasta nosotros como espectadores fuimos engañados por él.

Me encantó cómo conectaron su pasado con todo lo que estaba sucediendo en el presente. La historia de las identidades robadas, los libros, las amistades y todo lo que ocurrió durante su adolescencia hace que, cuando finalmente entendés la conexión, muchas cosas que parecían no tener sentido empiezan a encajar.

Y lo más irónico es justamente eso: él había construido toda su vida alrededor de una identidad que no era realmente suya. Hasta su incapacidad para volver a escribir termina teniendo sentido cuando descubrimos toda la verdad.

No voy a mentir: hubo momentos en los que estaba más perdida que los propios personajes JAJAJA, pero creo que justamente eso es parte de lo interesante de Mouse Trap. Es una serie que juega constantemente con tus teorías y te hace cambiar de opinión una y otra vez.

En general, me gustó muchísimo. Tiene misterio, tensión, traiciones, secretos y unos giros que realmente te dejan pensando. Es de esas series que terminás y necesitás quedarte unos minutos mirando al techo intentando procesar todo lo que acabás de descubrir. 😭

Si te gustan los thrillers psicológicos y las historias que juegan con tu mente, definitivamente recomiendo verla.

⭐ Mi puntuación: 9/10

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Quando roubar a genialidade não basta

As particularidades da vida pessoal, digamos, inusitada de Ryu Jun-yeol à parte, já não é de hoje que considero o ator um dos melhores de sua geração. Ele possui um domínio de cena e de texto que poucos conseguem alcançar, e aqui o elogio é particularmente merecido porque ele precisa interpretar dois personagens completamente diferentes. O resultado é uma demonstração de controle cênico impressionante, daquelas atuações em que o ator não parece simplesmente trocar de personagem, mas realmente construir duas pessoas distintas. E há ainda Sul Kyung-gu, magistral como esse ex-chefe da máfia falido que virou cobrador de devedores e que, para minha própria surpresa, começa a desenvolver um afeto genuíno pelo protagonista do bem, se é que podemos chamar alguém assim nesta história.

Quanto ao drama, confesso que fiquei um pouco surpreso com os comentários de quem terminou a série confuso, porque, para mim, as peças estão muito bem conectadas. O nosso mocinho usurpou a genialidade do outro e, ao assumir a identidade de ghostwriter, acabou provocando o suicídio da namorada de seu alvo invejado. A partir daí, Son Su-hye transforma a própria dor em uma teia de vingança que arrasta diversas pessoas inocentes para um desastre que parece não ter fim. O interessante é que a vingança também não entrega a ele aquilo que prometia: no fim, ele sequer consegue destruir completamente o homem que pretendia arruinar. E talvez seja justamente aí que MouseTrap encontre sua melhor ideia.

Porque tudo aquilo que é plagiado e usurpado tem um preço. A criatividade não nasce daquele que a rouba, mas da fonte original, e quando essa fonte é destruída, o usurpador descobre que não possui nada próprio para colocar em seu lugar. É uma espécie de punição particularmente cruel: você pode roubar a obra, o talento, o reconhecimento e até construir uma vida inteira sobre aquilo, mas não consegue roubar a fonte que produziu tudo. Quando essa fonte desaparece, sobra apenas o vazio. Talvez seja esse o verdadeiro castigo de Moon-jae, e também a sua sina. No fim, MouseTrap não é apenas uma história de vingança, mas uma história sobre o preço de destruir aquilo que você passou a vida inteira tentando possuir.

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bonne intrigue

C'est une intrigue basée sur le vol d'identité, en bien plus compliqué. Un auteur à succès qui vit caché comme un ermite, passe tout par son conseiller, et n'a rien à son nom (pour des raisons que nous verrons plus tard). Seulement problème, quand le conseil disparait, notre auteur n'a plus accès au compte du conseiller (en fair, son compte mais au nom du conseil) , perd son logement (lui aussi au nom du conseiller) . Pour couronner le tout, il semble qu'un sosie soit dans la nature, et son but est de lui pourrir la vie ! s'ensuit un duo improbable avec un ancien gangster, poursuivi par un flic opiniâtre et de bien mauvais gangsters !
J'ai aimé
Les acteurs sont vraiment excellents
L'intrigue est bien élaborée, on comprend tout à la fin.
Le format est bien, 10 épisodes c'est nickel.
L'ost est top, c'est soit le requiem de Mozart avec plein de variantes, soit de la musique très entrainante .

Je n'ai pas aimé
bien que l'ancien voyou soit un tueur il laisse les tueurs à ses trousses vivants par 2 fois, et ne les attache pas lol.
Le tueur principal est toujours là au bon moment et on ne sait pas comment il fait.
Sinon notre héros, en pleine forêt profonde, il fonce et est surpris DEUX fois sur des groupes qui parlent et qui ont des lampes.

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Drop

acabei perdendo o interesse no meio do caminho, mas se quiserem assistir tem lá na Netflix! 7.5! (desculpa se a resenha foi curta, é que quando eu dropo um dorama a maioria das vezes não tenho muito o que dizer quando eu vou fazer a resenha..) ￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴

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