Somebody (2022)

A drama for serial killer fanatics

Netflix originals can always be a hit or a miss, but this was so good in my opinion. The only reason it's not a ten in my book is that there were a few things left unanswered/things I would've liked to delve more into. The acting was almost too good, to the point I was uncomfortable with some scenes. Now that being said this drama is not for those with a faint of heart!! It's super gory and has quite a few triggering scenes (animal murder, graphic murder, rape, etc) but what can you expect from a Netflix show. Now what surprised me the most was the amount of sex scenes in the show, and they were SUPER explicit, especially for a k-drama! Their was almost a sex scene in every episode, if not multiple in one episode ( I think one went on for like 7 minutes if not longer, which is pretty long for me lol) Maybe it's just because I'm not use to seeing those type of scenes in Korean dramas . The chemistry between the two leads was also sooooo good, I would definitely be pleased to see them in another work together. If you're looking for a good psychological thriller, with a really good plot then give this a try!

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Eerie Yet Cunning Story

For me Somebody was a delightful watch. The slow pacing, the story, the characters and the whole overall aesthetic was very fun. People are complaining how they didn't understand why ML was doing whatever he was doing. Psychopaths never have any logical reason anyways for their doings and this is why I loved it. Because I always eat up any psycho thrillers. Somebody was just another level of distinctive art where each and everything was pure art. The cinematography reminded me so much of how usually Korean movies are. It's not everyone's cup of tea and that's totally fine.

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intriguing start - confusing middle - unispired ending

Storyline:

this one started promising with the lead actress being a special kind of introvert autist forced extrovert if needed, being beautiful and highly intelligent in the field of programming. The idea of the new chatbot she invents fits the current times and often hopelessly automatized behaviours of modern humans.
She herself uses her chatbot and one evening decides to meet the creepy chat match instead of the normal nice guy she is talking to at the same time.
Meeting that obviously creepy guy is weird and intense for her, the cinematography and music in the first episodes is really good, artsy and fitting the entire mood it wants to transport.
So while we find out the very first episode that the creepy looking guy is indeed a creep and crazy serial killer for that, we undertand that somehow he likes our female lead too and does not intend to kill her (or at least most of the time I guess).

So the pictures, the tension and the music are really well done in the first few episodes. The side characters are - ok.
The shaman friend seems interesting but her story isn't well explored, sadly she remains pale because that lack of background.
The other friend of our progammer lady is a female detective who, after an accident, is wheelchair bound.

Our serial killer seeks the cop lady out specifically on the chat bot luring her in with pretending he is in a wheel chair too. (how he is able to do that we don't know) For some unknown reason he does not kill her though, but leaves her out in the wild without her wheelchair. I did wonder though why did he not kill her as she could have easiyl intentified him? Also, why did she not check the police records for his face she being a police woman?

By the middle of the show it gets all rather slow and several things that happen seemed forced and incoherent to me and I started feeling a little annoyed.

It seemed like the creators wanted to put certain things into the story no matter what and how.
So the shaman woman is into women and it seems kind of forced that they almost artificially create a situation for her to meet a woman and get it going with her. No problem with that if it fits the story and you feel a connection to the character. That chance was missed in my opinion and so it just seems like they wanted this to somehow happen in that show.

Same thing goes for the handicapped cop lady. So she is a cop but although being in a wheelchair and thus comparably helpless she goes to a blind date with an unknown guy she just talked to per chat for a bit, and she doesn't meet him in public but is gullibly being lured into the wild to a forsaken swimmingpool sowewhere in the great nowhere? Would a cop, let alone a handicapped cop do such dumb thing really?

So then you have to just accept that quite accidentally, in a multi million city like Seoul, the serial killer gets involved with programmer girl and at the same time with her disabled cop friend. Not enough accidental things, he is even able to orchestrate a kind of rape game in a vacant industry hall at night, where programmer girl unknowingly meets a group of men who where made to believe she is meeting them for that rape role play. She doesn't know of course and despite being a very petite, untrained small woman she is not only able to escape all of them (unlikely) but even kills one of the with just one strike of a razor blade (very unlikely).
Meanwhile Mr. serial killer goes on killing while the police... hm, well it seems he can just go around killing in Seoul, the CCTV extreme city, and not only not being caught, but not even being sought after. (very, very unlikely).

it starts on dragging then, feeling like the creators couldn't decided what to do with the characters.
All of a sudden our autistic programmer girl is obsessively in love with the serial killer, but we don't really get to know why that happens all of a sudden.
The handicapped cop lad is out for revenge and instead of this time being wiser and getting backup when she wants to confront the serial killer, she - again - is dumb enough to be lured to a remote place, this time a whole vacant housing estate that is about to be demolished when she is there. And she really goes there alone again, with her wheelchair, into uneven demolishing ground, where this time she almost dies and is just being rescued the very last second. That was when I was annoyed because I thought how could someone with the police be that idiotic two times in a row? How did she even get to the police with that lack of intelligence in the first place?

Anyways, it then gets more artsy and abysmal, serial killer killing, programmer girl acting like a 12-year old obsessively in love with him ignoring all sensibility, and in the end deciding to kill the killer. That, sadly, wasn't done in any realistic way.
She still just has that small razor blade, and with it is able to make a slash through one eyeball, the nose including bone and the other eyeball. For this she would have neede something else, a mere small razor blade is not able to do that. But again, the creators wanted that effect of cut eyeballs, physics out the window. And again, no police while in a few weeks there are brutally murdered people everwhere and programmer girl happily celebrated with her friends.

Conclusion:

I did not know this was an adaption of a book and I do not know that book so I can't say if the adaption went well or not.
As mentioned in the beginning, this was promising and it could have been rather good, but somewhere in the middle the creators somehow lost their own plot. it got more and more confusing and the characters acting unlogical or plain dumb.

Creating a good storyline with this content is probably comparably difficult, but the downward tendency was just too steep for me from the middle of the show.

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This had a lot of potential, but the execution didn't come through here.

Apparently, serial killer guy is in love with the MC. But I don't see how. She's beautiful, intelligent and straight-forward -- sure, but they only met once before he falls in love with her. Their communication is super short - only a few lines of dialogue. They needed to spend some more time making his love believable. Like him being interested in the person who made this app he uses to find his victims, learns about her and then finally meets and falls in love with her. But nope. No build-up whatsoever.

There's nothing deep here. Sometimes it doesn't make sense who he chooses to kill and who he chooses to let go. Why some of the women would meet up with some random person they only talked to once online in some SUPER secluded place, out in the boonies or a building at night.

Almost every woman in this story happens to be a horndog, including the MC. Nothing wrong with that but ALMOST EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM throwing caution to the wind for it? Makes absolutely no sense.

The shaman is also random, and I feel is out of left field for the story. Nice having a LGBT character and all, but the shaman thing is still random.

I'm generally a fan of Netflix Kdramas, but I didn't vibe with this one at all.

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a cinematographic thriller with an odd pacing

like most of us, i was hooked by the trailer of 'somebody'. i binged it the day of its release. a dark thriller, involving creepy serial killer kim young kwang and an intriguing kang hae lim ? could we ask for more ?

the first episodes were interesting, the impeccable acting and visuals get you very engaged in the story-line. however, after a few episodes, the story arc gets a little dull. a slow paced thriller can be very good when well executed, but in my opinion, the pacing of the scenes in 'somebody' sometimes felt inadequate. some moments lasted too long, and others that we would want to dive deeper into ended abruptly. i also wish they went in more depth into backstories to improve character development. when finishing the drama, i was left with mixed feelings, and wanting to know more.

still, i need to praise all the actor's performances. they are the ones keeping the story compelling from start to finish. kim sum's character is chilling, and yun ho's scenes dreadful ! they really nailed it on their part.

overall, it's an aesthetically pleasing, very well produced (netflix) drama, with flawless acting, so it's still a rather enjoyable watch for anyone into slow thrillers. this drama had a lot of potential, but i feel like the visual quality took over the actual substance and depth of the story.

edit: removed the 'leaving us with many unanswered questions' from the title, as it seemed to confuse people into thinking this drama had an open ending!

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It's not easy to love this, but its harder to not love this.

Its always the way the characters look at each other, the look of love in eyes that makes one fall in love with the characters. It's same here too, its just that she falls in love with a bad bad guy and you kinda end up falling in love with them. I was stunned, moved and touched by the way their relationship molded over time. The script doesn't offer you with much shocking plot twists but does give slow burn twists that you would have expected for a long time but it still make you feel shocked when you see it. The aspect of finding someone you feel like you belong with though you shouldn't - that drives the movie. The gore killings, yah can weird you out. The slow burn sexual connection and emotions are put out in an excellent way by the actors.
The script and the acting makes it feel so raw, the essence of the movie.

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Somebody: "You mind saying that to me again?"

This Netflix series is definitely not easy to swallow but can become very intimidating if you pay attention to how it unfolds. So basically, I will say this series is a really nice piece of cake for those who love observing how good, complex, and CONSISTENT vicious characters can be written, without getting boring. The consistency in character is what I really liked about this series. This is what makes "Somebody" quite an interesting show for me, who loves dedicating their free time to analyzing the beauty in human grim. You don´t have this evil scumbag who suddenly changes for the Female Lead. You don´t need a detailed background to show that sometimes evil scumbags are just evil scumbags with no remorse. Sometimes there is nothing that anybody can do to prevent these "natural killers" from being born. They exist like hunters in the wild. Yuno´s life consisted of this side of him that just felt alive from hunting and IT. STAYED. CONSTANT. UNTIL. THE. ALMOST. VERY. END.

For those who are not invested in villainous characters like Yuno, 6.9 stars is a solid average. I can totally understand that a majority will not like or enjoy this piece of art. Even for me, a hunter for series like this, it´s hard to explain. On whatever thread I am on, I always try to analyze behavior that is seen as vicious, grim, weird, and unlogical. The point is, humans are led by emotions, these, however, are often perceived as irrational, while often they aren't. They are a direct response to a certain trigger, for a reason!! What makes arguments f.e. irrational, is when the base facts are not able to be proven right. And Yuno was most certainly led by his uncontrollable impulses, which would not stop, even if he met Kim Sum. Even if he "loved" her. He didn´t manage to control these impulses before, maybe never wanted to. So I don´t think that the series necessarily lacked logic in the world they created, but maybe it lacked context and depth.

I also really want to highlight the variety of this series in terms of characters: A disabled police officer, a shaman, and a main character with Asperger Syndrome. In a thriller/horror/suspense series! Really loved to see this. LGBTQ+ representation in K-dramas, especially in suspense dramas, is not common.

YUNO (Yun O/ Yun-O)
He doesn´t really change throughout the entire series, however, Kim Sum does have an impact on his behavior. As she was not harmed in their first meeting because he might have either grown interested or thought of a better way to torture her before death by using her vulnerability, always being excluded because of Aspergers, against her. Or BOTH? He is not the most strategic killer you´ll see in a drama, but one of the most active and creative ones. Using the app, pretending to be nice, doing background research (not shown), trying hard to set the right fake Ambiente, and killing depending on the situation. He always adapted his torture to the victim, sometimes didn´t even kill at all - aiming for the highest of emotional damage. So, to point this out, his killing itself is not the consistent part, as he not always kills his victims (right away?).

And this consistency made the ending so interesting. The viewer could not tell what he was planning on. Did he really want to live with her? Did he really love her, like how he said when he was choking on his own blood? Even if he did, did he still plan to kill her (and him?)? Building such an architecture for her, was the clue that he did indeed like her the most. I think that all this emotional insecurity makes the ending so intense to watch. I had to fight this weird urge to feel bad for him because his situation and ending were so pathetic. And kind of sad... and kind of righteous. The crew and editors really dedicated themselves to showing us a twisted scene where they confront the viewers with a serial-killers last vulnerability, his mortality, and exceptionally and almost unexpected fast death. (What I mean is, he had no unrealistic luck in surviving, he just died) LIKE ANY OTHER HUMAN BEING. No exception.

KIM SUM
She definitely took her part as the main character and also stayed somewhat consistent. The interest in murder was in her, from the start. She also did not become more vicious. She just behaved and stayed consistent. JUST that she initiated the kill was something that we could not get a hold of entirely. It made sense, it matched the series. But not quite predictable, as she really liked him. Just her outsmarting him was somewhat predictable. I loved how they managed to include SOME ONE :) in the dynamic, without making it awkward or weird to watch.

What I really found the most interesting, is that she was aroused by his behavior. Because these dark fantasies had built up inside of her and he was the personalization of what she always wanted to do to the people who treated her like a monster? This series has really overwhelmed me in some points, like no other. It also made me self-reflect about why I like what I like.

IM MOK WON
She/ They were a bit of a confusing variable. I really liked her character, just that I could not quite understand her role in this scenario. Was she like a medium between evil and good? Or a medium between chaotic evil and chaotic neutral? Or just the messenger between all the characters? Then she was basically just being used for communication. Her romance faded into nothingness. Her character depth was a bit unfulfilling.

YEONG GI EUN
She is a cop, but still managed to get into deadly situations in the same pattern. One time not knowing she will meet somebody with ill intentions and one time EXACTLY knowing what evil person she is dealing with. Both times she gets outplayed in a similar and cruel way. But why would she do it in the first place? Curiosity is not worth your death. She could have gone back once she noticed her wheelchair was not made for the place she was at. He was revealed as a killer by then. So she basically reached nothing but to risk her life and, which to be fair IS important, revealed the location of another victim of his.

Overall I really had an intense watching. It made me think and reflect and even shed a few tears. But I agree and acknowledge that this series is a special case and surely confusing and unenjoyable for people not obsessed with twisted characters and villains on a daily basis. They made the best they could and shared the story of a colorful trio in a small series consisting of only 8 episodes. "SOMEBODY" doesn´t have much left to offer but observation of a FOR ONCE almost entirely consistent serial killer in a K-Drama. Also, his visions, fast adaption, and grim creativity made YUNO an interesting persona to watch.

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Korean cinema and thriller were born to be together

The first Korean work of television I have encountered that I can call a work of art. Now this is not the same as My Mister or Mr. Sunshine which are highest quality television. But Somebody felt like watching a class Korean film over eight episodes with a shot selection, attention to character expressions, and subtle dialogue and hidden motives that makes me think of Hamlet, the Mona Lisa, and American Psycho (which I didn't even know this adapted until looking it up). As well as the strongest use of score on the following terms: the greatest use of classical music for socio/psychopaths' trope, dual leitmotif for the two leads, interspersed pop, and the show's own soundtrack which is just so good, that I have seen in Korean television. Modern social communication ft. dating apps, a shaman, a serial killer, an AI chatbot, and love. The only word I can properly use to describe Somebody is insane, and I'm glad that Netflix suggested it to me because this was so up my dark alley.

Shows like these make me excited for the future of Korean television, which in my opinion, is still nascent and only started showing its potential in the 2010s. The last time I tried to pull an all-nighter for a short series was Babylon 2-3 years ago (anime series about someone who makes people commit suicide). Somebody's sick at times but I just could not stop.

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HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL.

Like the majority of watchers, i was also intrigued by the trailer. With a promising storyline and everything that i love in a drama -thriller, mystery, psychological... it had so much potential but unfortunately just fell short for me.


THE GOOD.

- the FL was alright, the representation of Aspergers syndrome was interesting to see. Kim young Kwang is amazing as always. His portrayal of a psycho was scarily good.

- the cinematography, acting and overall production was incredible- it was something that kept me watching.


THE BAD

- The pacing was abit off. The first 2 episodes were great- the establishment of the main leads were solid and the interesting plot was set into motion. But as the episodes continued, the storyline became somewhat slow and incoherent, with unnecessary plots line and filler episodes (ep 6). Then as the series came to an end, it begins to escalate- with the serial killer receiving weird calls from his past victims and him finally feeling threatened, for him to then be killed?

- I wish they delved further into the serial killers background. We get a VERY brief insight into his past; he had a mother who apparently abandoned him. We also see how his first murder was accidental but then what!? TELL ME MORE. Did he not have any friends /family? How did he get that scar? how did he target his victims? and how did he easily get away with it??

- most characters lacked any depth. what was the point of the boss lady please.

- The police character was infuriately STUPID. You first decided to meet an unknown guy at a far away secluded location, find out he lied about his disability and slept with him, for him to then abandon you after disposing your wheelchair- yet you decide to meet him again? i don't understand how she didn't use the police facilities to identify the guy? the wheelchair friend had the potential to be a badass character, but ended up being a disappointment. why he didn't kill her is truly a mystery to me?

- LETS TALK ABOUT EPISODE 6. This ep must've solely been made to annoy the hell out of viewers. At this point she's aware of his psycho nature but she decides to meet him again for revenge with nothing but her wheelchair and half a brain. atleast take some backup smh. ALSO why/how do pedestrians have easy access to demolition sites?

- the police were useless as usual.

- was the extreme nudity and sex scene necessary? i'm not a prude, but they didn't really add anything to the story.

- The main leads apparently fall in love. but there was no build up to that. They met rarely and briefly, for them to suddenly be madly in love?? We get to see the 'human' side of the serial killer in the final episode. He starts to show ¿remorse? for his actions. the complete 180 of his character was too sudden and uneventful.

Overall, the story was very promising. has great momentum in the beginning, to come to a halt towards the end. The ending was just right for me, but with the weird pacing it was rather anti-climatic.

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Easy to love the cast but hard to love story

I love thrillers/murder mysteries and it's been a while since new psycho killer dramas. Kim Young Kwang with his jokerish smile was a great choice for this role and there's no question the whole cast can act but the weakness is in the script.  
The dialogue felt slow.

By Ep 6 I am just like what is this sloppy nonsense?  Literally poor decisions all around.

Why did disabled cop go meet him alone?
Why did she go party first before calling her colleague about discovering ...?
LGBT Shaman storyline felt random
ML and ML only shared a few lines and deeply connected?  There really should've been some development with that.
Overly dark lighting
Radom fingers on the phone screen...............

Lost potential with this great cast because there could've been so many interesting storylines:
ML back scar story?
FL first gambling hall employer?
FL and Cop friend, how were they able to grow close then fell apart at some point?
How did she become that way?
Shaman and cop, what's the story there?
FL & ML 's emotional connection at a deeper level?

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Casting Kim Young Kwang was the only good thing about this drama

Kim Young Kwang blew me away with his acting. His character literally made my skin crawl. He's the embodiment of creepy. The story however feels flat and it makes no sense. The FMC's best friend is disabled and she sees MMC's face multiple times so she would be able to easily identify him and the fact that he leaves her alone despite knowing that she could go to the police with this information was unbelievable. And on top of that, the best friend is disabled and despite this, she chooses to pursue. Honestly I wouldn't have cared if she died because the choices she made were utterly stupid. If she were to die, it would just be evolution doing it's thing. Yeah, it was utterly stupid and I was so disappointed because I was actually excited for this drama.

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What did Bret Easton Ellis do to these writers?

Before we started this show, my sister said to me, "I like the concept but you can't trust Netflix," and I laughed because I thought she was being dramatic. Well. Am I the idiot or what. I've wasted hours and hours of my life on other things before and managed to walk away laughing about how much I like to torture myself with crap but this? I'm angry. None of this really matters and I have so many other things I should be worried about but this actually made me angry enough that I made an account for this review. I could be doing something constructive instead but since I've already wasted 8+ hours on this show, I might as well waste five more minutes.

Related to 'American Psycho' (both the novel and the movie) in neither plot nor substance, the only good thing about this show was the acting. I guess the ambience, as well. Really not sure what was worse between the nonsensical actions of the protagonists or that borderline criminal rendition of 'The House of the Rising Sun'. Like, I think they're really lucky that's a folk song and therefore has no single owner because otherwise, I'd be getting in touch with their descendents to suggest that they sue. Might suggest that Bret Easton Ellis sue them for what they did to his novel but I guess if he could be chill about what they did to his first novel, he'd be chill about this, too. But, like, I don't have to be.

Genuinely, someone who liked this show please let me know whether you've read that book and what you think this show had to do with the book it was supposedly adapting. If you're gonna say that it's about an (apparantly) attractive, (seemingly) successful guy killing women... damn near any show about a serial killer could be an adaptation of the book, then. For the love of God. The closest they came to the themes of the book was the Samantha character and even that was half baked at best and insulting at worst. I'm genuinely angry after watching this. I think I would've been less angry if they hadn't said it was an adaptation but by God, did anyone working on this even skim the book, let alone think about it critically?

Even if I'm to ignore that it's meant to be an adaptation, I have never encountered three more braindead protagonists in my life, and I'm almost mad they didn't end up dead. Except Mok Won. I would've been mad if Mok Won had died, even if she made the dumb mistake of giving those other two morons way too much grace to get their shit together. Seriously, how did they not all die?!

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