What's In A Voice?
Warning: This article may contain spoilers for Episodes 1-6.
Netflix introduced me to K-dramas, specifically Falling for Innocence and Man to Man, and I fell in love with the genre. When Netflix started Abyss this month, I was intrigued. The story begins with a not-so-good-looking man named Cha Min, dumped by his fiancé, and drunkenly contemplating suicide. While deep into that contemplation, he calls his friend, Go Se Yeon, to say his goodbyes and blame her for his ex-fiancé. The decision of his pending suicide is taken out of his hands when a strange object collides with him and he ends up in a field, bloody and dead, except he isn’t.
Two beings (I think aliens - not sure) resurrect Cha Min with a large marble called the Abyss, but he is not the same as he once was. Now he looks like a male Korean supermodel. Apparently, the Abyss resurrects the person to look like his or her internal beauty. In this case, Cha Min was such an awesome person, his spirit was drop dead gorgeous. He is given the Abyss which is a good thing because each episode going forward is riddled with violence and mayhem.
The series is about Cha Min and his newly resurrected friend Go Se Yeon and their quest to catch a very bloody and demented serial killer who has killed more people than I can keep track of, and I have only watched the first six episodes. First of all, be warned, if you are turned off by blood and violence, this show is full of it so watch at your own peril. What it is missing so far is the humour I found saturated throughout Falling for Innocence and Man to Man.
Ahn Hyo Seop plays Cha Min beautifully and by far is the best character in the show. His portrayal of the sweet, tender-hearted, intelligent Cha Min keeps me coming back each episode. His character gets better with every episode, keeping me watching despite all the gore.
Park Bo Young plays Go Se Yeon or at least the less attractive version of Go Se Yeon. That part of the plot was a bit hard to swallow because I think Park Bo Young is not ugly by any stretch of the imagination. I hated the character of Go Se Yeon until about episode five and I think that illustrates Park Bo Young’s skills. She shows the audience what a selfish, self-centered person Go Se Yeon is in the beginning.
The supporting cast plays a wide variety of characters that range from the creepy to the very miserable. The two siblings (at least by episode 6 they appear to be siblings) are two very sad characters indeed. Each of those characters still intrigues me enough to keep watching.
Can I just say that I’ve seen Lee Shi Eon in three K-dramas now and he never disappoints?! I think I'll watch every show he's in because he is so interesting every single time. I am enamoured of the part he plays in a very bizarre love triangle.
Final Thoughts
Despite the lack of humour, I am going to complete all the episodes. I’m hoping for a pause in all the bloodshed for an episode or two but I'm not holding my breath. The bad guy appears to be extremely bloodthirsty and doesn’t seem to want to stop with all the killing. The romance is building nicely and I’m looking forward to watching it play out.
If you have the time, give Abyss a try; you won’t be bored. One thing’s for sure, it makes me want to be nice to everyone so I can be brought back from the dead looking like a supermodel.
