1
BbalanceD
A bushland outlook in the Sydney region
This drama is like a guilty secret.
It will make you laugh at very inappropriate times. This act of laughter will lighten the scary darkness at the heart of a psychopath's killing actions.
Our hero/anti hero is a protagonist wanting to be nice and do good in the world. (Protagonists’ secret weapon is their purity of intent. Generally speaking, they are motivated by a sincere wish to do the right thing rather than a desire to manipulate or have power over other people). This stance means that others view Dong-Sik as weak, a pushover and at the start of the drama it drives him to consider a desperate act. The consequence is the setup for the black humour that follows. Using his love of murder movies for reference we get to watch this playful, puppy eyed, sweetie slip into murderous role play. The acting is terrific and the shift in facial and body response is something that keeps the entertainment level high.
Our true baddie, Seo In Woo, is likewise a complex character who initially sees Dong-Sik as a worthy soulmate and imbues him with skills and intelligence that are more projections of his idealistic self.
The two ML's are polar opposites in personality and family dynamics and when Seo In Woo realises his mistake his focus on Dong-Sik becomes a murderous cat and mouse game.
Neighborhood police officer, Shim Bo Kyung, has aspirations of following in her successful, detective, father's footsteps and here too the reality lines are blurred as she believes she is getting encouragement and clues from her father when in actuality he is a projected hallucination and her skill set and lack of martial arts is severely lacking. Some of her actions and responses annoyed me and I had my fingers crossed that our ML would not choose her for a love interest.
The black comedy may not suit everyone as it relies on absurdist humour creating awkward and hilarious encounters and reactions. It shows up regularly in every episode and I was grateful for this as it was a counterfoil to the truly horrible planned murders from our handsome and urbane psychopath, Seo In Woo.
I do recommend Psychopath Diary it has shades of the strange film Seven Psychopaths (2012) where that plot spins around the idea of dog nappers and spirals out of control.
Our hero/anti hero is a protagonist wanting to be nice and do good in the world. (Protagonists’ secret weapon is their purity of intent. Generally speaking, they are motivated by a sincere wish to do the right thing rather than a desire to manipulate or have power over other people). This stance means that others view Dong-Sik as weak, a pushover and at the start of the drama it drives him to consider a desperate act. The consequence is the setup for the black humour that follows. Using his love of murder movies for reference we get to watch this playful, puppy eyed, sweetie slip into murderous role play. The acting is terrific and the shift in facial and body response is something that keeps the entertainment level high.
Our true baddie, Seo In Woo, is likewise a complex character who initially sees Dong-Sik as a worthy soulmate and imbues him with skills and intelligence that are more projections of his idealistic self.
The two ML's are polar opposites in personality and family dynamics and when Seo In Woo realises his mistake his focus on Dong-Sik becomes a murderous cat and mouse game.
Neighborhood police officer, Shim Bo Kyung, has aspirations of following in her successful, detective, father's footsteps and here too the reality lines are blurred as she believes she is getting encouragement and clues from her father when in actuality he is a projected hallucination and her skill set and lack of martial arts is severely lacking. Some of her actions and responses annoyed me and I had my fingers crossed that our ML would not choose her for a love interest.
The black comedy may not suit everyone as it relies on absurdist humour creating awkward and hilarious encounters and reactions. It shows up regularly in every episode and I was grateful for this as it was a counterfoil to the truly horrible planned murders from our handsome and urbane psychopath, Seo In Woo.
I do recommend Psychopath Diary it has shades of the strange film Seven Psychopaths (2012) where that plot spins around the idea of dog nappers and spirals out of control.
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