This review may contain spoilers
It's impressive to advance investigations across multiple time frames like that. They intertwine from one case to the next to paint a complete picture at the end. What a feat of writing by Kim Eun-hee.
These multi-layered plots are always fun, as witnesses are needed to provide new clues, so we revisit previous scenes and discover each time that someone else was there and saw everything. All those prying eyes !
It really is the excellent suspense series it promised to be. Each episode ends with mounting tension and a new element to the investigation. It takes several minutes to get there, not just painful cliffhangers. And thankfully so, given the traumas that are addressed. It's emotionally heavy going. The walkie-talkie scene: "I've waited 15 years for you. Say something, please !"...
That said, body language is complete bullshit. Only charlatans sell their expertise in this field, which has absolutely no scientific basis. It's on a par with psychological assessments for the courts. Complete rubbish. And profiling isn't based on anything either. (We can attribute all sorts of intentions to murderers since their opinions don't count. And we will never be inside their heads) At least it makes for good plot devices. And we even get the hypnosis sequence to recover memories, the whole shebang ! (Memory isn't a hard drive where you can retrieve a file of memories.)
Accidentally, a series that denounces the police. Welcome to this conference.
From the second episode onwards, we see that the police lie to extract confessions. They lie and intimidate the suspect. It's scandalous, but tragically, these people have the right to do so, and even if they didn't, they would never refrain from doing it. They also have no right to kill people or deprive them of medication and sleep in their cells, but that has never stopped them.
Later, the young inspector threatens an old gangster with charging him with illegal gambling if he doesn't give him the answers he wants, and this is presented in a positive light because it advances the investigation. It's just threats and abuse of power, even corruption, since he's turning a blind eye to a crime in exchange for something...
In fact, these police series always put us in the shoes of police officers who do unacceptable things, but because we want to know who is guilty, we end up validating them. Instead of rebelling. What right do they have to ruin other people's lives ? Their curiosity and ability to destroy us should be questioned, but never is.
At one point, a police officer lectures during an interrogation, saying that the victims had families who loved them. It really annoys me to hear that. What if the people who were murdered were alone, isolated, without families ? Would it be okay to kill them then ? Great message.
Another lecture from a policewoman to a colleague : he should shut up and obey instead of trying to "impose his opinions"... he was just trying to help with the investigation and the chief wasn't listening to him. And then she adds : "I don't know why you hate the police so much." I have a few ideas, if you want to hear them. But don't change a thing, you stupid police officers ! Keep up the good work with your 6 out of 10 unsolved cases. It has never been the goal of the police, anyway, contrary to what the copaganda would have us believe. And it's not a question of rules or laws preventing them from doing so, they already don't respect the law.
Throughout, the section chief is portrayed as a poor cop tortured by his choices, and he is offered redemption when he searches for a scarf, evidence that he could have shared instead of keeping it to himself. He wanted to ease his conscience, selfishly, after lying and destroying. The guy is a scumbag, period. I hate the way crime series redeem bastards who have done nothing to earn forgiveness. He's suffering in his little heart ? That's the least he deserves. It's like asking me to mourn the murder of a Nazi by another Nazi (a totally hypothetical situation). No, no, no, my eyes are dry.
In this series, with all their little speeches about being good police officers, I started to wonder if it wasn't all tongue-in-cheek. They spend their time pissing people off with their haughty, moralising attitudes without ever arresting the right people. Those losers. And then they're all miserable, the poor things.
No, but I liked the series, eh ! It's great. It's just that I can't stand stories about nice detectives devoted to truth and justice. It's so far from reality.
PS: In episode 7, the woman in the café is reading a huge tome by Walter Benjamin. Good for her. I love that philosopher, but I don't know if I could read that to relax in a crowded place.
PS2: Saying that you become a serial killer because you were abused as a child is very silly given the prevalence of adultism against children.
PS3: Either talk or eat, but don't do both, you bunch of slobs ! What is this mixing ?
These multi-layered plots are always fun, as witnesses are needed to provide new clues, so we revisit previous scenes and discover each time that someone else was there and saw everything. All those prying eyes !
It really is the excellent suspense series it promised to be. Each episode ends with mounting tension and a new element to the investigation. It takes several minutes to get there, not just painful cliffhangers. And thankfully so, given the traumas that are addressed. It's emotionally heavy going. The walkie-talkie scene: "I've waited 15 years for you. Say something, please !"...
That said, body language is complete bullshit. Only charlatans sell their expertise in this field, which has absolutely no scientific basis. It's on a par with psychological assessments for the courts. Complete rubbish. And profiling isn't based on anything either. (We can attribute all sorts of intentions to murderers since their opinions don't count. And we will never be inside their heads) At least it makes for good plot devices. And we even get the hypnosis sequence to recover memories, the whole shebang ! (Memory isn't a hard drive where you can retrieve a file of memories.)
Accidentally, a series that denounces the police. Welcome to this conference.
From the second episode onwards, we see that the police lie to extract confessions. They lie and intimidate the suspect. It's scandalous, but tragically, these people have the right to do so, and even if they didn't, they would never refrain from doing it. They also have no right to kill people or deprive them of medication and sleep in their cells, but that has never stopped them.
Later, the young inspector threatens an old gangster with charging him with illegal gambling if he doesn't give him the answers he wants, and this is presented in a positive light because it advances the investigation. It's just threats and abuse of power, even corruption, since he's turning a blind eye to a crime in exchange for something...
In fact, these police series always put us in the shoes of police officers who do unacceptable things, but because we want to know who is guilty, we end up validating them. Instead of rebelling. What right do they have to ruin other people's lives ? Their curiosity and ability to destroy us should be questioned, but never is.
At one point, a police officer lectures during an interrogation, saying that the victims had families who loved them. It really annoys me to hear that. What if the people who were murdered were alone, isolated, without families ? Would it be okay to kill them then ? Great message.
Another lecture from a policewoman to a colleague : he should shut up and obey instead of trying to "impose his opinions"... he was just trying to help with the investigation and the chief wasn't listening to him. And then she adds : "I don't know why you hate the police so much." I have a few ideas, if you want to hear them. But don't change a thing, you stupid police officers ! Keep up the good work with your 6 out of 10 unsolved cases. It has never been the goal of the police, anyway, contrary to what the copaganda would have us believe. And it's not a question of rules or laws preventing them from doing so, they already don't respect the law.
Throughout, the section chief is portrayed as a poor cop tortured by his choices, and he is offered redemption when he searches for a scarf, evidence that he could have shared instead of keeping it to himself. He wanted to ease his conscience, selfishly, after lying and destroying. The guy is a scumbag, period. I hate the way crime series redeem bastards who have done nothing to earn forgiveness. He's suffering in his little heart ? That's the least he deserves. It's like asking me to mourn the murder of a Nazi by another Nazi (a totally hypothetical situation). No, no, no, my eyes are dry.
In this series, with all their little speeches about being good police officers, I started to wonder if it wasn't all tongue-in-cheek. They spend their time pissing people off with their haughty, moralising attitudes without ever arresting the right people. Those losers. And then they're all miserable, the poor things.
No, but I liked the series, eh ! It's great. It's just that I can't stand stories about nice detectives devoted to truth and justice. It's so far from reality.
PS: In episode 7, the woman in the café is reading a huge tome by Walter Benjamin. Good for her. I love that philosopher, but I don't know if I could read that to relax in a crowded place.
PS2: Saying that you become a serial killer because you were abused as a child is very silly given the prevalence of adultism against children.
PS3: Either talk or eat, but don't do both, you bunch of slobs ! What is this mixing ?
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