Ophanin

It starts with characters who are immediately endearing, situations with potential, beautiful pastel-toned photography, truly a sight to behold. Even though it's visually stunning, even though the two lead actresses are excellent, I have to say that a polite boredom crept over me with each passing episode. Kim Da-mi, always in gentle roles, and Shin Ye-eun, always with natural authority, explore their friendship. At first, I imagined it would be more, but our expectations are quickly dampened : they are good friends, period.

When you see all these subplots piling up without being developed, it's a very bad sign. Pure filler masquerading as a slice of life. From episode 3 onwards, I skipped scenes that seemed of dubious interest to me. We have two main female characters, and their friendship or relationship with each other should be at the heart of the story. Not some stupid love triangle with a guy who isn't interested.
The show takes the viewers' time for granted far too much. Between The Murky Stream and this, it's definitely not a great year for Shin Ye-eun.

Also, the pop version of Bach's music, played on the piano, may have its charm for some people, no doubt, and good for them, but not for me. I prefer to listen to Bach himself, if you don't mind, dear composer.

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The song "danse avec moi, jusqu'à la fin du jour, dis-moi je t'aime" (in English : dance with me until the end of the day, tell me you love me) during the operation at the beginning, the discomfort !

The staging, the sterile atmosphere, the rain, it's beautiful. They're not messing with us. Shoulder-mounted cameras, wide shots, transitions from one character to another with a simple movement, they know what they're doing here.
But they need to stop slapping the main character around, it's not acceptable. At the beginning, she spends all her time screaming and exploding with rage, then gets slapped once or twice, we can't keep writing and filming that.
Getting fired because you're infamous is not very credible in this environment. There's no shortage of nasty, self-important doctors. Okay, she kills bad guys on the side, in her spare time... But who hasn't [deleted by moderator] ? Those two are a perfect match. Unfortunately for me, I don't really understand the nature of their relationship: mentor-protégée, enemies-allies. It's too implicit for my little autistic brain. (It wouldn't be the first time.) In the end, I really don't understand why they're doing all this ; the reasons given don't seem coherent.

In terms of storytelling, this series could have been a film. It's obvious. There's too much repetition when everything is already well established in the first episode. It only lasts eight episodes, yet it feels too long. We're stuck at the same stage instead of bringing in new elements or developing the characters.

There's far too much shouting in this series. And I also hate it when we're shown a scene and then the next second it's all cancelled out because it was just a character's imagination. Stop doing that.

Ps : The policeman bears a resemblance to gérald darmanin (writing his name disgusts me), the French Minister of Justice, who admitted in an interview that he exchanged sex with poor women for social housing, using his position as an elected official. We call him "il ne faut pas dire: le sale vi*leur" (in english : don't say: the dirty r*pist). Never bothered by the law, of course, that's France for you, a country where the parties that lose elections stay in power and criminals become ministers. He also makes disgusting mouth noises in interviews, by the way ! like the policeman. This man quotes fascists in his speeches and admires Napoleon's anti-Semitic laws, but strangely enough, no journalist ever asks him about it.
Sorry, I had to get that off my chest. I hate him. A small brain tumour wouldn't hurt him, with all due respect.

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The old CEO has a magnificent Mondrian above his bed, one of his trees, grey, blue and black. Sublime. And a very, very beautiful Soulages in the living room, one of his lithographs, I believe.

Eat the Rich, the series. And on the side of the poor, unlike unbearable series like Succession. Here, it's enjoyable. Often funny. (Except for the strawberry guy's friend, he was never funny. I don't know if it's the actor, but you need to stop that right now, sir, there's only one Johnny Lever.) We love it when a poor girl that no one respects or notices finds herself at the centre of everything and shows all those jerks what she's capable of.

An excellent comedy thriller series, sometimes pushing the boundaries of what is morally acceptable (in episode 4, the heroine goes too far), but Baek Hye-ji is irresistible, like a cat playing with its prey.
When you're going through a rough patch, this kind of short series does you a world of good.

Nevertheless, we are once again faced with the trope of the only rich person in the world who does good around them. If these people really did that, they would make sure they no longer existed.
The police spend all their time following the news and coming to the homes of the rich to arrest them.
Psychiatry is shown for what it is : a tool at the service of the powerful. The slightest problem and quickly : it's my mental health, I'm not responsible. The poor don't get this preferential treatment. On the contrary, we are locked up with this same scam. (As a disabled person, I maybe have a little history with psychiatry)

The series surprised me with some beautiful framing at crucial moments ; the director knows what they're doing. In terms of plot twists, it was always entertaining and surprising. A fine piece of work. Well done, Korean craftsmanship ! Finally, the music wasn't bad at all, composed entirely using Spitfire Audio VSTi, I recognised it, nothing escapes me.
The editorial team (me) solemnly approves a potential season 2.

PS: As for the grandpa, I understood right away, thanks to my cosmic brain : the clues were so subtle that there was no doubt even without paying close attention.

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I wanted to see this series for Lee Ho-Jung because the two times I've come across her this year, she's played roles that were sacrificed or rather sabotaged by the plot. And here I am again with the same cast as the very (very) good ‘As You Stood by’ (2025), incredible. That Kim Nam-gil, what a man.

Here is a western set against the backdrop of the Japanese occupation of Gando/Jiandao, a historically significant place. Joseon and China were fighting over the region when Korea was annexed by Japan, which encouraged many Korean migrants to settle there. The Chinese saw them as cheap labour, while the Japanese wanted to take control of the region and then Manchuria. In defiance of their own treaty imposed on China, they decreed that the Koreans were under their ‘protection’ and logically sent in their police and then their army to ‘protect’ them. Fascists always lie. The Japanese claimed to be victims, notably of an attack (in Hunchun), and ordered their soldiers to destroy the Korean independence army (led by the anarchist Jwa-jin Kim and the communists of the future DPRK led by Hong Beom-do). And so came the Gando massacre. Twenty-seven days.
Twenty-seven days of killing civilians only, at least 5,000, certainly more, and every horror imaginable. A crime against humanity. In fact, revenge against the armed resistance fighters who had won the battle of Qingshanli a few days earlier. (October 1920, 1500 japanese soldiers defeated)
This is the context chosen by this K-drama.

So... The tone of the series, half comedy, half action, disarms me. I don't understand. All the reviews talk about the chemistry between Seohyun and Hojung. Such a heavy and serious subject, and that's all there is to say about it ? We're missing something somewhere. The context is virtually non-existent, just a backdrop. We're treating the premices of a war crime like this as a playground ? Playing cowboys ? With his guitar and whistling ? Robbing stagecoaches ? Excuse me ? Is that the story they want to tell us ?
In fact, the plot is very basic and unsurprising. The first episode (boring as hell but taking malicious pleasure in showing shocking scenes) gives everything away, we know everything. And the action scenes spice up this utterly uninteresting storyline.

In reality, we should see poor people working themselves to death, resistance movements organising themselves, but here we don't see anyone lacking food or even just working... it's almost like a holiday ! We are shown, of course, a few farmers in their small fields, with their children playing happily. Gando is still a bit like Korea surviving despite everything, isn't it ? But, excuse me, it was a region in the midst of industrialisation. They choose to show us the love of the land, the work of the land. It's not innocent. The Koreans who were sent there, they worked in factories and lived in Japanese colonies.

The series say that what precipitates the events leading to the massacres is the personal vendetta of a Korean enlisted in the Japanese army against his former slave, who has become a bandit. He led the Japanese to the scene to take revenge on one man. It was almost against his will that he provoked the deadly escalation. He just loves law and order. At one time he rebelled because the Japanese did not consider him their equal in the army... That was his problem in life. (episode 7)
This rewriting of history, which relegates the fake Hunchun attack to the background (mentioned in passing in the middle of the last episode) and completely erases the left-wing (anarchist and communist) and Protestant (Shinminhoe) guerrilla movements, as well as the Chinese presence, leaves me speechless.

I know why one made that choice, that rewrite. Out of nationalism, we prefer to see a band of merry bandits who love their country and kill Japanese people, rather than the reality : the Korean resistance on the ground was not led by nationalists, and that will never be said or shown ; we talk about "seditious Joseon". True apoliticals. An apolitical revolution, but still quite far to the right of the spectrum...
The nationalist government, that of the Korean elites, the one that would effortlessly take power in 1945 and imprison some resistance fighters, was in Washington, not in Gando. They were rich people organised around the future dictator of Korea, Syngman Rhee. (A quick look at his Wikipedia page is enough to see what kind of nasty piece of work he was).

This is a tale where those who head to Gando, a land of lawlessness, unite as one to protect the homeland of the Koreans. The story is a prelude to the Gando massacre.
We can try to protect ourselves from criticism by saying that it's a fairy tale, but it bears all the ideological hallmarks of nationalist propaganda and has a name : revisionism.

Ps : I'm not just giving my opinion, I'm adding verified historical facts.
And as a pre-emptive response : no, I am not a fan of North Korea. It is an authoritarian and dangerous regime where people literally disappear. I am simply recalling proven and verifiable events relating to the struggles for independence.

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Power corrupts : an illustration. If there was any doubt, the very ending confirms it.

A masterfully crafted political and spy thriller. And above all, a work of great literary quality : the author, Chung Seo-kyung, has written the screenplays for five films by Park Chan-wook. All the elements come together beautifully, keeping us hooked from start to finish. And we navigate grey areas, the ideal decision for these themes. Several times, our protagonists are faced with choices where only the lesser evil seems to be the solution, and all the suspense lies in how they find another way.

The two main characters already have a whole life behind them and strong personalities. It's nice to see people who are solid and know how to set their boundaries. Whether you agree with their decisions or not, you want to see what happens next, to see how they evolve. Some reversals border on grandiloquence, but we accept that. There's constant talk of reunification, given the number of spies in your country, it looks like it's already happened, guys.

"Do you like Proust, madam ?" The most beautiful question in the world. "Ah yes, the madeleine." The worst answer in the world.

Damn the chaebols.

Ps : Episode 3 shows an attack in Paris in 2008, which is pure fiction. Two attacks took place that year, but not here. (the work of pathetic fascists, by the way)
Ps2 : For those with a phobia of telephones, this series is a nightmare, as the phones never stop ringing and vibrating. It stressed me out.
Ps3 : In the last episode, at 41 minutes 29 seconds, the music is a quote from ‘Camille’, Georges Delerue's score for Godard's Contempt. My question is : why ?

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It plunges us into the action and then drags on with very little success. The show summed up in one sentence.
The first three episodes could easily have been condensed into one. In fact, they treat us a little too much like idiots with this third episode, which shows us the same scenes again without adding anything new. And they do it again later, several times! What a strange, poorly executed narrative. We don't see things from a different angle, it's literally pointless. It ruins the series, frankly. If it's to tell so little, they might as well adopt a linear narrative, which would avoid these repetitions.
They confuse suspense with frustration.

No one wakes up in the morning wanting flashbacks. You can understand a story without knowing the characters' background spanning ten generations. You can establish their temperament or motivations more simply. In this sense, episode 6 becomes a completely useless hour. (Not to mention the murder of sex slaves... did we really need that ? The people who write this kind of stuff : poor sods, go away) Then episode 7 spends an hour showing us what we already know. Why not throw in a voiceover too, while we're at it ? Or even an interminable scene that turns out to be just a nightmare ? Oh yes, you dared... I don't congratulate you. No, none of that was good. I was seized by panic at the thought of suddenly hearing an audio commentary by Baz Luhrmann over-explaining everything. (He doesn't exist, he can't hurt me)

A series that promises a lot and delivers little. A few cool action scenes, sure. Kim Hye-jun and Geum Hannah outshine the rest of the cast by a long shot ! And leaving them out so much (at least half the time, if not more) really annoys me. When the men show up, we forget about the women. And their characters only exist in relation to this missing uncle... Yeah, right. Let's not dwell on it.
And the ending ? The most predictable thing in the world. Will season 2, if it ever happens, show us flashbacks from season 1 ? I challenge the writers to do that.

_Can we go back to this business about the camera in the bathroom ? Sorry ?!
_The Park Ji-bin working in a shop linked to a murderer universe is expanding.

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"Does cinema imitate life ? Or does life imitate cinema ?" (episode 6)
As a good Proustian, I would say that we waste our life by imagining that we can understand it, by imagining that we can attain a non-existent truth, and that art allows us to grasp perhaps a part of it, but it is already too late. And it won't change anything. We cling on anyway, wanting to find some meaning in this life. What's more, the series is about love, loss and grief, which is perfect for illustrating this, this time wasted searching for it, in vain.

In any case, I wasn't expecting such a sad story ! The older brother, Jun, poor guy, he does his best, but there comes a point when something breaks and can't be fixed. The sacrificial brother, alone even when surrounded by others, carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, drifting through life like a breeze, acting as if he were about to die. "I knew nothing about my brother. He was never surprised by anything. He was never really happy. It was as if he had never had the will to live." It was this little brother who gave meaning to the futility of his existence, just as Proust's brother cared for him, just as Van Gogh's brother supported him. And one day, there is nothing left. He can no longer even live for others. When Moo-bi tells Ko Gyeom that this brother is not like the one he had described to her with such admiration, that's Proustian too. Robert de Saint Loup is a totally different person depending on who is talking about him or with him, the narrator's best friend, and yet he knew him so little. "I knew nothing about my brother", indeed.

Strangely enough, this series about the film industry says little about cinema, films or the industry itself. Well, actually, it does mention two deaths at work due to overwork, but then it moves on to other things. These things happen, after all... Still, it's frustrating to see this topic given so little attention in a series about a female director. Let's just say that's not really the subject of this K-drama ; it's more about the impact of grief on people's lives, those of Kim Moo-bi and Ko Gyeom.

Park Bo-Young, this actress, after seeing “Our Unwritten Seoul”, her voice alone is enough to bring me to tears. Terrible. What's more, her character still has to go through a rough patch. Poor thing. In the first episode, Choi Woo-sik/Ko Gyeom insists excessively, even though Park Bo-young/Moo-bi tells him several times to leave her alone. That's always annoying. But we appreciate that in the end, she's the one who initiates the first kiss, and the absence of music before, during and after, just the moment and the breathing.
In the same vein, it's nice to see the two brothers talking together about their feelings, how they feel. Let's normalise seeing men confide in each other about their emotions. Let's normalise seeing characters communicate in K-dramas, for real. In that sense, the confession scene in the car in the last episode is good to see, a truly sincere and attentive exchange.

Despite all this sadness, there are some cute and funny moments in store for us. The old, crafty director with his awful shoes is great, kind and inspiring. The little game played by the neighbours, who avoid each other but spy on each other at the same time, is just too adorable. And not creepy.

On the other hand, the other couple is exhausting to watch. He doesn't listen to his partner when she says she has a dream ; in fact, nobody cares ! They don't even ask her what it is. When she realises it, we understand that it was to become a screenwriter. And he, an unsuccessful composer, resents her, full of bitterness. Run away, madam ! You can't afford the luxury of 'fixing' him. Let it go ! His rich parents support him and he finds a way to wallow in his misery, to see himself as a victim, abandoned for no reason. Don't let yourself be dragged into the abyss by this kind of privileged person. He wears a jumper with “this is over” written on it : a sign.
He never put much effort into their relationship ; she did everything, she chose him, she supported him, and he just let her do it. But he never forgot to demand that she support him morally in his choices, even if it meant jeopardising her career. A mediocre bloke.
And yet, we discover that he is caring when his friend is in dire straits. The series may tell us more about him, as if something were going to redeem him... but no, stop that right now. It costs Son Ju-a much more to leave him, and we don't even hear about her ? Her point of view is to talk about him, never about her. She wanted the best for him and he felt suffocated, the selfish man. She finds him a job for his film, years after they broke up, she even comments on his songs on SoundCloud, she supports him all the time. A one-sided investment. He wants to get back together with her, but he remains the same, no change. Oh, that annoyed me. "We were a great couple" not really, no. Thank God they don't end up together. The threat hung over us the whole time.

Ultimately, both couples illustrate the idea presented at the very beginning : having a soft spot for small, defenceless things and the fear of being abandoned. And be abandoned.

"Aren't you tired of watching films all day ?" (episode 1)
"He says that from now on, the only film in his life is me." (final episode)

Ps : Park Bo-Young wears a sweatshirt with the French words "contre les coutumes, mais romantique et sensible. Nouvelle Vague" (against customs, but romantic and sensitive. French New Wave) written on it. And Choi Woo-sik wears one with the French word "ami" (friend) written on it. Quite a programme.
Ps 2 :Muvee's friend is a Gundam fan, a man of taste.
Ps 3 : Ko Gyeom, I'm warning you, if your four favourite films on Letterboxd are Kill Bill, Inception, Fight Club and Taxi Driver, things are going to go badly.

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Oh dear. They really loaded up the boat (I don't know if we say that in English) in the first episode. The husband is detestable ! you could say he is absolutely, totally, completely despicable in the extreme. The most believable part, however, is when he tells his wife, who has cancer, that she's going to die anyway, so why bother paying for hospital treatment ? People with disabilities and chronic illnesses are familiar with this kind of talk. It's becoming more popular again at the moment. They'd rather see us dead.

Well !
In any case, it's brave to have shown how much the police don't give a damn about domestic violence. It's a change from the usual copaganda. As long as your husband doesn't kill you, no one cares. And if it does happen, well, we'll take note and that's it, too late. Those rotten cops.

Seeing Park Min-young in such difficult situations breaks my heart. She plays the role of the overly kind person so well, even when it's not in her best interest. The people who take advantage of her have the nerve to accuse her of being the one responsible. In moments like these, we always find ourselves accused of ruining the mood because we put our foot down once. No longer consenting to abuse becomes an act of aggression on the part of the victim towards their tormentor. It's horrible. But she sometimes turns the situation around by playing the fool, very -very- well. I love that lunch with the parents of her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend/fiancé/husband. And when she goes to the beach with Jy-hyeok, wearing her little adorable hat, she's the embodiment of the word cute.

Right. I'd be lying if I said the flashbacks didn't bore me to death. Too long, mates... 16 episodes, too, too long. Unnecessary. We already know the basics, there's no need to keep repeating how awful bad people are. Poor Su-min, deep down, I'd almost feel sorry for her if she weren't such a complete scumbag. But, stop. I may have skipped some scenes, a few times. My time is precious. (I try to convince myself)
In this genre, Jy-hyeok, with his single facial expression, when the woman he loves returns his love, he kicks her out because... there are six episodes left and what else is there to do ? Oh ! Damn, an ex-fiancée appears ! Sigh That ending was painful. Such a shame. Two-thirds of the series works very well, although it's a bit long-winded, and the last few episodes were completely pointless. Or how to ruin a good idea.

"Can I hold your hand ?" The sexiest question a person can ask the one they love.
"Bad people don't appreciate the good we do for them." A lesson we learn the hard way.

On the other hand, let's stop this hatred of glasses right now ! They suit us very well, OK ? We look perfect with our glasses. Nobody here is ugly, right ?

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Chinese productions cannot show the police in a bad light. So the bad guys kill each other, or a signboard accidentally falls on the corner of their enemy's face. They take us for fools.

The staging of the first episode is stunningly beautiful. The moment with the fireworks... incredible. And of course, the extremely tense action scenes add to the visual dazzle. (Those Chinese streets with their ubiquitous red and green neon lights are strange.) There's plenty of humour with this hero who thinks he can rely on his comic book to predict the future, but things don't necessarily go as planned.
Each episode is a new story. It could be a doctor who's a bit useless because he has a phobia of blood. A bride in a comic book who won't let herself be relegated to a supporting role. (A shootout in a church, not even a parody of who we might imagine.) Or a guy who can teleport...

A Chinese drama with only 12 episodes is rare. Unfortunately, it runs out of steam very quickly. The first episode was the highlight. The humour and action more or less disappear as the series progresses. And the subplots turn out to be very simplistic.

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God, that's stupid. The hero's powers won't last long, between the states that want to limit cash so they can keep tabs on us and the cryptocurrency scam, it's going to get complicated. And yet, the series manages to entertain, if not surprise. All these powers and their bizarre constraints, it's as if they lost a bet. Here's my suggestion : you become telepathic, but you constantly have 30 ducks following you everywhere.

The money problem really serves as a plot device, and very quickly takes a back seat. And even though the series is quite entertaining, it never really develops its ideas. But it only lasts for eight episodes, so... The villains are not nearly as exciting as they think they are. This habit of kidnapping people becomes predictable. The last episode disappoints in this regard.

Lee Jun-ho and Kim Hye-jun are always a pleasure to see in their roles that combine action and humour. Maybe next time they'll do better ?

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My two passions : Jesus Christ and fighting.
S01 : 3,5/5
S02 : 2,5/5

S01 : Super funny, although a bit old-fashioned in its staging, which is too functional. This collection of zany characters never misses a beat, they are all prodigiously silly. The villains' henchmen behave like bored children waiting for the school bus. I love this kind of Conan O'Brien humour. (I'll try to forget all the diarrhoea jokes, though)

Kim Nam-gil is so cool. He fights really well, the action isn't neglected at all, and he's so funny ! I didn't know he had this comedic side to his acting. "God gave me the gift of dealing with scum like you, not forgiving them." What a man!

But what about the role of the fat guy who eats all the time ? The answer is clear : no, don't. And actor Ahn Chang-hwan, playing a Thai migrant with an exaggerated, grotesque accent and a high-pitched voice, is perfectly Korean from Korea. It's on a par with Apu in The Simpsons... I've seen enough Thai films and series to know that people don't talk like that over there.
On the other hand, Kim Nam-gil dresses up as a woman (episode 11. And he'll do it again next season) and it's not a comic or demeaning device, he acts 'normally'. He wears a suit in the colours of the transgender flag, by the way. This is probably not a random choice, given that Korean Catholics are particularly reactionary and fight with all their might against LGBT+ rights. We want more Father Kims in the clergy and fewer transphobes.
In episode 15, the prosecutor plays golf and wears a badge that says "bon coup" in French. It doesn't mean what you might think.
And then, at the beginning, we are introduced to a psychiatrist, who later reappears shrouded in mystery, only to never be mentioned again. This character was introduced for no reason. Strange.

S02 : Dear K-drama writers, can you spare us these endless eating scenes ? Please. For God's sake. Or at least make an effort with the sound. You don't talk with your mouth full ! Bad manners. Literally, every other scene involves copious swallowing !

This season follows the same formula of action and humour, with much more slapstick and gesticulation. And shouting, unfortunately. Not really my thing. It gets on my nerves at times. A show that was rather silly has now become downright mind-numbing.
In addition, the lore expands and proves to be more coherent than that of John Wick. The production, meanwhile, follows the evolution of Korean series and their standards, with much more polished staging than the first season. We are even treated to a single-take sequence shot in episode 1 where the heroes fight on several floors of a building. Well done, Father Kim. You're kicking ass like Jesus drove the merchants out of the Temple. What's more, episode 3 has a scene shot from a subjective point of view. They're trying new things.

That said... this season struggles to match the first in terms of pace and humour. It's a bit boring with all these pointless conversations between the antagonists. Twelve episodes in, and in the sixth one we're still being told how bad we are ? Great, I don't care, guys. Nine episodes before anything really happens in terms of the plot. After a while, we couldn't care less about your stories.

I like Bibi, she rocks, she sings, she acts, okay, okay, but where's Keum Sae-Rok ? Where is she ? Free Keum Sae-Rok.

Given the radical change in cinematography and acting, I don't think I'll be watching any more of this director's productions because he's clearly just putting his name on other people's work.

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First of all: end and abolish prison. Also : acab.

"Tell yourself that you are already dead. And that you remain alive as if God were giving you a bonus. You have to live, whether it's to regret or repent." Wise words from the prison chaplain.
These prison episodes begin in the most fitting way and shift towards the idea that when you want something, you can achieve it, and that only your burning desire will turn the hero into a vengeful monster ready for anything. Let's admit it. But the friendship between these two men is very touching.

The series alternates between tragic seriousness and grotesque excess, without ever making up its mind. The way the hero realises what a trap he has fallen into, for example... The evil genius behind it all turns out to be too stupid to imagine that his victims would talk to each other, apparently. Anyway, the whole series is like that. You shouldn't look too closely, and then you can just let yourself be carried away by the revenge. In the end, the longest part was the first episode ; after that, it flows smoothly.

Worth watching for the action scenes, the suspense and to fuel your justified hatred of the rich. Provided you don't think too much about the many absurdities in the script. (How does this boy finance his vendetta ?) Notably this surprising ability to be stabbed in the stomach and make a full recovery, or that mysterious invulnerability to concussions.
The least implausible thing is seeing the police fabricating evidence and happily obeying their cruel superiors. The villainous tech bro tells us : the rich and their militia are evil simply because they can be.

Bravo for the sword fight. "Washi o washi" as we all say.

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An extremely dark series. Set in a wintery night-time atmosphere. It scares the hell out of you with the most ordinary things (a glance, a shadow on the ground that disappears, someone knocking on the door, your loved one saying strange things) while talking about ghosts. It's powerful. Anyway, spirits don't exist, I say it loud and clear. No one will silence me. If they did exist, we would be constantly harassed by billions of dead people. Through the power of my cosmic brain, I have solved this mystery.

The story remains captivating despite its slow pace. Through these possessions, this diminished vision and these growing shadows, we are clearly told about the desire to die. Let me be clear: people who take their own lives also wanted to live. Those who want to understand will understand. That is what this story is about.

"I had never lived solely for myself, not even for a moment. I had never made a decision or gone to a place because I wanted to. Why and for whom did I mistreat myself so cruelly ? The one who dragged me into the darkness was none other than myself. I was killing myself. I refused to die once I realized that. I'm going to start living for myself."

Apart from that, Kim Tae-ri's performance is phenomenal. A very demanding role in which she has to go through all the negative emotions, on the verge of exploding into a thousand pieces, changing expressions, screaming angrily, suddenly crying, seeming lost and then herself again, at the height of despair. The final scene with the lighter is mind-blowing. It's incredible how well she conveys the struggle against herself and her darkness.
However, the dinner scene with her former university friends in episode 5 was unnecessary. Why do people do this to themselves? Why see people you don't like? Why do we have to put up with awkward and painful moments like that? I'm not here to suffer, I'm doing fine on my own. No need to help me with that.

"Even if you feel like dying because you're frustrated and overwhelmed, no one will acknowledge how you feel."

That being said, I hope that seeing everyone absolutely terrified at the thought of someone knocking on their door will give you an idea of the world I live in. Welcome to the club.
However, fellow ghosts, communication is key. You just stare at people silently, and no one understands what you want. Please be a little more serious about your demands. Also, you don't exist. So stop it.

Ps : Naturally, the ghost is left-handed... There's no smoke without fire. (I'm just saying)

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Be close to your friends and even closer to your enemies, as they say. This little game of cat and mouse works beautifully. These two guys are evil incarnate, cop or gangster, same piece of work. Friend or foe, they don't know anymore.

80% of the time, they're just a bunch of yob sulking and chain-smoking cigarettes. (I learnt a new word : yob) But the atmosphere and staging are spot on. The police are real bastards, violent and cruel, without mercy. Realistic. (But, of course, at the end we're told that they're the good guys. Make no mistakes !) There are still two female characters (two more than in many stories of this kind) and they are relatively well written, with their own motivations and making their own decisions. (As for the Bechdel test... that would be asking too much, though.)

The fights are very brutal and raw. It seems as though nothing happened because the story remains simple, but in reality, there are quite a few twists and turns in store for us.
It totally deserves its high ratings. Ji Chang-wook is excellent, but to be honest, everyone is very, very good.

The theme music for the series sounds like something Ennio Morricone would have composed. It fits so well with the final scene, where the two "heroes" walk together through Seoul at night. I find that ending perfect. Tragic.

And finally, how convenient that the Japanese and Chinese speak impeccable Korean. And there is a certain view of China... each scene is accompanied by a little piece of music in a caricatured pentatonic scale. All Chinese people are portrayed as cold and violent. We are clearly being sent a message.

(TW: SA) The hero is assaulted, although the series does not present it that way. He makes it clear throughout that he is not consenting. And he shows no interest in this woman. Their strange relationship is fuelled by silences and his lack of enjoyment in being around this woman. I don't really understand this choice.

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