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"Hope is the beginning of calamity"
The King of Pigs is another drama focusing on South Korea’s national trauma---school bullying. It is hard to peruse very far when looking for a Kdrama or Kfilm to watch that doesn’t touch on bullying—in school, the work place, or in politics. “Know your place” is a well-worn phrase straight out of the Joseon Era. The King of Pigs showed how the emotional damage to two young boys was internalized and then realized in a complex gory and deadly revenge plot played out on both sides of the law.
Lt. Kang Jin Ah is called to a possible suicide scene when a message is found scrawled on the window mentioning another officer she has worked with-Jung Jong Suk. She calls Jung in to help her and it’s not long before Jung’s ties to the killer are revealed. After a gruesome discovery, Jung becomes as much suspect as witness, complicating the case further.
The vicious revenge plot played out well. These types of dramas and films throw me into my own existential and spiritual crisis as I find myself rooting for the killer. Adults who as children had been subjected to what amounted to torture developing psychological breakdowns was not much of a surprise. What was surprising was the calm, methodological manner Hwang Kyung Min planned his vengeance even while hallucinating. For Jung Jong Suk, as the memories flooded in, his mental stability flooded out, causing him to act less rationally as he struggled to deal with the past. Both had basically been POWs, trapped in a cell with their tormentors with no escape and no help coming. For the tormentors it was all fun and games.
The class divide raised its ugly head inside and outside of the classroom. Teachers bowed to money and power and turned a blind eye to the bullying. The homeroom teacher lamented not being able to physically abuse the young men in his class. One wealthy father felt perfectly comfortable beating a student and striking a woman in a public place with no repercussions. The vulnerable had no one to turn to and no one seemed to care about their suffering. The bullies were too cowardly to act on their own but hunted in packs like wolves. Yet if the classmates who did nothing had banded together with the victims, they would have outnumbered the bullies. Instead of pigs, which can be dangerous, they acted more like sheep.
Kim Sung Kyu gave a strong performance as the slowly unraveling Jung. Kim Dong Wook endowed Hwang with a powerful determination to accomplish the tasks set out before him. The flashback scenes worked particularly well because the drama actually utilized teenage actors instead of trying to paste on more makeup and make the audience pretend thirty-five-year-olds were playing middle school students. All of the teens played their roles well. My biggest problem was with Chae Jung An as Lt. Kang. If the writers were going for a loner who liked to work alone and who didn’t always play by the rules, then she better make a difference and better be charismatic. Unfortunately, neither happened. The character vacillated too much, didn’t accomplish anything meaningful, and came across as petty and bland. And dear goodness, she had a bad habit of holding her gun pointed at her own head-gun safety people!
The King of Pigs traveled at a break neck pace, never letting off the pedal of death and mayhem. While the investigation aspect of the drama had weaknesses, the psychological thriller delivered an onslaught of emotional punches. One more drama warning people that extreme bullying can break people down, break them so badly that a glimmer of hope could lead to calamity.
“Dogs are loved for their very existence. But pigs could only have their worth acknowledged when they are torn to bits to become food for the humans.”
3 July 2026
Trigger warnings: SUICIDES, abuse, sexual abuse, smoking, drug use, gory torture, animal cruelty
Traffic notes: Another drama where car chases took place on empty four lane highways. People were constantly laying down in the street. Have they never heard of The White Truck of Doom???
Homeroom Note: Why are teachers never in the classrooms, especially with bullying being an issue?
Lt. Kang Jin Ah is called to a possible suicide scene when a message is found scrawled on the window mentioning another officer she has worked with-Jung Jong Suk. She calls Jung in to help her and it’s not long before Jung’s ties to the killer are revealed. After a gruesome discovery, Jung becomes as much suspect as witness, complicating the case further.
The vicious revenge plot played out well. These types of dramas and films throw me into my own existential and spiritual crisis as I find myself rooting for the killer. Adults who as children had been subjected to what amounted to torture developing psychological breakdowns was not much of a surprise. What was surprising was the calm, methodological manner Hwang Kyung Min planned his vengeance even while hallucinating. For Jung Jong Suk, as the memories flooded in, his mental stability flooded out, causing him to act less rationally as he struggled to deal with the past. Both had basically been POWs, trapped in a cell with their tormentors with no escape and no help coming. For the tormentors it was all fun and games.
The class divide raised its ugly head inside and outside of the classroom. Teachers bowed to money and power and turned a blind eye to the bullying. The homeroom teacher lamented not being able to physically abuse the young men in his class. One wealthy father felt perfectly comfortable beating a student and striking a woman in a public place with no repercussions. The vulnerable had no one to turn to and no one seemed to care about their suffering. The bullies were too cowardly to act on their own but hunted in packs like wolves. Yet if the classmates who did nothing had banded together with the victims, they would have outnumbered the bullies. Instead of pigs, which can be dangerous, they acted more like sheep.
Kim Sung Kyu gave a strong performance as the slowly unraveling Jung. Kim Dong Wook endowed Hwang with a powerful determination to accomplish the tasks set out before him. The flashback scenes worked particularly well because the drama actually utilized teenage actors instead of trying to paste on more makeup and make the audience pretend thirty-five-year-olds were playing middle school students. All of the teens played their roles well. My biggest problem was with Chae Jung An as Lt. Kang. If the writers were going for a loner who liked to work alone and who didn’t always play by the rules, then she better make a difference and better be charismatic. Unfortunately, neither happened. The character vacillated too much, didn’t accomplish anything meaningful, and came across as petty and bland. And dear goodness, she had a bad habit of holding her gun pointed at her own head-gun safety people!
The King of Pigs traveled at a break neck pace, never letting off the pedal of death and mayhem. While the investigation aspect of the drama had weaknesses, the psychological thriller delivered an onslaught of emotional punches. One more drama warning people that extreme bullying can break people down, break them so badly that a glimmer of hope could lead to calamity.
“Dogs are loved for their very existence. But pigs could only have their worth acknowledged when they are torn to bits to become food for the humans.”
3 July 2026
Trigger warnings: SUICIDES, abuse, sexual abuse, smoking, drug use, gory torture, animal cruelty
Traffic notes: Another drama where car chases took place on empty four lane highways. People were constantly laying down in the street. Have they never heard of The White Truck of Doom???
Homeroom Note: Why are teachers never in the classrooms, especially with bullying being an issue?
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