A Killer Paradox

The plot starts innocently enough.  A young man, Lee Tang is put in an awkward situation with an inebriated man attacking him and accidentally kills him.  He is horrified and runs away.  Shortly after he learns the man was wanted by the law for violent crimes.  Soon he is approached by a woman who had pretended to be blind and witnessed the death.  She attempts to blackmail him and he resists and she ends up dead.  Here the story gets complicated involving a very sharp intuitive police detective with his own agenda Jang Nan-gam, and an accomplice, Roh Bin  with another agenda and another police detective Song Chon also with an agenda.  Other characters (including a dog) confuse the issues more.  Corruption and taking justice to oneself are throughout.  Another good Korean series.

The original killing was not intended and the killer was ready to turn himself in when he learned the victim had been a serial killer.  The blackmailer was a haughty woman with no morals and her killing was accidental.  An observer felt the killer did justice and wanted to support the killer, eventually directing him to murders of other evil people.  The detective felt an intuitive connection between seemingly random deaths, but we learn he has an ulterior motive involving a fellow police officer.  The plot gets very complicated, but is well handled.

Every episode progresses the plot and there are constant surprises including right up to the end.  Violence and sex are more common than usual Korean tv., but not excessive.

To hold your attention takes a talented cast and crew.  Here are some of the contributors.  It was not easy getting information from my normal American sources.

Chang-hee Lee was the director with 3 directing credits and one for writing.

Kim Da-min adapted the script from a web toon.  She has studied psychology and cultural anthropology.  She has two writing credits and two for directing.

Park Se-seung was listed as cinematographer.

Choi Woo-sik stars as Lee Tang, an accidental murderer.  At age 10 his family had emigrated to Coquitlam, British Columbia where he later studied at Simon Fraser University.  He left to audition in Korea.  He quickly got roles in "Train to Busan" (2017) and then an American-Korean joint project, "Okja" (2017).  He got a key role in Oscar winner, "Parasite" (2019) where he also got to sing a song during the closing credits.  He now has 37 film credits.   Check http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/09/parasite-breaks-oscar-tradition.html

Sun Suk-ku played Jang Nan-gam, the intuitive detective.  He has 15 acting credits and one each for directing and writing.  Films include "Designated Survivor:  60 Days" (2019),  "D.P." (2021) and "My Liberation Diary" (2022).  Check:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2023/04/dp-stands-for-deserter-pursuit.html

Lee Hee-joon played Song Chon the second police man independently chasing Lee Tang.  He has 45 acting credits including "Vincenzo" (2021).

Kim Yo-han played Roh Bin, the very active accessory for Lee Tang.  Basically ignored by IMDB he is definitely one of the four key roles.  He has 6 film credits.

Hyun Bong-sik plays Park Choog-jin, another detective.  He has 27 film credits including "Hyena" (2020), "D.P." (2021), "Queenmaker" (2023) and "Doctor Slump" (2024) which will be blogged later this month.  Check http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2023/05/queenmaker.html

Oh Hye-won played a female profiling police officer  She has 8 film credits including "Designated Survivor:  60 Days" ( 2019).  Check http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/10/designated-survivor-60-days-remake-of.html

Thinking back on this series (Netflix subtitled and dubbed) this is a complex engaging film.

The first mention of movies I have seen is bolded.