Brief Story Line
Reclusive writer Je Moon-jae (Ryu Jun-yeol - The 8 Show TV series, The Night Owl etc) had been living in an apartment for 3 years and never went out, with all personal matters handled by his friend & accountant Son Su-hyeon (Moo Jin-sung - Perhaps Love, The Tyrant TV series etc). His life suddenly turned upside down when he lost everything in one day due to identity theft. In order to find out the truth and proving himself, Moon-jae had no choice but to work together with Noja (Sul Kyung-gu - The Moon, Yakhsa: Ruthless Operations etc) a gangster enforcer who was originally trying to capture him.
Meanwhile Detective Sun-yong (Lee Kyu-hyung - Handsome Guys, Happiness TV series etc) received an anonymous tip about the mysterious death of a woman which was said to have something to do with Noja and Moon-jae. As he dig deeper, Sun-yong find that it was a much more intricate case.
So what would happen to Moon-jae and why did he was targeted? And what was the connection with the mysterious death? You could find out in this series.
End of Brief Story Line
This series had a rather uneventful early part but after twenty minutes or so of the first episode, things became really interesting until that surprising end that I did not see coming. In the second episode, many things occurred that did not make the story any clearer but towards the end, I could finally see where it was heading. From the third episode, I was really intrigued of the mystery surrounding the whole thing and curious of the truth which was predictably only fully revealed in the final episode.
Netflix classified this one as limited series though it had 10 episodes overall with duration between 50-64 minutes unlike its standard 8 episodes. From what I read, it was based on Webtoon titled Field Mouse by Ludovico with similar plot and persons but it seemed to have different ending. Now to be honest, I was really hooked by the series from the start and the curiosity and excitement was maintained till the ninth episode. However the finale was the part that I personally felt rather underwhelming. The big reveal did not feel surprising anymore as it was quite easily predicted and the fate of Moon-jae was rather predictable. But I was rather disappointed with how it ended especially on how easily something could have been forgiven and forgotten. Nevertheless, I could understand why it ended that way which was probably satisfying for most people.
The series would not have been enjoyable without the wonderful performance of the lead cast. Ryu Jun-yeol was amazing in his roles and his chemistry with Sul Kyung-gu was a joy to watch (in fact their relationship was the light of an otherwise very dark series). Lee Kyu-hyung also provided interesting views from the police. Aside from those names, there were also appearances of Park Yoon-ho (Trigger mini series etc) as Seo Yu-min, Jung Hee-tae (The Apartment Job mini series etc) as Sun-young's superior, Kim Sung-oh (12.12: The Day, Low Life TV series etc) as crime boss Park Seung-gyu, Lee El (Following, Queen Mantis TV series etc) as Editor In-chief Han Ji-hye and many more in support roles. This series was directed by Kim Hong-sun (Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area TV series, The Age of Blood etc) and written by Lee Jae-gon (A Model Family mini series etc).
While watching the series, I was quite amazed by the surprising twists and turns that were making me hard to keep up, although I have always maintained one view from the beginning which turned out to be correct. Aside from those interesting twists, this series also have nicely done special effects and some action sequence that were really well executed like the car chases and those entertaining fight scenes including that chaotic fights in the penultimate episode. It looked to have a high production value and since it is a Netflix original, there was no excessive product placements here.
Now this series seemed to be gaining popularity in Indonesia and globally, making it to Top 5 in the week of its release. Whether it would continue making waves is unclear at this moment though and could only be seen after few weeks. I myself thought this one was amazing until reaching the end with the over simplified resolution of one of the main characters and the rather unsatisfactory ending (at least for me). Overall this would have been a really great thriller series that I would have highly acknowledged if it did not have such ending. So if you are looking for a wonderful full of twists thriller series combined with some nice action, then I think you would be satisfied with this and who knows, you might like the ending better than I did.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
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