I credit the lead actor Yoon Shi Yoon (real name: Yoon Dong Gu) for making me like this show. As far as I can see, Yoon Dong Gu chooses his projects with an eye toward the positive message that he can impart. He doesn’t pick jerks or killers because he can’t act the part of a bad guy. If you’ve watched him in his old variety show “2 Days 1 Night,” you’ll see that his character in this kdrama, Dong Shik, matches his image. Dong Shik is a mirror-image of Dong Gu’s persona in the variety show: always earnest, always doing his best, always managing to eke out a win.
I root for Dong Shik because he’s the underdog. While I constantly expect him to be discovered, captured or killed at any moment, I know that, for some strange twisted fate, he’ll survive. To the real psychopath in the drama, Seo InWoo, Dong Shik appears to be winning against him in a battle of wits because of Dong Shik’s superior evil flair. In reality, however, Dong Shik’s success is 98% happenstance and only 2% genius.
It reminded Lily the assassin in “Vagabond.” No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t kill Lee Seunggi’s character so she said in exasperation, “Do know what kind of people is the hardest to deal with? Lucky bastards.”
Dong Shik is one lucky guy.
Here’s how you can enjoy watching the show.
1. For now, expect Dong Shik to be like an invincible superhero.
In my first impressions, I said that viewers should treat Dong Shik like a superhero and his discovery of the diary would be his creation myth, or the equivalent of being bitten by radioactive bug or being exposed to gamma rays which would transform him into a hero.
There was a hilarious moment in Episode 5 when a neighborhood thug decided to become one of his fanboys, and follow him around like a “Sebastian.”
Thug: …you’re like Batman. You’re an office worker by day, and by night…I mean, where Batman goes, Sebastian should follow.
Dong Shik: It’s Alfred! Darn it!
Thug: (still confused) Who’s Sebastian?
Who’s Sebastian?? I only know of one Sebastian. From the “Little Mermaid.”
As an unlikely superhero, Dong Shik will come to out alive no matter how hard the real psychopath, Seo Inwoo, tries to kill him. There’s an invisible force field around Dong Shik that not only shields him but also counteracts any dastardly schemes.
For instance, in Episode 4, Seo Inwoo’s half-brother, JiHoon, wanted to oust Dong Shik from the company on trumped-up charges of sexual harassment. Before he could fire Dong Shik, however, Dong Shik managed to kidnap him with the objective of killing him. While reenacting a scene in a horror film “Saw,” Dong Shik bungled his murder, and inadvertently ended up saving JiHoon instead. JiHoon escaped.
When JiHoon came after Dong Shik for the failed murder attempt, it was JiHoon caught publicly trashing a defenseless Dong Shik. On top of that, JiHoon’s plot to pin a sexual harassment on Dong Shik backfired and he was charged with harassment himself.
The real psychopath, Inwoo couldn’t help admiring Dong Shik. In Episode 4, he talked to his female assistant about Dong Shik’s neat escape from his stepbrother’s machination.
InWoo: No wonder something was off. I was wondering why he would flip over the table when the meal was already set. But the build-up was a work of art. The acting at the climax of the story – ahhh!
Assistant: So what you’re saying is that everything was planned by Dong Sik?
InWoo: What? You think this was all just a simple happening? How many times have Yook Dong Sik’s strange choices resulted in a situation that we couldn’t imagine? It gives me goosebumps.
This was very interesting for a serial killer to admire another person whom he thinks is vastly superior to him.
Assistant: But still…
Inwoo: The guy is scrupulous and careful. Acting like an idiot and a pushover is a thorough disguise.
Assistant: How can you be so sure?
InWoo: We’re cut from the same cloth. I need to have him.
I call this projection. He, himself, was very obsessive and meticulous when planning his murders, so he was unconsciously attributing his own characteristics and transferring them onto Dong Shik. He and Dong Shik are nothing like each other.
Their penmanship was a good indicator. InWoo wrote neatly, in reverse, in his diary, while Dong Shik could only manage chicken scratching. Their hair is another indicator. His hair is always combed back and neatly coiffed. Dong Shik’s hair is all over his forehead.
So yes, instead of worrying for Dong Shik’s safety, I’m enjoying watching his natural enemies’ efforts to eliminate him boomerang on them.
2. Leave your black-and-white morality at the door.
The murderer, Seo Inwoo, is the only truly black person here. But everybody’s playing in the gray area.
Take the female lead, Shim Bo Kyung. She was the patrol officer who hit Dong Shik with the police car. Although Dong Shik suffered only light physical injuries, he lost his memory. Bo Kyung didn’t report this traffic accident.
Normally, I’d throw a hissy fit with an irresponsible heroine like this, but I quickly understood that her negligence wasn’t THE plot point. The writer wanted her to be linked to the accident and his subsequent amnesia, not to apportion blame, but to show her conflict of interest. This conflict of interest heightens the comedy AND tension between her and Dong Shik, who’s supposedly the serial killer she’s hunting down.
Same thing when, in Episode 6, she watched Dong Shik being beaten by a gang of students. Again, she should have immediately stepped in and stopped the attack. But she let the students punch and kick Dong Shik because she was waiting for Dong Shik’s predator instincts to surface and defend himself. She only intervened when a student was about to escalate the violence with a brick.
At this point, I would have considered Bo Kyung an irredeemable cop. But I gave her leeway again because I understood that her nonaction/tolerance wasn’t meant to show a personal callousness or a disregard for her police duties.
Her non-intervention was supposed to signal a turning point. She had to decide whether to regard Dong Shik as a good or bad person. Since she was the type to trust only her senses, she needed to see Dong Shik in peril. The gang scene crystallized in her mind that Dong Shik was no predator. That’s why she didn’t even bother to read Dong Shik’s diary when she was left alone in his house and had the opportunity to read it. She not only trusted him, but she also felt guilty for ever having suspected him as a serial killer.
Likewise, the “spy” that Inwoo had hired to follow Dong Shik concluded that he was harmless. After witnessing the beating, he reported to Inwoo that Dong Shik posed no danger as he was a pushover.
But perhaps the most important consequence of the gang brutality was Dong Shik’s revelation about his predatory nature. He realized that he didn’t savor killing weak and powerless people. In Episode 5, he wrote in his diary, “It seems I’ve found my answer through blood.” He meant that because after being beaten up by the high school bullies, and shedding blood, he learned a cardinal truth about his psychopathic tendencies.
He continued, “In this world filled with weak people, there’s a way to resolve my dangerous impulses. If I can find someone stronger and more vicious than me, I can kill him.”
Now, if I had been viewing this show with my usual ethical hat, I would have called Dong Shik out. Murder is murder. Killing isn’t justified simply because he thinks he’s morally superior (i.e., less vicious) than his intended victim. In fact, this self-serving justification is also held by Inwoo. Dong Shik’s justification for killing stronger and more vicious people and Inwoo’s justification for killing weak and helpless people are the two sides of the same coin: self-righteousness. They consider themselves paragons of virtue. 🙂
Anyway…
I’m giving Dong Shik a pass here, just like I did with the female lead, Bo Kyung, because I know that isn’t the point of this comedy-thriller. The writer was setting us up for that moment when Dong Shik discovered that the serial killer Bo Kyung was searching was himself.
So it was ironic that we watched Dong Shik write in his journal, “The serial killer corporal Sim is chasing after. What kind of guy would he be? I look forward to it.”
lol.
3. Have fun with the horror movie tie-ins. They’re clever and amusing.
Dong Shik is a horror/thriller film buff so he uses these movies as a way to explain his understanding of life mysteries.
In Episode 5, he saw Bo Kyung looking at the video of “Memories of Murder.”
DS: So…do you remember the last shot in the movie
BK: What was it?
DS: An older ex-detective Park Doo man, at the location where an incident took place, stares into the camera directly. As if, among the people sitting in the audience at that very moment, he’s looking for a criminal. The Director Bong Joon Ho said this, “The culprit of the the Hwaseong serial murders case will come see the movie no matter what. So it means that, at the end, what the protagonist was looking at was the real culprit’s face.”
BK: Did the murderer really watch it?
DS: Not only once. But he must have watched it several times. While watching the movie, he reminisced about those times and felt the pleasure of having not been caught.
Dong Shik was assuming that the murderer watched a movie about himself because it’s human nature.
BK: Just then, you quite looked like a profiler.
DS: (humbly) Well…I’m just a thriller freak.
Then, in Episode 6, Dong Shik unconsciously mimicked the ending scene when the lead actor looked at the real murderer’s face. He was standing outside the room of the “Predator Killings Task Force” when he was interviewed. He was asked, “Do you have a message for the criminal who might be watching the news right now?”
Looking straight at the camera, he said, “You stupid idiot. I really hate you so much.” I liked how life mimicked art.
And as Dong Shik predicted with the movie, the real serial murderer, Inwoo, was watching him as he declared his contempt on national TV.
Note: I also find it interesting that Inwoo is beginning to be rattled by Dong Shik’s antics. Inwoo is known to be careful yet, in Episode 5, when he discovered his diary in Dong Shik’s possession, he chased after him in the elevator with a cheese knife. Here, sudden anger (or fear of discovery) eliminated his premeditation. Earlier, Dong Shik’s nonchalant rejection provoked him. Now, the realization that his precious diary was with him pushed him over the edge.
Then, after he killed another his rich friend, he went to Dong Shik’s apartment building with an ax without so much as a plan on how to kill him. He’s losing his cool. Unlike the other homicides which he tried to disguise as suicides, this act was personal.
Plus, Dong Shik is literally giving him tremors. Inwoo’s hand begin to shake uncontrollably whenever he realizes that Dong Shik isn’t somebody he could control. Whether his hand shakes out of intense hatred, fear, or envy, we’ll find out soon enough.
4. Make predictions. This one is fun.
I predict that the father of Bo Kyung and BoKyung are chasing the same killer, InWoo. Eight years ago, he was chasing the murderer of the child and then his accident happened. When InWoo visited their cafe, “Boring Day” and talked to the dogs, in Episode 6, the father of Bo Kyung recognized Inwoo’s voice. That chance encounter triggered his urinary incontinence and his seizure.
Inwoo was talking to the dogs who lay down at his feet. He said, “That’s too bad.”
Then, the father suddenly wet himself
and had a seizure attack.
Okay, I’ve to post this now…before I forget again.
Hi!
I take advantage that your comment section is still open for this drama I just discovered and binge watch. I was wondering if you’ve published articles about it, and I just found out that you have.
My enthusiasm is immoderate, it’s the funniest drama I’ve ever seen. In fact, one of the funniest pieces of work at all.
Your articles are interesting on this subject. I’ll summarize it here rather than write multiple answers. But this comment is valid for all your articles and remarks.
***** Why is this drama so funny? *****
In addition to the reasons you’ve already mentioned, there are many others. (refer to your first article where you quote your main points)
Flat/Cold humor: I don’t have a reference in mind. Maybe Scandinavian films or a movie like “fargo”. This is noticeable in the first episode, with the reactions of the two policemen. These are moments “that fall flat”, in which the characters settle for a minimal reaction, and where the filmmaker lets the scene last slightly to provoke uneasiness and comedy.
Permanent parody: almost every scene is a parody, or contains a reference. The plot of the entire screenplay plays on the recovery of thriller plots. Like the scene where the policewoman discovers the truth, and Dong Sik approaches behind her. With music typical of this kind of scene. A lot of thrillers have this plot of the sympathetic companion who helps the police, and who turns out to be the hidden murderer.
Since the parody is not only about scenes but also about the whole story, your prediction #4 turns out to be right… Inevitably, because this is typically the kind of plot there is in a thriller or crime series about a serial killer. The character of the policewoman follows this pattern: “She’s going to finish her father’s case”. All the usual tropes go through. The vision of her father helping her at a crime scene, superiors wanting to close cases, and so on.
The clowning: when certain gags are exhausted and repeated, the register changes, and rather than pressing the gag itself, the scene plays on the clowning and the talent of the actors. When Dong Sik is in prison, no matter what he does, the other prisoners are condemned to be afraid of him. The lead actor is full of antics and hysterical attitudes. Often I don’t like it when an actor overacts, but here it’s just fabulously funny. Scenes interspersed with a frenetic rhythm.
Comedy everywhere: the main actor and his character are certainly the center and the peak of the comedy. But any other character or situation is funny. Sometimes even the real psychopath is funny too, especially when he interacts with Dong Sik, like the elevator scene where they have a power struggle. Or the scene where he thinks Dong Sik is an even better artist of crime and concealment than he is. Moments that are supposed to be blood-curdling are also funny: on the hunt, when his father makes him drink a bowl of blood from a freshly killed animal.
Punchlines: Some funny moments depend on that as well. I remember a line of dialogue that made me laugh a lot (I don’t know what it says in English translation). When the “alfred” sidekick addresses Dong Sik in the car: “you are so sophisticated that it drives me crazy”.
***** A three-legged scenario *****
I can only imagine the madness of writing the drama, with three writers.
The tons of ideas each one brought, the difficulty of inserting them into a plot and building it. This makes it a work of very high density, very rich in funny details, all the time. Every time I saw a one-hour episode, I had the impression that it lasted three hours.
***** Miscellaneous *****
When the policewoman lets Dong Sik get beaten up by high school students, comedy wins. If the script had wanted to make the policewoman more responsible for her actions, it would have been a shame to miss such a funny scene.
When she tries to hide the accident at the beginning: likewise, it falls into flat/cold humour. But your explanation is also satisfactory, it’s important to avoid unnecessary intrigue centred on the accident report.
When Dong Sik looks at the camera, in reference to a film, and addresses the real psychopath: in real, he addresses himself by talking out loud. Since he is convinced that he is the killer, he has no reason to talk to anyone else. What makes the scene very funny is that without knowing it, his message is received by the real killer. So, Dong Sik gets into bigger trouble without knowing it.
Speaking of vagabond: this was written by one of my favorite screenwriters, or rather a couple (which also explains the richness of their stories). They are the authors of Empress Ki or Giant. But they also have a propensity to write very offbeat comedy, which sometimes encompasses all the drama, like “Incarnation of money”, or “History of the salaryman”. If vagabond is not as exciting as “Empress Ki” regarding the seriousness of the plot, the whole drama is full of derision. It’s a parodic, or self-parodic delirium (just like “The Last Empress” is about the Makjang, a mixture of first and second degree story). The idea of a main character stuntman: because when you see the actual acts of James Bond, you immediately think that the character would have better skills as a stuntman than as a spy. So in Vagabond, we see a lot of incongruous scenes, a lot of plot-armor around the main character, and various abusive tropes, typical of the comedy delusions of these screenwriters. Plus their usual themes, such as scoundrels and the revolt of the homeless.
Cinematography: you noted many good scenes. But there are so many of them that you can say it’s almost permanent. It’s difficult to note everything, almost every other scene should be noted. I remember the scene where Dong Sik is locked in a closet and risks being discovered. Very well done from beginning to end, with of course the parodic aspect. A cliché that is barely distorted, and that’s enough to be funny.
Another scene I liked about the cinematography: when Dong Sik reads the whole diary the first time. This is interspersed with many crime scenes in accelerated, with clip, grain, flash effects. The background music is “biblical” with an organ. The scene doesn’t decrease in intensity since then we see him find the evidence on the internet, that it’s all true.
***** Conclusion *****
I don’t know if the enthusiasm will last, but there’s a good chance.
Right now, this drama is in my Top 10 ! It was unexpected, I had started it out of curiosity, and I came across a hidden gem.
I’ll have the opportunity to see it again, because it’s rich enough for that. And the comedy will make its effect even during later screenings, thanks to the talent of the actors.