Além do Mal (2021)

The drama Beyond Evil as a philosophical parable about human relationships.

The plot of Beyond Evil is well twisted, and a new intrigue is revealed behind each denouement. But at the same time, already in the first episodes, I felt that Beyond Evil could be more than just a good detective. And I was not wrong.

From the very first episodes, we plunge into the drama, like into a fabulous whirlpool. We get to know the life of a provincial town. We watch Lee Dong Sik intently, trying to figure out what is behind his extravagant behavior. Shin Ha Kyun in this role masterfully balances on the border of light and shadow, sober calculation and madness. In the meantime, we are wondering who he is - a "fallen angel" or a bright angel who fell from a height and broke his wings. We look into the faces of all the heroes, trying to determine which of them is the monster. And gradually we are imbued with the mesmerizing beauty of this world and its inhabitants.

At first, Han Joo Won was perceived as an outsider. "Young master" in an expensive suit, completely alien among the ordinary people of Manyang. And it's not just about social status. Han Joo Won chose this role for himself - an independent observer who looks from above at the ugliness of this world and does not touch the dirt. However, the further he progresses in his research, the more personal it becomes, and the mask of equanimity slips from his face. This is how a classic detective story turns into a psychological journey - to feelings and memories walled up in the basements of the soul, into a journey to someone else and to oneself. Because these two processes always go together - to find yourself, you need to see the other and be seen. Find your own reflection in the other person's eyes.

The drama Beyond Evil is a real maze of reflections. Each significant event, the history of each hero has its own reflection. Some of them are false, some of them are true, but all these fragments, put together, allow you to see the truth. There is such a method of image restoration - from several dull and even distorted reflections, you can recreate a real image. We recognize heroes by the way they are reflected in each other. And each new meeting, each new dialogue is another step towards finding a real face. This approach makes the image of each character multidimensional and deep.

The drama really captures all aspects of the relationship. Family relationships – healthy or toxic. Relations with oneself, relationships with the world, social relationships - the law and its implementation. Morality as the ability to contact. Breaking up relationships like disappearing. The attitude towards the deceased loved ones and the ways of dealing with loss, with death. Relationships are alive, supportive and healing. Relationships are codependent, burdensome and suffocating. Personality always lives in a relationship. Fencing off from the world, a person cuts off a part of himself and, ultimately, can completely die as a person. This is how a person turns into a monster.
“Everyone in the city is like one family,” says Han Joo Won of the residents of Manyang. And he is absolutely right. All heroes are connected to each other by a whole network of threads. But somewhere these are the supporting threads of life, and somewhere they are suffocating fetters. The family image is central to the drama. Everything begins with it - everything ends with it. For each of the heroes, this word means something different - a project, a burden, a duty, a dream of absolute happiness. But for everyone, it carries a lot of weight. Thus, a small town turns out to be a global metaphor for a community, a social family, in which our humanity is born, but sometimes dies.
The density of connections and meanings in the drama is so great that not only each character, but the whole world of the drama is felt as something living, animated. The city of Manyang is not just a place of action, but an independent character. The whole city, as an integral living system, exists according to its own laws. The Beyond Evil story is the story of Manyang's illness and healing.

What's also great about the Beyond Evil is that there is no moralizing in it. Despite the great semantic load, the author does not reduce everything to one idea, does not teach, but shows reality in its complexity, even paradoxicality. Each character is a part of a big picture, an element of the inner life of an integral system. But also everyone is a separate unique person, with their own choice and responsibility for this choice. The story of the Beyond Evil is the story of Manyang, but it’s just as much the story of two people meeting. It is no coincidence that all the main scenes are "doubled". If you look at the titles of the episodes, you can see that the pairing is "sewn" into the very structure of the script. As if the whole story is a long dialogue between two, a series of questions and answers. Each character in the drama is interesting. Each has its own story, its own drama, its own unique personality. But the main axis of the whole story is the meeting and dialogue of the two main characters.

Lee Dong Sik and Han Joo Won, so different, but equally extraordinary, strong in spirit, but practically buried under the rubble of their own psychological trauma. Throughout the drama, they continually drift apart and collide, let go and catch each other, meeting again each time on a deeper level. They go a long way from mutual irritation, exploitation, projecting their fears and expectations onto each other, to true mutual understanding. Throughout the entire drama, the characters stare at each other - with suspicion, with rage, with interest, admiration, tenderness. But invariably - with intense attention, as if looking for something very important in each other's eyes. And in the end they find and return to each other the opportunity to be themselves - whole, feeling, alive.
In my opinion, Beyond Evil, like no other drama, showed us an example of perfect human contact. At that difficultly attainable level, when you see and accept another as he is, in his true essence. The bromance of the main characters of the Beyond Evil is so beautiful that it overshadowed all the drama love lines for me. In fact, this is a "love story" - like the love of one soul for another soul. Someone sees them as a mentor and student. Someone sees them as father and son or even as a couple in love. In my opinion, we were specially shown these relations at such a level of generalization that each viewer is free to interpret them in his own way. For me, they are the embodiment of the idea of an existential meeting, beyond any categories.

The Beyond Evil is a theatrical chamber drama. But this simplicity of the means has a deep meaning. The real challenge for an artist is to show everyday reality as something magical, wonderful, and sometimes monstrous. And the Beyond Evil succeeded to create a heroic epic in the scenery of a small provincial town, where a butcher's shop, the basement of an old house or a reed field feel like a mystical place. Where dramatic battles and wonderful metamorphoses take place in the dialogues between the characters. Magic is created in the Beyond Evil, not taking away from reality, but immersing it in it. This is the fantasy world that really exists - in the space of the human psyche, in relationships between people.

This is a huge burden on the actors. They don't just need to play their characters, the actors pretty much create the world and atmosphere of the drama. And they also need to show the development and even the rebirth of their characters. Many characters in the drama wear masks. But in the end all the masks will be removed, ripped off or washed away by the rain. And under someone's mask we will find a monstrous grin, and under someone's - a beautiful face. Shin Ha Kyun and Yeo Jin Goo play characters whose faces change throughout the drama. In each new episode, they experience new trials, different emotions, but their eyes express not only situational emotions, but also profound personality changes. In some scenes, they need to act so subtly that it is like walking on a tightrope. A slightly different expression - and the impression would be wrong. But the actors are perfect in every shot.

The talent of all the participants has created an amazing artistic world. It's like the famous Doctor Who machine - more inside than outside. And you can dive into this depth over and over again, finding new nuances and meanings.

Leia Mais

One of the best thriller drama I have ever watched...

One of the best thriller drama I have ever watched. Chemistry between actors was great.

The way secrets and suspects were revealed one by one was a very good idea.

One murderer was revealed before the drama's mid-episode, but that didn't slow down the action. After that, there was still a lot to reveal and the drama was engaging until the very end. Most of the time, when we as viewers thought the characters couldn't keep any more secrets, new facts came out.

The first part of the drama was shot in such a way that, as viewers, we did not know who was the perpetrator and together with the characters we discovered new facts. In the last few episodes, viewers and characters already knew the perpetrators but were looking for evidence of their guilt.

There were so many sad and surprising scenes in this drama. I also really liked the cooperation and friendship between the characters.

I really love this drama. It was great.

Leia Mais

One of the best dramas EVER!

What to say about this drama that completely escapes the cliché? I have never seen such a complex story in my life, full of plot twists, minutely interconnected events. And the best thing is that even being a story full of details, they managed to show us all these details in just 16 episodes. Your head fills with theories. It fills with outbreaks because all the time you think one is the culprit, because all the time someone appears who took actions that impact the main story. The entire cast's performances were perfect, but the one that caught my attention the most was Yeo Jin-Goo. His performance was FLAWLESS! We could feel from here all the emotions that the character felt through his performance.
Each episode that ended was a different impact.

In short: a perfect drama, with a perfect story, with a perfect cast and a perfect acting!

Leia Mais

Beyond Evil? Beyond Amazing.

A thick story with some logical yet sudden twist and turns, leaving you to guess what will happen after each episode, alongside some amazing performances from a stellar cast, that's right, this is what happens when watching Beyond Evil. I feel like Beyond Evil is best watched when you take it slow, episodes are "heavy" so you will need to take your time with it, but it's definitely worth it if you do. Shin Ha Kyun absolutely shone in his role, as did many other cast members, but I thought I had to mention Shin Ha Kyun himself here as I will remember his performance in Beyond Evil for a very long time, I definitely need to watch more dramas that have casted him.

The OST is, for me anyway, the strongest OST of 2021 by far currently, I have literally been listening to it when exercising at the gym. Re-watch value could be considered low here, however, there are two things to consider: like before, episodes are heavy; and also consider my re-watch value rating is normally considered lower compared to most people when writing reviews.

I highly suggest for everyone to watch Beyond Evil!

Leia Mais

Brilliant Thrilling Story with Phenomenal Acting

Beyond Evil is a compelling incridible story that keeps you guessing. The plots are so unpredictable well-written. There is easter eggs in every episode and we can see them get revealed in a good pacing.

They casted a great actors & actress that played a phenomenal acting. Both the main and supporting characters have back stories to support their purpose in the mysterious plot. I must say every characters in Beyond Evil are important and significant for the story line. Shin Ha Kyun one of the main actor, won the Best Actor award from the 57th Baeksang Arts Awards for his role. At first I came watching this for Yeo Jin Goo, but Shin Ha Kyun surely catched viewer's attention especially mine.

The cinematography was dark, creepy, and perfect for the story. The OST add so much atmosphere and match the characters and story perfectly. I must mention the promotional poster, as a designer I really love the idea! It captures how the two main characters are like a set of twin that slowly merge together.

While I can understand some people find the show confusing and dragging, I had nothing to dislike from this series. Beyond Evil is surely an outstanding heavy thrilling story for psychological drama fans like me.

Leia Mais

Beyond Excellence.

This is one of the best drama... The acting was super good .... Story was very interesting..... Ost was good ..... I love the Han joo won and Lee dong sik's characters..... I loved how they were enough strong to face everything..... Idk why many people found han jo won quite annoying... I think he did nothing annoying... He was just trying to find the real culprit ...
In this drama every characters were necessary... I think the casting director is smart he picked the right actors who fit in their role perfectly...
Only one thing I didn't like that kang jin mook died easily after killing so many people....
He deserve to rotten in the jail.....
Dong sik and Han ju won's life was quite cruel ... Especially for Dong sik ...... However I gald that they didn't kill anyone despite of everything.....
I wanted to happen something between ju won and jae yi .... But nothing happened ....
I felt a little bit bad for oh ji hun ... He didn't get any chance to confess his feelings for min jeong....
I usually don't rate ... But I felt this drama deserve more rating ..
People should watch this drama... I think none will regret after watching this...

Leia Mais

At first glance, the drama appeared to have a similar storyline that inspired the creation of Gapdong, Signal as well as Tunnel. Suppose such first impressions are unavoidable when it involves stories that contain unsolved serial murder cases and cover-up plotlines. And because of Shin Hakyun, I can't help getting a similar vibe I felt from Less than Evil for this drama. Which is probably intentional as the two characters from the two dramas had a similar level of darkness, and the way Shin Hakyun carried both characters was almost similar.

That said, as much as I'm no stranger to these kinds of genres I have to say that this drama can be pretty dark, heavy and intense. In which it might get a bit taxing to watch as almost every character in this drama seems suspicious and makes you wary about everyone. And the way Lee Dongsik kept acting very suspicious at times can be pretty exhausting to watch as one alternates from wanting to believe he was innocent or guilty, and it gets worse when almost every character in this drama behaved in similar ways. You can't help feeling like you're being gaslighted to believe anything you're being told and later get fooled over and over, throughout the drama by almost every key character. It gets pretty tiring if you're the kind who easily becomes engrossed in the plotline and is treated with constant gaslighting and manipulations from the characters.

On the bright side, it made the plot very unpredictable yet on another, it makes one question whether or not you should continue watching the drama as the main character tried too hard to act as the ultimate villain, just because they've become quite disillusioned with how the law works. It only really gets better or tolerable halfway towards the end, partially because the truth starts to finally get unravelled and the main characters start to become much more honest with each other, and we realised how some of the earlier behaviours had just been a false facade/

Overall, it was a good story though you do need to have quite a bit of patience to get through the first half of the drama before being able to properly appreciate the mystery and storyline.

Leia Mais

Good but

The story line is okay, the mystery part is okayy, the setting is okayyy, the characters are okayyyy except that the LCY is truly a pretty girl to watch, but somehow it is still a drama worth to watch. In short what really makes me thrill about this drama wasn't the story line, mystery, the setting, nor the plot, but was the perfect teamwork and relationship between LDS and HJW, where you will wonder if you can achieve it with your partners or colleague in that way all the time. However, the story is still a little bit too draggy and to be honest sometimes will watch until fell asleep and couldnt bear to fast forward. Only if the drama is not that draggy it can be quite a perfect drama to me.

Leia Mais

Started off as an anti-buddy cop drama.....but ended up being much more than that…..

Where do I begin....this was spectacular! If you're someone who enjoys a good slow burn mystery thriller THEN THIS IS FOR YOU! There are absolutely no reasons for not watching this.....so here is why this show deserves all the accolades, praises and is one of the best shows of 2021. I have not given any spoilers so feel free to read.

1. Simple done right: At its core, beyond evil is a very simple murder mystery but it is the execution that blows the mind of the audiences. Classic isn’t always bad. With the amount of dramas Korea is churning, the pressure to present new and unique stories rests heavily on the shoulders of the makers. But Beyond Evil is a great example of sticking to basics of a genre yet somehow reinventing story telling styles.

2. Three Cheers for the Screenplay: As I said the story is simple, then what made it a standout show? It was the screenplay. The carefully placed hints, the decision to reveal what aspects of story to the audience, when, how and systematically placing flashbacks in every episode is mesmerizing to watch. I cannot praise the writing team enough for the amount of intelligence and creativity they showed while building every episode.

3. Layers, Layers and Layers: This show can be very deceptive. On the face value it might seem like a straightforward murder mystery but at the end of the day it presents umpteen perspectives to the same plot. The show has successfully bypassed binaries of good and bad. It elevates the discussion on grey characters and grey scenarios. Every character has motives, secrets, complex emotions and varied outlook that clashes with each other. These layers add depth to the story without distracting the plot, rather it enriches the narration.

4. Remarkable Character Development: The testament of a great show is when the characters draw the audience into their world, make them invest and embark on a journey together. This show does exactly that. If you compare every character from ep1 to 16, you will be able to distinctly witness an evolution or devolution. Not a single character remains same by the time the show ends. Every character changes for good or worse.

5. Top Tier Acting Skills: I have always believed that Korea produces one of the best well rounded actors not only in Asia but also in the world. This show proves my point. If the screenplay/script is one pillar of the show then acting is the other. Our two lead titans Shin Ha Kyun (Lee Dong Shik) and Yeo Jin Goo (Han Joo Won) are outstanding. Everyone has been praising Shin Ha Kyun for his spectacular performance, even speculating possible Baeksang (totally deserving), so I thought to comment on Yeo Jin Goo. I never followed Yeo Jin Goo’s career in the past and I only saw Hotel Del Luna, which honestly centered on IU and therefore he did not leave any impression on me. But his nuanced and compelling performance in this show attests his years of experience in the industry. I cannot wait to see what kind of projects this young actor will choose in the future. Special shout out to every other cast member….they were equally great and deserve to get bigger roles after this show.

Beyond Evil has definitely raised the bar high for the industry. This is one of the finest of its genre, so featuring it on Netflix is a great decision. A show that will be remembered for a very long time…..

Leia Mais

Masterpiece

It's like watching a puzzle slowly put together with each new piece/episode providing new inisight to the bigger picture. Everything is brilliantly connected and every character matters and is involved in some way.
The show is not just about finding out who the killer is but most importantly about the people involved and how deeply they were affected by it.
I don't see an issue with the pacing, it's what you would expect from a psychological thriller, no time was wasted. It slowly builds and forms the story with each episode and once you get to the end you see just how perfectly thought and planned out it was.

The cast I can't praise enough, all of them were phenomenal and had me so immersed that at times I forgot to read the subtitles, especially Shin Hakyun who blew me away every episode.
The ost seemed a little odd at first but I quickly fell in love with it and thought it perfectly fit the show.

No words are enough to describe how much I love this show and I'm not really good at reviews so if I could only use one word to describe it it would be masterpiece, it's by far the best k-drama I have seen.

Leia Mais

Definitely 1000% Daesang Award-winning Show !

Daesang Award-winning Show and performances by the 2 main leads - The Best Bromance Duo carried by Yeo-jin Goo and shin ha Kyun!!

wow wow wow wow DAEBAK INFINITE TIMES INFINITY!!!

BEYOND EVIL IS ONE OF THOSE SHOWS that literally leaves you glued to the screen, to the plot build-up, piquing your curiosity radar into thinking what happens next, one of the greatest whoDUNIT stories ever told in History!!

Standing ovation for :
1. The Leads Shin Ha Kyun and Yeo Jin Goo for powerhouse performances, delivering their characters to the T, they were just perfect!! And it's unbelievable that Yeo Jin-goo is just all of 23 of Age!!!
Yeo Jin Goo is just perfect as an Actor, wow!!!!

2. The Writers and Director and Cinematographer of the Show Beyond Evil!!!! Kudos to the Team for the perfect edge-of-seat psychological thriller for the audience!!!

This show deserves lots of Awards and TOP HONORS!!!

Leia Mais