The best Korean drama in years
Beyond Evil is an intricate psychological mystery thriller redefining itself with every twist and turn before driving it home with its finale bombshell. The script is so well-woven and nuanced that almost every line contributes to the plot and character development and it is filled with Easter eggs that come out to punch you in the gut (or pelt you) when you least expected it. We are all monsters (the Korean name of the drama is literally “Monster”) regardless of the extent of our sins. While revealing the sins of others, we have to cover up our own sins too.Many things are not black and white or fair in this world. Life is full of injustice, grievances, stereotypes and discrimination, sometimes through no fault of our own. Sometimes, we just become victims without reason. While many crime dramas usually focus on the spectacle and evil of serial murders, Beyond Evil looks far beyond this and lets us into the painful world of missing persons’ families who are left behind. Without a corpse, there is no crime and there can be no closure. Yet, within their pain, there is still hope. Hope in that one day their family member will return again alive and well. Hope in that one day justice will be served to the perpetrators of their pain. And it is probably this hope that has carried them till this day.
The plot, character development and character parallels in this Korean drama are near impeccable and it is not until the final scene where you really see everything and almost every character come full circle. I have never seen any other K-drama do all these without any major plot and character loopholes. This drama definitely deserves all the accolades it got from this year’s Baeksang Arts Awards, the biggest TV award show in Korea - “Best Drama”, “Best Screenplay” for the brilliant female scriptwriter Kim Su Jin and “Best Actor” for the phenomenal lead actor Shin Ha Kyun.
It is also with these reasons that Lee Dong Sik is my favourite TV male character till date. He is such a layered character that was acted so masterfully by Shin Ha Kyun. When I heard about this drama, almost everyone was raving about Shin’s acting online. I started watching this drama with humble expectations for his acting since great reviews are usually overrated to me and I have only seen him in small though notable special appearances on the Korean films I have watched previously (The Thieves, Extreme Job). But Shin really blew it out of the park for me. Never in my wildest imagination did I expect to become his fan from this drama and I just feel sad that I came to his party this late. Beyond Evil is Shin’s acting masterclass and is probably his best performance in his 23-year long career. It really is no surprise that he is known as “The God of Acting” in Korea. If you watch his interviews, his real personality is a far cry from Lee Dong Sik or any of his other characters. He is a quiet, shy and humble man of a few words known amongst reporters to be difficult to interview. But a whole load of acting talent (which he never admits to) lies beneath all of his shyness. I now sincerely struggle to thoroughly enjoy the acting of other Korean male lead actors in K-dramas after Beyond Evil. This is how good he was in the drama.
With such casting perfection, it is only under the deft hands of the gifted female director Shim Na Yeon (who is a fan of Shin) that almost every nuanced expression of Shin was captured with all their unflinching instability, brokenness and even beauty. The cinematography of this drama is just so immaculate and even contributes to misdirecting the audience on many occasions. I am sure this young and talented director will go far.
The supporting cast was also amazing overall, especially Choi Dae Hoon as Park Jeong Je and Heo Sung Tae as Lee Chang Jin (many will recognise him from the The Age of Shadows film and Squid Game). I will definitely be watching out for them in future productions.
The drama’s original soundtracks are also amongst the best I have listened to so far and they have been on replay for 5 months now. The OSTs were always on point during the drama and added flavour to the world of Manyang and its people.
Beyond Evil is a story about human nature, morality, justice, grief, self-sacrifice, redemption and hope. But it is also a story about what being a family really means. Set in a small-town world of serial murders, it was surprising how much heart there is in this drama. Yet, it refuses to be cliched and predictable with the constant plot twists dropping your jaw and derailing you almost every single time.
“Eat well, sleep well, poop well.” is a powerful line which recurred twice in the drama. In Shin Ha Kyun’s words, “In reality, that’s all it is. That’s what life is all about.”.
It is a real pity how such a quiet masterpiece is not getting the international recognition it truly deserves although it is on Netflix (not a Netflix original). Nevertheless, Beyond Evil is my favourite Korean drama till date and will be a tough one to beat. This drama burns deep within my heart and soul. But it is only with pain that there can be hope.
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
Thriller fascinant au cœur d'une petite ville hantée par son monstre (괴물)
Le drama nous livre un démarrage immédiat avec la découverte d’un corps au milieu d’un champ de roseaux. Cependant, il ne tarde pas à nous renvoyer vingt ans en arrière, là où tout a commencé… Qui est le monstre de Manyang ? Qui incarne la créature dangereuse dissimulée dans les fourrées, attendant de sauter sur sa proie ?En Corée du Sud, lorsqu’un adulte disparaît, on l’enregistre comme une fugue et non une disparition. Ainsi, cela laisse tout le loisir à un tueur en série de sévir selon son bon vouloir au détriment des familles. Et peut-être que ça tombe bien, parce qu'au cœur de cette ville, où tout le monde connaît les secrets de tout le monde, les secrets peuvent être bien gardés.
La rencontre entre les deux personnages est comme rencontrer un mur. Les deux hommes ne s’apprécient pas et ne font aucun effort pour le cacher. Lee Dong Sik est un homme entouré de mystères, tandis que Han Ju Won, derrière son attitude guindée et arrogante, possède un but : obtenir la justice. On sent les étincelles venir et elles ne tardent pas à se décupler au fil des épisodes.
Bien que leur mauvaise entente permette d’ajouter encore plus de piquant au drama, Beyond Evil ne lésine pas sur la qualité de chaque personnage. Chacun possède sa propre histoire, son passé, ses démons et ses désirs. Principaux ou secondaires, ils ont tous un rôle. Le fait d’être au cœur d’une petite ville permet d’accentuer cette ambiance si particulière et de donner encore plus de force au récit.
D'ailleurs, l’intrigue principale et les sous-intrigues sont d’une qualité irréprochable. On doute des personnages, alors que deux minutes auparavant, on leur aurait donné le bon dieu sans confession.
En bref, Shim Na Yeon offre une intrigue gorgée de rebondissements avec un développement profond de ses personnages avec un casting monstrueusement parfait !
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
Best Drak Thriller
Beyond Evil is the best dark thriller k-drama. No wonder this won the best drama, best actor and best screenplay in the prestigious Baeksang Arts Awards. Shin Ha-kyun's acting made me speechless. I don't know if I have seen such great acting except from Goblin's Gong Yoo. The character was hugely conflicted and Shin Ha-kyun made it absolutely flawless. The plot is intriguing, violent, fresh and exciting. Yeo Jin-goo proved that he is one of the best young actors. The bromance between Shin Ha-kyun (Lee Dong Shik) and Yeo Jin-goo (Han Ju Won) was a treat to watch. Both being police officers, try to find out the hidden crimes that are being continued for years. I will not give any spoiler but the story circles around a girl's fingers being found in a wooden table. This resembled a killing 20 years back whose main suspect was Shin Ha-kyun (Lee Dong Shik) which made the case more interesting as 20 years later the main suspect again becomes Lee Dong Shik despite being a police officer. The plot and writing is excellent. You will not see a K-drama as flawless as Beyond Evil. If you are still unsure, just start watching and you will pat yourself for making the right choice. It is surely the best K-drama of 2021, without a shade of doubt. And the best actor of 2021 is undoubtedly Shin Ha-kyun.Esta resenha foi útil para você?
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!
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
"누구든, 의심해야죠. 그건 내 직업이니까."
🔸️How hypnotizing the two leads are! They both resemble two feral territorial cats fighting for domination - and very shrewd ones! Shin Ha Gyun's magnifying asymmetrical eyes stare right into the depth of your soul, and they just won't let you go. Yeo Jin Gu and Shin Ha Gyun are the ones who make this show work because, honestly, the screenplay alone wouldn't be engaging enough for me. Just like any other crime/thriller it focuses a lot on the antagonist supporting characters we don't want to observe for an extended period of time. Instead, who would refuse to watch Han Joo Won and Lee Dong Sik filling the screen with borderline erotic tension and hold onto each other in the moments of pain?🔸️Other K-drama directors produce, Shim Na Yeon creates. She is the master inside a genre. If it's a drama - Good Bad Mother - then it is deeply traumatic and affectionate. If it's a crime - Beyond Evil - then it throws you head-first into the darkness. The editing - that could be irregular like in any TV project - is under perfect control; the actors are living through their characters; the score is filled with passion. What will this wonderful director gift upon us next?
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
Impressive Thriller
Have to say at the beginning 2 - 3 episodes storytelling gave the impression of cat - mouse chase only to subvert it later by adding layers of plot twists in realistic way. So do watch for at least 4 episodes before considering to drop altogether, it's a slow burn. Both the leads does fall under some greyish morals making is more interesting to watch.Cast performance especially shin ha kyun is outstanding making all more realistic to watch, happy to hear he won the award. More than story, the show draws it strength from the conversations and powerful dialogues between leads and characters. Hope to see more thrillers with power pack performances in near future.
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
Gripping from start to finish!
I have an awful attention span when it comes to watching KDramas, I'm one of those people who finds a scene boring and puts it on 2x or just turns it off... but this show was so gripping that I finished it within a week or so. What will I even do now?The character development was incredible, the culprit was not predictable at all, and the pacing was great. The only thing I struggled with sometimes was remembering everyone's names because there were so many characters, but it's not really a fault of the drama. It got a bit morbid and very sad at points, but didn't wallow in it too much which was great! :)
I never write reviews, that's how good I found this drama.
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
They made me look stupid
So where do I even begin? This drama was something unexpected to me since I thought that I would get bored 2 episodes in but I didn't. I am happy I took a little break from investigation dramas because that would probably affect this review. I came into this thinking it would be like an eight-star watch, something I would get over fast but it turned out to be master peace with a lot of shocking moments. I even enjoy some of the OSTs because even the music caught my interest. Maybe in like a year I will watch it again and think about every happy moment, and what my reactions were when some shocking stuff happened. Also, this review has a headline " They made me stupid". It's because there were multiple moments where I acted smart and started insulting the characters for being stupid but they were one step ahead of me, as always. To wrap this up I am just surprised how I can watch 16 episodes in 4 days.Esta resenha foi útil para você?
Beyond Evil is beyond your average thriller
Beyond Evil is a great example of how to take a simple concept and absolutely run with it. Between the exemplary acting, tight writing and numerous twists and turns along the way, this Korean drama is easily one of the best shows of the year.Given the simplicity of the story, it’s actually quite impressive that the series adds layers of twists while also making sure there are no plot holes left behind either. Every single character has an alibi, a place to be and – more importantly than that – a motive for killing. In fact at one point there are 8 different possible suspects!
Beyond Evil is amazingly consistent and efficient in its writing; it not only manages to keep episodes compact yet compelling, it also manages to keep up the suspense for its full 16 episodes, which is a big deal. The OST was used skillfully as well.
My Rating : 8.5/10
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
A story about choices and self-identity. Beyond Evil is a slow-burn psychological thriller full of eerie crime and corruption that involves an entire town. The story takes its time to tell the motives, behaviours and connections among the characters, the mystery unfolds very slowly and intend to be confusing. For that reason, I think it's perfect to binge it than watching weekly to keep feeling engaged and focussed. Trigger warning. there were many many suspenseful and gruesome scenes that I found quite disturbing.
The bonds that Dong Sik and Joo Won form between each other is another highlight of the show. Despite their initial mistrust, they are two people on the same side of the law who learn to walk that fine line between good and evil together. They both were obsessed with finding the truth. Aside from the two, all the other characters were significant. The police team is heartwarming and the villains are blood boilingly frustrating, as how they should be. Overall, it's a though, slow show, great performance and character developments.
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
