My final review of what I believe is the first season of this thriller drama (although no announcement of a sequel at the time I was writing this review). This plot is about the survival of the Female Lead Jeong Ji An, being targeted by professional killers, taking shelter in her uncle's house. How and why it happens is slowly unraveled through past events. Warning: this is not a comedy like the parent story.

STORY:

First of all, I didn't watch the parent story The Killer's Shopping List, nor read the novel under the same title "The Killer's Shopping List" (살인자의 쇼핑목록) by Kang Ji Young (강지영). Some comments said that there is no connection between this drama and the so-called parent story, only written by the same author. This is a survival story of our heroine, Jeong Ji An (Kim Hye Joon), because of what happened to her supposedly dead uncle Jeong Jin Man (Lee Dong Wook). Since little, after the deaths of her grandmother and her parents, Jeong Jin Man has been her sole guardian. He brought her up with a survivalist mind and tough love. During her grandmother's funeral, he made her watch a gruesome TV scene of a lion killed by a group of hyenas: "Only the weak bark, the strong don't. You must become strong to make your opponent bark. Don't be scared. Whatever makes you scared keep your eyes open and face it." When Jin Man took Ji An in after her parents's death and she fell on the ground, he didn't pick her up but said "Listen up, Jian. I'm not your parent and I can never be. Which means I can't do the things your parents did for you."

The fact that Jeong Jin Man prepares his niece in such a way as to be strong, independent, and capable of guarding herself makes sense later as the drama title is explained. Jeong Jin Man established an underground online business as the title says, a shop for killers. He not only sold guns but other weapons and chemicals as well. Jin Man was very secretive about himself and his customers so he gave them codes and even put himself and his niece in a special code: Code Green (I will describe the codes in the end under the spoiler).

I'm usually a generous rater, and am easily pleased, as long as a drama wowed me from the beginning till the end, I will rate it 10 (you can find out the dramas I rated 10 in my custom list). The reason I only gave this drama a 9.5 is because of the questionable details I saw along the way. If this is a fantasy genre I will ignore it, but the fact it builds upon modern survival and mercenary plots, it's dubious. I won't spoil them to you for this final review, you just watch the drama to find out. Basically, if you want to enjoy this story, you have to suspend your disbelief.

I will put the spoilers at the bottom of my review (you need to scroll down if you want to know, otherwise stop after the Visual)

CHARACTER AND ACTING:

Lee Dong Wook played the mysterious Uncle Jeong Jin Man with his usual traits: cold, aloof, but charming. We see more of Jin Man's actions in past flashbacks.

Kim Hye Joon played the survivalist niece Jeong Ji An. I stated above how her uncle brought her up, so we see the same cold and aloof trait in his niece. Some comments on the drama page stated that Ji An is too stupid when reacting to the attacks, but I have to defend her since she is not professionally trained and practically implemented for all that happened. Even all she did for survival is just based on her instinct to stay alive while remembering what her uncle and her master taught.

I won't spoil you with information on the supporting characters. The drama is too short to show much more about them. We learned about their background and how they came to know Jin Man, but the info about them is not enough to show that they are three-dimensional characters. I would love to see more (perhaps in the second season) about how Jin Man brought up Brother, Pasin's life (how a Thai man came and worked in South Korea), Min Hye's life after she was saved (her interactions with Jin Man, Honda, Brother, and Pasin) and how she got to know the villains, etc.

VISUAL (CINEMATOGRAPHY, COSTUME, MAKEUP, SET)

As usual, the Kdrama visuals for this dark thriller are amazing: the daring escapes, the gunfire and bomb explosions, the bullet movements, etc. Even the hyena CGI is acceptable. I kinda questioned Jin Man's home which seems so normal and humble but its walls, windows, and furniture are strong enough able to hold the gunfires and bombs to a certain degree. I assume Jin Man fortified his home strong enough for survival, perhaps having an underground bunker, too.

I will put spoilers down below about the Codes and the ending.

SPOILERS (Scroll down below)


















CODES:
- Code Red: for killers (assassins) - they can only buy guns, weapons, bombs, and poisons.
- Code Purple: for spies (buy and sell info) - they can only buy listening devices and cameras. Also, simple weapons to be used to kill themselves when their cover is blown.
- Code Yellow: for clean-up crew - they can only buy drugs, detergents, and cleaning tools needed for body disposal and clean-up, and administrative service to evade the law.
- Code Green: for Jin Man and Ji An (though she didn't know before) - the other codes could never attack them. If they did, other Code holders have to risk their lives to protect Code Green.

ENDING:
- Ji Ahn and her uncle are alive. As I suspected, Jin Man faked his death (though are not shown what he did to 'kill' himself and why he did it if not just leave his niece to have her own show). He shows up in the end riding a taxi. He's all wound up, probably he had a duel with the top killer.
- A bunch of killers are dead. The top killer Bale and the Babylon company head are (probably) still alive if they want to make Season 2.
- Pasin and Brother are alive. Min Hye is probably alive, only shown her gun came off her hand but doesn't mean she's dead. I believe if watchers found her too attractive and charismatic to be dead, the screenwriter will revive her for Season 2.