(i dont rate rewatch value - neutral)

4K

this is as far from the case of the week detective show as i could've expected when i first heard the premise. it's a straight superhero show, and the villain is pretty much the entirety of south korea.

well, the systems that drive south korea.

dong baek's power is damn near a revelation in that sense, cutting through all the noise of politics and media and what have you by forcing him to literally feel the pain of the victims he scans, causing him to act rash and promptly make enemies of pretty much the entire country. 0 f!#k mode. - because they simply can't feel the extreme emotions he feels. how is one individual expected to stay sane when mentally and physically reliving everyone elses horrors day in and out?

the poster of him in fighting stance reflects that ruthless and fun side of the show, where he kicks criminals in the face and does pretty much everything else a cop shouldn't (including using his powers in the first place), tho the bulk of that is only contained in the first few episodes, really. from then on out the tone is generally a lot more serious. you're made to be as angry as him, theres genuine scary moments, and a whole lot of trauma. everyone seems to be corrupt and nothing is quite what it seems. heck.. han su mi, who is his co-star, spends their introductory period suspecting his ass! gun rly pointed at the head.. which makes her huge smile in the closing minutes of the finale that much sweeter.

i felt cozy with this drama early on and it just kept pulling me in closer by the episode. the no-bs dedication to justice is it's heartbeat, and it results in surprisingly varied storytelling, as every element in this thing is freaking aced. where the hacking/surveillance scenes lack any real depth past convenient transition moments, the room it takes place in has so much character you just love to see it. white mechanical keyboards. same for anything. car scenes, lawyer-y scenes, journalism scenes. prosecution stand-offs, the sweet bonding scenes between characters. it's all so organic. *good* prevails in the truest sense since despite him basically being hunted down for most of the show, the people hunting him down (police force, other agencies) all are kinda hesitant from the get to even do so.. which is why they never do lol. it's the small guys teaming up to take down the top that they all know is corrupt. but it happens mostly very subtly.

then the finale comes a long and everything just perfectly clicks into place. simultaneously graceful for the payoff resolve, but also appropriately ruthless to end with the right bite. it lays the heart bare that you heard beating the whole way. only small lil issue being the the very very final like 2 minutes where the radio broadcast and the scene following it almost lowkey undo that sense of uncompromising fairness and justice that prevails truh this whole thing. it's complicated and i won't spoil, but overreaching is overreaching, and it's not like this drama aint aware that good intentions alone don't eliminate the possibility for evil!

it's pretty much perfect other than that, but it did irk me a bit. especially since they could've easily avoided it by just writing in an extra line or two.