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Through the Darkness is based on the Autobiography of Korea’s first criminal Profiler Kwon Il Young, written with journalist Ko Na Mu “Those Who Read the Minds of Evil”. The drama depicts real life field experiences from the 1990’s/early 2000’s.
The drama opens on the ‘Red Cap’ case, whereby a man in a red baseball cap has been killing woman at random.
No one is willing to believe they could have a serial killer on their hands, however Kook Young Soo (Jin Seon Kyu), a specialist in Forensics, is certain that using American FBI profiling knowledge will help catch the perpetrator. He’s also adamant that ‘profiling’ can help prevent such tragedies in the future.
On being allowed to create the Crime Behaviour Analysis Team, Kook Young Soo recruits Song Ha Young (Kim Nam Gil) who he believes is perfect for the role. Reserved, quiet and perceptive, Ha Young’s way of thinking is already a good match for a profiler.
It was interesting to see the progression of the profiling being used in the cases, but they did become ‘experts’ in what felt like a very short time. This also progressed the working relationships between the Crime Behaviour Analysis Team and the Crime Squad, who are wary of this new method. I really enjoyed the inclusion of Yoon Tae Goo (Kim So Jin) and Nam Il Young (Jung Soon Won) and how they interacted with each other – they had such a good work partnership – and Ha Young.
Unfortunately, there were just so many characters, some of which were interesting, but were never utilised. Choi Yoon Jin (Kong Seong Ha) had such a great integrity within her journalism, which could have been explored more. And then Im Moo Sik (Lee Ha Nee) and Kim Bong Shik (Seo Dong Gab), who could have been such a solid look into police corruption and how journalism can have a negative impact on investigations, just fizzled out. We also didn’t have much connection to the killers and only really saw a handful of interviews. There was also a lack of connection to the victims, which was disappointing as they were meant to be the main focus.
Other than the murders, the main conflict is within Ha Young. He really struggles with ‘work-life balance’ in that he has no life outside his work. This really culminates in the way he behaves and the obsession that he has about catching these killers. There is a darkness to Ha Young, but we see time and time again, that his obsession is fuelled by justice and being kind to the victims and their families who are left behind. Ha Young’s relationship with Young Soo was one of the best parts about the drama, their chemistry was perfect.
Again, it’s just unfortunate that we don’t really have enough time to make a more intimate connection with Ha Young. The drama truly should have been the standard 16 episodes and it does suffer having a shorter runtime. There were so many plotlines that could have been developed to really elevate the drama, because at the end of the day it felt just like a typical crime procedural drama. And this would have meant that the ending may not have been underwhelming and the upbeat product placement scene not so jarring. The ending is so tonally different that Young Soo’s speech at the end, while great and emphasises the point the drama is trying to make – remember the victims – fell flat.
And that’s not to say that Through the Darkness was bad, by any means. The acting is incredible and Kim Nam Gil receiving the Daesang at the SBS Drama Awards and Seon Kyu winning two excellence awards is definitely well deserved. The overall production is also great. The cinematography emphasised the mood of the drama well and the music, for the most part, elevated scenes. However, in some instances, less is more and some scenes would have been better suited with a more muted soundtrack or even just silence/ambience. Saying that, Can’t Run Away by Isaac Hong is *chef’s kiss*!
Overall, I enjoyed the character dynamics and the acting was incredible. I think it’s main weakness was that it didn’t have enough time to really delve into everything it obviously wanted to. Still a solid drama and I’m happy I finally got it.
rating: 3.8⭐️
Director: Park Bo Ram || Screenwriter: Seol Yi Na || Composer: Gaemi
Thanks for reading!
I hope you’re having a lovely day and staying safe ♥
DramaRambles 🌸 
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