I've seen my fair share of crime dramas, most of which had psychological thriller elements present but I wasn't prepared at all for the absolutely insane masterpiece that Beyond Evil has been. Till the very end, this drama stuck to its guns and stayed true to the genre, leaving you in suspense the whole way and compelling you to carry on. There's no shortage of dark and disturbing moments throughout the series, with every twist and turn keeping you on your toes as you journey with our leads to uncover the ugly truth behind the serial killings in their county. No one is exempt from being the suspect as the heroes find out who is the real monster. Let's dive in.
SERIES RETROSPECT AND REVIEW (SPOILER ALERT)
The drama revolves around Lee Dong-sik and Han Joo-won, partners at Manyang Police Substation with vastly different backgrounds. Dong-sik is known by the people of Manyang as a nutcase, often going out of his way to do very questionable things, many of which aren't necessarily lawful. We find out very early on that he was the prime suspect for the disappearance of his twin sister Yoo-yeon and the murder of another woman (Bang Ju-seon) in the year 2000, with him having been acquitted of the crime after gaining alibi. However, his sister's disappearance has haunted him ever since and he's always kept her case at the back of his mind, with many people shunning him even though he was acquitted at the time. Joo-won on the other hand comes from a powerful family, with his father Gi-hwan being the frontrunner for the position of Commissioner General of South Korea's National Police Agency, and was posted to Manyang Substation by his own request. At first, we're led to believe that Joo-won's only motivation is to catch Dong-sik, who he believes to be the true killer of not just Ju-seon but also of Yoo-yeon and many other women, but as we progress, we see he has far deeper reasons for accomplishing all these goals.
As the drama's literal name tells us, there's a "monster" afoot in Manyang and both of our heroes' goals are to catch this monster by any means necessary. A very important idea present throughout the entire drama is that the true culprit could be anyone and as we go further into the drama, we find out that nothing is really as it seems. There's a legal principle known as the presumption of innocence, which more or less states that anyone accused of a crime is "innocent until proven guilty". Beyond Evil flips that on its head and instead pushes the concept that almost everyone is "guilty until proven innocent". The audience is deliberately misled on countless occasions to believe that every character has either directly committed a crime or abetted a crime. Oh, did I forget to mention that there's not just one main case at hand here? If you're like me you would've thought that the drama was purely about the serial killings that have taken place in Munju Town over the course of 20 years, where women have all off their fingertips chopped off before having their feet bound together and their bodies buried.
While that is indeed the initial main plotline for the first half of the drama, a slew of other new crimes occur in quick succession and some older crimes are resurfaced once again. Along the way, the extent of the corruption present in Munju Town is revealed to us and things spiral out of hand very quickly. Rather than overwhelming us with plot, the screenwriters have done a masterful job of juggling all these various plotlines to give us an entertaining story that leaves us not really knowing what to expect. Like I mentioned up top, everyone's a suspect at some point for at least one of these crimes and because of the way the drama is shot and edited, you'll completely believe that a certain character is the culprit of one of these crimes. The next thing you know though, the drama pulls the rug out from under you and diverts your attention to another character. They do this so many times and each time you go "right, this guy is definitely the culprit" but turns out it's someone else but then it turns out that other person isn't the culprit. It might get tiring or repetitive in some dramas but the screenwriters have weaved it in so perfectly that it just leaves you wanting more each time.
Combined with well-crafted plotlines you have excellent acting as well. Of course, the most stellar acting comes from our leads Shin Ha-kyun and Yeo Jin-goo, who portray Dong-sik and Joo-won respectively. Shin absolutely killed it in this drama, expertly portraying the intense Dong-sik, a broken man who hides his pain behind a devil-may-care façade. Throughout most of the drama, he's always one step ahead of the curve, constantly luring both Joo-won and their mutual foes right where he wants them. While he doesn't always follow the law, Dong-sik isn't a bad person by nature just that his trauma from not just his sister's disappearance but also his ex-partner's death has turned him into a bordering-on-psychopathic shell of his former self. Throughout most of the drama, every time Dong-sik breaks into a smile or laughs, there's always a negative connotation present and Shin really expresses that well, playing up the "insanity" that Dong-sik is generally associated with. I mentioned this in my initial thoughts post but that smile at the end of episode 1 was insanely creepy and Shin sold that well.
Yeo Jin-goo also portrayed the uptight Joo-won well, initially being someone who follows the law almost to a T and is often exasperated by the officers of Manyang Substation for their fluid understanding of it. Starting out as someone who wants to hunt down Dong-sik, who he believes to be the Munju Town serial killer, he will stop at nothing to bring him to justice, even if it ultimately meant putting others in harm's way. The little changes in his character are portrayed very well by Yeo and it really gets you invested in his story. Granted, Shin Ha-kyun is still the standout but Yeo Jin-goo has also done really well in creating an awesome character dynamic between our leads. The dangerously unpredictable Dong-sik and the overly lawful Joo-won are perfect foils for each other, and the pair have awesome chemistry. I think oftentimes people associate chemistry to mean generally positive emotions but in truth, it just means that the characters have to counter each other's motivations and personalities as well as make their interactions interesting to watch. That's exactly the case with Dong-sik and Joo-won, with their chemistry truly being one of the most enjoyable things in this drama. It's awesome to see how both leads start out with a lot of animosity between them, constantly trying to outsmart each other at every turn before eventually developing a form of respect and even care for each other, with the acting being superb every step of the way.
It's not just our two leads who give excellent performances, every cast member plays their part well and adds so much to the story in their own ways. There are very few characters that appear throughout the series that I can say didn't play a purpose because an important idea present in the drama is that everyone could be the culprit. For me, special mention has to go to Lee Kyu-hoi and Park Kwang-il, who portray the current and young versions of serial killer Kang Jin-mook respectively. It was crazy to see them transform from a socially awkward "village idiot" of sorts who everyone wants to protect because he's naïve and innocent into an off-his-rocker killer who manipulates those around him in order to use their goodwill to his advantage. It's sickening to see at some points but honestly the performance by Lee and Park were excellent. Huge props to both actors for that.
I want to take a moment to talk about the character development present in this drama, primarily for Dong-sik and Joo-won. For a good part of the drama the pair are at loggerheads, Joo-won hellbent on arresting Dong-sik for what he believes to be the serial killings while Dong-sik kind of treats him like a petulant child who doesn't fully understand the situation. As the drama progresses, Dong-sik doesn't really change too much whereas Joo-won becomes a bit darker, deciding that his old methods of going by the book just weren't cutting it so much like Dong-sik, he chooses to walk the moral grey line many times. When more and more truths about the past come to light, we finally see the pair work together in a more wholesome manner and genuinely showing care for each other. Dong-sik's still traumatised by the death of his ex-partner, who he allowed to chase a criminal on his own, so he doesn't want a repeat of that with Joo-won, his new partner. Likewise, after Joo-won finds out that his own father killed Yoo-yeon, he decides to destroy both his and his father's lives to make amends for everything.
It all comes together in the final episode when Joo-won finally achieves his goal of arresting Dong-sik, albeit for a different reason, but unlike previously when he would've been celebrating, Joo-won is now completely devastated and can barely bring himself to do the deed before breaking down. Their character arcs have come full circle, with the one thing that has driven Joo-won from the very start of the drama suddenly crumbling before his very eyes. At the end of the entire ordeal, both our heroes have made peace with their lives and come to terms with their personal struggles. Dong-sik, who only became a policeman to find out what happened to his sister, has reached the end of his journey in the force and while it's not specifically mentioned, he has probably hung up his uniform for good. When he meets Joo-won again after a year, his smile isn't one that's psychotic anymore, instead it's relaxed and kind. Joo-won on the other hand started out the drama as someone without much emotional attachments to family, having never really received parental love. His mother was an alcoholic who was never there for Joo-won and who eventually committed suicide, and of course his father Gi-hwan was too focused on his career. As such, he doesn't understand why people form bonds with one another and actively avoids doing so himself.
However, as the drama goes on Joo-won warms up to those around him, foremost of which is of course Dong-sik. By the end of the series he's made a complete turnaround, even visiting his mother's grave, and now works at a juvenile center, where he also helps the family of dementia patients and the disabled find their missing loved ones when they run away from home. His story has come full circle because where past Joo-won would've found his current job a pointless chore, he now sees the meaning behind it and wants to help families get back together. In many ways, he's still trying to make amends for wronging Dong-sik this whole time because if someone had found Yoo-yeon in the past, he wouldn't have had to live in such anguish his whole life. It's a very wholesome ending and unlike many K-dramas, this ending felt earned.
Now, there's a lot of stuff to praise about this drama but at the same time, I do wish they had fleshed out certain plot points more. The foremost example for this is Dong-sik's ex-partner's death, which serves as part of the guilt that drives Dong-sik forward as a character. To me, Sang-yeob (his partner) served that purpose on paper but in truth, this wasn't really expanded on very well in the drama. I don't understand why Dong-sik wouldn't reveal the true circumstances behind his partner's death during the investigation because even if his guilt was preventing him from doing so, it would make no sense to keep quiet about it. Instead, Dong-sik gets demoted and sent back to Manyang. At the end of the day, Sang-yeob was just meant to be a parallel to Joo-won so that when a similar situation happened to him, Dong-sik would be motivated to prevent his partner from coming to any harm. That's just my two cents on it but other than that, everything else in the drama was well executed.
It's a small wonder that Beyond Evil has received so many nominations at the 57th Baeksang Arts Awards, including for Best Drama and Shin Ha-kyun as Best Actor, among others. With its masterful storytelling and tight plot, this drama has astounded viewers over its 16-episode run and has firmly planted itself in my top 10 dramas of all time. Even if you're not particularly into crime thrillers, I think that this series is definitely worth a watch because it's quite possibly one of the greatest products to grace the K-drama scene this year thus far. Please give it a shot, you won't regret it. Thanks for reading.
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