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Move to Heaven (Initial Thoughts)


When people pass away without any arrangements made, who will be the ones to hear their final stories and organise their last memories? Enter trauma cleaners, forensic professionals who help to remove, clean and decontaminate items left behind in an area, typically at a trauma scene, hence their name. While typically used as crime scene cleanup crew, trauma cleaners can also be employed to clean up the homes of serial hoarders or the homes of those who've simply passed away, the last example of which is present in Move to Heaven, starring Lee Je-hoon (Signal, Where Stars Land) and Tang Joon-sang (A Poem A Day, Crash Landing on You) as male leads CHO SANG-GU and HAN GEU-RU respectively. 

A Netflix Original based on the essay "Things Left Behind" by ex-trauma cleaner Kim Sae-byul, this drama revolves around trauma cleaning business "Move to Heaven", initially run by Geu-ru and his father Jeong-woo but after the latter's untimely death, Geu-ru's half-uncle Sang-gu joins the business and together, the pair will uncover the stories of the deceased and go through their own emotional rollercoasters. Let's dive in. 

INITIAL THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS (SPOILER ALERT)

Episode 1 introduces us to Jeong-woo and Geu-ru, the father-son duo who run trauma cleaning business Move to Heaven, giving us a good look at their work processes as they clear up the room of a recently deceased man. A defining element for Geu-ru is that he has Asperger's, a neurodevelopmental disorder that places him on the autism spectrum, and while I'm not super familiar with this disorder, it would seem that the drama has portrayed Geu-ru's Asperger's fairly accurately. He has very restricted interests, completely fixated on aquatic animals and memorising everything about them down to the little details, with Geu-ru often visiting the aquarium and taking note of every last thing, even minute changes like the number of a certain species of fish in the tank. Geu-ru also exhibits problems with social interaction, unable to express himself properly and ending up in awkward situations when he withdraws into his shell. 

Geu-ru's father Jeong-woo is a single parent who has raised his son alone since young and has so far done a pretty good job of accommodating his needs, from arranging everything in their house to a perfect order to just taking care of his son in general. Jeong-woo is a standup guy who cares deeply for people and even the deceased whose items he's hired to clear, paying respects to them before every job. Unfortunately, Jeong-woo passes away from a heart attack, leaving his son all alone. Rather than place his ashes at the memorial home immediately, Geu-ru brings his father's urn home while remembering his last words, "I will always be by your side". In short, Geu-ru is unable to move on from his father's death, truly believing in Jeong-woo's words. Of course, the episode has to ensure a continuation to Geu-ru's story, which is where we're introduced to Sang-gu. Since he only appears in the last 5 minutes or less of the episode, we don't know anything about him but from the drama's synopsis, we know that Sang-gu is Geu-ru's half-uncle. He's introduced to us as a pretty rude guy, behaving in a very belligerent manner by entering Geu-ru's home and ever so slightly messing up his "perfect" surroundings, even smoking indoors and tells Geu-ru that the house now belongs to him. 

A pretty short introduction on my part but there's really not too much to delve into thus far. I fully expect Sang-gu to go through lots of character development and go from the jaded tough guy to probably someone who opens up to others. We know for a fact that Sang-gu will end up taking his half-brother Jeong-woo's place in Move to Heaven, running the business alongside Geu-ru, and that'll probably be how he changes as a person. As for Geu-ru, I think it's pretty clear that his arc will be completed once he lets go of his father, which will of course be represented by him physically scattering his father's ashes. That will of course mean that Geu-ru has become more independent and realising that he's capable of being his own man or taking care of himself without his father's constant guidance. As the drama progresses, the pair will end up going on many more trauma cleaning jobs and along the way, they're bound to come across many emotional stories and find out more about themselves in the process. 

The tagline for this drama, adapted from the essay it's based on, is "I am the keepsake organiser", which is a fairly accurate description of trauma cleaners (at least within the drama's context) and I'm certain this will become a central plot point throughout the drama. As of right now, Tang Joon-sang is doing a pretty sick job as Geu-ru and I'm very much looking forward to see more of him. In the same vein as Moon Sang-tae from the massively popular It's Okay to Not Be Okay, Geu-ru's also a character on the autism spectrum and while I'm far from the foremost authority on autism, I would say that based off the medically stated symptoms, Tang is portraying someone with Asperger's quite accurately. As for Lee Je-hoon, in the short few minutes we've seen him on screen so far, I feel like he's probably doing his best to give off an unlikable vibe to make us more invested in Sang-gu's character development. I foresee this short 10-episode drama to cover some pretty heartwarming topics and we're definitely going to get some tear-jerking moments here so let's join our leads as they help the deceased on their Move to Heaven.

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