This is replacing my old favourite crime drama Signal, that's saying a lot. (Also like Signal it's romance sits somewhere between 0-2%.) It's the most thrilling, suspenseful drama I've ever watched. Every episode ended in a plot twist I didn't see coming. I was on the edge of my seat the entire 3 days I spent watching it. I couldn't turn my eyes away for a second or I'd miss something and would have to rewind.

It was so well written and directed, every moment was used to drive the drama forward, towards the end though it was going a bit too fast for me to keep up. I would've liked a bit more explanation in the last quarter of the drama, I couldn't tell if I missed those quick segways or it was left out but I'll accept its flaw, whichever one it was. Regardless I would've liked some sort of throwback to the initial slow investigative period in the last quarter. My brain was barely keeping up at this point with all the plot twists and character introductions. I do think you have to take this drama with a grain of salt, it's about a psychic detective anyway so it's not like it was ever truly grounded in reality. But I question the 'how' of some of minor aspects of the plot.

Generally I struggle a lot if there's too many characters, from the giant list of teammates to the giant list of bad guys, but lots of side characters stood out and managed to make their own lasting impression which is hard to achieve, especially in a drama with such a big cast. Even not individual characters but the wider pack (eg the mass of minor policemen) made strong impressions. I hadn't thought of that as a possibility before now. I wish it was longer just so I could enjoy more interactive parts between the characters. I loved the twists of the many love-hate relationships and how much relational growth there was.

Dong Baek is a character I will never forget, his inner strength was amazing and inspiring. I love that instead of the usual fairly emotionless male character we got one that was so full of emotions he didn't even know how to hold back. From bursting into tears at the happiness of a fan letter, to empathising with all sorts of victims. Although he seemed thoughtless and highly emotional, he knew how to act when it counted.

Yoo Seung-ho is of course brilliant and while I've never been a fan of Lee Se-young, I'm loving her in this serious role rather than the comic ones I've seen.

It was brilliant and amazing. I would recommend it to anyone who can handle a thriller. My only warnings are that it's fairly dark in it's topics and to repeat, it basically has no romance, nothing on screen anyway. I can always dream.

Quote:
"Being able to remain as yourself is what proves how strong you really are" - Dong Baek