through the darkness was an absolutely must watch drama in my opinion. this is only the second drama i’ve written a review on; the first being beyond evil (which i also loved) so that just goes to show how much i enjoyed this drama.

here’s the thing, though, this drama definitely wont be for everyone (is any drama for everyone, though?) it veers in the very hard to watch category especially in the second half. as someone who is a huge fan of the crime/thriller genre and has watched tons of media from multiple countries of the genre i’d like to say im well adjusted, but, alas, i was wrong. the antagonists in this drama are so evil and they show that to the fullest extent possible that can be showed on a korean channel. i had to pause my fair share. each of the twelve episodes deal with very hard to watch topics and any potential viewers should be aware.

first of all i love the way the story in this drama was presented. there wasn’t one overarching villain the whole duration, but it also wasn’t really episodic. it was something in-between. plus, at the core the drama really was about song ha young’s evolution as not only the first korean criminal profiler, but as a human being. i have to mention it was also refreshing to not see the normal rough around the edges, borderline alcoholic with anger issues as the protagonist of a crime/thriller drama because more often than not that’s the case.

the profiling aspect, aka the main point, was so intriguing and it was so relieving not to see dumb and incompetent police. too often you see that and its extremely frustrating. however, at the same time solving cases wasnt overly convenient for them. they used their brains to figure out what needed to be figured out. yeah, there were dumb mistakes here and there, which is to be expected by anyone in any profession, but it wasn’t the same mistake repeated over and over again.

another thing worth mentioning is the fact that most, if not all, of the killers presented in this drama are based upon real life cases. i believe even one of them is modeled after the infamous raincoat killer which has a documentary series on netflix available for watch.

the true highlight of this drama was the acting, specifically by kim nam gil. he gave a performance that is going to be on my favorite performances list and i hope he gets a baeksang nomination for all he did. the supporting cast was also phenomenal in their own right, but the second biggest stars next to kim nam gil would be the criminals themselves. some of these suspects had lots of scenes, others had maybe one or two but they were all absolutely amazing. seeing familiar faces from other dramas that have portrayed sweet characters play these utterly despicable human beings with zero remorse was such a sight and they deserve SO much praise.

overall i do recommend this, just not for everyone. don’t go in expecting an action packed thriller full of jumps and twists and turns. this drama doesn’t have plot twists where it turns out the person you’ve trusted all along is actually a killer. instead, it goes deep into the minds of song ha young and the criminals he and his team work hard to catch. at this core this drama is about the hearts of humans and what leads us to do the things we do, whether that be help people or hurt them.


side-note: the rewatch value is so low because, though, i could eventually see myself rewatching in the far future, it is a very draining and emotional ride that i don’t see myself being ready to watch again for quite some time.