'GABDONGI' EPISODE 1

For more than 100 years, the civilized world has been host to monsters. The media has given them frightening names: the United States had the Zodiac Killer; England had Jack the Ripper; South Korea had Gap Dong. In 1996, a series of brutal murders took place in the fictional city of Iltan in Gyeonggi Province. An attempt to place the most likely suspect under arrest fails when he commits suicide.

Seventeen years later the suspect's son, Moo Yeom, is a cop trying to redeem his father's name. He is convinced that Gap Dong is dead and even if he weren't, the statute of limitations is up, so he cannot be arrested for his crimes.  Moo Yeom does not approve of Detective Cheol Gon, who is too fixated and whose strong arm tactics are over the line. Moo Yeom believes those types of tactics were what killed his father. But even so, he was fairly certain as a child that his father was the killer and even burned evidence that might have implicated him.

Cheol Gon is a respected officer close to retiring. Before he does, however, he has one goal: catch Gap Dong and make the city safe again. He was assigned to the original case in the 1990s. Cheol Gon believes strongly that Moo Yeom is really the killer and even demands that he take a DNA test to prove his innocence. Cheol Gon is aware of Moo Yeom's feelings toward his father and is also convinced that monsters breed monsters. Cheol Gon is obsessed by a 17-year-old case and even gives up a post at the Blue House (South Korea's version of the White House) to continue his pursuit of Gap Dong. He exudes menace with every word and I think his actions will derail the case.

Gap Dong is not working alone this time. Just like Dracula had Renfield, so too does Gap Dong have Ryu Tae Oh (played by Lee Joon of MBLAQ). Like his counterpart, Renfield, Tae Oh is an inmate at a lunatic asylum, who worships the main villain. It seems as if Gap Dong is very much alive as Tae Oh encounters him and confesses his love and devotion. He also likely defaces the hospital with graffiti announcing that Gap Dong is still around. I see him as the herald of chaos, who announces the arrival of a new age of terror. Though I wish otherwise, I was unconvinced by his portrayal. His evil, toothy grin on occasion just looked like an ordinary, boyish grin.  

The episode is painted in black and grey, with an occasional brown thrown into the mix. The colors are well-suited for the atmosphere - something out of a Crayon Pop MV would be massively out of place. Iltan is meant to look like any other city. It has its crowds, shops, and landmarks like anywhere else. A large city is the ideal place for a serial killer to hide. Among millions of other citizens, how are you to find a single person? Especially if they are reclusive or ordinary people?  The only question I have is: why not Seoul?

The music choices range from ominous to intense. It's ominous when Tae Oh is talking to Gap Dong and pulse-pounding when a mass murderer suddenly explodes into a crowd with a knife and stabs people left and right. The soundtrack enhances the sense of menace that the episode tries to evoke (and succeeds at doing so).

After Moo Yeom stops a sudden, random killing spree and retreats to lick his wounds, another woman is brutally murdered in the chilly darkness of late December .

This series is tightly plotted and the tension is razor-sharp. The stakes have been raised now that Gap Dong has struck again. What do you guys think? Is Gap Dong really back? Is he dead? Or is there a new one?

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