Through the Darkness (2022)

Watch a documentary instead

I've tried my hardest to complete this show... but damn. I really couldn't. The trailer and synopsis hooked me in and I went in knowing it was based on a non-fiction book but what I really did not expect was how slow it was. It was advertised as a thriller but its most definitely not. Instead, it's an extremely slow burn with no end in sight.

The story is told in almost like a documentary-like fashion. The main character (Kim Nam Gil) is portrayed as eccentric, aloof yet empathetic and "special" in a way only main characters are. This "special" quality is what landed him the newly created role of a profiler. Predictably, no one appreciates the profilers from the start and look down on them, scorn them, and they are allocated the worst office in the building. Of course, the profilers are full of tenacity and overcome these various challenges to finally attain the recognition they deserve. It's a tale as old as time, and anyone can see through the plot of this show right from the first episode. Nothing groundbreaking at all, and nothing to keep viewers watching through the end. In addition, the culprit for each case is revealed right off the bat so there is even less payoff to watch and try to figure out who the murderer is. What we do get are long drawn out interview sessions with serial killers showing off how crazy they are. After a while it just got ... boring. I'm not sure why either. I've watched the Criminal series on Netflix where it's set 100% in the interrogation room yet it was a million times more exciting that this show. Which is disappointing. The characters also don't experience any growth at all; the profilers still treat each other like strangers despite working together for YEARS. Main character retains his "specialness" all the way and his only fault is being too empathetic. Meh. Oh, and there was also this strange subplot about this reporter girl which added 0 things to the plot and only served to show how "special" and "empathetic" that reporter girl is. I thought the show wanted to force a romance between her and the main character but seeing as how nothing happened even at the 11th episode, I guess not.

The acting is fairly good, if you don't mind watching people behave like they're in a constant state of depression (which I guess is true considering the heavy stuff they deal with constantly). The show is the epitome of the saying "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" because literally all characters are raging workaholics who do not seem to have hobbies outside of work. Which makes it hard to see the range these actors can show.

Conclusion: watch only if you can stomach extremely slow paced dramas with no payoff at all. This is not a thriller - though there are some "thrilling" fight scenes. If you prefer more traditional police procedural shows, this is not the one for you. I honestly feel that juvenile justice, a show supposed to be about judges, has more thrilling police investigation scenes than this show LOL, so make of this what you will.

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Great actors but a declining storyline

The plot delves into the psychology of a murderer, understanding their intentions, and using the data to categorize murderers into some sort of personality types. I found the idea to be rather interesting as I personally like psychological thrillers. However, this series failed to hold my interest till the end.

One would expect thrillers to be 'gripping' and you would want to hold your breath as they challenge the murderers and uncover details of the case. This was only largely seen in the first story in the series. Honestly, Part 1 of this series was captivating. The first few episodes were great, and shows promise to this series, however as the series progressed, I found myself skipping through the scenes. The acting was amazing, especially some of the prisoners they interviewed. However the series failed to explore more details in the psychology of a murderer, and somehow the crimes get more easy to solve. It seemed like a disappointment from the first few episodes and furthermore, there wasn't much character development. It was just a monotonous solving of crime after crime.

Overall, a mediocre thriller, not as dark as I would like, but it's an interesting watch for sure.

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