From Wikipedia: “Happiness” is a South Korean television series starring Han Hyo-joo, Park Hyung-sik, and Jo Woo-jin. It is an apocalyptic thriller that takes place in a time in which infectious diseases have become the new normal. Produced by Studio Dragon, it was premiered on tvN on November 5, 2021 and airs every Friday and Saturday. It is also available for streaming on iQIYI in selected territories.
The drama is written by Han Sang-woon (“The Good Wife”) and directed by Ahn Gil-ho (“Record of Youth,” “Memories of the Alhambra,” and ”Stranger”).
Genre: action, drama, thriller, fantasy.
It takes place in a time in which infectious diseases have become the new normal. In a newly constructed apartment in a large city where the higher floors are up for general sales and the lower floors are rented out, the series depicts the subtle psychological battle and the class discrimination that occurs. The city hits rock bottom when an impending apocalypse hits in the form of a new type of infectious disease in which people suffer from unabated thirst.
How I wrote these episode summaries with no spoilers
1. I assumed that you will be reading these summaries and watching the videos chronologically.
2. I narrated some of the main actions in each episode without revealing the plot’s twists and turns.
3. At the beginning of each summary starting with Episode 2, I placed in a table a recap of the major twists and turns of the previous episode. But because you have already watched the video of the previous episode, they aren’t spoilers anymore.
4. I followed this structure all throughout, except for Ep. 12 (Finale) where I included spoilers. Reason — most people want to know if the drama has a good/happy ending or a sad ending before they invest the time in watching it.
Episode 1
Flashback ... The police department and school authorities lock down a high school because a distraught student threatens to jump off from the rooftop.
Twelve years later ... Yoon Sae-bom is a corporal in the SOU (Special Operations Unit); on the other hand, her high school classmate, Jung Yi-hyun, is a homicide investigator for the Seyang Police Station.
Yi-hyun calls up Sae-bom, warning her that a new SOU member has been implicated in a homicide where a tenant in an apartment killed two men. Sae-bom subdues the new SOU member, but afterwards, she’s taken by Lt. Col Han Tae-seok of the Central Disaster Countermeasures Headquarters to a facility that’s heavily guarded by soldiers.
Yi-hyun finds out that the drug he found in the crime scene is an anti-pneumonia drug that was widely distributed but later discontinued because of severe adverse effects. He goes to the facility where Sae-bom was taken, but at the gate, soldiers stop him.
Episode 2
Ep. 1 recap:
The homicide suspect killed two men in his apartment by biting them. The SOU member, on the other hand, bit another officer and scratched Sae-boom’s hand.
Lt. Col. Tae-seok brings Sae-boom to the Wonjung University campus, which is now a military research facility for infectious diseases. She’s tested if she has been infected; unknown to her, the whole students’ dormitory has been locked down because the students have been infected.
After the SOU member tries to attack Sae-boom again, she learns from Lt. Col. Tae-seok that infected people become thirsty but that water doesn’t satisfy them.
In exchange for her cooperation, Sae-boom asks Lt. Col. Tae-seok to help her get one of the apartment units offered to police officers. Remembering what Yi-hyun told her during their high school days, she asks him if they can get married.
As Lt. Col. Tae-seok visits the scene of a massacre committed by a homeless person who took the withdrawn anti-pneumonia pill (aka “Next”), news reports come from all over the world of people going berserk by biting other people and sucking their blood.
As Sae-bom and Yi-hyun prepare to move into the new apartment, Yi-hyun finds out from his fellow officer that Lt. Col. Tae-seok once worked for a pharmaceutical company and was charged for assaulting a company executive.
In exchange for money, Sae-bom’s partner at the SOU, Seung-young, agrees to provide a reporter with information about what happened with the SOU officer who went berserk. Unknown to Sae-bom and the SOU, he was scratched on the neck during the incident.
At the Seyang Forest Le Ciel Apartments, Sae-bom learns about the division between tenants — the higher floors are up for general sales and the lower floors are rented out. As she gives rice cakes to her neighbors, she meets a lawyer and a woman who runs several dermatological clinics.
Under orders from his captain, Yi-hyun follows Lt. Col. Tae-seok’s instructions to pretend that he’s the SOU member who went berserk and to arrest whoever supplied the “Next” drugs.
Episode 3
Ep. 2 recap:
Yi-hyun and Lt. Col. Tae-seok meet the drug dealers, but when one man hiding in the trunk of the drug dealers’ car turns out to have been infected by the “mad dog disease,” Lt. Col. Tae-seok shoots him repeatedly.
Seung-young tricks Sae-bom into taking him into the military research facility for infectious diseases. He escapes from the treatment room where he was handcuffed to a chair. He ends up inside a refrigerated truck that’s filled with people infected by the “mad dog disease.”
As the soldiers struggle to keep the infected people from escaping from the refrigerated truck, Sae-bom sees that Seung-young has also become infected.
Sae-bom rescues Seung-young from the zombies inside the container van.
Yi-hyun goes to Unit 601 to complain about the noise. But the owner (a doctor) apologizes, saying that his wife has been sick; he also brings out the assistant manager of his wife’s dermatological clinics as his witness.
After seeing the TV news reports of how the “mad person disease” is spreading, Sae-bom goes to the supermarket to stock up on food, water, and other supplies. At the elevator, she meets the representative of the tenants’ association, who complains about her kicking the stairway door open. She insists that the association can lock the door, but they cannot barricade it.
Sae-bom goes to Unit 601 to investigate the noises she and Yi-hyun have been hearing. She barges her way into the unit, despite the owner’s objection. When the owner admits that his wife is sick with symptoms of the “mad person disease,” she says that his wife may be normal at that time and could be talked to. She opens the bathroom door and calls out to the wife. But the owner pushes her into the bathroom and locks the door.
Episode 4
Ep. 3 recap:
Yi-hyun finds the “Next” drugs in Unit 601; later, after finding out from the National Forensics Service that the doctor used his golf club to strike his wife’s head, he goes to Unit 601 to arrest him.
Lt. Col. Tae-seok finds out from the drug dealer that he sold the “Next” drugs to the tenants-owners who frequented Le Ciel’s gym. He orders the military to cordon off all the buildings of Le Ciel; the tenants (whether owners or renters) are free to return to their units, but no one is allowed to leave.
Sae-bom chooses to return to her unit; she’s surprised to see Yi-hyun coming out of the elevator, escorting the handcuffed doctor.
Despite being a police officer, Yi-hyun himself can’t get out of the quarantined Le Ciel apartment complex; he brings back the doctor whom he arrested to the doctor’s unit. Meanwhile, Sae-bom assures the mother of the young girl Seo-hyeon that she will take care of her; finding out that Seo-hyeon has a heart condition, she calls up Lt. Col. Tae-seok to arrange for Seo-hyeon’s exit out of the Le Ciel apartment complex.
During the tenants’ meeting, only a few people arrive; the tenants from the other buildings hold their own meetings because they’re afraid to come to the building where the first case of infection took place.
Yi-hyun and Sae-bom question the gym instructor about his connection to the drug dealer; later, they quarantine him as a precaution.
The drug dealer confesses to Lt. Col. Tae-seok the name of the person who supplied the “Next” drugs to him. Lt. Col. Tae-seok then goes to see the CEO of the pharmaceutical company that manufactured the drug; the CEO is the one he had assaulted.
Episode 5
Ep. 4 recap:
The assistant manager of the dermatological clinics changes her story after she was bribed by the doctor whom Yi-hyun arrested.
Lt. Col Tae-seok organized the blockade of the Le Ciel apartment complex so that children would still be in school when the blockade started. He tells Sae-boom that the parents of the young girl Seo-hyeon have probably been infected.
The CEO of the pharmaceutical company that manufactured the "Next" drug is infected with the “mad person disease.” He gave the drugs to the drug dealer hoping that, as more people get infected, the research into a cure would be accelerated. He had also infected Lt. Col. Tae-seok’s wife.
Sae-bom and Yi-hyun barricade their building when the infection begins to rage through the Le Ciel apartment complex.
With the Internet down, no cellphone service, and no TV, Oh Joo-hyeong, the doctor who Yi-hyun arrested, bribes several people to go out of the building and find out what’s happening.
At an emergency meeting, Lt. Col. Tae-seok and his aide-de-camp brief government officials and news reporters on the “mad person disease” aka “Lytta virus.” The aide-de-camp tells them that because of the “Blood-Brain Barrie, there is no known cure for the disease as yet.
Concerned about the residents in the other buildings of the Le Ciel apartment complex, Yi-hyun decides to go with the people who accepted the bribe. But Sae-bom stops him, saying that he should not break the quarantine; she tells him to choose between her and the residents.
Episode 6
Ep. 5 recap:
The condition of the old woman who was scratched by Oh Joo-hyeong’s wife becomes worse.
At the barrier, Sae-bom recognizes the security officer as one of the infected people. She, Yi-hyun, and the others then go to the supermarket to stock up on food, water, and other supplies. But there, they’re chased by three infected people.
Oh Joo-hyeong knew that Yi-hyun would go with the people he bribed to go outside the building. As Yi-hyun, Sae-bom, and the others who went outside plead with or threaten the tenants’ representative to open the door into their building, Oh Joo-hyeong plays on his cellphone the recorded sounds of his wife as she became infected with the disease; he hopes to attract the infected persons into attacking Yi-hyun and the others with him.
Protesters gather outside the quarantined Le Ciel apartment complex to demand that the mayor apologize and that the quarantine be lifted. Lt. Col.Tae-seok orders his aide-de-camp to release an infected person they have caught into the ranks of the protesters.
Flashback ... Lt. Col. Tae-seok’s wife becomes infected with the “mad person disease.”
Oh Joo-hyeong finds out from his mistress that his wife bought some kind of drugs from the gym. He goes to the gym and finds the instructor who’s handcuffed to a beam. When the instructor denies selling drugs to his wife, he starts pelting him with balls. Enraged, the instructor turns into a zombie.
The lawyer gets a call from a man from another building in the Le Ciel apartment complex, who’s asking for legal help. He goes down to the basement and opens the door for his potential client.
The vlogger bribes the girl from the supermarket to go out of the building and retrieve his lost phone.
Lt. Col. Tae-seok finds out from the infected CEO that the government plans to cut off power in the quarantined areas.
Episode 7
Ep. 6 recap:
Oh Joo-hyeong finds the stash of “Next” pills hidden by the gym instructor.
The lawyer’s call for a vote to expel the gym instructor fails with the Unit 1501 owner voting with Sae-bom, Yi-hyun, and their group.
Because of the reckless vlogger, two zombies enter the building and start attacking people.
Yi-hyun finds out from the gym instructor that the Unit 1501 owner bought some “Next” drugs. (The owner is the guy who wanted an SOU T-shirt from Sae-bom). He goes to the unit, looking for Sae-bom, but the owner refuses to let him enter.
Yi-hyun threatens the Unit 1501 owner into opening the door; meanwhile, in Unit 501, the infected man tries to get Seo-hyeon to open the door and let him in.
Eager to escape, Ms. Ma, the aspiring novelist, gives in to the gym instructor’s pleas and tosses to him the key to the handcuffs.
Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok goes to the Le Ciel apartment complex; after saying that he’s going to take Seo-hyeon out of the complex, he tells Sae-bom that her wound hasn’t healed because the virus is still in her body. He reassures Sae-bom that the virus hasn’t reached her brain yet.
During a meeting with the residents, Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok tells them that power will soon be cut off; meanwhile, with the worsening situation, martial law is declared in Seyang city.
At the rooftop, Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok allows the infected security officer to escape.
Episode 8
Ep. 7 recap:
Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok and his staff find a monoclonal antibody in Sae-bom’s blood. He releases the infected security officer to test if Sae-bom will get infected if she gets bitten. At the last moment, however, he shoots the security officer on the shoulder and then injects Sae-bom with a powerful sedative.
Yi-hyun stops Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok from taking Sae-bom out of the apartment complex.
Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok tells his aide-de-camp that because Sae-bom overcame the strong sedative, the virus might have already reached her brain.
Oh Joo-hyeong (the doctor in Unit 601 who killed his wife) confirms with Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok that people become infected with the “mad person disease” by taking the “Next” drug. Later on, he melts the “Next” drugs that he got from the gym instructor and pours them into water bottles.
Somebody opens the door of the building and allows the infected brother of the novelist to come inside.
Ms. Na, the aspiring novelist, hides her infected brother in an empty unit, but Sae-bom and Yi-hyun find out about it. When they confront the brother, he says that Oh Joo-hyeong previously tried to get him into the apartment.
At their headquarters, Lt. Col.Han Tae-seok and his aide-de-camp check up on Seung-young, Sae-bom’s partner at the SOU. He also tells his aide-de-camp to keep secret the results of Sae-bom’s blood test.
Detective Jung-guk tells Yi-hyun that he’s worried about his wife and her medical condition; he also becomes religious after spending time with the husband of the residents’ representative, who’s a minister.
The vlogger reveals to the supermarket cashier that his mother has been infected with the “mad person disease.”
D-Day ... At the gym, Oh Joo-hyeong distributes the bottled water that he had spiked with the “Next” pills to all of the residents, the maintenance staff, Sae-bom, and Yi-hyun.
While Sae-bom and Yi-hyun are at the barricade and the residents and staff are in the gym, the siren starts blaring.
Episode 9
Ep. 8 recap:
The lockdown continues when martial law in Seyang City is extended.
Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok has given Yi-hyun some flash bangs, handcuffs, and snacks but not a gun.
The vlogger tells everyone that his mother has been infected.
Unknown to Oh Joo-hyeong, Yi-hyun had replaced the “Next”pills with his digestive pills.
Manipulated by the minister and the residents’ representative, Detective Jung-guk threatens Sae-bom and Yi-hyun with his gun and says that Sae-bom should be locked up.
Oh Joo-hyeong urges the residents’ representative, the tenants, and the maintenance staff to confiscate Sae-bom and Yi-hyun’s water supply and to kick them out of the building. Sae-bom crashes their meeting with a knife in her hand, but Oh Joo-hyeong grabs Jung-guk’s gun.
The pastor-husband of the residents’ representative visits the infected brother of Ms. Na; he asks the infected brother to testify that Sae-bom and Yi-hyun have been infected. After he returns to his unit, he sees the mini-trail of blood on the floor.
Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok’s aide-de-camp tells him that mutations in the virus have been detected among the critically ill patients, including the infected CEO. With the need for more research on the mutations, Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok orders his aide-de-camp to open the barricade at Le Ciel so that any infected person with the mutated virus can escape.
While checking up on the infected brother of the novelist, Yi-hyun and Jung-guk become suspicious about why the infected persons didn’t attack the pastor.
Episode 10
Ep. 9 recap:
The supermarket cashier and the pastor have both become infected with the “mad person disease.” Sae-bom locks up the cashier on the rooftop, while the minister dies after Oh Joo-hyeong sets him free and he plunges from the 6th floor to the ground below.
Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok’s aide-de-camp tells him that he has to choose between his wife and his unborn child. She also says that the tests reveal that Sae-bom has antibodies.
During the struggle with the pastor, Yi-hyun is scratched below the neck.
Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok lies to Yi-hyun about Sae-boom not having the antibodies.
Sae-bom fails to find Kim Se-hoon, the eccentric guy who owns Unit 1501. During a confrontation among everybody outside the unit, Andrew says that he saw Kim Se-hoon leave the building early in the morning. Later on, the resident’s representative and the male maintenance staff connive with Oh Joo-hyeong on how to get the food and water from Unit 1501.
While searching for Kim Se-hoon, Sae-bom and Yi-hyun find the lawyer and Oh Joo-hyeong’s mistress in an empty unit on the 11th floor. In one room, they also find a decomposing body that’s covered with white lime.
Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok’s wife and her “mad person disease” symptoms become worse. Despite his aide-de-camp’s warning, Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok plans to use Sae-bom’s blood sample with the antibodies on his wife. But the men sent by the Prime Minister take the sample with them.
Sae-bom begins to suspect that Yi-hyun has been infected.
Episode 11
Ep. 10 recap:
Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok’s wife becomes better after she’s injected with Sae-bom’s antibodies.
Yi-hyun arranges with Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok to evacuate Sae-bom and Seo-hyeon from Le Ciel; Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok deduces that Yi-hyun has been infected.
Andrew stole the identity of the cleaner and disguised himself by always wearing goggles and a mask. He kills the cleaning lady and Kim Se-hoon. He also shoots Jung-guk as he barges into Sae-bom and Yi-hyun’s unit.
Flashback ... Yi-hyun remembers seeing Andrew’s mug shot in a poster of suspects wanted in criminal offenses. After Oh Joo-hyeong helps him in disposing of the cleaning lady’s body, Andrew kills the owner of Unit 1501.
During a meeting at the gym, the residents’ representative admits that she knew from Oh Joo-hyeong about the murders that Andrew committed in their building. Later, Andrew orders Sae-bom and Yi-hyun to turn on the building’s emergency power.
Andrew waits to ambush and kill Sae-bom and Yi-hyun; while they’re in the elevator, Yi-hyun tells Sae-bom that she has the antibodies that can be the cure for the “mad person disease.” As they open the elevator, several infected people charge at them.
After finding out that the emergency power in the building has been turned on, Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok orders his men to move the barriers closer to the building and to shoot Yi-hyun if he threatens Sae-bom.
Episode 12 (Finale), with spoilers
Ep. 11 recap:
Oh Joo-hyeong’s mistress bashes his head with a golf club and tries to decipher the password to his cryptocurrency account based on the tattoo on his back. But when Oh Joo-hyeong regains consciousness, he pops a “Next” pill into his mouth.
Yi-hyun finally succumbs to the “mad person disease” and bites Andrew. Meanwhile, Sae-bom, Seo-hyeon, Jung-guk, the lawyer’s wife, and the supermarket cashier escape from the building.
Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok knocks Sae-bom out by injecting her with a sedative. Before totally losing consciousness, Sae-bom sees that people are out on the streets; martial law has been lifted.
At the research facility, Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok tells Sae-bom that she will be taken by the government to a secure facility the next day. But Sae-bom says, “The world can wait. I have to save Yi-hyun.”
After helping Sae-bom escape from the research facility, Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok injects Sae-bom’s plasma into his wife.
Oh Joo-hyeong becomes infected with the “mad person disease” and runs berserk, biting the lawyer and chasing after his mistress.
The wife of the cleaner who was stabbed by Andrew takes a “Next” pill from Oh Joo-hyeong and makes her husband take it. In the parking garage, Yi-hyun finds the vlogger, who has been bitten by the infected persons, and takes him back to his parents.
Lt. Col. Han Tae-seok and his soldiers enter Le Ciel apartment complex. They evacuate Ms. Na’s brother, who has the antibodies. Meanwhile, in the hallway, Sae-bom confronts Andrew, who’s holding Yi-hyun as a hostage.
From Wikipedia: “Inspector Koo” (aka “Sightseeing” and “A Wonderful Sight”) is a South Korean television series starring Lee Young-ae in the title role, alongside Kim Hye-jun, Kim Hae-sook, Kwak Sun-young, Baek Sung-chul and Jo Hyun-chul. Described as the Asian version of “Killing Eve,” the series is about the battle of a former police officer against a female college student who is a serial killer. It premiered on October 30, 2021, on JTBC. It is also available for streaming on Netflix. Genre: action, thriller, black comedy.
How I wrote these episode summaries with no spoilers
1. I assumed that you will be reading these summaries and watching the videos chronologically.
2. I narrated some of the main actions in each episode without revealing the plot’s twists and turns.
3. At the beginning of each summary starting with Episode 2, I placed in a table a recap of the major twists and turns of the previous episode. But because you have already watched the video of the previous episode, they aren’t spoilers anymore.
4. I followed this structure all throughout, except for Ep. 12 (Finale) where I included spoilers. Reason — most people want to know if the drama has a good/happy ending or a sad ending before they invest the time in watching it.
Episode 1
Na Je-hui is the leader of an NT Life Insurance investigative team. She’s eager to solve a big-time case that will help her beat another investigative team, and so she manipulates her subordinate Oh Gyeong-su into investigating a potential insurance fraud case that could cost the company more than one billion won in payout. She tells Gyeong-su that they need a “mercenary” to help them investigate the case.
The mercenary turns out to be Koo Kyung-yi, an alcohol-fueled video-game addict, who lives alone in a filthy apartment. Despite having to leave her online video game behind, Kyung-yi agrees to investigate the case.
Kyung-yi and her partner nicknamed “Santa” begin investigating the case of Kim Min-gyu. A 35-year-old office worker at a chemical plant, Kim Min-gyu has been presumed dead after disappearing during a hike, leaving behind him a young widow and a diabetic daughter.
Kyung-yi finds out that several people in the chemical company where Kim Min-gyu worked have died in the last two years. She asks Je-hui and Gyeong-su to investigate if these deaths are related, but Gyeong-su is skeptical, telling Jee-hee that he has heard a lot of rumors about Kyung-yi. Meanwhile, Kyung-yi befriends Yoon Jae-young, Kim Min-gyu’s widow.
A high school girl named “Kyung” and her friends from a high school drama club find out that all but one of their beloved cats are dead. As Kyung stands on the school rooftop surveying the potential suspects in the deaths of the cats, her distraught classmate says that she will kill whoever poisoned the cats.
Episode 2
Ep. 1 recap:
Kyung-yi is a former police officer, who was married to the high school drama teacher. According to the rumor that Gyeong-su heard, Kyung-yi killed her husband.
Je-hui bribes Kyung-yi with a brand new, high speed computer system in exchange for investigating Kim Min-gyu’s case.
Three months after he was declared dead by the police, Kim Min-gyu used his cellphone to meet a prostitute. Kyung-yi learns from the prostitute that during the party on a yatch that workers from the chemical plant attended, someone cursed Kim Min-gyu and the other workers.
After sneaking into Yoon Jae-young’s house and finding a baby monitor, Kyung-yi chases Kim Min-gyu at night on a deserted place. Following some luminous marks placed on trees, Kim Min-gyu runs into a sewer, but it collapses. As Kyung-yi tries to rescue him, a young woman watches her from a distance.
The high school girl named “Kyung” poisons the school janitor whom she suspects of having killed the cats.
Song Yi-kyung (K) recites lines from a Hansel and Gretel play while watching Kim Min-gyu enter the sewer as he’s being chased by Kyung-yi. Later, she burns down the container van which Kim Min-gyu used as a hideaway.
In the morning, as police investigators scour Kim Min-gyu’s hideaway looking for evidence, Kyung-yi calls up Je-hui and asks her to come, saying that the case is more complicated than they thought. Meanwhile, after watching the news reports about Kim Min-gyu’s death, Director Yong Sook of the Pureun Children’s Foundation asks her aide about Kyung-yi.
Yi-kyung (K) goes back to her elegant apartment where she finds her aunt Jung Jeong-yeon. While soaking in the tub, she suddenly remembers that the woman whom she saw chasing Kim Min-gyu is none other than her drama teacher’s wife, the police officer who investigated the janitor’s poisoning.
At the police station, Kyung-yi questions the detective about the deaths of the company workers who attended the party on the yacht. The detective insists that their deaths are coincidental, but Kyung-yi presses him about a young man named Lee Jun-hyeon, who drowned in the breakwater on the night of the party.
Kyung-yi confronts Yoon Jae-young and pressures her to confess that she wanted her husband Kim Min-gyu dead. When Yoon Jae-young says that Kim Min-gyu betrayed her, Kyung-yi remembers what happened between her and her husband.
On the way back to Seoul, Kyung-yi recreates in her mind how the mysterious person who killed Kim Min-gyu carried out the deaths of his fellow workers.
Je-hui visits Kyung-yi and says that her investigative team is being disbanded; she becomes skeptical when Kyung-yi tells her that someone meticulously planned Kim Min-gyu’s death. Later, while playing her online game, Kyung-yi stumbles upon a person ranting about wanting to commit suicide. She contacts Santa and tells him to distract that person until she can get to that person’s house.
Two men board the taxi that Kyung-yi is riding on and kidnap her.
Episode 3
Ep. 2 recap:
Yoon Jae-young confesses to Kyung-yi that her husband Kim Min-gyu planned how to fake his death so that they could collect the insurance for the sake of their diabetic daughter. She says that she confronted her husband after getting a video message about him meeting a prostitute (and thus risking that his fake death might be exposed). In anger, she told the mysterious person who sent the video message that she wanted her husband killed.
Kyung-yi does not report Yoon Jae-young’s confession, and thus NT Life Insurance pays out a huge sum to Yoon Jae-young.
Now an avid amateur drama artist, Yi-kyung (K) meets her accomplice and complains that there’s no one left to kill. Later on, she visits her former classmate and finds out that their drama teacher committed suicide after being involved in a scandal with one of their classmates.
The men who kidnapped Kyung-yi work for Director Yong. At a public bath, Director Yong tells Kyung-yi that she wants her to investigate a serial killer named “K,” who’s responsible for the deaths of the company workers. Kyung-yi accepts but insists that she will work only with her own investigative team.
Kyung-yi prevents Jee-hee’s investigative team from being disbanded by helping her team solve all their pending cases.
After her counseling session with a psychiatrist, Yi-kyung (K) goes with her aunt Jung Jeong-Yeon, an insurance planner, to the hospital where Kyung-yi is waiting to investigate a possible insurance fraud case. After they leave, the psychiatrist looks at a poster for a missing 5-year old girl named “Yi-kyung.”
Kyung-yi asks Yi-kyung (K) why she’s pretending that they don’t know each other.
Flashback ... Kyung-yi questions Yi-kyung (K) about the school janitor’s poisoning.
Kyung-yi suffers from a severe anxiety attack as Yi-kyung (K) mentions what happened to her husband.
After meeting Director Yong who advises her to pursue power instead of money, Je-hui bows in apology to her superior at NT Life Insurance for the huge payout on Kim Min-gyu’s insurance policy. The superior sends her and Gyeong-su to the dreaded basement. There, she explains to Gyeong-su that they will be investigating for Director Yong a serial killer known as “K.”
While they’re eating before the start of a theater presentation, Yi-kyung (K)’s aunt Jung Jeong-Yeon expresses her disgust over a news story about a medical student who was released from detention even though one of the victims of his leaked videos took her own life. Yi-kyung (K) decides that the medical student will be her next target.
Inspired by the “Medusa” play, Yi-kyung (K) plans to kill the medical student at a public event in a university.
Episode 4
Ep. 3 recap:
Yi-kyung (K) and her accomplice activate several young men in carrying out the poisoning and murder of the medical student at a university event. All the young men have small black dolls similar to the one Santa found in Yoon Jae-young’s house.
The medical student dies from poisoning, but a distraught young woman is arrested for killing the student by stabbing him repeatedly.
Yi-kyung (K) mocks Kyung-yi and the police by posting videos on public announcement screens that the young woman didn’t kill the student. But conflict arises between her and her accomplice. Later on, wirh the help of their accomplices, they lay a trap for Kyung-yi and Santa.
Kyung-yi pretends to be a lawyer and talks with the young woman in jail; she’s stunned as she remembers that she told Yi-kyung years ago how to set up a murder by using people who will never betray her.
Yi-kyung (K) steals her aunt’s NT Life Insurance ID; later on, a young woman who’s disguised as a building maintenance staff follows Santa in the empty parking lot.
The young woman who’s disguised as a building maintenance staff plants an eavesdropping bug in Kyung-yi’s team office. But as she leaves, Santa becomes suspicious of her and chases her out on the streets.
Based on the animation video that Yi-kyung (K) displayed on public announcement screens, Kyung-yi and her team find out that the culprit could be in the early 20s and could have lived in Seattle, USA. Meanwhile, Yi-kyung (K)’s aunt Jung Jeong-Yeon finds out that her ID was used to gain access into NT Life Insurance Tower.
Kyung-yi goes to the auditorium and confronts Yi-kyung (K); meanwhile, Santa and Gyeong-su visit a doll doctor to find out more about the black doll.
Kyung-yi gets a call from Yoon Jae-young who tells her that the mysterious person or persons who planned her husband’s death contacted her. Je-hui wants to call up Director Yong and ask for back-up, but Kyung-yi confiscates Kyung-soo’s and Santa’s cellphones. Je-hui, however, refuses to give up her cellphone; she accuses Kyung-yi of not trusting anyone and is determined to catch “K” even if it means that somebody dies.
Episode 5
Ep. 4 recap:
At their basement office, Kyung-yi and Je-hui exchange harsh words about the death of Kyung-yi’s husband. Kyung-yi accuses Je-hui of having had an affair with her husband.
Director Yong transfers Je-hui’s daughter to a private room in the hospital and gives her father a large sum of money; she tells Je-hui that she wants reports on what’s happening to the investigation.
Yi-kyung (K) uses Yoon Jae-young to distract Kyung-yi; after kidnapping Je-hui and Gyeong-su from their car, she locks them up in a container.
Je-hui uses a cellphone to contact Kyung-yi and tells her that they’re trapped inside a container van, with the high tide coming in two hours.
Yi-kyung (K)’s accomplice betrays her, and she’s arrested by the police for possession of an illegal drug.
Kyung-yi finally realizes that the serial kiler “K” is none other than Yi-kyung, her husband’s former drama student in high school. She’s also stunned that Yi-kyung actually used her casual words on setting up a murder and making it look like an accident through people who will never betray her.
Jung Jeong-yeon goes to the police station to see her niece Yi-kyung (K); along the way, she remembers how Yi-kyung (K)s parents died and how she went missing in the woods for a week. She also remembers Yi-kyung (K)’s counseling sessions with a psychiatrist.
As Yi-kyung (K)’s accomplice, Gun-uk, watches her through the security cameras, he remembers how she offered to kill his father and how their partnership in murders started.
Failing to catch up with Yi-kyung (K) in the police station, Kyung-yi decides to sneak into her apartment. But with Yi-kyung (K) not answering her calls, Jung Jeong-yeon also goes to the apartment.
Episode 6
Ep. 5 recap:
When Yi-kyung (K) was a 5-year old child living in the US, her father shot her mother to death and then took his own life.
Yi-kyung (K) killed Gun-uk’s father, the school janitor who poisoned the cats. Afterwards, Gun-uk offered to help her in setting up and cleaning up her planned murders.
Caught inside Yi-kyung(“K”)’s apartment by jung Jeong-yeon, Kyung-yi makes up the story that Santa is Yi-kyung (K)’s boyfriend.
Jung Jeong-yeon’s mother in the US becomes sick, and she plans to take Yi-kyung (K) with her to the US. But Je-hui informs Director Jong about how “K” plans to escape; with dozens of Director Yong’s people disguised as airport and airline personnel, they wait for “K” to appear.
When “K” fails to appear, Director Yong threatens Je-hui.
Yi-kyung (K) correctly guesses that there’s a trap set for her in the airport. She revels in the thought of 50-plus people hunting her down, but to her surprise, Kyung-yi finds her hideaway.
Despite being handcuffed, Yi-kyung (K) escapes from Kyung-yi. As Kyung-yi, Santa, Je-hui, and Gyeong-su search the hideaway for clues, they find numerous playscripts, the latest of which is “Joan of Arc.”
Two detectives arrive at the hideaway and question Kyung-yi about their suspicion that she killed her husband.
Kyung-yi concludes that Yi-kyung (K) has been murdering people based on the playscripts and that she won’t completely disappear until after she has murdered someone based on the “Joan of Arc” playscript. At their basement office, Gyeong-su suggests that they focus not on “K” but on her accomplices. Santa finds in a chat room a person who might be an accomplice — a bullied software developer at an IT company.
Kyung-yi, Santa, and Gyeong-su disguise themselves and enter the IT company. Later on, Kyung-yi and Je-hui visit Ko Dam, the IT company’s boss in his law office. Besides running for public office, Ko Dam is also the lawyer who represents the young woman accused of killing the medical student who uploaded sex videos of his victims.
Episode 7
Ep. 6 recap:
The police detectives get a handwritten letter where Kyung-yi supposedly confesses to killing her husband.
The accomplice at the IT company was bullied not only by his fellow employees but also by his boss Ko Dam. In the law office, Kyung-yi finds out about Ko Dam’s hypocrisy and temper. Through a vlogger, she and her team also find out that Ko Dam has been backstabbing his client — the young woman accused of killing the medical student — by repeatedly uploading her sex video through his IT company.
In exchange for Director Yong’s assurance of being appointed to the Blue House once her son is elected president, Je-hui reveals to her that Ko Dam is K’s next target. Director Yong is secretly delighted because Ko Dam is her son’s political rival.
Kyung-yi and her teammates argue over whether to interfere in Yi-kyung (K)’s plan to kill Ko Dam since he is an evil person.
Kyung-yi meets the young woman accused of killing the medical student and gives her the name of a new lawyer. Later, at their basement office, she finds out about the personal connection between Yi-kyung (K) and Santa.
With a black doll lying on his table, Santa works on an album that contains pictures of Kyung-yi, Je-hui, and Gyeong-su.
At the hospital, Kyung-yi and Je-hui tell Director Yong that “K” is targeting Ko Dam. Despite Director Yong’s question on why they should stop “K,” Kyung-yi explains how she plans to protect Ko Dam. Later, Director Yong’s right hand man buys some explosives.
Kyung-yi and her team find out that Yi-kyung (K) could carry out her attack on Ko Dam during an event where he will announce his plan to run for mayor of Seoul. With the blueprints and a mock up of the venue, she and her team map out their strategy for the event.
Disguised as a snacks vendor, Yi-kyung (K) watches as a new security team takes over in the KD Peace Lab headquarters. One of her accomplices passes by, and she gives him a bag that he takes into the headquarters. Meanwhile, concerned about what’s happening to her niece Yi-kyung (K), Jung Jeong-yeon flies back to Korea.
Yi-kyung (K) and Gun-uk manage to get the blueprints for the venue. After tapping into the venue’s security system, they watch Kyung-yi and Gyeong-su, who are surveying the venue for the possible ways Yi-kyung (K) could kill Ko Dam.
Episode 8
Ep. 7 recap:
With Director Yong’s help, Kyung-yi gets Jung Jeong-yeon back to Korea. They use her as a bait to stop Yi-kyung (K) from killing Ko Dam, but during the ensuing chaos, she gets killed by a booby trap set by Yi-kyung (K) for Ko Dam.
Ko Dam tells Director Yong that only he can access the derogatory information that he has against her sons. With Je-hui watching, Director Yong’s men set up a car accident for Ko Dam; his car blows up in a fiery explosion.
When Kyung-yi becomes suspicious about finding nothing in his background, Santa takes her to his apartment; there, Kyung-yi finds the black doll and his photo album.
Yi-kyung (K) refuses to visit her aunt Jung Jeong-yeon’s grave; while at a small eatery, she finds out from a TV news broadcast that Je-hui has become a campaign adviser of Heo Seong-tae (Director Yong’s son).
With their team disbanded, Gyeong-su is assigned to another investigative team in NT Life Insurance. While cleaning up his dingy work space, he suddenly remembers that the accomplice of Yi-kyung (K) during the attack on Ko Dam had a distinctive tattoo on his right shoulder.
Gyeong-su visits Kyung-yi in her apartment, bringing with him a bottle of whiskey and a drawing of the tattoo. While they’re talking, they become suspicious about the circumstances of Ko Dam’s and Jung Jeong-yeon’s deaths; with the CCTV footage of the event erased, Kyung-yi becomes suspicious about where Je-hui was during the chaos.
After Yi-kyung (K) threatens his lover, Gun-uk helps her dump into the river her latest victim. Later on, she uses Santa to video chat with Kyung-yi and ask her for a meeting in a hotel.
Episode 9
Ep. 8 recap:
Yi-kyung (K) starts killing people randomly.
Je-hui becomes more deeply involved in the political campaign of Director Yong’s son as she agrees to be the spokesperson for single mothers.
At the hotel, Yi-kyung (K) realizes that someone powerful is behind Kyung-yi’s efforts to catch her; she also stabs Santa and Gyeong-su.
Je-hui justifies herself to Kyung-yi and the others by saying that she didn’t know Director Yong planned to murder Ko Dam. Later on, she studies her cellphone footage of Ko Dam speaking to Director Yong before he’s murdered.
Yi-kyung (K) attacks Je-hui in her apartment.
At the hiking spot, Kyung-yi warns Director Yong that “K” will target her next. But she’s shocked when sees Yi-kyung (K) there.
Director Yong welcomes Yi-kyung (K) as her partner. Kyung-yi, meanwhile, runs off to look for Je-hui, but Director Yong’s men catch up with her and lock her up in the car trunk. When she wakes up, she finds herself in the middle of a gigantic trash bin with no way out.
Director Yong orders Yi-kyung (K) to kill the man who’s blackmailing her youngest son.
Episode 10
Ep. 9 recap:
Director Yong imprisons Yi-kyung (K) in a luxurious villa that’s surrounded by electrified fences.
Kyung-yi painstakingly climbs out of the gigantic trash bin.
Flashback ... Yi-kyung (K) strangles Je-hui; threatening Na Na and her grandfather, she orders Je-hui to find out why Director Yong wants to capture her.
Gyeong-su finds out through Gun-uk’s tattoo that he and Lee Jun-hyeon served time together in a juvenile offenders’ facility.
After being kidnapped by Kyung-yi and Santa, Gun-ok reveals how he and Yi-kyung (K) came to find out about Kim Min-gyu and the other employees on the yatch.
After practicing how to make a bomb for her next kill, Yi-kyung (K) sends a big package to Gun-uk’s apartment.
Flashback ... On Director Yong’s order, Yi-kyung (K) attacks the tabloid journalist who has been writing hit pieces against her son Heo Seong-tae, the political candidate. She tortures the journalist and places a bomb around his neck.
Present times ... Kyung-yi finds out about the surveillance video that Ko Dam had which Director Yong has been looking for because it could ruin her son’s political ambitions. After Gun-uk cleans up the noise from the surveillance video, Kyung-yi orders him to tell Yi-kyung (K) that they missed a target.
After studying the video of the bomb explosion that destroyed the office of the tabloid journalist, Director Yong’s right hand man tells her that Yi-kyung (K) duped them by sending a package to someone. Director Yong orders him to kill everybody.
As Kyung-yi tries to find out the identity of the person who Yi-kyung (K) missed as a target, Je-hui tells her about the cellphone video that she took of Ko Dam before he was murdered. Meanwhile, after having shot Gun-uk but failing to find out what or where the package is, Director Yong’s right hand man goes to the villa where Yi-kyung (K) is being held. When she denies knowing anything about the package, he orders the villa’s caretaker to shoot her.
After learning that Kyung-yi is still alive, Director Yong’s right hand man goes after Je-hui next.
Episode 11
Ep. 10 recap:
At the villa, Yi-kyung (K) escapes from being tortured by bashing the caretaker’s head with a brick.
Kyung-yi, Santa, and Gyeong-su find Ko Dam’s ring in his mausoleum; inside the ring is a USB card with the video of what happened in the yatch on the night Lee Jun-hyeon died. The video shows that Director Yong’s youngest son is responsible for Lee Jun-hyeon’s death by drowning.
Director Yong’s right hand man is arrested at Ko Dam’s mausoleum for breaking the bust and stealing the ring.
Gun-uk’s lover reports him to the police, but he escapes.
With Je-hui, Santa, and Gyeong-su nearby, Yi-kyung (K) meets Kyung-yi inside a train. After Kyung-yi gives her the black doll which contains the USB card, she warns them that if she doesn’t get off the train safely, she will kill Je-hui’s father and Na Na. Before getting off, she asks Santa, “Do you think that I don’t recognize you?”
While crossing a long suspension bridge as a personal challenge, Heo Seong-tae meets Yi-kyung (K).
Yi-kyung (K) forces Heo Seong-tae to tell her where his younger brother is hiding; she also tells him that he and his political plans will be better off if his younger brother is dead. Later, at the temple, she sees Director Yong in panic as her youngest son disappears.
Director Yong has to do damage control when the video of what her younger son did on the yatch that led to Lee Jun-hyeon’s death is broadcast in all the TV news channels. On the other hand, Yi-kyung (K) contacts Mi-rae, the young woman who stabbed the medical student.
Director Yong hides her youngest son inside a bunker. When Yi-kyung (K) finds out from Gun-uk that there are deleted files from Ko Dam’s USB that contain information about 20 potential targets, she contacts Gyeong-su. Afterwards, she sends the targets black dolls with a demand for 100 million won each.
During a press conference at the children’s foundation with dozens of reporters and photographers, someone attacks Director Yong by throwing acid on her face.
Director Yong’s youngest son, Heo Hyeon-Tae, goes to a press conference to claim that the video is a deep fake. Meanwhile, Yi-kyung (K) kidnaps Director Yong.
Episode 12 (Finale), with spoilers
Ep. 11 recap:
On her knees, Director Yong begs Kyung-yi to save her youngest son from Yi-kyung (K).
Yi-kyung (K) contacts Heo Hyeon-tae, Director Yong’s youngest son; after playing for him her recording of Heo Seong-tae asking her to kill him, she demands a payment of one billion won. Later on, she gathers all the targets and their 100 million won payments each in an abandoned store. Tied to a giant teddy bear inside the store is Heo Seong-tae; inside the teddy bear is a bomb.
The press conference turns into chaos when Heo Hyeon-Tae’s fans and accusers alike chase after him. Yi-kyung (K) also has planted a bomb that could kill him.
At the auditorium, Yi-kyung (K) first asks Director Yong to choose — her youngest son or her eldest son and the 20 targets. Lastly, she asks Director Yong to choose between her eldest son and herself; she had rigged Director Yong’s wheelchair with a bomb.
Yi-kyung (K) removes the bandages from Director Yong’s face. To her shock, it’s not Director Yong; it’s Kyung-yi.
During the shootout with Director Yong and her men, Yi-kyung (K) escapes, taking Santa as a hostage. She takes Santa to a train box car, but Kyung-yi has tracked them there. While pointing her gun at Santa, she tells Kyung-yi that her husband died because of Santa.
Yi-kyung (K) is arrested and charged for the multiple murders that she committed. Gun-uk, meanwhile, remains in a coma at a hospital.
Je-hui presents to the Prosecution Service her cellphone video of Ko Dam’s murder, admitting her part in it. Later on, Director Yong and her youngest son are also arrested; her eldest son, Heo Seong-tae, withdraws his candidacy.
Kyung-yi and Gyeong-su form a private detective agency. Their very first client is a famous Korean celebrity.
Historical /cultural backgrounders and other information
1. “Inspector Koo” is the Korean remake of “Kiling Eve.” From Wikipedia:
“Killing Eve” is a British spy thriller television series, produced in the United Kingdom by Sid Gentle Films for BBC America and BBC iPlayer. The series follows Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh), a British intelligence investigator tasked with capturing psychopathic assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer). As the chase progresses, the two develop a mutual obsession. Based on the Villanelle novel series by Luke Jennings, each of the show’s series is led by a different female head writer. The first series had Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the head writer, the second series Emerald Fennell, the third series Suzanne Heathcote and the fourth and final series Laura Neal.
2. In Ep. 3, Kyung-yi bluffs the police officers by claiming that she’s the lawyer of the young woman who’s accused of killing the medical student. She presents her business card that identifies her as a lawyer.
Notice that in the first picture on the left, she has a pin on her left lapel; that’s a lawyer’s pin worn by Korean lawyers. The 2nd picture is from Ep. 4 of “Start-Up” and shows a bigger image of the pin in the inset.
From the 1:01:27 mark up to the time Kyung-yi meets the young woman, if you listen closely to the Korean dialogue, you can hear the word “byeonhosa” 3 or 4 times. The word “byeonhosa” refers to one of several legal professionals in Korea as you can read in “Types of legal professionals in Korea” (The Korea Herald).
3. Episode 9: While walking around the luxurious villa that’s actually her prison, Yi-kyung (K) holds a playscript titled “Baridegi” and recites lines from it (around the 44:42 mark).
“A long, long time ago, there lived a king with six daughters. The king and his queen desperately wanted a son, as they needed a prince to succeed to the throne. They devotedly prayed for a son and, at last, the queen had a seventh child. To their disappointment, however, the newborn baby was a princess again. The king was depressed and even furious at the arrival of another daughter. He went as far as deserting the poor baby girl by putting her in a box made of jade and floating it on a stream. On the box was carved the baby’s name “Baridegi,” meaning an abandoned child.”
(b) “Retellings of Baridegi” from Studying Religion in Culture, Ongoing Discussions at the University of Alabama:
The Korean myth of Bari-degi or “The Abandoned Princess” Bari tells the story of the first mudang, or shaman. The myth details how the young princess, abandoned at birth by her father, came to know of his sickness and used cunning and bravery to cross between the world of living and dead in order to save him. This act of traversing between worlds is what makes her the first shaman, establishing the uniquely female dominated tradition within Korea. It also touches on a common theme in Korean culture — the concept of filial piety, drawn heavily from Confucian tradition. Shamans give a voice to the marginalized, in some cases those experiencing stress or mental anguish, those who have been victimized in others, and in the case of Korea often women who were traditionally silenced under the rigid Confucian structure.
4. Episode 10: The luxurious villa serves as a prison for Yi-kyung (K) with its electrified fences. She’s guarded only by old guy. But at the 26:27 mark, the certificate and pictures on the wall show that the old guy worked as a guard and torturer in the Samchung re-education camp, which was a notorious place where more than 60,000 South Koreans were detained and tortured during the military regime of Chun Doo-hwan. From Wikipedia:
“The Samchung re-education camp was a South Korean military detention centre set up in 1980, during the military rule of Chun Doo-hwan. More than 60,000 people, many of them being innocent civilians, were arrested without warrants and faced violent treatment in the camps.”
“In August 1980, under the South Korean military junta, Samchung served as a prison camp for critics of the new military regime and people considered to be ‘social ill.’ In 6 months, 40,000 people, many of whom had clean criminal records, were forced to hard labor or face physical violence by the military.”
5. Near the end of Episode 10, if you listen closely to the Korean dialogue between Director Yong and the head monk in the Buddhist temple, you will hear the word “saju” several times. The picture of “K” that Director Yong shows to the head monk states her birthday and birth hour.
(a) “Saju – A Complete Breakdown of the Most Popular Fortune Telling in Korea”: “Saju is by far the most popular fortune-telling in Korea. Think of it as the “Tarot” of South Korea. Saju literally means “four pillars”. While most people in Korea are either Christian or Buddhist, Saju is still embraced by Korean culture. In fact, fortune-telling as a whole is a huge industry in South Korea. It is estimated that the fortune-telling industry in South Kore is worth $3.7 billion.”
Lessons in photography from “Inspector Koo” with in-depth analysis of its cinematography
I. In-depth analysis of the drama’s cinematography
Index:A. Was “Inspector Koo” shot by the cinematographer of “Hotel Del Luna” and edited by the award-winning editor of blockbuster films such as “The Thieves,” “Tazza: The High Rollers,” “Woochi,” and “Assassination“?; B. Some basic observations first about the differences between directing, cinematography, and editing; C. Creative camera movements and excellent editing; D. Transition techniques; E. Shot inspired by “Parasite” to illustrate “beat” in screenplay writing and in making a film or drama; F. Wes Anderson’s influence on the cinematography of “Inspector Koo” (bird’s eyeview shots and centered framing); G. Miscellaneous observations (camera roll, arc shots, rack focus, split screen, short siding)
A. Was “Inspector Koo” shot by the cinematographer of “Hotel Del Luna” and edited by the award-winning editor of blockbuster films such as “The Thieves,” “Tazza: The High Rollers,” “Woochi,” and “Assassination“?
1. Hwang Min-sik was the cinematographer for “Hotel Del Luna” as you can see in his Instagram account. I don’t read Korean, and so, those of you who can read Korean should correct me on this.
We know that Wikipedia can sometimes be unreliable. But if it’s true that the cinematographer and editor of “Inspector Koo” are indeed Hwang Min-sik and Shin Min-kyung, then it’s a no-brainer that this drama has excellent cinematography and editing.
(Wikipedia lists “Han Seung-hoon” as the other cinematographer of “Inspector Koo,” but I couldn’t find anything about him/her in English-language websites.)
B. Some basic observations first about the differences between directing, cinematography, and editing:
We have to differentiate between cinematography and editing, or between the work of the cinematographer and of the editor. In simplistic terms, the cinematographer shoots the film or drama, and the editor chooses and arranges the shots taken by the cinematographer.
Based on the screenplay, the director prepares what is called the “shot list,” which guides the cinematographer (aka DP or director of photography) in lighting the scene, choosing the camera placement and movement, and selecting the lens to use. When shooting a scene, the cinematographer does what is called “coverage,” that is, he/she shoots a scene from various viewpoints. During the post production, the editor chooses what shots to use and in what order, for example.
Scene transitions, sudden sounds, quick cuts, off-screen voices, and narrative flow are just among the many terms associated with the “invisible art” known as film editing.
Originally seen as a technical tool in the movie making process, film editing quickly evolved to become one of the most important creative aspects of filmmaking.
What is film editing?
Film editing is the art and craft of cutting and assembling finished film. This work is done by a film editor who helps complete the director’s vision of the movie. The creative choices of an editor are usually a combination of what they think is best for the film and what the director (and producers) want for the finished project. Mostly done during post-production, aspects of film editing can involve physical strips of celluloid film, digital files, or both.
Examples on the difference between cinematography, editing, and visual effects (VFX):
Ep. 5: Yi-kyung (K) misleads Jee-hee and Director Yong with her team into thinking that she will be coming to the airport to escape to the US. But she’s shocked to see Kyung-yi at her hideaway. This scene uses tracking shots, cuts, and extreme closeup shots to heighten its emotional and psychological tension.
Part 1 (tracking shot)
Part 2 (cuts and extreme closeups)
The cinematographer shot all of the footages (tracking shot, medium shots, extreme closeups, etc). But during the post production stage, it was the editor who chose what footages to use and arranged them into a coherent and aesthetically pleasing order that enhances the storytelling and serves the director’s vision of the drama.
If you look closely at the extreme closeup of Kyung-yi’s eye (1st picture below), you’ll see a reflection of Yi-kyung (K). If you look closely at at the extreme closeup of Yi-kyung (K)’s eye (2nd picture below), you’ll see a reflection of Kyung-yi. These images are not the work of the cinematographer or the editor; these are the work of the visual effects (VFX) people.
From “How Visual Effects Work in Film: A Guide to the 4 Types of VFX”: “In filmmaking, visual effects (VFX) is the creation or manipulation of any on-screen imagery that does not physically exist in real life. VFX allows filmmakers to create environments, objects, creatures, and even people that would otherwise be impractical or impossible to film in the context of a live-action shot. VFX in film frequently involves the integration of live-action footage with computer-generated imagery (CGI).”
C. Creative camera movements and excellent editing
1. Complex tracking shot from Ep. 2 (the GIF program that I use has a limit of 30 seconds per GIF, and so I had to cut this complex tracking shot into four parts).
Part 1 of 4
Part 2 of 4
Part 3 of 4
Part 4 of 4
2. These scenes from Ep. 5 illustrate the brilliance of the writing, directing, acting, cinematography, editing, and visual effects of this drama.
Kyung-yi finally realizes that Yi-kyung is none other than “K,” the serial killer; she realizes that Yi-kyung (K) used her casual words of how to set up a murder by making it look like an accident and by using persons who will not betray her. (This sequence of shots takes around 90 seconds, and so I had to cut it into three GIFs.)
Part 1 of 3: The shot of Yi-kyung (K) flexing her fingers and wrists cross dissolves into a medium shot of Kyung-yi. Then, the camera pedestals up (moves up) from Yi-kyung (“K”)’s hands to her face. The shot then cross dissolves into an extreme closeup of Kyung-yi’s eyes.
The next shot shows Kyung-yi, in a dimly lit place, surrounded by multiple flickering screens showing Yi-kyung (K) in them.
Part 2 of 3: Kyung-yi looks at the flickering screens of Yi-kyung (K)’s images that surround her; the camera then pans from her to one of the screens showing Yi-kyung (K) where the camera slightly pushes in to her. In a continuous shot, the camera then pulls out slightly and pans back to Kyung-yi and then to a screen behind her. The shot continues panning from the screen showing Yi-kyung (K) to an image of Kyung-yi as she was questioning Yi-kyung (K) years ago.
Part 3 of 3: The camera arcs around Kyung-yi. There’s a cut back to a medium shot of Kyung-yi (when she started realizing the truth of who K is); the camera pushes in on her and then cross dissolves into an overhead shot of Yi-kyung lying on the floor of the jail cell.
Notes:
(a) This sequence of Kyung-yi inside of the dimly lit place with flickering screens around her combines tracking shot with excellent editing and visual effects. (The tracking shot may, of course, have actually been stitched together.)
(b) From “How Important is Previz for Films?!” - Film School’d: “Previsualization is the art of visualizing the movie before shooting the movie. From sketches in the early days, to storyboards, to mocking up sequences with toys… filmmakers have been "pre-visualizing" film for as long as there has been film. Advanced technology has made previs a multi-step, multi-layered art form unto itself.”
3. In Ep. 5, Yi-kyung (K) misleads Jee-hee and Director Yong with her team into thinking that she will be coming to the airport to escape to the US. But she’s shocked to see Kyung-yi at her hideaway. This scene uses tracking shots, cuts, and extreme closeup shots to heighten its emotional and psychological tension.
Part 1 (tracking shot)
Part 2 (cuts and extreme closeups)
4. Ep. 5 (push in and arc shot): Yi-kyung (K) confronts her accomplice Gun-uk, who betrayed her to the police. The camera first pushes on them and then arcs around them as she strangles him with his dog tag.
Explanation of the terms “push in” and “push out”:
“A push-in moves the camera closer to a subject typically with a dolly camera movement or Steadicam. Push-ins can draw the audience’s attention toward a specific detail. Filmmakers also push-in toward characters to try and infer what is occurring internally. This can be a reaction, thought process, or internal conflict.”
Push in shots are used to “create subtle intimacy, tension rising, and importance.” From “The Push-in” (YouTube video): “The Push-In, sometimes called the Character Dolly, is a camera move where the camera dollies forward toward the subject of the shot. A short push-in is like an exclamation mark. A long, slow push-in builds drama and heightens the emotional meaning of the scene. The push-in is a powerful cinematic tool for heightening tension and dramatizing a revelation, and it’s one of the fundamental techniques of the cinematographer and layout artist.”
From “The Effects of a Push in vs. Pull out” (Cinematography): “When the camera pulls out from a character to show empty space around them, it creates a feeling of isolation and loneliness, abandonment, or rejection.”
5. Ep. 6 (push in, slow motion, cuts): Kyung-yi finds out that there’s a personal connection between Santa and Yi-kyung (K). She turns around in her chair, and the camera slightly pushes in on her. The next shot shows the stunned Santa, with the camera slightly pushing in on him. The next shot is a medium shot of Kyung-yi staring intensely at Santa as she asks him, “How should I kill you?” The next shot is in slow motion showing Santa as he drops his mug. The next shot is a low angle shot of Santa dropping the mug. The next shot is a high angle shot of the mug shattering as it hits the floor (the shot is out of focus until the mug hits the floor). In the last three shots, the camera zooms into the bottom of the broken mug and then shows the writings on the mug. The shot then leads to the outro animation.
6. Ep. 3: Kyung-yi bluffs the police officers as a lawyer who needs to talk to her client, the young woman accused of killing the medical student. When Kyung-yi tells the young woman to report to her if the person who’s trying to help her be acquitted contacts her, the young woman asks (as the camera pushes in slightly on her) if that person is a good person or a bad person. You’ll notice that when the young woman asks, "What would you have done?" the voice you’ll hear is Yi-kyung (K)’s voice. The next shot transitions to the past when Kyung-yi was questioning Yi-kyung (K) about the poisoning attempt on the school janitor. Yi-kyung (K)’s question "What would you have done?" refers to how Kyung-yi would kill someone without being implicated.
After Kyung-yi tells Yi-kyung (K) that she doesn’t kill people, the scene fades to black. The next shows Kyung-yi back in the present with the young woman; as she remembers telling Yi-kyung (K) about getting the help of people who will not betray her in carrying out a murder, the camera pushes in on her to show that she’s realizing something about how the murders have been carried out.
7. Ep. 2: On the way back to Seoul, Kyung-yi reenacts in her mind how the murders were carried out. The shots combines three tracking shots and cuts.
Part 1 (from the car to the office worker who was poisoned)
Part 2 (from the office worker who was poisoned to the woman who hanged herself and then to Kim Min-gyu inside the sewer)
(Note: The tracking shots may have been stitched together.)
8. Ep. 7 (series of push in shots even with the overhead Wes Anderson-type of shot): Jung Jeong-yeon dies as she follows Ko Dam and then gets hit by the booby trap set by Yi-kyung (K). The tension (emotional and psychological) is heightened through a series of push in shots.
9. Ep. 4 (push in, arc shot): As Santa and Kyung-soo walk on the street, Santa stops as he remembers something. The camera pushes in on him; as the arcs around him, he’s now in the foreground with Gyeong-su in the background.
10. Ep. 2: Yi-kyung (K) carries out her murders based on her playscripts. In this scene, she carefully arranges her playscripts with a satisfied smile on her face. To reinforce her feelings of pride on the murders that she has committed, the camera pushes in on her.
11. Ep. 2: Kyung-yi asks Song Yi-kyung (K) why she’s pretending that they don’t know each other. The camera first pushes in slightly on Kyung-yi; then it slightly pushes in on Yi-kyung (K). The next shot shows Kyung-yi (frame left) and Yi-kyung (frame right) facing each other. The camera pushes in on them. The shot then transitions into the outro animation. The tension between them is reinforced by the push in shots.
12. Ep. 3: Yi-kyung (K) and her accomplices carry out the murder by poisoning the medical student during an event in a university. But her plan goes awry at the last moment when one of the victims of the medical student shows up and stabs him repeatedly. To reinforce Yi-kyung (K)’s momentary confusion about what’s happening, the camera pushes in on her.
13. Ep. 8 (pan shot, whip pan, push in): Kyung-yi goes to the hiking spot and warns Director Yong that K will target her next. Director Yong stops eating and looks up. The camera pans from her to Kyung-yi and then whip pans from Kyung-yi to Yi-kyung (K). The camera pushes in on Yi-kyung (K). The next shot shows Kyung-yi in shock, with the camera pushing in on her.
14. Push in leads to a split screen: The camera alternately pushes in on Kyung-yi and on Je-hui as they try to figure out what Ko Dam’s dying words means; the shot transitions into a split screen.
15. To show Yi-kyung (K)’s dilemma as she realizes that Director Yong has practically imprisoned her in a luxurious villa with electrified fences, she’s shot upside down with the camera pushing in on her. (Note: The playscript that she’s holding with her left hand is titled “Baridegi,” a folk tale about Korea’s first shaman; see the “Historical / cultural backgrounders and other information” section above.)
16. In Ep. 12 (Finale), Kyung-yi reveals to Yi-kyung (K) in a series of flashbacks how she outwitted her.
(a) In several flashbacks, “K” replaces another character; example is this scene where Director Yong pleads with Kyung-yi to protect her youngest son. The first part of the arc shot shows Director Yong kneeling before Kyung-yi. After the camera arcs around Kyung-yi, Director Yong has been replaced by “K.” The camera stops arcing as “K” sits down beside Kyung-yi; the camera then pushes in on “K” and Kyung-yi.
Part 1 of 2
Part 2 of 2
D. Transition techniques
Similar to “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay,” “Inspector Koo” also uses a lot of devices to transition from one scene to another or from one shot to another. (Note: I discussed some transition devices in the section on “Creative camera movements and excellent editing.”)
1. Ep. 1: The first shot shows a leaflet flying off from Yoon Jae-young’s hands. The next shot shows Kyung-yi and Je-hui in an inset at the top right hand side of the frame. Kyung-yi seemingly snatches the leaflet from the air, with the next shot transitioning to her reading the leaflet.
2. Ep. 1: Yi-kyung (K)’s classmate takes her picture with a cellphone while she’s inside the box; the shot transitions into the scene where Kyung-yi takes pictures with her DSLR camera as a distraction so that Santa can rummage through the mailbox.
3. Ep. 1: Kyung-yi looks out across the sea where a tall crane (either for a construction company or a shipping yard) can be seen in the deep background; notice the cross-like appearance of the crane. The shot then cuts to a shot of a cross on the church steeple.
4. Ep. 1 (cross dissolve): On the way to investigate Kim Min-gyu’s death, Kyung-yi goes to sleep in the car with Santa driving. The shot cross dissolves into a shot of the high school girls coming into their drama classroom.
5. Ep. 1 (transition through color): The classroom scenes of the high school girls had desatured colors (to indicate that the scenes are in the past). But the colors become vibrant as Kyung comes into the classroom as a police officer and the time setting transitions from the past to the present.
6. Ep. 1: These two shots use wipe transitions to move from present to past (from right to left) and to move from past to present (from left to right).
7. Ep. 2: Kyung-yi plays her online video game. The video image cross dissolves into Yi-kyung (K) walking away as she leaves to transfer to another school.
8. Ep. 2: Yi-kyung (K) leaves to transfer to another school; she says goodbye to her high school drama teacher by bowing to him. She disappears from the screen as she bows. With the same background, the shot transitions to the adult Yi-kyung (K) as she meets her former classmate from high school.
9. Ep. 2: Kyung-yi lies on top of the trash in a garbage truck. As the light flashes, her image cross dissolves into Yi-kyung (K) dancing in a nightclub.
10. Ep. 2: At a restaurant, Santa loses consciousness when Kyung-yi lets him sniff her alcoholic drink. Kyung-yi then pours alcohol into the cup and says, “Have a glass and tell me who did this to you.” She then spins the food turntable so that the cup is now in the foreground.
At first I thought she was saying these words to the unconscious Santa. But the next shot shows the marker for Lee Jun-hyeon’s niche in a columbarium. So, Kyung-yi was actually saying these words to Lee Jun-hyeon, with the cup of alcoholic drink representing the ritual wine prepared during “jesa” (Korean ancestral memorial service).
11. Ep. 9: The shot transitions from K (who’s lying on the ground after touching and bouncing off the electrified fence) to Kyung-yi who’s lying at the bottom of the gigantic trash bin.
12. Ep. 9: Kyung-yi has been placed inside a barrel by Director Yong’s right hand man, who kicks the barrel down the hillside. The barrel rolls downhill and then transitions into a barrel in a video game.
13. Ep. 12: Kyung-yi fakes an acid attack on Director Yong; as Director Yong fakes a scream, her right hand man and Je-hui try to comfort her. The camera pushes in so that Director Yong fills the whole frame. When the camera pedestals up (moves up), Kyung-yi has now replaced Je-hui.
There’s no technical or editing magic in this scene. If you look closely at the lower right hand corner, you can see that the actress (Kwak Sun-young) who plays Je-hui stands up and moves aside so that Lee Young-ae (as Kyung-yi) can take her place.
14. Ep. 12: “K” is arrested to stand trial for the multiple murders that she committed. While in her jail cell, she hears another prisoner screaming that she wants to kill someone. Upon hearing it, she goes to the front of her cell and tries to look for the woman who’s screaming about wanting to kill someone. As the camera slowly pushes in on her, the color changes from full color to a monochromatic color.
15. Ep. 12 (transition through wipes; trucking shots): “K,” Kyung-yi, Gyeong-su, Je-hui, and Santa are shown one after another as the camera trucks (moves parallel to) them. The shots are connected through vertical wipes.
E. Shot inspired by “Parasite” to illustrate “beat” in screenplay writing and in making a film or drama
One of the most-talked about scenes in the 2019 Oscar-winning movie “Parasite” by Bong Joon-ho is that scene when Mrs. Park is stunned when Jessica tells her that her son has artistic talent. In that scene, Jessica is frame right while Mrs. Park is frame left. The cinematographer deliberately “crosses the line” or disregards the “180-degree rule” such that Jessica becomes frame left while Mrs. Park becomes frame right.
In Ep. 4 of “Inspector Koo,” at their basement office, Kyung-yi and Je-hui argue on whether to ask Director Yong for help in capturing “K.” Unlike Gyeong-su and Santa, Je-hui refuses to give up her cellphone to Kyung-yi.
Notice that as they argue about their mission, Je-hui is frame left while Kyung-yi is frame right. Je-hui escalates their argument by saying that Kyung-yi doesn’t care about somebody dying and hasn’t learned anything about her husband’s death. But then Kyung-yi escalates their argument to the maximum by accusing Je-hui of having had an affair with her husband and that Je-hui’s daughter is the fruit of that affair. To mark that change in “beat,” the cinematographer (as guided by the director) uses a camera movement similar to “Parasite” (although from a different direction). The cinematographer “crosses the line” or violates the “180-degree rule” such that Kyung-yi now becomes frame left while Je-hui now becomes frame right. (Kyung-yi is also now short sided.)
The article “How to Develop the Story Beats in Your Screenplay” defines what a “beat” is: “A beat is a division within a scene in which the action takes a different turn, the momentum shifts, and one or more characters adapt to, or change, because of this shift. The end of one story beat and the beginning of another marks the moment that the actor must reevaluate how to portray the character. It’s a point when the character must choose a different approach, or tactic, on the way towards reaching his or her objective. As the word implies, the beat is the pulse of the film—it’s what drives the story forward.”
The article “What is a beat?” states: “In screenplays, a ‘beat’ is the smallest unit of measurement. If a character sits down at a desk and picks up a pencil, that is two beats.”
F. Wes Anderson’s influence on the cinematography of “Inspector Koo” (centered framing, bird’s eyeview shots)
Centered framing
Bird’s eyeview shots
The shot below (from Ep. 3) combines centered framing and a bird’s eyeview.
G. Miscellaneous observations (arc shots, rack focus, camera roll, split screens, short siding)
Arc shots
From Wikipedia: An “arc shot” is a dolly shot where the camera moves in an arc along a circular or elliptical radius in relation to the subject (“arc left” or “arc right”). The article “Arc Shots and 360-degree Tracking Shots” enumerates the various uses of arc shots:
Arc shots can also be used to mark transitions, create suspense, add intensity or emotionality to a scene and much more.
The use of the arc shot can also be symbolism for shift or a transition, either in the story or within the characters themselves.
The arc shot causes the camera to shift in the physical space and can signal a turning point.
The arc shot can also be used to add suspense to a thrilling
scene.
1. Ep. 4: Kyung-yi and Santa search desperately for Je-hui and Gyeong-su, who have been kidnapped by Yi-kyung (K) and her accomplice. To reinforce Kyung-yi’s sense of desperation and hopelessness, the camera arcs around her.
2. Ep. 4: Yi-kyung (K), in disguise as a building maintenance staff, passes by Santa. The camera then arcs around Santa as he gets a whiff of Yi-kyung (K)’s perfume. The perfume, however, triggers his memory of what two maintenance staff argued about wearing perfume during their cleaning duties.
3. Ep. 5: Yi-kyung (K) confronts her accomplice Gun-uk, who betrayed her to the police. The camera first pushes on them and then arcs around them as she strangles him with his dog tag.
4. Ep. 7 (arc shot and push in): Kyung-yi and Gyeong-su rush onto the venue to survey how Yi-kyung (K) could possibly attack Ko Dam. The camera arcs around Kyung-yi as she studies the venue.
5. Ep. 12 (arc shot with Dutch angle): During the shootout with Director Yong and her men, “K” escapes with Santa as a hostage. Kyung-yi tries to follow them but couldn’t see where they went. To reinforce her sense of confusion, the camera arcs around her; if you look at her background, you’ll notice that she’s shot with a Dutch angle.
Rack focus: An element in the foreground is in focus while an element in the background is out of focus. (Or vice-versa.) As the element in the foreground becomes out of focus, the element in the background becomes in focus. (Or vice-versa.)
1. In the 1st shot below (from Ep. 1), the cellphone is in focus while Yi-kyung (K) is out of focus. In the 2nd shot, the cellphone is out of focus while Yi-kyung (K) is in focus.
2. Ep. 7 (rack focus and lower quadrant composition): Kyung-yi confronts Jung Jeong-yeon about her niece Yi-kyung being a serial killer. As she walks away, she’s in focus while Jung Jeong-yeon is out of focus. As she exits the frame, Jung Jeong-yeon then becomes in focus. Notice that Jung Jeong-yeon is at the lower left quadrant.
Note on “lower corner framing,” “lower corner composition,” or “lower quadrant framing”: The frame is divided into quadrants, and the subject is placed in either the left or right lower quadrant to depict isolation, fear, loneliness, and similar themes. (The subject is dominated by the negative space.) This compositional technique was popularized by the US television series “Mr. Robot.”
Camera roll
1. Ep. 8: The death of Yi-kyung (K)’s beloved aunt marks a dramatic turning point for her. This turning point is heightened by the use of inverted images, slight camera wobble, camera roll, visual effects, and fade to black.
2. Ep. 8 (panning, color scheme, camera roll, visual effects): Yi-kyung (K) gorges herself with ice cream through the day. The camera pans from right to left, and an out of focus red colored structure blocks our view of Yi-kyung (K). There are visual effects and a camera roll to highlight the dramatic changes in Yi-kyung (K)’s psyche.
Split screens
1. As Kyung-yi plans what to do next, she remembers (through images in split screens) what has happened before.
2. The camera alternately pushes in on Kyung-yi and on Je-hui as they try to figure out what Ko Dam’s dying words means; the shot transitions into a split screen.
Short siding to reinforce tension in a scene
Ep. 12: Kyung-yi confronts Santa after “K” says that Santa’s refusal to speak up led to her husband’s death. Both Kyung-yi and Santa are short-sided.
Band-Maid is an all-female Japanese band (formed in 2013) that’s considered as one of the best rock bands in the world today. The band combines genres such as rock (hard, progressive, punk), metal, pop, blues, and jazz. Examples of their rock-jazz-blues songs are “Manners,”“Wonderland,” and “Bubble.” For the band’s softer side, listen to “About Us” and to acoustic songs “Puzzle,”“Anemone,”“Smile,” and “Catharsis.”
“Dice” and “Hate?” at Lollapalooza 2023
“Don’t You Tell Me” fan cam video (lead guitar vs. bass from 2:21 to 3:41); watch official MV.
Band-Maid’s B-sides are also excellent; for example, “Hide and Seek” (fan cam video; listen to the bass and lead guitar).
Do you love great basslines? Listen to “Yuragu” where the great bassline leads to an explosive lead guitar solo (2:19 and 3:06 marks in the fan cam video below; 3:03 and 5:27 in the reaction video, with the lead guitar solo at 5:39 mark).
Free seminars on photojournalism, journalism, science/technology writing, and English proficiency
For Metro Manila and Rizal Province schools only; for more information, contact me at gtgalacio@yahoo.com or 0927-798-3138.
Photojournalism (23): Composition: Decide first what theme, emotion, idea or concept you want to convey; Think about the best way to shoot your subjects before actually doing so; Every good picture has a hidden geometric pattern; Other ways of composing your shots: Visual balance; Place vertical elements against horizontal elements, or vice-versa; Contrast one object in sharp focus with another object that is out of focus; Using linear perspective; Balance by tone; Using the picture diagonal; Breaking the rules to get better photographs; Each subject presents unique possibilities; Ways to improve your composition skills
Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success.
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888)
Marital infidelity: causes, consequences and conclusions; Mediation not allowed in domestic violence cases (with apologies to Pia Guanio); Why Marriages Fail: He said, She said; Transformers: Why do persistent suitors become passive husbands? How to save your marriage alone; All about women; Why do men think the things they think, say the things they say, and do the things they do? Surviving marital infidelity; Legal lessong from Willie Revillame and Liz Amoro; Marriage: The Ultimate Fighting Championship; Boundaries in marriage; and other articles
Amy Perez case: psychological incapacity in declaring a marriage null and void; Adultery, concubinage and psychological violence; Can a mother be deprived of custody of her child? Can an unwed mother avail of the benefits of the Solo Parents Welfare Act? Divorce obtained abroad by a Filipino not recognized here; How to disinherit your spouse; Support for abandoned woman and family; The "Battered Woman Syndrome" as defense; The right of a divorced Filipino spouse to remarry under Article 26 of the Family Code; What happens in an annulment case if the respondent fails to file an Answer? RA 9262 Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act of 2004; and other articles
