Through the Darkness [Those Who Read Hearts of Evil] 악의 마음을 읽는 자들 [2022]

[Darkarcana]

On 3/5/2022 at 11:40 PM, abs-oluteM said:

It was also interesting that at the end of ep9, they brought up the age old debate of whether a psychopath was born or made

From my…little knowledge, I have to say that scene was interesting to watch. A criminologist is someone who wants to find theories of possible reasonings of why people commit crimes, so naturally there are many theories. Equally there are no right or wrong answers so definitely it’s truly up to the individual. I agree so much. 

 

*just gonna like share some additional information..*

 

So one theory that they somewhat hinted and or talked about is the ‘Social control theory’, theoretically speaking, this theory theories that an adolescent needs bonds and attachments as a ‘guarantee’ to be a good person. (Bonds such as family, school & community), that’s why ‘childhood plays a part’ was said, but…in that prologue they also talked about “ that’s not the case sometimes”  yes, agree.
 

so what defects people from this theory is that because it’s only focus point was bonds and attachments. It lacks opportunity factor, not many can get a rich and happy life etc, so in order to reach the ‘social norm’ it can lead up to crime too. There are so many theories on how someone can get into crimes. This show really shows a lot. 💪🏻

[abs-oluteM]

On 3/7/2022 at 12:37 AM, Darkarcana said:

There are so many theories on how someone can get into crimes. This show really shows a lot. 💪🏻

I agree that this show has been an eye opener.

 

The conversations that HY had with these psychos made me realise one thing. The common trait that they all had was that they lacked empathy. If they could feel for their victims, they wouldn't be able to put a knife into that person's body.  One can easily blame environment and childhood but many who are from that sort of background don't end up doing such sick things either. So what is it that tips that person over? I am not sure if we will ever be able to find the exact scientific answer to that. 

 

In eps 10 , HY was really suffering while listening to Nam Ki Tae. But he had to hold it in, keep a neutral tone and ensure he gets the confessions he needed. You can see he was disgusted but he had a job to do,  and understood he would be the best person to do it.  No surprise after that he ended up being so affected by all that he had heard . Props to Kim Nam Gil for such solid acting. 

 

 

[peperomia]

On 1/29/2022 at 11:59 PM, SilverMoonTea said:

So SHY change to suit is for the prisoner interview mainly? As CHG commented how nice KYS wearing suit just to meet him.

 

@SilverMoonTea You were right about Ha Young switching to wearing suits purposely for the interviews. Here is what Professor Kwon said:

 

4 hours ago, abs-oluteM said:

In eps 10 , HY was really suffering while listening to Nam Ki Tae. But he had to hold it in, keep a neutral tone and ensure he gets the confessions he needed. You can see he was disgusted but he had a job to do,  and understood he would be the best person to do it.  No surprise after that he ended up being so affected by all that he had heard . Props to Kim Nam Gil for such solid acting. 

 

Well said. Throughout the interview, it was visible that Ha Young was reaching his breaking point, but he focused on the overall purpose and endured through it. It was indeed solid acting by Kim Nam Gil. He nailed every expression. Even little nonverbal details such as adjusting his collar to try to soothe his frustration was on point.

 

When Ha Young was at the hospital and the doctors/nurses were treating him, he imagined himself falling into the waters and trying to the reach for the dead lady again. What do you all think this scene meant?

[abs-oluteM]

22 hours ago, peperomia said:

When Ha Young was at the hospital and the doctors/nurses were treating him, he imagined himself falling into the waters and trying to the reach for the dead lady again. What do you all think this scene meant?

 I think it is hard for him to emotionally detach himself from what he hears , and due to his high level of empathy he feels for the victims. 

 

So this is a deleted scene...supposed to be shown in eps 10. 

 

 

[joccu__]

the latest episodes were really solid and amazing.  Kim Nam Gil was amazing in these latest episodes. 

[abs-oluteM]

New stills...

Ha Young going through rehab

 

Jung Man Sik cameo

[abs-oluteM]

I couldn't help but check for spoilers....

Eps 11 

So  he not only had nerve paralysis, but he pretty much lost the will to go back to work. As in he doesn't want to continue his profiling work.  He told Capt Yoon and the other guy

 

What he told Kook here really moved me:

"While I was in the hospital, I naturally spent more time with my mother. We ate together and talked a lot. I can't even remember the last time I had such a normal time. I wanted to be happy with these small everyday things. In the meantime, I must have been very tired of dealing with people who were so evil. Chief,  was I doing the right thing  in trying to be in their position? What I'm most afraid of is that I may unknowingly be like them?   Will I become like them too?”

[abs-oluteM]

However a chanced meeting with a victim's mother changed HY's heart & mind. She thanked him for his work and said that what he did meant that they won't lose more people who are dear to them. That made him cry. Upon discharge he told Kook to meet in the office and he resumed his profiling work once again. HY know what he does is critical to saving lives - he knows deep down he could not walk away from that.

 

Preview

 

[40somethingahjumma]

This is quite possibly one of the best police procedurals that's ever come out of SK. I can still remember how aghast I was over the early ones I saw a decade ago but then discovered OCN. Since then the quality of cop shows from SK have just gone from strength to strength. The episode limit no doubt has a lot to do with the pacing and the decent use of montage scenes. We don't have to be privy to every single moment of each investigation but it's still crucial to get that sense of time elapsing. This show is the entire package -- the  documentary-like edge-of-the-seat storytelling, fascinating if disturbing criminals, and great understated performances by the entire cast. I am new to Kim Nam-gil but there's no doubting his acting chops in this. However, the cast as a whole is good. And I note that it is a breath of fresh air that those in the supervisory positions are really supportive of their colleagues and subordinates. That's not always the case in K police dramas. More often than not they are corrupt and serve as a hindrance. But here we see the superintendent go to bat for the Behavioural Analysis Team despite some misgivings. There's a really wonderful moment when the entire criminal investigation team gather for a debrief and offer feedback after winding up a case. This is a level of professionalism and collegiality that I haven't seen in any SK police procedural until now. I could get used to this kind of depiction of the SK police force as a place where people learn to put aside their egos to do their jobs and find justice for the victims and their loved ones. I do appreciate the way the show tracks improvements in workplace culture in the organization as policing techniques advance.

 

The last five episodes are undoubtedly great television... some of the best I've seen from K dramaland. While the cases are gripping in their own right, the highlight for me has been Song Ha-young's journey as a profiler learning on the job. We are witness to the way he hones his interrogation techniques as he squirms through interviews with sociopathic killers while watching him spiral downwards emotionally. He was burnt out and then crashed. Quite literally. It wasn't just his wake-up call but a reminder to the people around him that under the inhuman doggedness is a very human heart beating. No one can stare at that much evil and remain unaffected. The easy thing would have been to walk away after that. But then someone has to take out the trash and make sure the house is liveable for everyone else.

 

I certainly hope that I can say after the airing of the final episode that this drama is this year's Beyond Evil for me. The exploration of evil and its effects here is superbly done and I prefer it to its US counterpart Mindhunter which I dropped after 6 or 7 episodes. 

 

[abs-oluteM]

On 3/12/2022 at 1:33 PM, 40somethingahjumma said:

And I note that it is a breath of fresh air that those in the supervisory positions are really supportive of their colleagues and subordinates. That's not always the case in K police dramas. More often than not they are corrupt and serve as a hindrance. But here we see the superintendent go to bat for the Behavioural Analysis Team despite some misgivings. There's a really wonderful moment when the entire criminal investigation team gather for a debrief and offer feedback after winding up a case. This is a level of professionalism and collegiality that I haven't seen in any SK police procedural until now. I could get used to this kind of depiction of the SK police force as a place where people learn to put aside their egos to do their jobs and find justice for the victims and their loved ones. I do appreciate the way the show tracks improvements in workplace culture in the organization as policing techniques advance.

So true. One of the earliest supporter of the team was Chief Baek who heads the division ( if I'm not mistaken) - his staff were skeptical but he saw their value.  This is one of the reasons why I find this drama so different from previous procedurals that I have seen. In many others , the internal conflict and politics often overshadow the work that they are suppose to do. Perhaps it is for dramatic purpose & to keep the audience engaged. But this drama goes to prove that you may not always need to overdo the theatrics just to get the audience invested. 

 

The other thing I like is that over the course of the show, you can see how the police force went from having a lot of reservations about the need for profiling to acknowledging how critical their work was. I remember in the early days, the team had to "beg" be included on the scene. Now, the special investigation team revolves around them and the detectives like Capt Yoon actually asked to be included. 

 

Eps 11 was a solid episode. I appreciated that HY decided to quit at first because it would be a lot more strange if he wasn't affected by all that he's heard in his interviews. I can understand him needing some time to process and unload. I also like that we saw his boss' - Capt Kook's point of view. Kook was feeling very bad because he was the one who recruited HY into this. So much so he was couldn't even bring himself to see HY alone in the hospital. He was so happy when HY told him he will see him in the office. 

 

This is  one show where I would not have minded an extra episode or 2. Too bad this ends tonight. 

 

New stills

[abs-oluteM]

The final episode was so good. And the interrogation here was very exciting for me as we got to see them race against time to get evidence and secure a confession. Thanks this show I have even greater appreciation for the entire process. Catching the suspect is really just the beginning of a tedious and difficult journey in putting the criminal behind bars. 

 
Years of thankless  work profiling bore fruit as they clearly knew how to press his buttons to get him to confess. Woo Ho Sung was quite different from the other two killers we saw ( Gu Young Chun & Nam Ki Tae.) He blended well in society - not someone you'd think would be a psychopath. Hence Ha Young's approach in dealing with him was different too, and clearly it worked. This further validated the hard word that the team has been doing. So it was only right that by the end of this drama, they recognised how critical behavioral analysis (& profiling) was by officially setting up a dedicated department and having new recruits join them.

 

There are talks of S2.  I do feel sad this has ended and  won't mind it if they can bring back the same cast since they all did very well.  And of course KNG was just awesome. I loved his interpretation of Ha Young; it is actually a lot harder to play introverted characters like that. But I feel the show wrapped up quite nicely, so would there be more things to tell? 

 

Some deleted scenes that SBS put up on their channel

 

 

[peperomia]

I knew Ha Young would recover from the accident, but I was not sure how he would pick himself back up again mentally and emotionally. The accident was unfortunate, but the silver lining in it was the opportunity for Ha Young to decompress the bottled up “trash” he had absorbed from the various cases and empty it all out of him. The main turning point was meeting Hwa Yeon’s mother at the hospital. Her expression of gratitude to Ha Young and his team validated the importance and meaning of his work – to help and prevent people from losing their loved ones. This was the light through the darkness.

 

When Ha Young gave his resignation to Chief Kook, things became awkward between them. It was a smooth move by Ha Young to convey to his team that he was not quitting with a “see you in the office” as they were leaving the hospital from visiting him. Chief Kook and Woo Ju’s faces completely lit up. When Ha Young was discharged from the hospital, he went immediately straight to work. He is still the same dedicated Ha Young, but I can tell after this experience, he is in better spirits and understands the need to maintain a healthy balance between life and work.

 

My favorite part of the finale was the unity between the team members. In the beginning, the Behavioral Analysis Team was nuisance to their counterparts. They were excluded from investigating cases with the crime unit and had to do so discretely. With Woo Ho Sung’s case, it was nice change to see Chief Park seek BAT’s expertise on it. BAT was even tasked to set up a special investigation team and this time around, it was Chief Yoon who requested to be a part of it. They all used to butt heads in the past, but now the whole team is having a meal together while brainstorming what is the killer’s M.O. It is such a big evolvement from how it all started. I loved the team gathering on the rooftop and how they agreed they will continue to meet up with each other like this again.

 

A few other bits that I also liked from these episodes were:

• Reporter Choi gifting Ha Young a box of the best candies when she visited him at the hospital. It was really sweet of her, especially to take note of this liking of Ha Young.
• The team making a wish together after their meal on the rooftop.
• Chief Kook and Ha Young getting their hair done at the salon together for the new recruitment ceremony. Chief Kook was so funny.

15 hours ago, abs-oluteM said:

There are talks of S2.  I do feel sad this has ended and  won't mind it if they can bring back the same cast since they all did very well.  And of course KNG was just awesome. I loved his interpretation of Ha Young; it is actually a lot harder to play introverted characters like that. But I feel the show wrapped up quite nicely, so would there be more things to tell?

 

@abs-oluteM The final 2 episodes were really good. It was sad when Ha Young was by himself in the empty BAT office. I assume he was saying his goodbye to it because the team was getting an official office at the station or headquarters. I also thought everything wrapped up nicely, but in the closing clip, Ha Young reminded us that they have not caught the Daesung serial murderer and vows to do so. It seems they have left it open for a potential season 2. I love the show and cast so I am definitely up for it. If true, like other shows with multiple seasons such as Voice and Stranger, though I am hopeful, I will keep in mind that it may not be as good as the original season. 

[abs-oluteM]

11 hours ago, peperomia said:

few other bits that I also liked from these episodes were:

• Reporter Choi gifting Ha Young a box of the best candies when she visited him at the hospital. It was really sweet of her, especially to take note of this liking of Ha Young.
• The team making a wish together after their meal on the rooftop.
• Chief Kook and Ha Young getting their hair done at the salon together for the new recruitment ceremony. Chief Kook was so funny.

I love that they inserted these scenes too...the drama itself has a very heavy theme as it is. So to show the more human and lighter side of the characters balanced things out a bit. I also love that they showed the close relationship between Ha Young and his mother.

 

Oo this is a good observation

 

[abs-oluteM]

As we know HY's character is based on SK's first profiler - Kwon Il Yong. Prof Kwon profiled 1000 criminals by the time he retired in 2017. He co-wrote this show in the hopes of being able to empathize with the sufferings of the victims. 

Spoiler

https://newsis.com/view/?id=NISX20220314_0001792958&cID=10601&pID=10600

[40somethingahjumma]

Brilliant show. Well-written, great storytelling and fantastic production values. Quality product from start to finish. No doubt it will be one of the year's best. 

 

I've written a review for it and it's in the reviews section of the forum. No major spoilers. 

 

[abs-oluteM]

Yay!!!! So happy - this was my greatest wish