Kairos (2020) Early Impressions Episodes 1-6

The show is aptly named in just about every respect. It fills a gaping wound left behind by Alice and it is a drama that sees its protagonists taking advantage of precious time to prevent tragedy at every turn.

Although the first episode didn't really impress me that much with all the overmuch histrionics, the subsequent episodes have. The best thing so far about this show is that it has kept the temporal mechanics simple and consistent while paying close attention to the storytelling in how the two timelines affect each other. It behaves in large part like Signal and has taken up all the best things about its predecessors while putting its own stamp on the product. Of course there's still the danger of the whole thing going off the beaten track and derailing... but I'm hopeful because MBC did give us the wonderful 365: Repeat the Year earlier in the year. Like Signal, this involves a combination of technology and the supernatural. The technology is wonderfully exploited here although the timing of these two people finding each other might well be beyond any kind of operational or conventional science. Fate is likely to be the connective tissue as it often is in these sorts of drama dealing with time distortions. Changing time, as we've seen in previous productions, is a double-edge sword but the biggest drawback is that one never knows what other dangers lurk around the corner even if one mishap has been averted.

In a discussion I had with a drama buddy on Janghaven Forums, I said that I believed Signal to be science fiction in the broader sense and the same I would think, apply to Kairos as well. I posited a "ghost in the machine" thesis first on Janghaven. Not so much in the philosophical mind-body dualistic debate but much more literally. The "ghost" here is perhaps the deceased father -- it's his phone number that the two protagonists connect over -- his soul or wandering spirit has invaded the technology and for some reason at a given minute of the 24-hour day, the number is activated and the two timelines connect briefly to exchange notes. I appreciate how the benefits of the smartphone technology are exploited in different scenarios by both parties as they deal with the limitations of access they have with each other. There's even a moment when a text message seen by a friend who happens to have Han Ae-ri's (Lee Se-young) phone is crucial to saving her life. So far the show is consistent in the way the temporal mechanics allow for changes made in the earlier timeline to affect the future one via the information the male lead gives to the female lead.

Initially I was concerned about how they were going to maintain the momentum for the slated 16 episodes but a recent twist and ensuing revelations have provided a much broader picture and deeper web of deception than the initial set-up alluded to. It's clear that human evil manifests itself not just among the levers of power in Big Business but also much closer to home. Kim Seo-jin (Shin Sung-rok) isn't just a dad and a husband who has lost his family overnight, he is also a victim of all manner deceit that goes back into his youthful past. As much as this may be about second chances offered by the window into the past, this too is a fable about cosmic justice and the apparent supernatural intervention is meant to call attention to serious evil-doing and injustices. Murder for some is all in a day's work.

It was business as usual until Seo-jin's life was turned upside down by his daughter's disappearance. But there are indication that something was already rotten in Denmark for some time. The cracks in his relationships with his wife, his daughter and colleagues as well as the pill popping point to a man in dire need of being rescued. Despite the trappings of success, (or perhaps because of it) he was blindly on the fast track to corporate glory while missing all the signs that things at home were far from satisfactory.

Of course the bad guys here can't be too complacent even if presently they're a step or two ahead of the quick-witted, shrewd Seo-jin. Their conspiracies are formed on shifting sand and probably not as much trust as they like to pretend that they have. But it does feel like Seo-jin is very much on his own in his timeline trying to navigate precarious waters with people he thought he knew well. One wrong move could mean the end for him or Ae-ri. 

I'm trying hard to stay away from spoilers because this is a show worth watching. So far. Especially if you, like me, have a penchant for nail-biting, edge-of-the-seat thrillers. There's plenty to look forward to each week and I enjoy the twists and unexpected turns taken by the drama. 

Alice (2020) Episode 3 *Spoilers*

This is my favourite thing on K telly right now. It has the potential to be a great show, one of the year's best. Will it be another Life on Mars? It's too early to say. I certainly hope so because good sci-fi is always hard to do but this one seems to have a better decent script guiding it. Let's hope and pray that it can be sustained right to the end. 

My favourite sci-fi... the best ones are thoughtful and inevitably philosophical. Whatever the tech and the context, preoccupations with the human condition are front and centre.

It's clear that Yoon Tae-yi's re-appearance in his life knocks Jin-gyeom off his general equanimity. As he wrestles with not just with her uncanny resemblance to his long deceased mother, spars with his birth father and grapples with the unfathomable possibility of time travel, his confusion about this new reality is exacerbated by inexplicable murders. Last week we had a future self travelling back to the past to kill someone who had wronged and embittered them. This week a mother kills her past self for not doing enough to protect her daughter and makes a failed bid to be a substitute. It goes beyond irony and paradoxes. She punishes and kills her past self for being inadequate as a mother in the belief that she, the future self, can do better because of hindsight and foreknowledge. Seems extreme. However, future Mum has brought something potentially life-threatening with her to the past. It does beg the question as to whether it is a result of the time travel or the collision of past and present or some new pestilence hitch-hiked from the past.

Of course there are consequences and the lesson seems to be... "just because you can doesn't mean you should." It's one of those things one learns as a child from the adults around us as a caution about leaping into places where even angels fear to tread. A cautionary advice against hubris and the breaking of fundamental moral principles. It's often been used against genetic modification of foods. It's a warning against playing God. It's the age old question of whether humans can really control nature without it coming back to bite them.

I don't want to be a wet blanket. Time travel sounds like fun. As someone who enjoys learning history, I've fantasized about going back to certain key moments in the past like in the drama to witness of events unfolding. But I've watched my Doctor Who and my Star Trek so I know that it is a bad thing to change the past no matter how well-intentioned. One doesn't know what happens to the thing called the space-time continuum.

I gather from the first episode that people have been time travelling for a bit with relative success. So why the anomalies of the last few episodes? I imagine that the show will provide the answers to that. Hot Dad aka Min-hyuk attributes it to a particular psychological profile. It may well be that. Or there could be much more to it.

For a project/ endeavour the Alice crew are a noisy lot bringing a lot of attention to themselves. Take the big gunfight in the library for instance. Some of it was having to clean up after somebody else's mess but maybe they're counting on the fact that no one finds the entire idea of time travel possible in 2020. I suppose they're setting up these confrontations between father and son in anticipation of some kind of reunion. Since this is still a K drama, I'm not expecting an Oedipus Rex scenario. 

With the time card now in Tae-yi's hands, I wonder if Jin-gyeom has created a time loop in the manner of the "hasta la vista baby" Terminator franchise. The quote at the start of the episode, "There is no coincidence in fate. A man makes fate itself before he meets it" sounds similar to Kyle Reese's "The future is not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves."

Train (2020) The Joy of Parallel Universes *Spoilers*

During my BC (before children) days, in the late 1990s when we would regularly make our way to the movies, there was one we got to that has stayed with me. It's was a Gwyneth Paltrow flick about a woman living parallel lives contingent on her barely getting on a train or missing it. According to the film, Sliding Doors, this is the pivotal moment that determines the course her life from here on. I remember mentioning later to a colleague that this show was surprisingly fatalistic considering that it was presumably made for a largely secular western audience. Of course on hindsight, over 20 years later and after much consumption of screen sci-fi over the years, it's clearer that embedded in alternate/parallel universe stories are time immemorial preoccupations with the metaphysics of predestination, character and social determinism.

While I was binge-watching Train over the weekend, my mind would occasionally wander to Sliding Doors for their similarities but also for their differences. The former is clearly much more firmly fixed within science fiction multiverse theories while the latter is locates itself more simply as a "what if" kind of story. Parallel universe stories in my experience are as much about what's similar as it is about what's different.  In every instance, it seems to me that there has to be a key, defining moment that causes that differentiation between worlds... or to put it in scifi jargon... a split or disruption in the space-time continuum. To understand how this particular multiverse works, I invoke a tree as the analogy to illustrate this. The trunk of the tree denotes the start of the key defining moment from where all the multi-universes branch off  and at some point certain events branch off into their own separate trajectories. To my mind, it works roughly in the same way as alternate timelines. Star Trek 2009 is a clear example of how this works. The storytelling involves same people but their individual trajectory in the alternate universe/timeline is created when an anomalous event disrupts the original/prime timeline.

As much as the parallel universe side of things dominate much of the drama, this is still very much an OCN style crime show. There is injustice to be righted. There is a serial killer to be caught. There are morals to be pontificated. There are twists and turns to navigate all throughout even if the identity of the culprit comes as no real surprise.

The lead character Seo Do-won is a detective with a past. (Don't they all!) Do-won has a reckless streak and will do whatever it takes to nab the bad guys. He also carries a large chip on his shoulders. 12 years earlier, he stumbles upon evidence fingering his alcohol-dependant father for the murder of another man -- the father of the woman he grew up with and has more than brotherly feelings for. She, Han Seo-kyung, has also become a crime fighter in her own right, a compassionate prosecutor who wants more from their push-pull relationship. His branch station chief, Oh Mi-sook, who ends up raising both of them was the lead detective for that case. To protect the young people in this seemingly ill-fated connection, she convinced him then not to turn in the incriminating evidence. Fortunately but still tragic for all concerned, Do-won's dad was fatally wounded in a hit-and-run during that same night and so the murderer from 12 years ago was never officially caught and identified. As a result of the spectre of this family melodrama hanging over his head, Do-won's feelings for Seo-kyung are complicated by obligation, guilt and genuine affection. 

One night when Do-won's dogged pursuit of a suspect ends up in a disused section of a railway line, he stumbles onto a poorly concealed serial killer's grave. This find initially turns up the skeletal remains of four unknown women and some familiar-looking jewellery. As the investigation into these serial murders deepens, Seo-kyung gradually comes to the conclusion that Do-won's dad might not have been her own father's killer after all. The answer, it would appear lies with the now abandoned Mukyeong Station and as she gets too close to the truth for comfort, Seo-kyung is permanently silenced by someone who appears to be the perpetrator.

As the distraught Do-won begins to put the pieces of the puzzle together, he is led to a mysterious train that takes him to a parallel but somewhat antithetical Mukyeong where his other self, also a detective, is a fugitive on the run for allegedly gunning down a known drug-dealer. It is at this juncture that the two selves while in pursuit of the serial killer cross over into the one another's universe. Do-won B is quite a different beast altogether supposedly because 12 years earlier, he arrived in time to save his father from the hit-and-run accident. Unlike Do-won A, Do-won B did not meet Seo-kyung and save her from her abusive step family. In the B universe both grew up separately and differently. As far as Seo-kyung B is concerned, Do-won is the son of the murderer of her father.

Complications ensue but Do-won A is consoled to see his beloved Seo-kyung alive in another iteration in this parallel world where his other self is a bitter, resentful junkie. This Seo-kyung only know Do-won as the son of her father's killer. She is immediately hostile and rejects his overtures of goodwill. Wisely he assumes the identity of the other Do-won to investigate the case. The people around him while they notice personality differences, are too busy and too blase to ponder the reasons. Or so we're told. Seo Do-won in universe B is not well-liked and so no one cares enough to probe. Besides, his colleague seem to prefer the change. Other mysterious occurrences emerge while Do-won A navigates the differences in the parallel world which inevitably lead back to the identity of the serial killer.

The show does a reasonable job differentiating the parallel Mukyeongs through Fringe-inspired use of special effects and subtle costume changes. I am surprised that there's a general lack of curiosity on the part of the other characters about the different Do-wons especially when the two selves find themselves in the same place at last. Perhaps we are meant to take it as a statement about how unobservant people generally are. ;)

Comparisons with The King: Eternal Monarch are inevitable considering the subject matter. Happily, this drama has the better script and deals with the parallel universe trope in a much more cogents and consistent fashion. Overall, it is better conceived, better thought through and better executed. It doesn't have the flash of The King to be sure but the storytelling is far superior. The 12 episode format undoubtedly helps. Not a lot about The King makes sense to me (big on ambition but little on plotting) but the character of Lee Geon is the most problematic of all. He comes across more a mannequin dancing to the requirements of the script than a relatable character.

A major part of why this show works has to do with Yoon Shi-yoon's wonderfully nuanced performance. Watching him in this is a joy. While the acting across the board is a mixed bag, Yoon Shi-yoon is in a class all by himself bringing both Do-wons with their subtle differences to life. Do-won A is the less embittered of the two and so the impact he has in his world differs accordingly. What both Do-wons have in common is an inhuman drive to get to the bottom of things. This will to persevere in the face of obstacles and survive incredible odds is what it seems makes the parallel 'verse hopping possible. 

Do-won's A appearance in Universe B reminded me of Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. As he interacts with different iterations of people he knows in a different world, it is clear that his original trajectory had an enormous difference not just for him but to the people he rubs shoulders with from that time onwards. In the case of Jin-woo, Do-won's distinct presence in both worlds had huge ramifications for what happens to Jin-woo. What of course he didn't know at the time was how decisions made by persons in the different universes led to different outcomes which also had their own ripple effect on his life and the subsequent choices that he made. Do-won is not the first parallel universe traveller and each leaves their mark. It isn't a completely clear cut case of destiny at work or some kind of cosmic predestination because the show seems to point to human agency being a primary factor causing ripple effects. Undoubtedly there are fixed points -- from the basic fact that the same people exist in both worlds and often involved in similar activities. However it is clear that neither universes are immutable or static.

The most unexpected feature of  the show is that it attempts to offer some explanation of how the world hopping works. I don't normally expect that sort of thing for a K drama. Although the magic train works during the magic rain, there's apparently more than one magic train.  The show also speaks to the importance of individual autonomy. It makes a clear case for the notion that the presence or absence of a person can make a whole world of difference.

The Good Detective (2020) Episode 16 *Spoilers*

I have mixed feelings about the ending. As far as endings go, it wasn't a bad one. It tied up almost every loose end (I maintain some scepticism about Oh Ji-hyuk's childhood bogeyman) and even managed to throw in a minor twist just so nobody (the audience included) wallows in any complacency about the complexities and unpredictability of life. I liked that Kang Do-chang's ever expanding family remains intact whether it's those share a roof with him or those that back him up while they're in pursuit of suspects great and small. I imagine too that Oh Ji-hyuk and Jin Seo-gyeong's understated romance will take flight in due course.

While I was relieved to see Oh Jang-tae finally get his comeuppance, there's a part of me that recoils at the thought that it had to be done with a bit of... what I consider to be... legal diddling. It is a somewhat unsatisfying result and not a little frustrating because it seems that the justice system is inadequate to the task of dealing with certain kinds of culprits -- those with powerful connections unless said power is muted in some way or changes hands. However, I acknowledge that without a bit of sleight of hand, Oh Jang-tae would continue to evade the full extent of the law's reach and get what he rightly deserves. Moreover, it is also true that Yoo Jeong-seok and Oh Jang-tae were complicit in the death of Lee Dae-chul and should be held responsible for that. But there's a part of me... maybe an unexpected streak of idealism about the rule of law... a belief that perpetrators should be convicted and sentenced for the crimes that they've actually committed. Nonetheless, the flawed system being what it is, it seems that one has to settle for consolation prizes. Since Oh Jang-tae cheated his way out of  being convicted for Yoon Ji-sun's death using his wealth and connections, it does seem fitting on some level that he gets convicted for something ... like the death of Yoo Jeong-seok... that he didn't do due to more blind eye turning. I'm sure some would consider it poetic justice even. It's tragic and terrifying to my mind that the criminal justice system can be so manipulated and that it has to take one sort conspiracy to undo another conspiracy. But the realist in me reluctantly concedes to the thesis and premise of the drama: The only way for the spirit of the law to be reclaimed in this instance is to circumvent the letter of the law.

I don't think the revelation that Nam Guk-hyun dealt Detective Jang Jin-su the actual death blow really changes very much in the scheme of things. He was certainly my original suspect for the late detective's murder. If anything it confirms our suspicion that he was a hopelessly greedy and shady character that was a cancer in the police organization. And of course it spreads the guilt around a little. It doesn't make Yoo Jeong-seok less guilty nor does it mitigate the fact that he did try to subvert the system to his advantage at the cost of other people's lives. At least he recognized his own culpability and did what he could to rectify a situation that he had been party to. It was his statement to everyone that he would pay for his sins by taking Oh Jang-tae down with him. Taking a swan dive from the bridge was his metaphor to help bring closure to the drama he helped stage while acknowledging that Oh Jang-tae's repeated elusion from justice was partly of his doing. In that act, Yoo Jeong-seok believed that he could atone for his sins.

In the final analysis, people act in their own interests. For better or worse. To my mind it's an immutable part of the human condition. Does it make them demons and monsters? It all depends. It depends on whether they've ever learnt to negotiate within the context of family first, then community and then society. When I look at someone like Oh Jang-tae, for instance, it's clear that he never learnt to take responsibility for his own actions. His father cleaned up after him with the family coffer as we heard in the brief conversation with Nam Guk-hyun. All throughout the show we saw this. Oh Jang-tae looked to others to clean up his messes until the bitter end. Everyone had their reason to want to clear Lee Dae-chul's name. I wouldn't say that altruism would be first on the list. Some were motivated by guilt, some by curiosity, some by a need to prove something and others because of camaraderie. 

Still Kang Do-chang and Oh Jin-hyuk get their happily-ever-after. True, the system hasn't changed. People haven't changed. Just as Yang Soon-mi and Jin Seo-gyeong predicted. But it's a victory not to be sniffed at. The little people won an almighty battle. One that was born out of blood, sweat, tears and... good o'l fashion teamwork. Clearly the good detective could never have done it alone. Without his cluey maverick partner...Oh Ji-hyuk, without Team 2, without Superintendent Moon, without Jin Seo-gyeo, without Yoon Sang-mi and even Yoon Jeong-seok he wouldn't have made it. There were no superheroes. Just ordinary men and women who did their bit and their jobs. They rose to the call... not always easily nor happily but the important thing is that when push came to shove, they did what was needed.

My sense is that the show realistically accepts the necessity of our institutions: The family, judiciary, police, and the mass media. At times they may seem like necessary evils. Although it is true that our institutions are only as good as the people who inhabit those spaces, they are still pillars of a civilized society. Without them, there is only anarchy in the offing. The ones that always lose out in that deal are the vulnerable. Whatever their flaws, when done right they do serve the purpose for which they are intended.

The Good Detective (2020) Episode 15 *Spoilers*

I suppose this episode was meant to be Yoo Jeong-seok's last bid for atonement for his many sins especially those in relation to Lee Dae-chul. To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about that. I've always understood him to be a gray character, not an outright villain but I'm wondering if the show hasn't cut him too much slack considering what he's been responsible for. I don't know if I like the idea that he gets to choose the terms of his own exit but perhaps this is the show's way of proving that he wasn't beyond redemption. He acknowledged his role in Lee Dae-chul's death and paid his respects to the dead man. Even if his attack of Jo Seung-gi due to a burst of rage at the man's unrepentant spirit was understandable I wrestle with the fact that he killed two others to cover-up his misdeeds. It rankles that he used his knowledge from his time working the police beat to get away with murder for a time. Even if he wasn't a "bad" man as Jin Seo-gyeong asserts, he did some terrible things. So then what constitutes a bad man? Then there's the fact that he went to confront Jo Seung-gi, the man who raped his sister and drove her to her death, on his own. It was hubris on his part thinking that he could deal with the situation rationally considering his personal stake in the matter. That's what the police is for, whatever their faults may be. 

However, I don't doubt that this is what the show wants us to grapple with. It is hard to do the right thing. It is much harder to do the right thing than we think. Telling lies, prevaricating, cover up... sadly... seems to be the default position. It is so easy to rationalize one's position once the conscience is suppressed. Monsters aren't made in a day. Little things snowball and before one realises everything is out of control. While I can't in all honesty feel a great deal of sympathy for Yoo Jeong-seok because he deprived two children of their fathers, I am well aware that I'm asked to understand the circumstances that motivated the original crime. I also believe that his final strategy was also about protecting the newspaper and the integrity of the staff, especially Jin Seo-gyeong who had been digging into the story and was somewhat resentful at being used as political football.

There is little doubt that the truth is much more complex than first meets the eye. It's tempting to have a kindergarten view of people although clearly evil does exist. However, when one is morally compromised it gives oxygen to those who abuse their power. It isn't hard to see how that leads to the flouting of laws that are meant to be in the service of the greater good. The problem with corrupt practices even if it seems harmless at a time is that it never stops there. A few bucks here and the turning of a blind eye there always leads to a dare to go further. What's more, if found out it leaves one vulnerable to unscrupulous leveraging and manipulation.

Adherence to ideals of justice is also very complex. As Yoo Jeong-seok demonstrates, justice for most is deeply personal rather than universal. The truth of the matter is that not all lives matter... to us. Yoo Jeong-seok, a celebrated journalist certainly didn't because he did his part in concealing the truth behind Lee Dae-chul's case. Without truth, without facts... there can be no justice for all. That's why bringing in the Fourth Estate for this drama is fitting. We expect journalists to adjudicate our relationship with government on some level but it's clear from history and even now that journalists can easily become useful idiots or propagandists if all they do is repeat talking points without challenging prevailing political narratives.

As we can see from Jin Seo-gyeong's dilemma, the truth is not necessarily her priority despite her journalistic claims. Her conscience perhaps and her regard for Yoo Jeong-seok as mentor and role model can override any regard for the truth. Emotions... whether it be fear or pride...  can easily overwhelm our commitment to truth and justice. That's part of the human condition. That was also exemplified by Yoo Jeong-seok's outrage against Jo Seung-gi which led to irreversible violence and then to even more acts of violence. Note too that a colleague at the newspaper blames Jin Seo-gyeong for causing trouble. She blames herself for uncovering the truth. Despite the fact that Yoo Jeong-seok was responsible in some fashion for the deaths of 3 men, most people especially those around him would rather have not known the truth. The truth is too ugly... too unbelievable and earth shattering. It's too hard to handle. But the truth that underlies all others in this show is that anyone is capable of murder... given the right circumstances and opportunities.

I remember a tutorial that I attended as an undergraduate student. We were discussing Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde at the time. My lecturer at the time pointed out that there was no real description of Hyde's features. All we had were reactions from people who met him. Our lecturer threw out the question: Why was that? In an unusual flash of insight, the eighteen-year-old me said that it was because evil has no face. I think that applies here too. Evil lurks about and it is a horrifying thought that someone we know or think we know well can be capable of such horrors. We don't have to look very far to see the truth of this. The evening news attests to that.

The Good Detective (2020) Family

One of the drama's main strengths is the way it portrays different group dynamics. Those among the male leads, the camaraderie of Team 2, Eun-hye's newfound family, the senior officers of West Incheon Police, the women and even the Yoo brothers. This was clearest in the most recent episode which could easily have been entitled "Family".  Even while it purports to be a crime show, the show explores families of varying stripes... both biological as well as those formed through necessity in the fiery crucible of hardship and suffering. 

For passionate truth-seekers it's a lonely world out there. For them it is a moral wilderness particularly if one is swimming against the tide. But for common causes, lonely truth seekers eventually find their way to each other especially if they stand out as a rare breed of individuals. Reluctant partnerships are formed which may lead to friendships which in turn may lead to the development of a substitute families built on trust from surviving one trial after another together. It seems to be the contention of the drama that these  types of families are built in large part by circumstance and shared ideals. Biology is a non-entity.

I've enjoyed the exchanges between Yoon Sang-min and Jin Seo-kyung signalling their collaboration in the last two episodes. I'm not generally a cheerleader for girl power but in desperate times when men and women wrestle with their consciences while coming up against roadblocks over and over again, it is heartening that two people with common goals can find allies where they may. Yoon Sang-min inhabits a solitary existence. In her case collegiality, much less friendship, is a rare find. She finds in Jin Seo-kyung a moral kindred spirit underneath the self-deprecating banter. The two women shake hands, share their goals and discuss luxury handbags. Both claim to buy luxury handbags but can't bear to use them. Once in a while they take theirs out of storage to admire. It's a metaphor for the current case... one of those rare cases that reminds them of why is it that they do what they do. They are realistic enough to know that bringing resolution to the case won't change the world but it is something that will be personally satisfying and may go some way in appeasing troublesome consciences.

Oh Ji-hyuk and his cousin Oh Jang-tae are polar opposites personality wise and are on opposite sides of the law. The latter's a sleazy possibly psychopathic millionaire playboy who's certainly committed murder and capable of much violence. His wealth allows him to indulge without consequences. Although they are biologically related, share the same surname, they have nothing else in common. Then there's still the unsolved mystery of Ji-hyuk's father's death. Is Jang-tae or God forbid, the late uncle involved in that sordid event? There seems to be some implication that it's in-house. A shared environment certainly did not see them both walking the same trajectory or keeping common cause.

Yoo Jeong-seok (editor-in-chief of Jeonghan Daily) and Yoo Jeong-ryeol (Minister of Justice) are two high achieving brothers who enjoy worldly success. with a dark family secret that's only recently come to light. Their relationship with Oh Jang-tae is purely transactional. "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." He knows some of their dirty secrets going back to the previous generation and they promise to keep him out of jail. There's no trust and certainly no loyalty in that dynamic. It's purely expedient. However as the police does more digging into the Lee Dae-chul case, whatever complacency that either side were labouring under before is now shaken with new revelations. As far as the brothers are concerned, their loyalty to each other appears steadfast despite the ominous day of reckoning in the horizon that threatens to destroy everything they've worked hard for. What impresses me about them is how far they have been willing to go for each other. 

Eun-hee, sister of Do-chang is turning over into a new leaf. She's finally (thank God) made the decision to quit drinking because of her son, Jae-woong. It's finally sunk in that she can't keep going the way she has if she wants to have a relationship with Jae-woong who is also missing his mother. After his uncle's pep talk, Jae-woong decides to take up judo following his mother's footsteps. She's ecstatic and finds a certain comfort that her son hasn't forgotten her. Eun-hye who now lives with the Kangs, becomes the intermediary between Eun-hee and her son because she has lost custodial rights. The empathy that builds up between them is heartwarming. Later the two women who have become closer gang up on Do-chang as only families know how and he is profoundly moved by this new development. With Eun-hee's acceptance of her, the once orphaned Eun-hye now has a family to call her own.

Team 2 continues to go from strength to strength. In an earlier episode after Ji-hyuk's stabbing and subsequent hospitalization, Do-chang tells them that Ji-hyuk has no family to care for him at that time. But young Dong-wook pipes up and says, "Who says he has no family? We are his family." As proof of this, when Seo-kyung comes to visit Jin-hyuk, Dong-wook having to leave on an errand, is sufficiently attentive to give her instructions on helping him with his ablutions much to the embarrassment of both. When the men goes body hunting in the forest, all that turns up after some digging are fully grown ginseng. Consequently they give up on the body search and start digging for ginseng instead. The scene that has them all sitting in the station ogling over the newspaper headlines is a heartwarming one. They're revelling in a rare moment of success and celebrating a minor victory. Team Leader Woo looks on like a grumpy but wise dad, quickly attempts to clamp down on what could potentially become a case of premature hubris.

The banter between Do-chang and Ji-hyuk could possibly be my most favourite thing in the drama. I am especially partial to the backhanded compliments, sympathy and the wry humour. There's so much affection and respect between the men belying the barbed personal comments and the jibes. As Do-chang gradually hears Ji-hyuk's story and begins to understand where that drive to uncover the truth comes from, their easy, good-natured bickering is imbued with a understated admiration. It's more than a partnership, they've become brothers-in-arms.

The Good Detective (2020) Justice

*** Beware of spoilers for Episodes 1-14 ***

What is justice? According to the Merriam-Webster, an online dictionary that I frequently use, justice is "the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments". Cambridge Dictionary says it's "fairness in the way people are dealt with". Macmillan Dictionary states that it is "the treatment of people that is fair and morally right."

So why do I obsess over the defintion? Aside from the fact that I enjoy the process of thinking through these things, it's important to begin a discussion of an abstraction with a common starting point. Clearly the vast majority of us operate under the assumption that "justice", in every sense of the word, is attainable or should be achievable to some degree. What those definitions that I cited share is an assumption that a standard called "fairness" or impartiality exists and if it doesn't, it should be by legal imposition. Furthermore, justice as an ideal is a virtuous and desirable outcome.

I say this because there has been a lot of talk about justice in recent times that has many of us scratching our heads because obviously there are some sharp disagreements over what that looks like. As the word "justice" gets bandied around in contemporary society, it is increasingly becoming a justification for all kinds of behaviour that defy the primacy of the rule of law. The ideal and the goal (justice) has become an end that justifies the means.

While I don't want to get too political or philosophical about it, what we think about justice actually matters. It's certainly vital in understanding how this drama sees itself. This isn't the first drama in which an innocent person conveniently takes the fall for something they didn't do... becomes the scapegoat... or the proverbial sacrificial lamb for an interconnected web of agendas. However, what's fascinating in this drama is that we have a series of competing claims for justice being made. Clashes are bound to occur and it seems that the one that has the most power wins. So justice, it seems to me isn't about the rule of law but the use of power to advance a particular cause. In the words of the vernacular... "might is right". For example it seems to many if not most that Lee Dae-chul being executed is a terrible miscarriage of justice. Aside from the fact that the man himself protests his innocence and emerging evidence seems to be in his favour, there are others who disbelieved his claim. But there are others like Yoo Jeong-seok, editor-in-chief of Jeonghan Daily, who claim their right to justice while apparently denying the right of others (Lee Dae-chul in this instance) to justice.

In recent episodes we find out that many years earlier Yoo Jeong-seok lost his older sister when she committed suicide after being raped and tortured by a crooked cop, Jo Sung-gi. Apparently the offender got off with a slap on the wrist. Five years before when Oh Jang-tae killed the art student, Yoon Ji-sun, Yoo Jeong-seok had tracked down the ex-cop who was impersonating a pastor of a church, served the offender his brand of "justice", using his experience as a crime scene journalist to cover up his misdeed. It is unclear at this point of if he killed Detective Jang Jin-su although that certainly would explain his eagerness to see Lee Dae-chul executed for the crimes of killing both the art student and Jang Jin-su. 

Superintendent Moon believed that Lee Dae-chul was guilty so he tampered with evidence for the art student's death to get the result he thought was warranted. He too made a claim that he was acting on behalf of justice. He fabricated evidence because he thought it was the right thing to do to ensure the guilty party got what he deserved. It was a subjective judgment and he manipulated evidence to fit the narrative that he had settled in his own mind regarding Lee Dae-chul's guilt. He failed to maintain objectivity because a beloved colleague had been killed in the line of duty. He may have had the right intentions of wanting justice for Jang Jin-su but his inability to be dispassionate caused another man to die unjustly. In doing so, he also led others astray and compromised the integrity of the police as a result. When one does the wrong thing, cover-up then becomes the default position because instead of owning up to the misdeed, the tendency is try to get away with what is unlawful as much as possible.

In both instances having power and competing claims of wanting justice turns out to be gravely tragic. Having power can corrupt well-intentioned people quickly. Power may expedite justice on some level but the law of unintended consequences means that things seldom end well when the process is side-stepped. My belief is that if Yoo Jeong-seok was so convinced of his position, why didn't he face the music and give himself up? That's my question to him. Did he not have the courage of his convictions? Or perhaps he believed that just as Oh Seung-gi could get off lightly, he had the power to play the system to his advantage. He must have thought he was justified in doing what he did that he did not consider himself guilty. From my perspective, Yoo Jeong-seok becomes the monster he believed he had slain.

It is true that the judicial system is an imperfect one. This is a broken and fallen world after all. Things fall through the cracks and obviously guilty people get away with murder for a whole range of reasons. Politics being a major factor. But when individuals place themselves above the law to gain justice, however well-intentioned, there are serious ramifications. Worse still innocent bystanders get swept into the net. Yoo Jeong-seok and Superintendent Moon might have thought their causes were righteous but taking matters into their own hands and then denying culpability left a girl orphaned, having to live off the streets on her own. What's worse, as far as the community is concerned, our institutions become compromised. The community is all the poorer for individuals putting themselves above the law. No one should be above the law because this is how the rot starts. Yoo Jeong-seok and Superintendent Moon compromised their respective organizations and the long-term consequences play themselves out.

When Woo Bong-sik said about Moon Sang Beom as he left his the station's premises, "We kicked him out of his house. I don't know what's right or wrong anymore." It is a telling statement. Superintendent. Moon was reaping what he had sown even if he had repented. There would be no reason to kick him out of his position if he had done the right thing all the way through." Perhaps bribery is seen to be a lesser evil. But lesser evil can lead to greater ones. Moon Sang Beom acknowledges it himself. There is no rest for the wicked.

What the show demonstrates though is that even when judicial justice falls down or falls short, natural justice is still act work in the background.

Stranger Season 2 (2020) Early Review

The first season introduced us to Hwang Si-mok, the titular character as a dispassionate, dogged prosecutor who was depicted and located as the consummate outsider to the colluding machinations of Big Business, judicial system and government. It was hugely successful from all accounts, gaining critical and popular acclaim at home and overseas. It also managed to pick up a swag of awards for its troubles. So it makes sense that a second season would be given the green light as long as the cast and crew had the will to make it happen.

Sequels are always tricky as we're well aware. Few sequels ever reach the heights of their predecessors not only because of the perpetual burden of expectations but because it is difficult to replicate the freshness of the original.

Judging from the first two episodes, it seems that the writer has wisely decided to take a different approach although the focus remains largely on the criminal justice system. The old gang (aside from any who died or were put behind bars in the previous season) returns with the addition of some new faces but it's two years later and the political landscape has seen some changes. The show lands us right in a middle of a turf war between the cops and the prosecutors bickering over investigative rights and authority in the determination of case closures. Many on both sides are on edge with neither side wanting to give in. It's a cold war conducted in full view of public gaze as each side attempts to weaken the other's credibility. When the political wrangling reaches boiling point, the big guns from each side decide to do what bureaucrats do when giving the impression that something is being done... form a committee made up of members from each side. Hence the Police-Prosecutor Council is born.

Si-mok who was relocated to a regional posting at the end of the first season is inadvertently recalled to Seoul to be part of this new committee. His old supervisor Chief Kang Won Chul doesn't think it's the best idea ever devised by a person because in his mind, Si-mok is a sword that should only be used for very particular purposes or he will end up back in the drawer of oblivion as he did cleaning up corruption two years earlier. Si-mok's response is that he can't stay in the drawer forever and it's clear he's itching to play with the big boys. Chief Kang is well-aware that Si-mok is not someone who can be easily swayed by tribal loyalties and perhaps his being in the Police-Prosecutor Council will do more harm and than good for "their side". 

Meanwhile his former comrade-in-arms, Inspector Han Yeo-jin has been seconded to the Intelligence Bureau within the police organization whose primary brief is policing reforms. Her boss Choi Bit is walking the tightrope of trying to keep promote the organization's interests outside its four walls while protecting the organization from hemorrhaging from within in this battle with the Prosecutor's Office. Yeo-jin has also been tasked to join the Police-Prosecutor Council to protect the organization's interest.

My own feeling is that there are decent but frustrated people on both sides who want to get the job done and hold on to their jobs. But the political wrangling is undoubtedly problematic for a number of reasons. It's a publicity nightmare that can't exactly be inspiring public confidence about the effectiveness of the criminal justice system in the country. Potentially it could compromise the integrity of investigations if both sides play oneupmanship with other people's lives in order to prove something. It can be exploited  by a an ambitious inveterate brown noster like Seo Dong-jae to get ahead in the organization's food chain. Frankly it feels that someone like Si-mok and even Yeo-jin are needed in such a situation. They once proved that the police and prosecution can be on the same side when larger concerns are at stake, so why not now? 

Although still wholly in set-up phase, the second season shows promise. For me the first episode brought in a whole myriad of characters whose importance had to be navigated through for a clear view of the bigger picture. The beach drowning incident although had more to it than first meets the eye became for the two sides a veritable political football. There was no criminal culpability in accordance to the law but the hasty determination was later used by Choi Bit to accuse the prosecution in front of rolling cameras of giving preferential treatment after Si-mok put in a complaint about the unseemly speed in which the final decision was handed down by the prosecution.

It feels to me in these early days that what's really at stake for Si-mok and for the show is the role of prosecutors. All the haggling over authority seem to be about the definition of a prosecutor and what sort of powers they should be entrusted with. Are they investigators? Are they members of the judiciary first and foremost? Is there role in the larger society to exact punishment or to correct? Or are they primarily truth seekers regardless of their tribal affiliations? 

The Good Detective (2020) Episode 7

It is indeed a tangled web of deception in a seedy network of vested interests. I don't think that was ever much doubt from Day 1 who were involved in the cover-up of the murder of art college student, Yoo Jin-su. The guilty parties were named early and they mobilized in unseemly haste with tried and true obstructionist tactics to ensure that the truth behind the 5 year old murder would stay buried. In fact, the biggest mystery seems to be identity of the one who sent the surveillance video that gives Lee Dae-chul his alibi and is the catalyst to the reinvestigation. The timing is certainly interesting and it does beg the question... to what end? Considering what this show is about and where it's going, I have trouble believing that the sender is motivated by altruistic concerns.

Of course I don't think any of us believed for one moment that the "bad guys" would be resting on their laurels doing nothing while others were busy trying to uncover their secrets. It's a dirty business and as long as there are those willing to make a fast buck, dirt can be thrown around to discourage those who are seeking the truth.

I am sure Kang Do-chang knows exactly what consequences await him at the end of this journey. He doesn't need Yoon Sang-mi to point out the ramifications. He's thrown down the gauntlet and by stirring up this hornet's nest, he is setting himself up to be ostracized by the rest of the force because he is putting the entire organization under the spotlight for professional misconduct. In an ideal world he would be hailed a hero for standing up for his principles, for the little guy and for justice. But this is not an ideal world and key individuals within the law and justice system aren't motivated by the rule of law. There's also some ambiguity regarding Oh Ji-hyuk's pummeling of Eun-hye's pimp, Park Hong-du to get him to cough up information. Does the end justifies the means? At least in the mind of Ji-hyuk when the stakes are high and the bad guys are playing dirty he seems willing to cross the line. But then he too has nothing much to lose and he's in a race against time.

To a large extent Do-chang's biggest battle is not a legal or investigative one. As I've said previously, this is a show about people and what drives them to act in specific ways. Individuals have a rational and irrational side that come into play when backed into a corner. This is in part why even the best laid plans can come unstuck. Of course it's easy enough to manipulate someone into doing your bidding. Or talk them into it. But it's just as easy for someone else or a different set of circumstances to come along and unravel all of that. That's the unpredictable side of a conspiracy. At times it's a case of pushing all the right buttons to get the right reactions.

That was the case with the late Detective Jang Jin-su's widow who was in all likelihood dragged into the fray by Team Leader Nam. There's no pretence on her part that she's a grieving widow. All she probably cares about is dead detective's good reputation and whatever compensation came out of his demise from the line of duty. So in her case, she would do anything to protect that income stream even if it means throwing Nam Guk-hyun under the bus.

In this episode more facts about Yoo Jin-su came to light during the defence counsel's presentation of
the newly acquired evidence. The link between the deceased and Lee Dae-chul was (to my memory) established via the testimony of her college friend who wasn't included in the original investigation. It seems that Lee Dae-chul's daughter Eun-hye is actually a talented artist herself and her father was trying to get advice about how he could support her daughter's talent. It was a tragic piece of revelation considering what might have been for Eun-hye if her father had not been implicated in a crime he didn't commit. But perhaps there's still hope for her if Lee Dae-chul is found innocent and they get some kind of compensation for what they've had to suffer.

The tenuous relationship between Oh Jang-tae and the now Justice Minister Yoo Jung-Ryul via his brother Yoo Jung-seok was given more space in this episode during his confirmation hearings. It's a fascinating cat and mouse game with each side maneuvering to prove that they have the upper hand in this dynamic. Oh Jang-tae is certainly no fool and he's nobody's pawn. We are led to believe that it's an expedient relationship that goes back many years from when Dad, Oh Jong-suh was still among the living. I have no doubt that there's plenty of skeletons in that closet there's waiting to be uncovered by the willing. In fact I have my sights set on Dad and/or Oh Jang-tae for  Ji-hyuk's father's murder. Jang-tae certainly made it no secret that he hates his cousin so I'm sure there's a hint of something sinister in the background.

My own view at this point in time is that Jang-tae killed Jin-su unintentionally so finding the killer is not really the aim of this game. The primary aim is to find enough evidence to get Lee Dae-chul off the hook and for the rest of us to understand the complex relationship between all the key players in this conspiracy.

The Good Detective (2020) Ideal vs Reality

Rather than a straight up, run-of-the-mill police procedural with a typical K drama corruption narrative, The Good Detective (2020) is a morality tale largely preoccupied with the moral choices made by people on bad days. While I wouldn't go as far as to say that the policing elements are merely window-dressing, it seems to be that the police investigation provides a familiar storytelling context in which these moral decisions are interacted with. Kang Do Chang (Son Hyun-joo), presumably the titular character, is a veteran cop that becomes reluctantly thrust into a re-examination of a case involving a death row inmate. 5 years earlier, an art major and a detective were killed and the crime was pinned on Lee Dae-chul (Jo Jae-yun) but in recent days, new information has come to light suggesting that Lee Dae-chul might not actually be the perpetrator but might in fact be the victim of a large scale conspiracy involving various individuals within branches of the so-called justice system. It's a familiar tale of woe from Kdramaland about corruption in high places and the abuse of power.



The title of the show could be said to work in two ways. It could be an oblique reference to Kang Do Chang. Or his latest sidekick, Oh Ji-hyuk (Jang Seung-jo) who seems far more eager to get to the bottom of things and has the acumen to match. On the other hand, the title could refer more generically to a particular type of police officer that is more an ideal that is a reality. Whatever this ideal detective looks like is an integral part of what is being explored in this drama. There are of course assumptions that underpin this ideal and these assumptions are governed by a particular set of moral values. Society at large presumes that there are shared values which inform our ideas of what constitutes an ideal detective. But that's not quite the case. These values are hotly contested especially by those who don't have altruistic concerns. As the drama unfolds, it is clear that depending on where you stand in the corruption spectrum or ladder, notions of the ideal detective shifts accordingly.

Is the ideal cop... as is the case here... just someone who lives by his/her conscience? That is to say, to act according to what he/she knows to be the right thing? But that seems to be an insufficient requirement if corruption of due processes occur routinely. Corrupt officials could well claim that they too are acting accordance to the dictates of their consciences. The word "corrupt" suggests that there is a pristine, untainted state in policing and after a while no one knows what that even looks like if abuses in the system have gained ascendency. When we first encounter Do-chang, he comes across as a timid, brown-noser whose only concern seems to be promotion. That's only half the story. Some time ago he had decided to play the "thou shalt not rock the boat" game because for a man of his experience, he's missed out on opportunities to get ahead while watching younger men climb the ladder of success. As the show progresses, it's clear that Do-chang isn't incompetent so the road blocks turn out to be political and conspiratorial rather than meritocratic. To some degree he had grasped something of the political nature of his position but it is only now that he's digging through the Lee Dae-chul that he's getting the bigger picture of how deep the rot goes. Far more importantly he's come to the conclusion that despite the pretence and the seeming capitulation, he's actually not one to play the game according to the rules of his supervisors. He can't look the other way when the evidence raises alarm bells. So it becomes clear that Do-chang was left out of that conspiracy because the schemers knew that he would never play ball with them.

Conscience by itself evidently isn't enough. It's a perpetual juggling act. The road blocks and gatekeepers are ever present to ensure that the secrets stay buried. It certainly isn't enough to battle a large-scale conspiracy. The drama also demonstrates that there's an existential battle of wits going on. Those on the side of angels, as it were, have to circumvent many of the usual investigative avenues because of the obstacles within the organization itself. Much of the comedy comes from Do-chang and Co. attempting to scam the schemers. It certainly doesn't speak well of a justice system when cops have to create subterfuge within their own organisation in order to save a life and to get to the truth. Sadly the good guys have to play hide and seek in order to survive the backlash of trying to re-open a reprehensible frame-up job. Moreover, it is clear that Do-chang on his own could never achieve the level of success he has so far. Ji-hyuk has been an indispensable variable. As a partner, Ji-hyuk nudges Do-chang along in his journey to atonement. Ji-hyuk wisely perceives that Do-chang's crisis of conscience needs to be played out in more concrete ways. It isn't enough to "feel bad" for the victims of this injustice. Action is needed. Strategizing. And co-opting the media. The combination of Ji-hyuk's nous and Do-chang's experience has brought about some measure of progress against some powerful forces.



So perhaps too the point can be made that a good detective has to be able to work with others and/or provide necessary leadership. He, as is the case here, can't be a lone wolf. Moreover, it isn't just about Do-chang and Ji-hyuk's partnership but the team that they surround themselves with must be with them heart and mind. That's the lesson that we take from Kwon Jae-hong's arc where he's under pressure to cave in to the pressure to spy on his colleagues. Jae-hong had felt himself on the outer, not in step with the rest of the team. However, the team smartly plays up his contribution to the capture of a well-known gang leader with effusive praise and celebratory drinks. Winning his heart was essential to maintaining long-term unity and ensuring his loyalty on a bumpy road. Involving Jin Seo-kyung was also key to giving legs to getting a retrial on the road. She too understood the ramifications of what she was asked to do when cooperating with the "good cops". There are consequences for everyone who work outside the system or the confines of what their respective organizations have laid down. The irony is that though they are made to feel like renegades and even provocateurs the reality is that if they are supposedly seekers of truth and justice then really, they are only accomplishing what was always supposed to be the spirit of their jobs.





With regards to Ji-hyuk, he is driven by something intensely personal. He isn't just a dispassionate detective although it does appear that way to those who don't know him well. His is a life traumatized by crime. His father's murder has been a festering wound in his soul that he can't shake. As someone left behind in an unsolved murder and a suicide, he is driven to catch the culprit in a way other cops aren't. He must know what it is like not to have answers to the questions. No resolution means no closure. He certainly has no qualms about fingering his cousin, Oh Jong-tae for the crime or putting him in the hot seat if the shoe fits. For him, shaped by his tragic past, the truth of what happened is more important than blood ties. He is only too aware from his family baggage that people who share the same blood don't always share the same goals or moral compass.

The other brutal reality that emerges when cops don't do their jobs well is that people's lives are destroyed. Of course the larger forces that play their chess games in their ivory towers live by the maxim that omelettes can't be made without breaking eggs but down in the back streets and alleyways of the big cities are some of the results of their backroom shenanigans. Lee Eun-hye, the daughter of the death row inmate might be the biggest casualty in this as her bleak future continues to play out in unsavoury terms. She suffers from epilepsy. She has a tumultuous relationship with her pimp. There's no where she can call home. If her father is executed, she will forever live with the infamy of being the daughter of a murderer and death row candidate. So a man with a conscience like Do-chang can't look at the true victim of a true crime and walk away. After all she's the sort of person that he must have signed on to protect many years ago.







What's clear too is that justice can only occur when it's accompanied by the truth. Without truth, facts, data there can't be justice. Whoever is guilty of the original murders has to be found to save a man's life but at the end of the day it isn't just about him, it's also about society's confidence in its institutions to protect the lives of everyone without partiality.

Ancient Detective (2020) The Puppet Motif *Spoilers*

This post is an in-depth analysis of a recurring idea that plays out in the drama. Therefore it contains spoilers about the details of the plot and outcomes of the drama. It is strongly recommended that you not read this if you haven't seen the entire drama.


It occurred to me after the series finale when the identity of Wang Hua is revealed in not just one but two fascinating twists that the theme of freedom (especially individual liberty) finds intriguing expression in the exploration of the "puppet" motif. The motif works on different levels. As a literal, concrete plaything, as a metaphor for a form of indentured slavery and as a more Frankensteinian realisation -- being the creation of a person who wields immense power for good or for ill. The idea of a puppet is that of a lifeless doll that moves at the mercy of another with no will of their own. A puppet acts in accordance to how it is directed by the controller whether it be through some kind of mechanism or through the use of deception. It symbolizes the very opposite of free will, freedom, self-expression.

*Spoilers ahead*

According to the show's mythology, Wang Hua is a terror of the martial arts world (jiang hu) who was defeated 8 years earlier in Shenji Valley but his body, it seems, has gone missing. The show's protagonist, Jian Bu-zhi is concerned that he might still be alive so he sets out from the valley as a detective and a truth seeker. What's particularly suggestive is that Jian, though supposedly present 8 years earlier at the battle, has lost all his memories of the event and anything else before that fateful day. Only by reading the notes and diaries of his father, Jian Jin-huan, a legendary sleuth in the martial arts community, who died in the carnage, has he been able piece together some aspects of the puzzle.

*Ending spoilers ahead*

It turns out that Jian is not who he thinks he is but that he is in actual fact the Wang Hua that terrorized jiang hu 8 years earlier. However, the other twist that follows is that he isn't actually Wang Hua either but a puppet that was assuming the identity of Wang Hua. Wang Hua it seems, was a mind-controlled super soldier deployed by a shadowy figure who presumably used the Wang Hua persona to create chaos in that world. In effect, Wang Hua may not be a real person but a puppet of an unknown antagonist that remains a mystery at the drama's conclusion.

The irony of course is that our Jian Bu-zhi who identifies himself as the biological son and intellectual heir to Jian Jin-huan's legacy through the latter's writings actually becomes his true successor when he goes tabula rasa. Or not. Whoever his original controller or master might be, this Jian breaks free of his programming to gradually live up to the legacy and the legend. We don't know what he was like before he became a puppet but that matters little at this point. As Beggar Chief Hu says, what's really crucial is that Jian epitomizes the values of the late Jian Jin-huan who in turn personified everything that was good, true and heroic about jiang hu. According to him, the real identity of Jian Bu-zhi doesn't matter. It's what he does in present trajectory and what he symbolizes that count. He is the man that jiang hu desperately needs.

This Jian that we come to know and love somehow managed to break free of whatever influence his controller wielded and chose to take the righteous path. To promote truth seeking and universal justice. In the same way, his love interest, Zhan Shi-qi who was a nameless assassin with a number was raised to be a soulless puppet for the sect. Through a series of incidents she comes to see the meaninglessness of being a cog in a well-oiled machine. So she unshackles herself in the name of freedom. The immediate consequence of which sees her living like a fugitive. Even before she escapes the tentacles of the sect, she's obsessed with beautiful clothes and pretty things as if to suggest that though she's a puppet, she's looking to differentiate herself from the rest by dressing distinctly.

Throughout the drama her colleagues and former mentor can't see the motivation behind her exit. While they can't conceive of a life outside of the sect and being an assassin, she longs to be free to make her own choices and even find love without any kind of expectations that life will be a bed of roses from here on. It's the freedom she craves, not necessarily the benefits or any that might come along with it. That is the point of contention. She chooses freedom over security, relative safety and even a sense of belonging in order to be her own person. Once she was a puppet, now she is someone redefining herself by finding her own meaning and identity in the wider world.

The word "puppet" 傀儡 is first given focus in relation to Jian's visit to Changle Gambling House on Puppet Li's island. Jian's purpose is to find the whereabouts of Handy Tang, one of the Shenji Valley survivors from 8 years earlier. Puppet Li is so named for his renown in constructing mechanical devices and was sought after for his expertise in making sophisticated traps. When the ten that board the boat on this occasion make their way to the gambling house, this is the visitors' first view of Puppet Li as their host.

His facial expression and form is hard to make out from due to the hooded cloak and the surrounding darkness. At this first encounter, everyone presumes the voice and the figure seated on the wheel chair are genuine. It is surprising that no one seems suspicious of the dilapidated and dusty structure that they are ushered into. But perhaps all who are there are eager to enter into some kind of transaction with Puppet Li.  Most, however, are not there for the treasure hoard that he is fabled to possess. They have specific requests unrelated to wealth. However, in order to get what they want from him, they are required to play his game. The game involves puppets, and the contestants need to find the puppets' missing pieces from around the room. Unbeknownst to the visitors, Puppet Li's game is a game show of death (patterned after Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None) of which the puppets are the lure.

The 6 puppets made in the image of 6 missing jiang hu personalities are a distraction and misdirection. A part of the theatrics of a mastermind with bigger fish to fry. It is revealed later that Puppet Li, without the smoke and mirrors, has been relegated to a ventriloquist puppet -- the skeletal remains of a man who was a reputed engineering genius.

On this trip, Jian's vigilant protector and fellow traveller, Zhao Wo-huan inadvertently gets close to the assassin sect's spy Ming Yue and soon the two develop feelings for one another. On this occasion she takes the guise of a helpless mute girl while looking for a piece of crystal that contains the names of undercover agents belonging to the assassin's guild. The point of their romance is that at some level it serves as an instructive contrast to that of Jian and Zhao Shi-qi. Ming Yue is the willing puppet of her masters and remains so right to the bitter end. Despite falling for Zhao, she can't leave the guild behind because her relationship with it goes far deeper and she is still emotionally tethered to the organization. In effect, she is unable to cut the ties.

There are also other instances of body substitution in the story. In the third major case featured here, a series of murders take place at a gathering of top physicians who have come to treat a sickly wealthy businessman Mr Yin. The culprit cleverly attempts to deflect attention from himself by using a corpse he killed to frame another and to cause that man to believe that he has committed murder. A body swap and some high level martial arts are used for subterfuge. What's also interesting about that case is that the murdered men were reprehensible scoundrels using child beggars in an extended experiment to find the right drug for the wealthy Mr Yin. They were used, in our language, as laboratory rats or as insignificant vessels for a clinical trial. They could also be said to be puppets... dancing to the ugly tune of their controllers for their own ends. The idea of human rights was not accorded them because underpinning this ugly conspiracy was the idea of "might is right".

The physician Xiao Ye Ye who turns up at the gathering turns out not to be the genuine article but a character known as The Man of a Thousand Faces. The Pretender of jiang hu as it turns out. The real Xiao Ye Ye had died 8 years earlier. But this incarnation happens to be a quick study and has taken on various identities in his lifetime. He confesses that he has no personality of his own but he, like a shape shifter or an empty doll takes on the personality that most impresses him at a given time. Once again the puppet motif emerges.

On the outskirts of the Yan prefecture, the man who is named the Divine Archer has mysteriously disappeared. The simple villagers attribute this to a fox demon when his people find a pair of shoes which he purportedly left behind. Much later when Jian finally has all the necessary pieces in place does he realise that the Divine Archer's body was used to in Chief Bai Cao-ze's coffin (of the Mt Yan sect) as a substitute to give the illusion that Chief Bai has passed away. This is clearly meant to hide a much bigger agenda concerned with the Shenji Valley massacre 8 years earlier. Chief Bai's most senior student, Bai He, it is revealed, has been an undercover agent for the assassin's guild. Her identity was discovered by Jian Jin-huan years earlier but he allowed her to continue. She and the elder Jian knew that everyone would be after her blood including the assassin's guild. In her words, she was only a chess piece who's identity had been exposed. As long as she didn't act against her teacher, he would keep her identity a secret. Later she pays the ultimate price in the hands of Zhan Si for letting Jian go. When she is torn between her loyalty to the assassin's sect and her love for Jian Jin-huan, she acts of her own will knowing the consequences of her actions.

When Jian and his travelling companions arrive in Liaodong to seek information about the Shenji Valley event from the remaining survivor, they find themselves right in the middle of an internal leadership contest within the Santong Security Agency. In order to conceal his true motives to Jian, the second-in-charge usurps the leadership and installs a temporary "puppet" to assume the identity of the legitimate leader.

In a crazy twist in the body swap motif  Boss Wang undergoes major cosmetic surgery and is now looking like a young man in a different body. He wants to retire and leave behind his responsibilities but doesn't think his usurper should succeed. He seeks the help of Jian and Co to regain his position in exchange for information about what happened at Shenji Valley 8 years earlier.

There are many aspects of the show I find fascinating but this is one that struck me when I thought a little more about the open ending and considered some comments I'd seen on the web. The implications are provocative because it feels that what is implied is that the body is a mere vehicle or vessel but the identity of the person is in the soul and the will.