That Psychometric Guy: Series review

76 May 7, 2019May 8, 2019

by Saya

With the conclusion of tvN’s Monday-Tuesday supernatural mystery drama, That Psychometric Guy last week, I figured it was worth taking a moment to look back on the show, and whether it lived up to my initial excitement. I know I’m not the only who sat up when I heard the premise—a kid who can read memories by touch? You mean like I Hear Your Voice, but tactile? Yes, please!

Our first introduction to LEE AN (Got7’s Park Jinyoung) certainly lives up to everything I wanted and more. An has the most adorkable, beta-hero charm: an overgrown lovable puppy of a boy, with an utter lack of ego and an endearing dimness that I honestly think is my new favorite kind of hero. Although he has a bright, affectionate personality, there’s also a side of him that’s so wounded, hungry and love-starved that it hurts my heart, and I’m so impressed with Jinyoung’s rendition of An’s emotions at all these different junctures.

The show begins with his appropriately tragic origin story and a haunting opening sequence: An unseen perp murders multiple women in an oddly ritual way, and then sets fire to the apartment complex which ends up killing many more. I admit that the show nearly lost me there, with its disturbing echoes of recent real-life events.

An loses his parents to the fire, but his fate becomes entwined with KANG SUNG-MO (later played by Kim Kwon), who becomes hyung and hero after saving his life by jumping from the burning building with him. His psychometric ability, which allows him to “read” memories from people or objects upon direct skin-contact, develops after that, and it builds the central conceit of the show.

But it turns out to be more curse than gift for young An. With no ability to control it or switch his ability off, the perpetual onslaught of unwanted information—secrets and trivialities alike—leaves him shying away from every form of physical contact, however slight. As adorable as the sight of him is, enshrouded in scarves and hoodies with his hands bunched inside his sleeves, it’s also a constant reminder that his ability is a vulnerability, and that’s the only way he can protect himself from the world.

It makes him an ideal foil to Sung-mo: Where An is an open book, Sung-mo is tightly-sealed and impenetrable, the one person An can’t read at all. We eventually learn (via that psychometric guy) that he has a condition called alexithymia, which broadly describes a lack of ability to identify and recognize feelings. I’m not sure how true-to-life this representation is, but we’re told in-show that in brain terms, it’s the chemical opposite of sociopathy (overactive amygdala versus underactive), which basically tells us that he’s not a sociopath.

But it’s An and his partner-in-crime(-solving), heroine YOON JAE-IN (rookie Shin Ye-eun), who really form the heart of the show. Jae-in is fiercely smart, works hard, and ultimately, is a survivor.

They first meet in high school for a short time—a meeting engineered by Sung-mo (whose agenda remains as opaque to us as his mind does to An), and An quickly learns that she has a secret. She confides to him that her father’s in jail, but as staunch as she is about his innocence, she also admits to doubts. When she learns his secret, he promises to help clear her father’s name, but before they can do anything, she’s driven into hiding when her classmates find out about her dad.

We skip forward a few years to a future where Jae-in’s worked hard to become a police officer. Stationed in a sleepy, provincial sub-branch where nothing happens, she dreams of joining the violent crimes division. She’s as sharp and resourceful as ever, and the intervening years have given her a centeredness and maturity she didn’t have before. Her violent panic attacks have subsided, and she’s made peace with her life and her feelings about her father.

An, on the other hand, is basically still a lovable dimwit, except he now has wheels (not his own, of course, but his long-suffering friend’s, haha!). Sung-mo is a slick prosecutor, and rounding out the quartet is Detective EUN JI-SOO (Sistar’s Dasom), who is also the boys’ childhood friend.

All our main characters are connected by the Yeongseong Apartment fire, one way or another, and it’s the mystery that takes the longest to unravel: An lost his parents to it, Jae-in’s father was jailed for committing it, Ji-soo’s father is the one who covered it up, and Sung-mo…well, we learn later how he’s connected.

Despite its dark beginning, the first half of the show is bright and bubbly, with the focus on An and Jae-in, and their growing relationship. Sung-mo assigns Jae-in to tutor An and help him hone his ability, whose clarity An has discovered is amplified by her nearness, but frustratingly, this isn’t delved into more. We don’t ultimately get a real explanation for why he has it, though I’m sure the head injury has something to do with it. I don’t actually think it necessitates an explanation as some degree of unknowability is just part of the supernatural package.

The problem though comes later, in the second half of the show, when his ability becomes not much more than a plot device, and a too-convenient way to provide exposition that at times felt like lazy storytelling. In the first half, An’s ability was shown to have specific difficulties and limitations, and painfully difficult to master. The things he saw would be frustratingly fragmented, irrelevant, and perhaps even misleading. Part of his character’s development was not only to come to terms with the ability, but to make sense of it. Instead of it becoming gradually more coherent, however, he somehow went from noob to pro without much in between, which required much more suspension of disbelief than normal.

For me, the show was carried on the strength of the characters, particularly An and Jae-in, who show the best kind of personal growth, both together and apart, and it makes their romantic arc all the richer, though it’s unfortunate that the show lost a degree of momentum and urgency as soon as the pair were securely united.

We as viewers knew all along who Jae-in really is: the daughter of the security guard who saved An and tried to save his parents, but was afterwards framed for starting the fire. It’s a horrible ticking time-bomb of a conflict, and An’s utter devastation when he finds out the girl he fell in love with is the daughter of the man he hates the most is the first huge character test he faces. The way he reasons out his torn feelings proves a level of emotional maturity that belies his age. That doesn’t mean it makes him less humanly flawed, but he’s acutely self-aware, not just of the pain he feels, but of the pain he inflicts, and he’s able to reflect on what is and isn’t justified. (Tell me that isn’t a rare jewel of a character!)

That Psychometric Guy employed what I thought was an interesting narrative structure by prologuing each episode with revealing scenes set around the events of the original Yeongseong Apartment fire in 2005. It built up its mystery by cutting between past and present, the hidden and the known, and brought it all to a head as we drew into the show’s final leg. The connection between past, present and future turns out to be one of the central motifs underlying each character’s trajectory, Sung-mo most of all.

There’s something inexplicably odd in the way events are timed in this show, and left me with a feeling of whiplash at critical moments. For example, just as the mystery of how a seemingly unrelated assortment of crimes is connected begins to come to light, Sung-mo goes off the grid and when he reappears, he’s gone dark (so sayeth the flat hair and guyliner), but it ended up seeming kind of random. I was also never fully convinced about the villain behind the crimes, who seemed unimaginably powerful in the shadows, but small and impotent once revealed.

The subsequent face-off between Sung-mo and villain KANG GEUN-TAEK (Lee Seung-joon), the man who turns out to be his one-time captor and torturer—who, by the way, is also his biological dad and also has alexithymia—sees their roles reverse, as Sung-mo makes some very dark choices. Kang Geun-taek gives us a glimpse into the world of his consuming obsession, but the real answers about his history with Sung-mo’s mother are doled out at the very end, and it’s every bit as horrifying as you would have come to expect.

As Sung-mo takes on the mantle of captor and torturer, they tackle the question of who the true villains really are, and more shockingly for us, who really committed which crimes. Between the two men, it opens up the perennial debate over nature versus nurture–are monsters born or are they made? It all culminates in a question of what really separates the two men. As Sung-mo admits to An in the show’s most painful scene of all, “No matter how much I wanted to deny it, I am the child of a monster.” But recounting his fear and horror, he says, “Ironic as it is, the moment I made the choice to become a monster, I learnt for the first time what fear was.”

Since we spend most of the show experiencing Sung-mo as someone who rarely reciprocates any of the affection he receives, it always seemed like everyone’s feelings for him were one-sided. When he finally resurfaces and we’re told without any apparent empirical evidence that he really cares about everyone, it’s hard to see it, especially when coupled with the fact that he’s been playing a really long game, manipulating everyone who cares about him into doing what he needed them to do to serve his own plans—to save his mother and remove her tormentor from the mortal coil.

It’s that Machiavellian maneuvering that ultimately kills Ji-soo, his most loyal friend, and her fate becomes even more tragic when you realize that her dying wish doesn’t ultimately change his path, despite the fact that we can see that her death hurts him. The only person who had any power to change him in the end was his mother, and that makes it feel like everyone else was, in some way, irrelevant.

The distance at which Sung-mo’s character held himself prevents us from being able to truly know, understand, or sympathize with him. I can appreciate to some degree that that it’s the nature of his character—the alexithymia that cuts him off from his feelings also cuts us off, but it seems to me that his distance comes at the cost of his dimension, and he remains aloof and unreadable for far too long. My sneaking suspicion is that Kim Kwon was not the right actor for such a complex role. Thus, despite having all the right ingredients to be heartrending, it makes Sung-mo’s final arc feel a little emotionally flat to me.

The implication that An can’t read him because his emotions aren’t “available” puts an interesting spin on the challenge Sung-mo sets him at the start: to be able to read him. It leaves you with a strong impression that rather than a test for An, it was really a deadline for himself, because once An is able to read his memories, his past, and his feelings, it changes everything irrevocably and forever.

An’s crisis with Jae-in ends up laying the ground for the biggest challenge he faces, which is confronting Sung-mo’s past and who he really is. It’s a challenge he’s forced to take to heart when Sung-mo disappears, and he makes incremental breakthroughs reading Sung-mo indirectly through objects he’s touched. That’s how we learn about his alexithymia, as well as his childhood of growing up underground, chained and caged, which is one of the most wretched backstories I’ve ever seen. But it’s a process that begins to feel contrived as An follows a trail of too-conveniently-placed metaphysical breadcrumbs, as left by Sung-mo.

In this way, An witnesses his secrets one by one, until he comes to the deepest secret of all, which forms the climax of their arc (I won’t spoil it, just in case!). But with present Sung-mo absent for so many of those moments, it leads to feeling even more disconnected from him, and it makes that wrenching past feel more abstract than real.

Therefore, when An is finally able to read Sung-mo himself, it comes as something of an anti-climax. It’s really only in the final episode that he cracks open and shows An (and consequently, us) everything. It’s a little bit ironic, though, that it’s not the power of psychometry, but his simple, long-awaited confession of the truth that is so moving, and that is what at last closes the distance between him and us.

Now that the show’s over, the feeling of muted dissatisfaction that’s been brewing as I watched the second half has solidified into a lingering conviction that this could have been a much better show. A great first half was pulled down by a confusing third quarter that had too many running threads, and the last-minute corporate corruption storyline (with the introduction of a totally new Big Bad) in the finale seemed a bit abrupt, despite otherwise wrapping up well. The plot, the backstories and the relationships all had tons of substance and promise, but they came hand-in-hand with convoluted storytelling and poor timing that leached the tension from game-changing twists or reveals. All the elements to make a memorable, nail-biting drama were there, but it fell just a little short in its overall execution, like a soup that needs just a bit more salt.

Despite its technical faults, I really loved the characters and the sense of family that permeated the show throughout. Though all our main characters were shown to be outsiders, they weren’t lonely or unloved, and always had each other to fall back on, and a whole host of secondary characters who made the world of That Psychometric Guy a warm and inviting one, whether that was Jae-in’s aunt who really loved her, her oddball, nose-picking boss (the always-entertaining Park Chul-min) who turned out to be a solid ally when push came to shove, An’s rich and hapless best friend Dae-bong, or Ji-soo’s best friend, medical examiner Dr. Hong, whose grief over losing her provides some of the best emotion of the show. It’s in those small moments you feel the closest to these characters. I feel like it’s perfectly set-up for a second season and could really suit a procedural format—I’d certainly watch the heck out of it! Psst, tvN!

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1 deegee

May 7, 2019 at 11:25 PM

Thank for articulating this so well!! The 2nd half of the series felt so off and the ending was so unsatisfying.. I didn't know why. You've expressed the reason why perfectly!!

This is my fav:

"Since we spend most of the show experiencing Sung-mo as someone who rarely reciprocates any of the affection he receives, it always seemed like everyone’s feelings for him were one-sided. When he finally resurfaces and we’re told without any apparent empirical evidence that he really cares about everyone, it’s hard to see it, especially when coupled with the fact that he’s been playing a really long game, manipulating everyone who cares about him into doing what he needed them to do to serve his own plans—to save his mother and remove her tormentor from the mortal coil."

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lovin

May 7, 2019 at 11:42 PM

I feel exactly the same way. I feel like if Sung-mo was gonna be the killer then I wish the writer would have primed us a bit

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froyo

May 8, 2019 at 10:23 AM

exactly... im not expecting him to tell Lee An but at least he could tell Jisoo. He know that she is the one who genuinely want to help him but i cant find the reason why he didnt when he said he regreted he didnt talk to police back then.

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DHMRS

May 9, 2019 at 1:48 PM

Because telling Jisoo anything is exactly the same as telling Lee Ahn. Ahn can read Jisoo like a first grade primer. She can't keep things from him.

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2 frabbycrabsis loves KBS Drama Specials

May 8, 2019 at 12:04 AM

Amazingly written, as always @saya - although the romance thriller genre is arguably my favourite concoction that Dramaland has ever stirred up, I didn't get around to watching this. Reading about it was enough!

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Mungbeanie 난 딩동, 넌 땡 ;)

May 8, 2019 at 1:23 AM

This one is very very well done. I highly recommend you at least give it a go 😁When I started I couldn't stop!

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mugyuljoie is preciousss

May 9, 2019 at 1:26 PM

You're missing out if you don't watch Jinyoung in the first few episodes.

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3 mintkiri 🌱🌘

May 8, 2019 at 12:08 AM

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mintkiri 🌱🌘

May 8, 2019 at 4:28 PM

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4 Kurama

May 8, 2019 at 12:12 AM

Personaly, I was disapointed by this drama.

The story started with a big crime, a lot of people died this night. So not a funny and light drama, for me it was pretty clear since the beginning. But the main character is a goofy and dumb young boy. He has a power that he can't control yet. And for no reason, the female lead is the only one who can helps him. I mean they didn't need that for Ahn to become better or to show romance... The school part was useless for me because Ahn was the same as adult with a car. The scenes when he had to learn was pretty boring too. I love read but I couldn't read all the books she gave him and resume them neither...

It made me more interested by the cop and the prosecutor, because they were doing their job. And they were the one that made the story moving forward. The characters had a good dynamic, they were competent.

It's like there were 2 stories in parallel and they met too late.

For Sung Mo being the killer, I think it was a good twist. But for his mother? She was kidnapped as a teenager, she was locked up, raped and she had a baby. She always loved this baby and when she could be free, the police didn't help her. So for her, it could have been nice that she knows that her son didn't become a killer like his father, even if his motives were different. For her, it could have been a little victory.

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EainOo

May 2, 2020 at 2:31 PM

I agree! They should have made the school part shorter atleast and I think sm shouldn’t be a killer. I rlly want that for his mom and An. They have gone through much. They can made him seem like a killer in ep 13 or 14 but at the end it were memories which were fragments and An master his ability and see that sm wasn’t the killer

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5 RaOnAh loves Jay B 💚

May 8, 2019 at 12:32 AM

I loved it but I don't really want a season 2. Without the central mystery, it seems like it wouldn't be as interesting. Also, if they were going to do a season 2, they should have kept Hyung good and Jisoo alive so the four of them could work on cases together. Although, if they do make a second season, I'll definitely watch it for Jinyoung 💚

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dramamad

May 8, 2019 at 8:42 AM

As much as I loved An and Jae in, not gonna watch it without JiSoo

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RaOnAh loves Jay B 💚

May 8, 2019 at 9:15 AM

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RaOnAh loves Jay B 💚

May 8, 2019 at 9:16 AM

It wouldn't be the same without her 💔🌻

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mugyuljoie is preciousss

May 9, 2019 at 1:28 PM

I'd be happy with a related but different second season with two couples we follow, the rich gas station owner/daycare employee and the crime solving duo.

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RaOnAh loves Jay B 💚

May 9, 2019 at 1:49 PM

That would be fun 💚

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EainOo

May 2, 2020 at 2:38 PM

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RaOnAh loves Jay B 💚

May 2, 2020 at 2:41 PM

Yes, if the ending had been different, a season two would've been fun. Lee Ahn was a great character and I would've loved to see more of him. The actor who played Lee Ahn has a new drama out now called When My Love Blooms. Maybe you'll enjoy that too 🤗

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EainOo

May 2, 2020 at 2:45 PM

Sry I deleted the cmt, I thought u wouldn’t reply this soon. I was just changing some words😅 Sry this is my first time on this .

Yeah I was just searching for WMLB bc I want to see more of Jin Young, I liked his acting a lot

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RaOnAh loves Jay B 💚

May 2, 2020 at 3:19 PM

No problem! Jinyoung is a great actor. Did you know he's also a singer with GOT7? They are all super talented and fun guys so if you want more Jinyoung, you could check out their music videos and reality/variety appearances. Jinyoung mentioned in an interview that he based Lee Ahn's personality on the two youngest members of the group, Bambam and Yugyeom.
Here's their most recent song
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ladClnnJhqg

EainOo

May 2, 2020 at 2:42 PM

May 2, 2020 at 2:38 PM
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Yeah, I know most Korean shows do not have S2 and this won’t get a S2 but at the end of the series, I got a feeling that if sm wasn’t the killer and Jisoo was not dead. This show has a base material for a crime show. Mainly bc the character Lee An was the most enjoyable and I would be fun to see more seasons of him

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6 Mungbeanie 난 딩동, 넌 땡 ;)

May 8, 2019 at 1:21 AM

I totally, totally get where many of you guys are coming from, being dissatisfied with the second half...however I need to say something. This show was so refreshing to me and the positives faaaaaar outweighed the small issues I had with it.

I've watched many dramas over the years. I first enjoyed romantic comedies and later crime dramas, but few recent dramas have held my undivided attention to the end. TPG has such great characters, with legitimate reasons for angst and betrayal (as was wonderfully mentioned by @saya) and a great bromance that really pulled at the heartstrings. I didn't expect much from the acting but was super surprised by Park Jin Young. I was giggling along at his cheekyness and crying with him when he was devastated by loss and deceit. And that deceit! Many said - yeah I bet it's so and so, but I didn't want to believe it. Then I though, nope, he's just a red herring. But boy oh boy, the truth was scary. That's what I call a drama! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

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RaOnAh loves Jay B 💚

May 8, 2019 at 1:44 AM

I'm glad to see someone else enjoyed it! I was beginning to think I was the only one!

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Dorotka

May 8, 2019 at 2:15 AM

Me! Me! Here! Here! 🙂

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RaOnAh loves Jay B 💚

May 8, 2019 at 2:22 AM

💚

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another woodalchi nicole recruit

May 8, 2019 at 6:17 AM

fwiw i didn't NOT like it ;) heheh. honestly though i am super glad i watched it. i was annoyed with how it ended, but i still think the characters were incredibly well-drawn and the acting was really great to watch. plus i'm now a jinyoung fan, and really, that's what counts :p

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RaOnAh loves Jay B 💚

May 8, 2019 at 8:10 AM

I'm so glad to see that Jinyoung gained so many beanie fans 💚

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shinayame

May 8, 2019 at 7:52 AM

I LOVED this show. In fact, I hadn't noticed any of the plot flaws Saya spoke about until I read about them here!
I was totally swept away by the characters and their relationships and the story had me on the edge of my seat till the very end. One of my favourite dramas of 2019 so far!
I was impressed by how fleshed out and real the characters were. Like Dae Bong, who's kind of a lovesick moron at the beginning, but actually has such a heart warming past with An. And Officer Nam (Jae-in's partner, I think that's his name) who seemed set to retire but was actually so dogged in his pursuit of the truth and loyal.
Let me say it again, I LOVED this show.

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Becky

May 8, 2019 at 1:22 PM

It was a different type of drama--suspense, romance, thriller. I thought it was very well done. The suspense held out for the whole drama. Usually the mystery is easy to spot or too convoluted to make sense. Who could have predicted that devastating Sung Mo arc? It was really interesting (and tragic) to see the crimes replayed through Lee An's mind. Very well done.

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mugyuljoie is preciousss

May 9, 2019 at 1:30 PM

Same. It suffered from the same issue that many dramas I watch suffer from - a horrible corporation behind the problems that shows up at the last minute and trivializes all the mystery plot up until that time. I can overlook it because I found the rest of the show very entertaining and compelling.

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kakakash

May 11, 2019 at 11:59 AM

Yes! Its not that I didn’t notice the plot inconsistencies mentioned in this review but I just happen to disagree. I loved this drama beginning to end and seem to be one of the few 🤷🏻‍♀️

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7 Dorotka

May 8, 2019 at 2:13 AM

I already mentioned that Psychometric felt like a cross between Mystery Queen and I Remember You, two shows I loved dearly.

Sadly Psychometric's last third wasn't as satisfying as I wished for. An I wouldn't blame it on Kim Kwon (I noticed him in Shall We Live Together where he was the highlight for me), but more on writing and directing. There were parts which narratively made little sense to me... plus I never got why by committing a horrible crime a person would suddenly change so drastically
--SPOILER--
I mean why from no emotions he would go to guilt and care.
--END SPOILER--

The show also too much concentrated on the chase than on developing/explaining the characters (and yes, I also expected more interesting (and more logical) learning curve of Ahn's ability).

I was heartbroken by the final reveal... and the los of one of the characters... and the what-could-have-been relationship... but I wished if we really had to go that route that the narrative was a bit different...

All in all, I definitely don't regret watching Psychometric, despite it's less satisfying last third it was still a fascinating drama with interesting characters and great acting.

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Anything Chewy

May 8, 2019 at 7:48 AM

Totally agree! I actually thought Kim Kwon acted really well at the start of the drama and was compelled to continue watching just for his storyline... I couldn't believe it when the writer decided to kill off Ji-soo so suddenly just a few episodes before the finale... I just want to see a happy Sung-mo but he ended up losing the girl and getting jailed for 13 years... Sigh... The last episode was indeed problematic with abit too much tears from the usually stoic Sung-mo... But I'm glad the show introduced me to Kim Kwon and definitely hope to see more of his acting (and his handsome face, of course) in more upcoming productions!

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DHMRS

May 9, 2019 at 1:46 PM

I felt like something happened in the same accident that gave Ahn his pscychometric powers, and possibly the act of saving Ahn's life that nudged awake some latent feelings that grew over time. That made no less sense to me than pscychometric powers to begin with.

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8 YY Chats with Toast Between Bites

May 8, 2019 at 5:10 AM

The secret of hyung's past haunted me for days after. That his mother was abducted, and bore a child, and kept for nine years in that basement was just horrific. I thought I would be prepared for further reveals, but when they showed him stabbing the women in cold blood it was just chilling. Why did he pour the tea into four teacups after the killings? Was it to pretend everything was normal, and he was refusing to see the bodies lined up side by side on the floor? And how could he kill four people and burn down an entire apartment complex and get away with 13 years in jail? Was it him who ordered the killings of the other two women whose identities his mother took? It was never revealed, was it, whether he ordered the killings?

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shach

May 8, 2019 at 5:46 AM

No, it wasn't revealed, and in that apartment fire died a lot more people than this four women and Ahn parents, so how he get away with only 13 yrs is miracle known only to drama writers.

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BC

May 8, 2019 at 6:55 AM

South Korea has one of the strangest law system for me. It's different when woman would do the same crime as a man. She would get much more hate and longer sentence. If a man is influenced by alcohol or drugs he would get smaller sentence even if he's commited a huge crime. People who use not permitted medical drugs by ministry of health and other drug users get quite high sentences and the police is not catching suppliers. When your family has connections they would find another victims to cover the crimes of the former. For raping a little girl or a woman they get little sentences or it's brushed under the carpet like we see in this show. It's a mystery to me, maybe because I didn't grow in a strong patriarchal society as it's still in South Korea. I got mad when's read article about a guy who raped so many times a 8 years old girl that she almost lost her hearing and her intestines were coming out of her but. He will be released shortly, he didn't even feeled and doesn't feel any remorse at all.

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ywcnois

May 8, 2019 at 7:22 AM

Was it him who ordered the killings of the other two women whose identities his mother took? It was never revealed, was it, whether he ordered the killings?

I think it wasn't. I believe Sungmo said something like that he was threatened by the guy who murdered them.
And it looks like after 2005, he didn't commit any (big) crimes anymore.

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pauper

May 8, 2019 at 11:11 PM

He said that he didn't know about the killing of the two women. He hired kim gabyong to give his mum fake IDs but he didn't know how he obtained them (or he chose not to know).

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Gopal

May 9, 2019 at 6:44 AM

I think he just added a fourth tea cup to make it believe that there were four people present before the killing .

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DHMRS

May 9, 2019 at 1:41 PM

There were already three teacups at the table, one for each guest. He rearranged the table and added the fourth cup so the cups and women in the apartment match up.

The apartment complex issue is more complicated- he didn't mean to burn down the whole complex- and it should not have burned. That was the reason for the police cover up. The company that built the building cut corners and thus made the building a fire hazard. (S-company)- that's why they paid the Ji-Soo's dad just to fix the crime on the Jae-In's dad and make the case end fast.

I wonder, too, if the statute of limitations on arson had already passed.

I also wondered about the other two women whose identities his mother took- was it Seung Mo who ordered their killings, or the company that provides the fake I.D.s that doesn't want any loose endings. I feel like it was the company, but I don't think that was explained well.

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9 shach

May 8, 2019 at 5:50 AM

That was really good review that said what many of Beanies felt during this drama run. I want to add that in typical Kdrama fashion writers picked up rare disease and didn't even bother to read Wikipedia entry about it, because alexithymia doesn't make people emotionless, those who suffer from this condition can feel emotions but can't recognize them as such.

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10 The first_Strawberry

May 8, 2019 at 6:15 AM

The difference in tone from the first- and the second half of this show was a little jarring for me. This was actually not a bad drama, the main idea of the story was actually quite engaging, but somehow I had to slog through this drama (not bad enough to drop, but not intriguing enough to make want to know what would happen next). I feel like the 'big reveal' about Sung-mo could be done a little bit more... fluidly, for lack of a better word. And yes, I did wonder if the character was portrayed by a different actor, would it make any difference?

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11 aaaa

May 8, 2019 at 8:03 AM

-SPOILERS-
Ah if only we could get a rewrite for the last part of the drama... SM ending up being the killer was so frustrating. Imagine if An instead saw how much he tried to "feel" through years. Like that dictionary thing wrecked me. Why they didn't push it more? Maybe then him going full dark would've made sense, like he would've had it enough after all these years. Like they (main cast, jesus, POOR JISOO! And his mom :( ) wanted to save him from himself and that man. Why don't let that actually be the plot when you have such compelling characters already? Really sucked how Jisoo's death meant NOTHING. This show had so much potential which is sad to see how it ended.
-SPOILERS-

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karin

May 8, 2019 at 8:25 PM

Second thisssss! Jisoo's death is totally useless, even more that SM was the real puppet master behind all these. Her death was unnecessary at all.

I feel so cheated towards the ending that I don't even watch the last 15 mins.. *sigh

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Lyra

May 2, 2022 at 3:40 AM

Detective Eun’s death was necessary, in my opinion. Otherwise her father would most likely not taken the action he did in the end. her death was the only reason EVERYONE felt they were responsible and therefore act upon it because she was loved by everyone in the plot.

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12 Yashashree Jadhav

May 8, 2019 at 8:19 AM

I personally quite enjoyed the drama. Jinyoung and Ye Eun were really good as our lead couple. And the 'was your father my parent's killer' cliched couple breaking apart was thankfully short lived.

Could the Sung Mo second half arc be done a bit better? yes. Did I still enjoy watching it? Yes.

I quite enjoyed Dasom as well. The last proper drama I saw her in was My eccentric daughter in law. She suited the cop role pretty well.

All in all I think it was a good drama with a similar concept like 'The girl who can see smells' accident > random superpower.
Lee An's bubbly self made it wonderful to watch.

Jinyoung has come a long way since his drama debut days and it shows. His emotional scenes were done well. The main lead had good chemistry that did not seem forced in any way.

As for the Sung mo arc. It was horrifying to see the hardships that his mom had to go through, literally being locked up for years, and then he comes along and is bound (literally) in the basement for 9 years. That will definitely mess you up! (of course that does not excuse his crimes)

The twist about the real culprit was nicely done. Build up over a couple episodes and then we finally 'see' it happen through An's psychometry.

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13 froyo

May 8, 2019 at 10:35 AM

as much i want to feel sympathy towards Sungmo i actually cant. he had a very horrible past but i dont think that justify everything he do to people around him in the present.
sure we need a closure but i feel like everything revolve around Seungmo when everyone is literally suffering (specially Lee An).

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14 dany

May 8, 2019 at 10:42 AM

I really loved the show at the beginning and then.... not so much. The way they "destroyed" the second leads was pretty annoying. I loved Sungmo and then he ended up in prison (how terrible is that, after being born and raised in one because of his crazy dad). And poor Ji-soo....
The main leads were cute but a little boring, to be honest.

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15 Mel

May 8, 2019 at 2:51 PM

Thank you @saya for such a welll thoughtout series review! For me, I couldn’t believe that the twist was gonna happen. Even when evidence started pointing that way, I was still in denial. But after pondering about how the series could’ve ended like, I realized this twist made TPG more memorable to the audience. Instead of a story where they finally catch the longed to be captured criminal, there comes about a more mentally straining and distressful ending that at first I thought the author suddenly decided to make this happen and didn’t start out this way but after watching the last few episodes, it seems to settle down pretty understandably. One thing I wanted answered more was, where are kang enchu ‘s family? And why did enchu have to ask what kang kentae ‘s name was when she named him herself?

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ywcnois

May 9, 2019 at 7:18 AM

I think after that moment when she named him, they didn't meet each other again for a long time. So she probably didn't recognise him when he locked her up.

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DHMRS

May 9, 2019 at 1:34 PM

She knew the name he was using was the name she gave him. She just assumed he actually had a real name before she named him. She was just a kid when she gave him that name and didn't understand he was serious when he said nobody had given him a name before.

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16 KSKalways

May 8, 2019 at 4:11 PM

One question: should I watch it?

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MeSaya

May 9, 2019 at 2:59 AM

@KethySK
Errr... if you are like me, you should. Kekeke, it's a joke and a no joke, sorry.

I mean most of the time, I watch only half of a series/drama and left, knew the rest of the story by looking on the recap/review and be content with it. Looking for a series/drama that suit to our preference & taste is not easy this day.

First half of this drama is fun. But, it goes downward on the second half.
To avoid disappointment, I left and just read the rest in dramabeans.

Actually, the main story is quite interesting.
There are two sides of a coin. One could read the history of a person by touching. One tried to block his history, and suffered from a rare condition. Both care for each other, deeply. Their lives touch and affect people around them, most of the time tragically. But, also healing. Just like a coin with two sides.

It should ended there... ;p

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pauper

May 9, 2019 at 3:33 AM

I think you should, just to experience the characters for yourself. To me, the story kinda takes a backseat because I'm more invested in how the characters are going to grow and move forward, how their lives have changed.

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ywcnois

May 9, 2019 at 7:20 AM

Yes.

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mugyuljoie is preciousss

May 9, 2019 at 5:44 PM

I don't regret a minute. Lee An's character is my favorite character this year (so far). Jinyoung was a joy to watch.

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kakakash

May 11, 2019 at 11:57 AM

YES. I loved it

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17 Bob

May 8, 2019 at 5:54 PM

'Children of Nobody' (Red Moon Blue Sun) may have been a very depressing thriller but at least its tone was consistent. They didn't try to shoe-horn in a love line and comic hijinks into a serious drama. 'Psychometric Guy' suffered a bit from a common K-drama problem of wanting to be everything to everybody. Its a drama! Its a comedy! Its a thriller! Its a romance! Its high school students! In that class of 'everything-for-everybody' shows the series was no worse than any of the others and was better than some. It was never going to be 'Forest of Secrets' or 'Misty' or 'Signal'. At best it was going to be 'Pinnochio', at worst 'Secret Hotel'

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18 panshel

May 8, 2019 at 11:46 PM

Can't relate.

That Psychometric Guy is my favorite drama of the year. I loved it. Even though one half of my ship died and the other half was in jail, I still loved it.

I can't imagine any actor playing Sung-mo besides Kim Kwon. To me, there was no question that Sung-mo really cared about Ahn and Ji-soo. He was only unreadable as to whom he liked: Jae-in or Ji-soo.

I felt the twist was unnecessary. It would have been more satisfying had Kang Geun-taek been the killer and arsonist, but Sung-mo faked Mom's death. As the residents fled to escape the fire, Sung-mo spots the dead bodies in the apartment and plants Mom's ID card on one of them to make Kang Geun-taek believe Mom burned in the fire. Or Show could have had Sung-mo set the fire to try to kill Kang Geun-taek but inadvertently killed Ahn's parents.

I wanted Ahn, Sung-mo, and Ji-soo to be one big happy family. I wanted Sung-mo to confess to Ji-soo. I wanted noona (sister) to become hyungsu-nim (sister-in-law). I wanted Sung-mo to comfort Ji-soo over her dad's corruption. I wanted Jae-in to return Ahn's dog so White Snow could comfort Ahn over his noona's death and hyung's betrayal. I don't want a second season.

I loved Ahn, and I liked Jae-in a lot, but I was not into their love line. When they broke up on their First. Day., I was meh; it was a given they would get back together. They got three kisses, while my OTP got none. I was also not into Dae-bong and So-hyun's romance because she did not seem to genuinely like him. She just felt touched that he liked her.

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Vespertyne29

May 9, 2019 at 4:24 PM

I agree about Kim Kwon. He was one of the main reasons I watched. And I also thought his character was going to end up being involved is something like planting his mother’s ID on one of the women (that I thought his father had killed), and in setting the fire to try to mask her identity, and I hated that the writers ended up making Sung-mo a murderer.

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mugyuljoie is preciousss

May 9, 2019 at 5:45 PM

I really liked it too. My favorite drama so far this year.

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19 MeSaya

May 9, 2019 at 2:46 AM

I stopped 2/3 of the series, since Ahgase spoiled the ending, kekekeke...
No, actually, 1/3 of the series, I thought it was written poorly.
Especially the part where there was sudden leap from high school to young adult's years. Or sudden in everything that hasn't intertwined clearly or beautifully to the main theme.

The young stars, Kim Kwon, Da Som, Ye Eun and Jin Young act quite good. But, the story fell apart just to have XXX as the killer. Maybe, just maybe, the writer wanted to have a unforgettable climax with a twist. However, it fell apart. Or, maybe the editing just not par to the story.

It quite disheartening, especially since I felt quite attached to all the young stars. Especially and surprisingly to Ye Eun. She's quite a rookie, but her act quite impressive. Jin Young needs to work with more good notable mature actor/actress to hone his ability.

I really hope their next project will be better.

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20 Ruthy

May 9, 2019 at 4:36 AM

I felt like bits and peaces where unsatisfying and anticlimactic or messy and such. But it’s also felt more realistic too. They used something realistic and historical and a huge issue in Korea and used it. But it was something I didn’t even know was an issue but it was so powerful and new. It wasn’t just the topical oh this person killed this and blah blah, it was the most tragic thing IV ever seen in a kdrama and them just finding that back door leading to the basement gave me goosebumps. Also the soundtrack for whenever something creepy was gonna happen 👌👌👌 one of the extremely rare soundtracks that’s ever freaked my sister out.

I felt it was realistic because sometimes you do get a bad guy, and as much as you want a reaction from them, it just doesn’t happen and sometimes you’ll never get to properly reason with them.

Even the issue he had which made it difficult for him to feel emotions, it was unsatisfying with how he interacted, like everyone just wanted more ... but I also feel like that also happens in life. There’s so much of that in life it felt natural in its own way. So while that annoyed me it also felt more realistic that way.

It really deterred from a perfectly structured plot. It’s made me a little mad cus it could have been so much better. Like the episodes felt in balanced. It was like one episode was for romance and one for mystery and I wish that had more balance. Then again life can also be like that too, sometimes things happen in an annoying order. So I hated it. It was also a refreshing break from perfectly structured dramas. It was messy like life.

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pauper

May 10, 2019 at 11:41 AM

Thank you so much for your comment because this is exactly my thought after completing the drama. Some characters are engaging, some are detached. Certain arcs didn't follow the typical drama structure. It was still a well-made drama with symbols and details planted since ep1 (Jisoo's locket has been hanging on her rearview mirror since ep1 and the YSS corruption was mentioned during the scene with Jaein's dad and the women from HOA).

The plot could have been executed better or more smoothly but at the end of it, the core of this drama is the characters and how they move forward after the things life threw at them. Heck, I cried when Jaein asked her aunt why she stayed by her side. It was unexpected but there lies the heart of this drama, a glimpse of the vulnerability and the strength of the characters.

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21 eynay

May 9, 2019 at 8:58 AM

I started watched this drama when they already aired up till episode 12 and then stop till they updated to final episode. The storyline is quite interesting but I'm quite hesitant to watch it because I'm not familiar with the leads. I thought GOT7 Jinyoung is the one that act with Park Bo Gum. I'm familiar with Kim Won & Dasom face but do not know or remember their names or their previous dramas/movies. In fact I googled up to know who are 'Jisoo' because her acting is really good.

For Kim Won, even though I think in some scene he look awkward but I really love him act as SungMo. He and BeongGyu(young SungMo) really look alike. Their voice and persona make me believe they are one person. I even mistook them in some scenes.

Jinyoung, for the first 10 episodes I don't think his acting really challenged him. After that as Lee An he showed me that he is indeed an idol that can act.

What really make me disappointed with this drama is when the writter make this drama like rom com than suddenly change to thriller. And also the title not really fit the storyline even though the lead have that special ability.

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22 anyo1387

May 9, 2019 at 10:15 AM

Excellent article - agree with it completely
I have so much love for this drama because of the main leads - their story and chemistry was excellent and drove it forward for me. Hugh fan of park Jinyoung now 😍😍😍😍 for life

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23 Adal

May 9, 2019 at 10:15 AM

Comment was deleted

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24 Adal

May 9, 2019 at 10:18 AM

Thank you, Saya for your analysis of this drama. I found myself vaguely dissatisfied with the drama which should have had all the elements of a hit (and addicting one) to me; but couldn't pin-point the reason why it felt flat/empty. Your analysis helped me understand my dissatisfaction with the way the drama turned out. I found myself emotionally disconnected with the players in this drama; despite the obvious chemistry between the leads and the intruiging plot.

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25 DHMRS

May 9, 2019 at 1:30 PM

I don't know. I didn't feel like Sung Mo's mother had the power to change him, either. He cares about his mom, but so does 'dad.' She is the only person either one of them has any feelings for, but it doesn't make either of them capable of expanding those feelings- his 'dad' points out the same thing- she didn't tame either one of them, and mom is shook when he says that, because she knows it's true.

The only person who can, and who does, change Sung Mo is An.

And Sung Mo cannot tell Ji Soo because An reads her without even trying. She can't hide a thing from An.

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26 chi

May 10, 2019 at 5:24 AM

Saya, thanks for the great review! I have only just peeked into the 2nd ep and was contemplating watching/not-watching it, so this was very helpful in my decision (to watch it ;-) ).

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27 pauper

May 10, 2019 at 11:52 AM

Thank you so much for your review! I get the grievance of some viewers after the ending but I thought it was still with substance, just not as fulfilling we had hoped for.

For me, I treat this drama like a novel and genres be damned. Tacking on so many genres to this drama actually kinda ruined the impact and the expectations because it's more about the characters than the main plot.

P/S: tbh the last episode should have been an hour and a half long so I would be able to take in everything that happened and to savour the sweet moments between Ahn and Jaein.

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28 kakakash

May 11, 2019 at 11:54 AM

Thanks for the review Saya. I’m honestly disappointed so many people thought the latter portion of the drama was unsatisfying. This was and remains my favorite drama of the year as it actually broke my heart in the agonizing only a tragic bromance can. It was well written and executed. I especially loved how the secrets were revealed in a painstakingly slow process because everyone loved each so much that the truth was too much to realize. I was invested emotionally always, and with a drama this long, thats saying something. The acting and direction were perfect and conveyed emotions in just the right way. My only complaint with this drama, which is with most korean thrillers/murder/mysteries, is that certain scenes were replayed for the purposes of explaining a character’s logic too often; so I was watching the same scene over and over and felt unnecessary. But this an ongoing issue with most kdrama in that I feel sometimes they’re simply too long. In any case, I loved it and would love to discuss the scenes, the logic behind character’s thoughts and actions, and the plot with anyone interested. Hoping to see these actors, writer and director on-screen again 😊.

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29 Ronelledj1

April 7, 2020 at 4:06 PM

I only watched this drama now and boy oh boy, I should have watched it earlier. This drama kept me wanting more and more after each episode. It took me 3 days to binge watch it. Jin Young was totally adorable as the lead and my heart broke several times during the course of the show for him, but where I cried the most was where they showed Sung Mo's tragic past and especially where Jisoo died. What made it especially heartbreaking is the slow realization that Sung Mo is a monster. That he is a murderer, that he played a game with everyone, but also that he wanted Lee An to stop him. It is just so tragic for me and I felt so sorry for him. I really felt so emotionally invested in his character. It left me drained at the end.

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30 EainOo

May 2, 2020 at 3:26 PM

I am not disappointed at the ending but I think they could have end it better. I see a lot of ppl disappointed and others like it bc it shows the reality of not getting a happy ending for all the characters. I saw a spoiler of Jisoo death while watching ep 7 so I wasn’t that sad.But I think if Sm wasn’t the killer, it would be so much better and also if Jisoo death was more meaningful. They could have built a more brotherly relationship between An and Sm and give a happy ending Sm’s mom bc she has been through a lot. I was legit hoping at ep 14 that the things An was seeing were fragments and Sm is willing to go to the prison bc he thought he did the crime or something else and An mastered his skill and see the real truth that Sm was not the real killer. Also they could have made the main villain more scary and manipulative towards Sm with that storyline. They can kill Jisoo but they could also have made it more “meaningful”(I know her death made her dad turned himself in and made sm more human) but they could have done it way better

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