Voice

 Voice (Season 1) (Available on Netflix) 

Content Warning: Language, Extreme Graphic Violence, and Disturbing imagery 

Rating: A-

Character Glossary: 

Mu Jin-hyuk: Police Detective 

Kang Kwon-joo: Is in charge of a 112 call center (911) 

Mo Tae-goo: CEO of a company

Other characters: Obviously this is self explanatory but I just want a combined area where I talk about the secondary characters. 

Voice is about a police detective whose wife is murdered whose life gets entwined with Kang Kwon-joo who believes her father was murdered by the same person. As the two tackle different cases they move closer to the killer but not all is as it seems. As the mystery deepens they will have to risk everything to catch the killer before he kills again. 

This show was such a surprise. I didn't think I'd enjoy it because of its lack of romance--don't judge I just really like romance in my shows. But this show was absolutely stunning. It was also horrifying, startling, and really leaves you stunned. Keeping this spoiler free I thought that the actors and actresses in this show did extremely well. They really brought the story to life and they were what drew me in. I also liked all the mini mysteries (that kept me up WAY too late) and how they ended up tying into the greater mystery. This is definitely a crime show worth watching. But I do just want to note briefly here that a lot of the imagery and stories are extremely disturbing. It is why I won't buy this show and probably won't watch it again although I absolutely loved it. There were some seriously horrific moments in this show. So I love this show and highly recommend it but just be aware of the kind of content you are getting into. 

SPOILERS AHEAD READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

OVERALL STORY: This show was absolutely insane and had one of the most intricate crime plots I have ever seen. And it is extremely graphic and disturbing at times. The one thing I think that kept this show TV-14 was the fact that they blurred out a lot of the violence but if they hadn't there is not doubt in my mind that the violence was graphic enough to be TV-MA. That being said I felt like this story was extremely well developed. It kept me so on edge that I always worried about watching an episode before bed because inevitably it would end on a cliffhanger and I would either watch another one or be forced to suffer until the end of my work shift the next day. Having known who the bad guy is from the start it ruined the whole mystery for me but it didn't affect the viewing experience. There were many stories like the 7 year old boy getting stabbed, the girl getting kidnapped (and almost raped), The old lady who is hiding a dead body, and the mental hospital incident. All of these were probably the most critical cases to me and all of them were really disturbing. The acting was phenomenal and really made you feel the fear and the other emotions of the victims. There were moments when I wanted to look away but I couldn't. I was on the edge of my seat as these smaller stories weaved into the larger one. I am going to avoid going into detail because I don't want to give the show away but let me assure you--it was fantastic. I want to talk a bit about the climax--It was so intense I still haven't recovered. He (Tae Goo) locked them (Jin Hyuk and Kwon Joo) in his murder house and they had a full on "I'm hunting you" vibe. It was absolutely insane and weirdly enough it was one of my favorite parts of the show. That last episode was so well done it was probably my favorite. 

ROMANCE: This isn't going to be very long because there was little to no romance in this show. I did just want to note my little ship between two members of the 112 call group. They were super cute and I

would watch a show all about them. 

MU JIN HYUK: Honestly I didn't like his character in the beginning. I almost stopped watching because his character bugged me so much. But then he grew on me so much that I absolutely loved him by the end. I like the fact that although he has a firm moral compass he doesn't always "stick to the law" when confronted by the worst of society. He is not afraid to get his hands dirty and really go face to face with these guys. But he still adheres to the law. It is a weird sort of balance with his character but I adored it. And I loved how all these big bad guys were so afraid of him. He just had this way of getting under there skin and actual making them afraid. He is seriously my hero. I loved especially when he and Mo Tae Goo came face to face because I can sense that same fear and wariness. Jin Hyuk is so amazing. 

KANG KWON JOO: I liked her character in this story. She really pushed the story along and I think she is absolutely brilliant. I liked how she didn't back down when corrupt people were unfair and tried to ruin her position. I think that's why she fascinated Mo Tae Goo so much--I loved their interactions. They were so intense. The one complaint I have about her character is her "super hearing." While I did enjoy how it played into the story sometimes I felt like it was way too unrealistic. I think her hearing was used way too often to help get to pieces of evidence. I have no problem with it being there but there were times that I was like "Ehhh that's not realistic." Example: She hears the guys footsteps but there are a lot of people running around so how did she know it was him? Or how did she differentiate? But I digress because it really wasn't a big deal.  

MO TAE GOO: The actor made me feel super weird about the character. Let me explain: I have only seen him in one other show, Her Private Life. This is a romantic show and he was the main lead. Now

in this show he is a psycho serial killer. But I was like "I remember you in the other show and I loved you and I still love your face but you're murdering people so now I'm uncomfortable." That aside I was super surprised at how well he did. I learned from one of my friends that he normally plays roles like this which makes sense because he was great at it. He was creepy, messed up, and absolutely crazy. The moments he would laugh or smile I found myself getting shivers down my spine. The actor did really well in portraying a guy who was clearly going through a psychotic break. But I do want to note that although he is technically the main villain of the story the worst person in this show to me was his dad. His dad knew that he was going out murdering people but because of his guilt (because his actions led to Tae goo going through a psychotic break) and his need to protect the family name. He is so messed up and was willing to let others die because of his mistake. He is easily the worst person on the show for me. (Two of these pictures are from Voice the other is from Her Private Life. See my dilemma??) 

OTHER CHARACTERS: This isn't going to be a long section because it is just going to be a shoutout to my favorite secondary characters. There are the 2 people (the romance people) from the 112 call group who help find information and give you a little bit of normal amid the action. I also liked their humor and I wish we would have had more screen time. (Officer Oh seriously has my heart.) One other character I want to talk about his Jin Hyuk's friend who turned out to be the mole in the police agency. (Which I figured out pretty early on because he was the only one involved enough to have been able to give Tae goo the information he had.) I liked him as a character despite this because as ridiculous as it is his reasons make sense. The one thing doesn't make sense is that point when he tries to make up for it by confronting Tae Goo. Why do people do this? It makes literally no sense to me. There is a reason he is a serial killer--he kills people fairly often so maybe finding your friend to tell him what you know is smarter than meeting Tae Goo in an abandoned alley way--just a thought. 

QUOTE:

"It's not because I was born strong. No matter how much fear I felt, how scared I was, how heartbroken I was, or how much pain I felt, I endured and put up with it all. I endured it until the moment that I finally knew that it was the wrong thing to do. That's exactly why I chose not to do it." 

Sorry no ship video for this drama!