tvN Wed-Thurs Serial Killer Drama Mouse Ends with Trying to Tie Up Loose Ends But Leaves a Mixed Message

My nearly 3 month long Wed-Thurs date with Lee Seung Gi is over, and zero regrets with the time spent. Unlike some of his stupider drama choices (*cough* Vagabond *cough*) this time tvn drama Mouse was too smart for its own good. It was like a math student who got the answer early on then trying to question and outthink what should be a straight forward solution. Mouse should have been about (1) serial killers, bad, (2) manipulating serial killers, just as bad, (3) serial killers who later develop a conscience, sorry still bad, and (4) laws that abort babies in utero for carrying a serial killer gene, THE BADDEST OF ALL! Like, how did the drama end with the okaying of an eugenics law for purpose of creating a society without war or killing?!? Like, we spent 20 episodes back to square one when everyone was horrified in the first episode that South Korea even considered that, only to have the entire premise of the drama to back that up, and end with it actually succeeding despite the truth being revealed.

I am flabbergasted the writer went there. All other major plot points was at least satisfactorily tied up from the mastermind being the female politician who wanted to pass the serial killer gene carrying fetus termination law to giving everyone who did something bad their due punishment. Hyun Joo reunited with her parents but spent some time in jail for her aiding Han Seo Joon as a kid, Yo Han got his named clear, Han Seo Joon’s wife came clean to Ba Reum and then chose death to follow her beloved good son Yo Han, and everyone hates Ba Reum but also teensy weensy feels sorry for him that he was manipulated from birth to activate his predator serial killer gene. Everyone was a victim in some way other than Han Seo Joon and the female politician but that doesn’t negate the bajillion innocent victims of all the serial killers in this drama, Ba Reum included. I can’t say this drama made me happy to watch but it wasn’t terrible, attempted a decent landing, and Lee Seung Gi vaulted another level in his acting craft. So all in all, worth watching…..I think?


Comments

tvN Wed-Thurs Serial Killer Drama Mouse Ends with Trying to Tie Up Loose Ends But Leaves a Mixed Message — 8 Comments

  1. I am glad that the drama is over.My love for Lee Seungi made me watch the whole drama.I hope that atleast his awesome acting can lead to many great dramas with better endings.
    And I was expecting this- Lee Seung gi is known as the actor with disappointing endings and that combined with writer of disappointing ending what did we expect?
    Still this is a better ending for the drama given its genre and the plot ( unlike his other dramas-yes I am looking at you Vagabond and Hwayugi

  2. I totally agree! I’m not into fantasy so I didn’t watch Journey to the West/East and I refuse to watch Mouse because I’ve been on prosecution teams for actual serial killers (nothing glamorous about it). And Vagabond…well, it happened. I’d appreciate just a simple low-key Rom-Com with him co-starring with either Park Shin Hye or Park Min Young.

  3. This drama is not perfect. There were a few confusing and illogical scenes but the good thing is, the episodes always past by very fast with so much things happening, that I must say, this is one drama that I thoroughly enjoyed the most this year. It was engaging from Episode 1 to 20, never a bored moment that made me want to fast-forward or just stop watching. I rarely watched any show these days and often when i started anything, i tend to easily lose interest and drop it. I also notice that with korean dramas which started very strong in the beginning, they commonly went downhill later, and not anymore interesting. Especially for fantasy, thriller, action genres. Its like, the writer lost momentum and did not have any more ideas to make the story remain interesting and engaging. This aspect is what i want to applaud the writer of Mouse. She had too much ideas, that maybe the editor had trouble to fit all in and make it flow smoothly while maintaining the suspense, which resulted in some sequences being confusing. The drama might be better directed and edited if it was pre-produced, instead of filming while airing.

    Overall, it was a job well done from everyone involved, with room for improvement. Keep it up, and continue producing and creating high quality made dramas like this Mouse team!

    P/S: i cried so much watching episode 20 and still thinking about it. It was sad, but satisfying. Plan to watch the last episode again, Seunggi did amazing, same goes to the whole team, which made the end so so heart-wrenching, satisfying and memorable.

  4. Messy (but watchable) 20-episode drama that has 5 “special episodes”!! In the special episodes, they kept inserting additional scenes and covering up the plot holes. They repeatedly played back the night of the live broadcast of Sherlock Hong Joo’s Cross Murderer case, trying to justify the sequence of events of how Ba Reum can be at so many places at the same time. Crazy indeed.

  5. Very watchable and I honestly think it was quite good. The ending managed to tie up almost all ends and both LHJ and LSG are totally amazing in the acting dimension. LHJ totally blew over everyone in the 1st half – I have never seen such acting unleashed right from the onset and LSG has now totally convinced me that he can act and darn well it is.
    I really felt for Ba Rraeum- although I don’t like the direction that it was the brain transplant that give him back his emotions. To be honest he tried to be good when he was younger and there was no “nurture” environment – while Auntie was around she was part of the Truman show, and having all those triggers just made it possible for him to do the first murder that became the start. The story could have left one last reveal that the surgery didn’t work – it was not the brain that was changed but his own brain that after impact perhaps made the area controlling emotions normal again. This would bring up debate whether psychos are really a kind of mental illness and people can be treated because inherently He became normal and kind once he could process emotions. Overall still – this didn’t kill the drama for me. Every episode was well directed, paced well and had best cliffhangers. And the amazing find of LHJ as an actor and seung gi matching up which is nothing short of amazing

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