The lack of clarity isn’t confined to the show’s release structure – it is also a feature of its lopsided narrative structure, alas.
Gyeongseong Creature Part 1: Park Seo-joon leads Netflix monster K-drama
Part 1 wasn’t without its drawbacks, but as it went on, it managed to draw us in with its clearly delineated characters and simple and effective plot line.
Set in 1945 at the end of Japanese colonial rule in Korea, the story followed debonair pawnbroker Jang Tae-sang (Park Seo-joon) and scrappy seeker Yoon Chae-ok (Han So-hee) as they infiltrated a mysterious hospital to rescue civilians, only to wind up doing battle with a horrific creature, in addition to the military.The goals were clear and the linear thrust of the narrative and locations gave rise to tension and opportunities for set pieces and dazzling heroics.
Things began to go pear-shaped after the “Gyeongseong Creature” is revealed to be – in an astonishing coincidence – none other than Chae-ok’s mother.
Nonetheless the escape from the hospital continues and Tae-sang, who has miraculously turned into an expert marksman, volunteers to stay behind and battle the army alone to help everyone escape.
Part 2 begins with everyone safe, save for Tae-sang, still hiding in the hospital, and the knowledge that Myeong-ja (Ji Woo) – the Korean mistress of the Japanese head of police, Kato (Choi Young-joon) – has been infected with the monster germ.
The three episodes that comprise part 2 achieve very little besides setting up events for season two. The first two episodes are largely a meandering mess that see various characters escaping or being caught by the Japanese army – generally not for the first time.
Tae-sang and Chae-ok are reunited, only to be torn apart again thanks to Lady Maeda (Claudia Kim), who has begun to finance the monster experiments but seems chiefly concerned with the fact that Tae-sang, who she helped to escape the hospital, has found himself another squeeze.
Lady Maeda’s revenge previously extended to Myeong-ja, since Kato was her husband.
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What’s missing is the overarching goal that drove the action of part 1. Out in the open, the characters wander aimlessly around Gyeongseong (the colonial-era name for Seoul) like headless chickens.
Remarkably, Tae-sang is able to resume his life as one of the most visible people in town, despite having killed several soldiers in full view of the whole Japanese battalion stationed at the hospital.
Things briefly come to a head again in episode 10, when Tae-sang goes back to the hospital to blow it up. Despite the careful subterfuge involved in his previous attempts to gain access to the secretive location, this time he all but waltzes in.
Once inside, everything wraps up in a flash, as Chae-ok’s father, who escapes after being arrested by the military outside, takes his turn as the sacrificial lamb and succeeds in blowing up the hospital.
Tae-sang then escapes yet again, arm in arm with Chae-ok, and after being surrounded by Japanese personnel they are saved by the monster, whose maternal instincts kick in to save Chae-ok.
The monster tries to kill Tae-sang as well, but Chae-ok throws herself in front of him – another heroic sacrifice – and is impaled by one of the monster’s tentacles. Revelations then start to come thick and fast, without rhyme or reason.
Myeong-ja, also in custody, has died, but her monster gene lives on in the baby she has just delivered.
Lady Maeda, after appearing to die in a rebel attack on her husband’s funeral – a set-piece that is directly lifted from the climax of Kim Jee-woon’s The Age of Shadows – is scarred but alive. She is handed a cup of water by the evil Japanese scientist behind the creatures, which may contain the monster germ.Chae-ok, after being thrown into a body of water for no clear reason, is saved by her monster mother after she passes the monster germ to her.
Finally, a mid-credits scene introduces us to a man who looks just like Tae-sang in present-day Seoul.
That’s a lot of myth-building lumped in at the eleventh hour, followed by an 80-year time jump. Will season two then be called “Seoul Creature”?
Gyeongseong Creature is streaming on Netflix.
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