Before Netflix began investing heavily in K-dramas, it used to be that most shows would only run for one season. Sometimes, that was a shame, depriving us of more rich storytelling. Other times, it felt right. Not every drama needs to run on and on, and there’s an art to knowing when to quit when you’re ahead.
Gyeongseong Creature, the Netflix-produced series that premiered late last year, falls into the latter camp. In its first season, the historical atrocities of the Japan-led biological warfare division Unit 731 – which was actually operational during World War II – gave the show its foundations. Set in 1945 Seoul – then occupied by the Japanese and known as Gyeongseong – the series took the end results of the experimental squadron’s inhumane tests to new levels of nightmare, with victims turned into sinewy, tentacled monsters with grotesque powers.
Just under 80 years later, in modern-day Seoul, main protagonists Jang Tae-sang (played by Park Seo-joon) and Yoon Chae-ok (Han So-hee) are back – except now Tae-sang is called Ho-jae and has no memory of the horrible things he witnessed and fought against before Korea was liberated. Neither have aged a day since we last saw them – a scientific miracle that’s explained as the episodes unfold. Chae-ok is still sleuthing, albeit with a more modern edge and a mysterious new moniker, Silverbill. Ho-jae is no longer a suave pawnshop owner but, alongside his best mate Kwon Yong-gil (Heo Jeon-seok), a private detective of sorts.
Although both our leads start season two apart, fate soon brings them back together. Both are separately sent on the hunt for the missing Oh Ki-hoon (Lee Seo-jun), only to find him brutally murdered, with one eye and his entire brain missing. Ho-jae is unaware of what he’s stumbled upon but, for Chae-ok, things are much clearer – the monsters are back and life is about to get bloody again.
Where season one felt like it had a powerful and relevant allegory for the world to take note of – especially given its roots in real history – season two focuses instead on a more traditional narrative. Whether in the main plot surrounding Ho-jae and Chae-ok or in subplots, like that concerning the icy boss of the shadowy Jeonseung Biotech, it explores what we do for love – both heinous and heroic. It’s not a bad premise, but it’s also one that doesn’t feel particularly fresh and does the series something of a disservice.
There are some improvements to season one, like a speedier pace, helped along by this instalment of Gyeongseong Creature being three episodes shorter than the last. There are some intriguing twists that keep you on your toes mentally and it’s a relief that there’s less focus on the creatures when it comes to the fight scenes – there are only so many times you can watch a petrified human be stabbed through the torso by a never-ending monster tentacle before the whole thing starts to feel old.
But there are downgrades here, too, and not just in the story’s gravitas. The jumping between 1945 and 2024 quickly becomes messy and confusing, and the balance between keeping us in suspense and giving us background and context is all out of whack. Sometimes, the answer to a burning, important question will be held back for far too long; at others, it’s revealed before you’re even able to wonder about it. It makes the whole thing a frustrating watch for all the wrong reasons.
Unlike season one, Gyeongseong Creature season two doesn’t obviously hint at more episodes to come. Hopefully, Netflix and its creators will have the sense to leave it as it is – a fine, if slightly soured, ending.
Gyeongseong Creature season two is available to stream on Netflix now.