The King of Pigs (2022)

TRIGGER WARNING!

An excerpt from Desmond Tutu's book goes like, "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality." Courage could be as fierce as fire, but bullying is as weak as smoke. For some, it could be a foregone past which they might forget as a flowing wind, but the it hunts down the victim for the rest of their lives. The consequences of such cases can be as serious as a war and it's been evidenced. The drama depicts this through the tale of a revenge game.

Adapted from an animated movie of 2011 of the same title by the same author, "KING OF PIGS (돼지의 왕) [2022]" is a revenge cum chase thriller drama. Produced by 'Studio Dragon' & 'Hidden Sequence', the drama was distributed by TVING as an original OTT content.

The story follows a series of mysterious murder cases, that connects to one single person namely Hwang Kyung Min (Kim Dong Wook), who was a victim of heart-wrenching, continuous school bullying incident, 20 years ago. As the police attempts to track down the culprit and assemble pieces from the past, the circuitous involvement of one of their own people, detective Jung Jong Suk (Kim Sung Kyu), comes to surface, who was also the victim of the same. Kang Jin Ah (Chae Jung An) is a quick and intelligent detective who is a part of the investigative team. While the thrilling quest and chase for a criminal furthers, the unfolding of truth takes us, into the depths of school violence, the roles of different people in it and their outcomes.

There are many other familiar faces in the supporting roles as well but remarkable praises should be credited to all the child actors, playing the teenage counterparts of the current characters, all invoved in the school violence case. Special mentions for Lee Chan Yoo, Shim Hyin Seo and Choi Hyun Jin, playing Kyung Min, Jong suk and Kim Cheol, respectively.

Plot development was amazing. The Story straightaway starts with a death and gradually leads to subsequent investigation and then to another series of killings. This enables the furtherance of investigation and facts about these events start surfacing in fragments. The pilot episode served its job of captivating the attention of the viewers, and the further evolution is engaging. I don’t think there was any episode which didn’t have me awe, the performance, the characters, the stories and everything else was so masterfully drawn, that it makes you keep going. There were also many instances which I found triggering and had to pause or put on hold, so that I could recover, but thankfully I was able to bear them. There are several peak moments in the drama, from both the past and present, the former enraged and saddened me to extents whereas the latter made me relieved and angry. Coming to the ending sequences, it was magnificently plotted and excellently executed, leading to satisfactory outcomes. In simple words, the way it ended was very good and in fact, atypical and rare of the Kdrama trends; I am beyond convinced. In a way, I wish it were longer than 12 episodes but on the other hand I was relieved the trauma was over.

Tak Jae Young jakkanim debut as a young and budding writer through this drama, and though the drama is adapted, we must not assume that his job had been easy. Book to live action adaptions being the most difficult task, we could tell that an animation film to drama adoption would have been less unchallenging, however, they are still different. I wish jakkanim all the best for his future endeavours.

As one of the most talked directors, Kim Dae Jin PDnim has been active for over a decade and half, "Kill Me, Heal Me" being the most acclaimed. In my opinion, this drama is his second best though it was released on a web platform and poorly marketed, otherwise would have gained more attention. Oweing to his skills, the execution, screenplay management, scenario establishment, flow of story, connecting plots, revelations and flashbacks between past & present have been well handled. Tbe cinematography with dark hue was a great fit and exhibited visual pleasure through the acts. The sound and screen editing are of high values as well. The pacing is perfect.

What I liked…
# The plot development is compelling and intriguing, for it uses unique methods of revealing and unfolding truth, of the past, through detailed investigation in the present by relating to the foregone story that took place 20 years ago. The storytelling method with two perspectives, of Kyung Min and of Jong Suk, the differential narratives, and the monologues are what make it an interesting & engaging as well as a nail-biting watch.

# Kim Cheol, the character, is something that all of us unaskingly fell in love with, no? His existence itself adds to the value of this show as a whole; his rise in the class, from a mere slacker to the king of pigs and then his downfall finally leading to a forever memorable (for the characters of the drama) god, is a journey that I will never forget. The way his story was told, especially through the acts of Kyung Min, was gripping and enthralling. He is the real hero of this drama.

# Kim Dong Wook as Hwang Kyung Min, has, once again, left me baffled with his skills, no doubt he is one of the best in terms of acting. He, in both sane and insane state, performed so smoothly and comfortably that it helped me to survive the traumatic events in the drama. His emotions, his angst, his eyes, his expressions, his dialogue delivery and everything he did was so on point, it’s like his act felt the only hope left, for the world he lived in. Kim Sung Kyu and Kang Jin Ah also did very well, for they are already good actors.

# The young actors have great importance in the drama as they and their story of the past share about 45% of the screentime the approx. 600 minutes show. Again, special mention must be credited to Choi Hyun Jin who played Kim Cheol, for he delivered a justified and splendid performance, and I don’t think anyone else could have match him. Other than the ones playing Kyung Min & Jong Suk, the actors playing young bullies also did a good job portraying their parts and it felt real and engrossing.

# The song sung by Lee Ji Hyun (Kim Pu Reum), Park Sung Jin (Hwang Man Ik)’s niece in the 8th episode (the only song of the rdama) was melancholic, touchy and enraging at the same time. It was a call for help, to rescue the souls of the ones who has to go through the unfortunate and heartbreaking days, spending their time in school with fear and trauma, dismay and terror of which also follow them for the rest of their lives.

# Kdramas based on school bullying or having the elements in it has been very common, being placed in over hundreds of shows over the last 2 decades, but this stands out for many reasons. First and foremost, this is solely based on school violence, as it tells a foregone story of 3 victims of several bullying incidents that took place over years. Secondly, the present day events, that has caused headache to the cops, roots back to the past incident only, resulting in an extremely brutal revenge game. The show attempts to dissect the entire scenario by performig RCA (root cause analysis) and shows to a great deal, the consequences, the bullying cases can inflict for both the victims and the perpetrators.

# I loved the way the title of the show has been justified throughout, from the beginning to the end, through the storytelling and the acts by the characters. The immensely dark story with portrayal of real bullying cases could be hugely triggering but it is truly thought-provoking and, in a way, demands reforms in laws and awareness in society. Provided that it is based on a real story, makes it a sad thing but I feel, everyone needs to witness it in order to be made aware and learnt.

What I didn’t like…

# The character arch for adult Jong Suk is very roughly done and not llikable. I mean obviously, for the story, he has his parts of flaws, but as an audience watching a story, I could not get used to many a things that he attempted to do. It did not indicate his insanity to me, rather some technical drawbacks which could have been avoided.

# The investigative methods felt absurd sometimes, particularly after the 7th episode, there is little to no contribution by the other members of the team. It was only Jin Ah and Jong Suk who were doing everything, that too independently; plus the state of mind in which Jong Suk was, he should not have been a part of the investigation to begin with, also provided that he was somehow related to the incident.

# I wanted moreeeeeeee.

Final Remarks… “THE KING OF PIGS” is a solid and extremely heavy watch, and a treat for whoever is into such dark genres with a cogent story and plausible plot development. Screenwriting, direction, performance and the overall outcomes are praiseworthy and all the efforts have been reflected through the mighty values and well paid off. This actually deserves more attention since not many were watching when it was on air. If you are planning to start it, make sure you are mentally prepared to receive what it offers, and watching in small doses might make it easier. MUST RECCOMENDED!

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The true definition of a hidden gem

Oh. My. God. Where do I even start!? This was a ride I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish.

This spine chilling and nail-biting thriller is fast-paced, addictive, dark, gory, and filled with revenge aka the best combination for a drama like this.

It's a very solid and well-made series, not a single episode is a filler, each scene and episode shocks you, it will infuriate you, upset you and satisfy you all at once.

At first, the synopsis didn’t really scream anything out to me and I wasn’t sure what to expect, but wow was I blown away... I liked seeing the perspectives of two interesting, mysterious people (one being a killer and the other a detective) with dark pasts. You’ll find yourself constantly questioning things and the plot will have you engaged the whole time.

It contains extreme bullying which I usually avoid as I find it upsetting and hard to watch, but I'm fond of how the scenes switch between flashbacks and present day, it balances out the disturbing vibe well and doesn't completely overwhelm you. Bullying isn't a new concept to base a drama around, however, this one was created in a fresh and unique way and was executed superbly. Also, I don’t condone any type of violence but I rooted for the killer.

The acting. It's outstanding in my books. The cast was picked perfectly. Kim Sung Gyu is so charming, every scene he appears in, he grabs my whole attention, from "Kingdom" to "One Ordinary Day" and now this... The younger cast deserves a shoutout because holy moly they can act (and their presence is very memorable)!! The pure fear, anger and detached feeling is well conveyed by the child cast to the adult cast. No character in TKOP is in the right, they have all done something bad, but you'll still have people to root for, even if it feels wrong at times.

To sum it up, this drama is INSANE. I can't believe people are sleeping on this, it deserves more recognition, so I highly recommend watching this if you like thrillers and the things I mentioned above, you won't be disappointed (or at least I hope not haha).

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