[ Not very obvious possible trigger warnings: Sexual harassment ]

Set in 2014, it's a short kdrama, 6 episodes at the time of writing this(season 1), though not "sweet" in any sense of the word. It's grim and depressing, which isn't a bad thing. I certainly enjoyed it, and it made me feel for the characters, not just the protagonist and deuteragonist but for a lot more than just them.

The main takeaway I want this review to impart is this; If you romanticise the military, this kdrama probably isn't for you. It's a look at abuse within the (South Korean) military, and its heavy history of hazing - a practice not limited to SK's military - and the very nature of the self-perpetuating cycle of abuse exacerbated by the system/its perpetrators' indifference and even encouragement of the power abuse. There's themes of toxic masculinity(as armies are typically known for in pop-culture), psychological damage, sexual harassment and the strange obsession with one's "manhood"(genitalia), and general hopelessness. It's not the show pulling you aside and proclaiming, "THIS is the reality, and it can't be changed!". It's more of, "This is the reality. Do with that knowledge what you will."

The ending tore me apart, and I don't mean the ending where Jun-ho disobeys his superior and runs off into God knows where, but the one where you stay past the black screen. You'll catch a glimpse of "Fat Ass", a friend of the man you just watched shoot himself in front of Jun-ho. He's been bullied too, and it hits even harder taking into account one of the reasons he might've bonded with Suk-bong was because they both shared one thing: They were both treated like dogshit by everybody in their respective unit. After all, "I should do something."

The abuse, bullying, and harassment isn't immediate. It's clear from the progression of these episodes, and mirrors real life, that it is a bunch of acts in succession that pile atop one another until the victim's shoulders break from the crushing weight. The psychological, physical, and emotional trauma of it all mixed with hormones, heavy testosterone-drunk machoism of the military's environment, boils over into the amalgamation of consequences by end episode. Suk-bong's case is fictional and very extreme, yet it drives home the point. What does a frightened animal do when it's cornered? Only what it must. Protect itself.

For Suk-bong and his friend, that meant doing what they did. The kdrama doesn't justify that, but instead gives me this impression, "Must we wait until things are taken to the extreme before appropriate action is taken?"

Interestingly, before storming the tunnel, SDT's commander responds to Sergeant Park's protests with the reminder of the shootings in one of the Units, later mirrored in the true ending. One of Hang-soo's lackeys was also, himself, a victim of the abuse(as was everybody) by Hwang-soo, and he instead chose to take it out on Suk-bong. This is present in both the macro- and micro-level of these relationships between everybody involved. There's a reason for everybody's actions in this kdrama without vilifying, romanticising, and/or justifying, and the cycle of trauma and abuse is clear. The attention to detail and empathy is astounding, in a positive way.

As someone who's a victim of abuse, though not to this drama's extent, Jun-ho and the others' experiences resonate with me thematically. I don't subscribe to the theory that Jun-ho "snaps" in the "ending" where he runs off, but instead a small act of rebellion against the system, and a refusal of passivity and the so-loved conformity. It is the little successes that build up to big things eventually, and that leaves the viewer with just the tiniest sliver of hope, in my opinion.