I usually structure my reviews in positive points and negative points, where I try to be as objective and critical as possible, but I don't think I will be able to do just that with this one. No, this one is going to be pure rant and little else.
The disappointment is still too fresh as I'm typing this, but I don't want to wait to cool down before writing, because... I don't want to devote any more of my time to Gyeongseong Creature, honestly.
It's not a terrible show, I would like to make it clear; it has had its good moments and the first episode started strong, promising a thrilling and suspenseful trip in secret government structures and terrifying depictions of human experiments and the horrors of war and enemy occupation, but that didn't actually happen and I find more annoying things than great ones.
Reading the summary, I had expected a completely different plot, but that's on me for creating mental fan fictions before actually watching the thing. For some reason I convinced myself the monster (which had no human past, but came from another dimension) was haunting an abandoned hospital and built my own expectations from there.
But back to the review.
What really gave me the ick with this drama is how absolutely, utterly dumb the characters and the writing are. I will point out a couple of examples to clarify what I mean.
Let's start with the nature of the monster itself.
For 8/9 episodes out of 10 I thought the little germ they found in the glacier caused the mutation, but that bit was actually the humans. The najin solely makes the person an aggressive apex predator whose only want is to attack humans and eat their brains (basically a zombie, but without the rotten skin). They are faster and stronger than a normal human being and can heal from any kind of wound in literal seconds. The only weaknesses: fire and sunlight (but not really).
So why, WHY, even inject that mad scientist formula to begin with? You already have a superhuman, you only need to find a way to tame them. Why turn them into three-meter-tall monsters with tentacles and all of that jazz that you can't even keep in a cage? I understand those doctors are psychos, but they are just creating a problem where there could easily be none.
But I also understand they needed a disgusting monster for this show (it's in the title, after all), so I'll let it pass...
I mean, they could have omitted the part where it's the human-made injection that causes the mutation and blame it all on the najin, but let's not go there.
Other rather dumb behaviours can be found in the prisoners (and I feel bad in saying so, but it has to be said) and our protagonists.
So, you are a prisoner and you know terrible things are going on in the place you are being held in and nobody returns after they are taken from the cell, so explain me why
1) you eat and drink without a second thought the things your psychotic captors are offering you. I know you are likely starving, but you should also have some sort of survival instinct and a lot of trust issues given what you experienced. But, nope, just gulp it all down. The soldiers don't even need to hold you at gunpoint to force you.
2) WHY are you touching the weird spores flying out of the menacing and tightly sealed carriage pushed by soldiers covered HEAD TO TOE in protective suit? I was just about to scream in frustration when I saw that happening.
Now, onto our named characters.
You very secretly get into a dangerous and off-limits enemy base and you don't want them to know you are here. So is it REALLY necessary to kill those (already unconscious and taken care of) guards with a katana? Is it REALLY necessary to swing it freely around and above your head so that the soldiers standing guard in the tower can see what's going on and give the alarm? Don't think so but the writers decided it was, apparently.
At least they are consistent in making the characters dumb, I'll give them that. We got dumb villains, dumb heroes and dumb victims.
This show saving grace could have then been the horror part, but the creature itself lost its impact and horrific nature the moment it was fully and clearly showed. The CGI wasn't even that bad, considering it's for a Netflix k-drama, but I believe showing the monster is a common mistake many horror movies and shows make. After all, what is more terrifying than the unknown?
I only felt some kind of chill and anxiety during the very first episodes, when we still couldn't see the creature, just a confused shape hidden in the shadows and tentacles jumping out of nowhere. My imagination did the rest in creating a scary monster, but the instant they showed THEIR monster... it was all gone. I find it ridiculous more than anything and I even stopped feeling disgusted whenever it sucked brains with its tentacles. Which, admittedly, was the ONLY truly horrifying thing it did as the big bad monster of the show and the only time I looked away from the screen.
I truly believe with a better writing (and a little less wooden-looking FL) this drama would have been great and unforgettable, because the idea was good and the first episode very promising.
Instead we got something unoriginal, poorly executed and with underdeveloped characters. There was no built up to the experiment and the monster (although I liked the fact it was the mother our FL and her father have been looking for for ten years) and we're pushed right into the action minutes after meeting the characters. We don't get to know and care for them nor they get to know and care for each other – the love story between those two makes no sense, because how many interactions did they actually have, besides the ones where they are either fighting or running for their lives?
The more I write, the more frustrated and disappointed I fell, so I'll end it here.
I know I should watch season two to understand what was going on with the very last scenes of the season finale, but right now I really don't care nor feel like wasting any more of my time. In the future, perhaps – or I'll just go read some reviews with spoilers of s2 and spare myself another possible disappointment.

- Mei