Sarinjaui Syopingmol

Another big series surprise this year, which escalates in the end in such a way that I almost had a heart attack. The series has a very interesting story about a young teenage girl who involuntarily inherits an illegal gun shop from her dead uncle, where only a select breed of people (assassins, cleaners, etc) are allowed to do business, and a bounty is put on her head, i.e. all the shop customers go after her, and it's an action-packed home invasion as fuck. I was a little worried about how a series set in one house being attacked by a bunch of nutters would work, but luckily it works and it ended up being a little different too. It has a very unconventional narrative that creates plot twists through flashbacks, and we learn more about the protagonist and the other characters – some of the twists are cool and it's definitely a well thought out show. MInhye is excellent as a female assassin who protects the young teen (btw the teen knows muay thai and guns so she also lends a hand). After the first five episodes I was happy with an above average series, but from episode 6 onwards it's pure carnage! Episodes 6 and 7 are pure flashbacks where we learn the background about the deceased uncle, who was a mercenary, and that was a real action packed massacre. It also introduces the main villain, a cruel ruthless bastard who kills innocents for pleasure (I haven't seen a bigger motherfucker in a long time!). I was screaming with happiness and excitement and thinking that if the whole series was just about him, he'd probably drive me away fast. The finale is another decent action-packed load that closes all the necessary loops, serving up uncompromising action and twists and turns and making the series the action event of the year. The choreography is top notch, it's exactly the rough, fast, brutal and contact style that I love from South Korea and, most importantly, everyone pulls out a knife, so there are at least five knife fights that deserve a spot on YouTube! Any lover of action, great stories and most of all Korean work can't miss this. Awesome! 8.5/10. (20/04/2024)

I'm somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. The series could have turned out better; I don't think the creators fully utilized the potential of this interesting premise. But the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. As always, South Korea guarantees that the audiovisuals are top-notch. The shootouts and close combat scenes are among the best this Asian country has produced so far. I also enjoyed the retrospective storytelling; it added an extra flair, no doubt about that. And the ending? The penultimate episode really shook me. That's why I was slightly disappointed with how the creators concluded the series. If this doesn't get a sequel, I won't understand it. I'd welcome a Season 2. For me, it's a 7/10. P.S. Oh, and the villain was genuinely terrifying. I haven't seen such a scoundrel in cinema for a long time! (12/05/2024)