8/10 – What a wild ride LOL. This drama was one of the few that I was watching as it aired, and I think that really enhanced my experience. There were so many intense twists and turns, thrills and mysteries, that being left with an amazing cliffhanger every week and diving headfirst into theories and speculations made everything so much more fun!
[SPOILERS AHEAD!]
It’s so hard to talk about what Mouse is about, because there were sooo many details and plot points and nuances that slowly created a giant conspiracy wall that was not fully completed until the last episode. I don’t think I can go into anything too in-depth, otherwise I will be rambling on for far too long. But essentially, the story revolves around the idea of an isolated gene sequence that can predict whether a person will have psychopathic tendencies with 99% accuracy. People born with this genetic abnormality will lack empathy and proper reasoning abilities, be prone to aggression, and exhibit predatory behaviors. The audience is faced with many deep ethical questions, about whether unborn babies should be tested for this gene, whether such babies should be allowed to live, and most interesting of all, what happens if a previously psychopathic person comes to develop normal human empathy? In a sense, being a psychopath (in this story at least) is almost portrayed as being a mental illness with serious outward expressions (ie, murderous tendencies lol)…so can we fully hold someone accountable when they don’t understand that their actions are wrong? If empathy and compassion are dictated by our physiology, then how can we morally reconcile someone born without the capacity for those things? Furthermore, what part does upbringing play in forming a person with such a psychological issue? If an individual is branded at birth and isn’t allowed any opportunity to change or be redeemed, is that a self-fulfilling prophesy that will lead the person down a destined path to violence? I never thought I would be able to sympathize with the antagonist of a Korean drama, but here I am…
I will un-shamefully admit that my primary reason for starting this drama was because my man Lee Seung-gi was in it…and GAWD did he deliver. His performance was honestly career-changing in my opinion. LSG’s character, Jung Ba-reum, is first introduced as being a complete naïve cinnamon roll of a police officer. He’s gentle, abhorrent to violence and gore, and just the poster boy of purity. Many other characters comment that he isn’t really a good fit for his career choice, especially since South Korean HAS AN ABSOLUTE SERIAL KILLER EPIDEMIC IN THIS DRAMA LOL. I swear at least ten people died in the first 2 episodes lmao. But, as the story unfolds, we come to the realization that NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS. Jung Ba-reum turns out to be a cold-blooded killer who murdered 9 people, and the main suspect, a seemingly cold doctor named Seong Yo-han, turns out to be an innocent person who is caught up in a crazy genetic experiment. Lee Seung-gi did a flawless job of being a ruthless villain, and it was all the more insidious because of how good he was at pretending to be good. I think it worked especially well because Seung-gi’s real-life public image has always been so pure, seeing him portray someone who is supposedly similar to him, and then flipping a switch and becoming the deadly “seven sins killer”, was chilling and amazing. His “good guy persona” was so convincing that even when LITERALLY SO MANY THINGS POINTED TO HIM POSSIBLY BEING A KILLER, I could not be entirely sure, hahaha.
Both Ba-reum and Yo-han were born with the “psychopath gene”, and are followed and observed throughout childhood by this “OZ” organization. While Ba-reum exhibits typical psychopath behaviours, Yo-han grows up to be a normal, compassionate, extremely intelligent person. We find out that after his family is tragically murdered, Ba-reum tried his best to suppress his true nature, hence learning to perfectly put forth a persona of kindness (the Ba-reum we are first introduced to). However, the OZ organization triggers his bloodlust, and after that, he goes on the killing spree that spans episodes 2-5. It’s really fascinating to experience the story from multiple different angles. First, we get it from the perspective of the second male lead, Go Mu-chi, a very smart but slightly crazy detective whose parents were killed by the “headhunter” serial killer when he was a child. The headhunter was a very famous neurosurgeon, and turns out to be Ba-reum’s real dad LOL (more on that later). Mu-chi is hellbent on revenge against murderers, and vows to catch the mysterious “seven sins” killer of the present, was was also responsible for brutally murdering his older brother.
One thing I thought the drama did really well was misdirecting the audience and using small details to provide clues and hints. Upon re-watching the show, it was super fun and interesting to notice them now that I knew what to look for. But it was a bit of a double-edged sword, because as much as the twists were fun and exciting, it caused the plot to get quite convoluted and over-saturated with characters and things to remember. And then when you toss in the OZ government conspiracy and all the drama associated with that, I can understand why some people wouldn’t be able to follow/just give up after a while. This is also why I find it really hard to explain the plot and main themes, because when I try, I have to keep mentioning other things that surround the main storyline haha. But anyways.
Ba-reum earns his trust along with everyone else’s, and they close in on the prime suspect, Yo-han. BUT THEN…the turning point. Ba-reum and Yo-han get into an altercation and both end up sustaining life-threatening injuries. Ba-reum’s entire frontal lobe is destroyed, and Yo-han is shot by Mu-chi. In an effort to salvage their human rights-defying experiment, the OZ organization saves Ba-reum by convincing headhunter-serial-killer-doctor-dad to transplant part of Yo-han’s frontal lobe into his. When this happened, I’ll be honest, I was kind of hitting the roof of my suspension of disbelief threshold. In fact, I almost stopped watching from sheer incredulity. “Really, they actually went THERE?” hahahahaha….but then, the plot gripped me again, because Ba-reum started to exhibit some intriguing behaviours. He started showing signs of being a psychopath, but he also clearly could understand right and wrong and had empathy. So then the question became…is he becoming a psychopath because of the brain transplant, or is he now normal because of it? At the time, we the audience didn’t know that Ba-reum was actually the serial killer from episodes 2-5, so it was really fun to engage with the viewing community each week, pass around theories, have discussions, and try to make sense of all the clues we were given.
And those cliff-hanger endings. MY GAWD THEY WERE CHEAP SHOTS BUT I LOVED THEM. Almost every episode left me screeching, even if in the very next episode it was proven to not be as dramatic as the cliff-hanger made it out to be. By far my favourite one was the one where post-surgery Ba-reum, who couldn’t remember that he actually was a psychopath and therefore thought his “good guy” persona was his true self, finally discovered that he was a killer. We the audience all had our suspicions, and honestly it wasn’t unexpected at all, but damn, the way the reveal was slowly built up and executed, plus Lee Seung-gi’s perfect portrayal of shock, horror, and sorrow, it all came together to create a mind-blowing ending to the episode.
Lee Hee-joon was another highlight of the drama for me. He portrays Go Mu-chi, and honestly before this I had never heard of him. But he gives some of the most emotional and gut-wrenching performances of the entire show, and perfectly balances the line between hot-headed drunk cop and pitiful victim whose whole life just has one tragic turn after another. His acting was very powerful and layered. He sees his parents get murdered by the head hunter, and then he watches his older brother get murdered ON LIVE TELEVISION by the seven sins killer. The guy can just never catch a break. But his persistence, resilience, and excellent deduction skills prevail in the end, and he stays true to his convictions without sacrificing his humanity and hope for the future. I’m glad he was able to let go of his desire for revenge, and release that burden he had been holding onto for so long. It was really sad to watch his heart break at the thought of “moving on”, in a sense, but understanding that it was the right thing to do so that he could truly live and be free. His final reconciliation with Ba-reum broke me, for reals. The two had been through so much together…*QUIET SOBS*
A few things I didn’t exactly care for, were some of the subplots that didn’t have direct relations with the main story between Ba-reum, Mu-chi, and Yo-han. I didn’t hate those, but if they had been removed, nothing important would have been lost haha. I also didn’t really care about the romance between Ba-reum and the female lead, Oh Bong-yi. I understand that for some reason ALL KOREAN DRAMAS need to have some romance incorporated, and it did add to the tragedy of the two characters once Bong-yi found out the person she loved had been deceiving her in his pre-surgery past life and had murdered her grandma (yikes), but again, to me it wasn’t an essential plot point. A plot that I didn’t mind necessarily, but that I guess just confused me(?) was the baby swap subplot. Basically, Ba-reum and Yo-han were switched at birth by their mothers, so that if either of the children started showing signs of becoming a killer, they could end the child’s life. I guess the rationale being that it would be a small mercy to not have to personally murder your own biological child? I don’t know LOL yeah that one was a bit of a stretch. Anyways, because of that, Yo-han was mistakenly viewed as the headhunter’s son for his whole life, when in reality Ba-reum was the one who inherited his psychopath gene. That being said, it worked as well as it could have, so I will just accept it haha.
One reddit poster described it very accurately, saying that instead of seeing Mouse’s writing as being messy, it is better consumed as an interactive experience, and I fully agree. The best part of this drama (aside from the absolutely stellar acting and visual aesthetic and soundtrack – THE OST IS HYPE Y’ALL), was watching with my sister and letting our minds be bended every week, feeling the stress and uncertainty, shaking each other’s shoulders screaming “WHAT IS GOING ON??!”. HAHAHA, to me, it was all part of the joy of asian dramas. And that’s why the “messy writing” and convoluted story-telling (ie: jumping around between past and present, only being shown snippets of a situation and then being shown the full picture later, etc) didn’t really bother me. When I watch dramas I tend to just absorb whatever I’m being spoon-fed without complaint haha. I came for Lee Seung-gi, but the drama left a strong impression on me from all the actors, as well as from the tragic and morally ambiguous themes. (Also sidenote: I will say from personal experience that the show has a high re-watchability. I’m currently re-watching it with my mom and another sister, and it’s still so good, partially because I love watching THEM go through the confusion and anxiety that I went through the first time. heh heh it’s great xD)
FINALLY, I need to talk about the tragedy of Ba-reum and Yo-han’s character arcs. Both children were pidgeon-holed at birth because of genetics, and placed in a horribly unethical experiment with the intention of showing the world that those with the psychopath gene were irredeemable and therefore, ought to all be eradicated. Yo-han in a sense got off lucky, because he represented the 1% of those with the gene who don’t display psychopathic tendencies. He was discriminated against throughout his life because people thought he was the headhunter’s son, but even though his redemption didn’t come until after his death, at least his name was cleared and it was made known that actually he was an upstanding and compassionate guy all along. I felt really bad for him on so many levels though…misunderstood, never got to live a happy normal life with his younger half-siblings, AND HE ONLY DIED BECAUSE THEY NEEDED HIS BRAIN. He would have survived his wounds if OZ hadn’t interfered to ensure Ba-reum’s survival. OMG. SADNESS.
Then we have Ba-reum, who was in a way, cursed and redeemed at the same time. Because he gained Yo-han’s normal frontal lobe, he could now feel all the crushing guilt of his past actions. I thought it was really beautifully resolved actually. When Ba-reum was a child, he prayed to God to not make him into a monster…and while he was a killer, he resented that God did not keep his promise. But then, you can say that through the surgery, Ba-reum’s prayer WAS answered, and he was no longer a monster…and his ultimate punishment is living with the consequences of his actions and feeling the remorse and pain of hurting those who used to love and care for him (ie: Bong-yi, Go Mu-chi). Lee Seung-gi lamenting his crimes and crying in like every episode leading up to the end, truly broke my heart. It was especially heart-wrenching when he was apologizing to Bong-yi for murdering her grandmother. You could just see how destroyed and helpless he was. He was not the bloodthirsty person he used to be, but he could not take back his past sins or ever properly make amends. I never thought my heart could ache for someone who had done such horrible things. And just thinking about how things might have turned out differently if he had been brought up with love, affection, understanding, and THERAPY, omg. Instead, he was abandoned by both his parents, and abused by the government for their own objectives. Everyone, including himself, has said all throughout that he was born a monster…but the truth is, he grew into one. In the end, all he can do is accept the consequences and die miserable and alone. I’m really glad at least in the end he realized that he was no longer a monster. The final scene of him comforting his child self and hugging and crying together, just wow. 10/10 tears shed.
Okay I am done ranting and raving, ahahaa. Overall, a very enjoyable and thrilling drama that I won’t soon forget! The final message of forgiveness and justice is a controversial one, but it was heart-felt and complicated, just like forgiveness is in real life. I felt the ending was a satisfying, bittersweet resolution to a very impactful story. Thanks for reading, and happy watching!
Thought Bubbles 