Doubt (2024) 이토록 친밀한 배신자
Directed by Song Yeon-hwa, starring Han Suk-kyu as Jang Tae-soo and Chae Won-bin as Jang Ha-bin.
Watched 1 - 31 March 2025 — 10 episodes (KOCOWA)
*It took me a month to finish this crime series. I watched 3 episodes with my sister but she dropped out and I finished it by myself, speeding up the pace of watching.
*Contrary to what the cover photo of this blog post suggests, this is a not a sunny light series but a very dark drama. Han Suk-kyu plays Jang Tae-soo, a legendary criminal profiler and a single parent. He works on a murder case and it turns out that his daughter (Chae Won-bin as Jang Ha-bin) is involved. The whole story premise revolves around the doubt Tae-soo feels towards his daughter's innocence.
*This series has some great photography. The family home is cold and dark and the hallway with the daughter's bedroom door situated at the end is a setting reminiscent of The Shining, giving me the creeps. Also, there's an almost non-stop music score (or so it felt), mostly ominous, yet at times there's also beautiful melodious music.
*It was hard to feel emotionally engaged with the characters. They're just not very likeable. I think I liked Roh Jae-won as Gu Dae-hong, member of the Criminal Behaviour Analysis Team, best. He was sweet and empathic and had good insights. I also like the contrast in character with Han Ye-ri as Lee Eo-jin, his colleague (I like their job interview scene, by the way), who prioritises facts over emotions and cases over people.
*There's close to no humour in this series.
*My main hope was seeing a reconciliation between father and daughter. But I'd wished it would have come sooner and that they would have cooperated on the case, but alas ... I was still happy they made up and hope their frosty relationship will florish into a warm friendship and bond.
*Ultimately it's a good watch but it's not up there with dark crime series like Beyond Evil and Through the Darkness and it has everything to do with the characters.
