[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Hello Monster" Episode 15

The conflict this episode is mainly philosophical as the resolution of last episode's cliffhanger centers around motive. It's interesting watching the characters themselves try to puzzle this information out. We've already been made privy to Joon-young's thought process- but how exactly are the other characters supposed to be able to suss this out? Ji-an's conclusions, while obviously wrong, make sense given the information that she has access to. So Ji-an ends up trying to find more information.

Advertisement

Given the general impossibility of Ji-an's task I have to give "Hello Monster" credit for not trying to stretch the runtime out even further. The simple fact that the characters know what they're supposed to be looking for is such that their investigation is now running along much more efficiently. Superficially it seems stupid for Joon-young to still be so at ease, but really, it was stupidly dangerous for him to be hanging out so much with the investigation team in the first place. Joon-young is hard to catch somewhat paradoxically because he's not really trying to avoid detection.

But poor Eun-bok...while he may have been able to shield his true role this entire time, "Hello Monster" exists in a universe where modern forensic technology has made it very difficult for a person to avoid leaving any traces of evidence at all. Eun-bok was just temporarily staving off the inevitable as far as the actual murder mystery goes. The clues are coming together, not in big eureka moments, but more like a jigsaw puzzle finally coming into view. There's just not much left to hide anymore.

While the cliffhanger here does have its fair share of theatrics and extreme action, ultimately, that's what "Hello Monster" has come down to. The issue of how everything now has to come to the surface, including certain memories that Hyeon may not have wanted to recover. This much has been foreshadowed for quite some time now- how Hyeon had much more agency in his backstory than we've been led to believe. And so it's with that that we...

...Have to wait for the final episode to get everything clearly explained. To be honest this episode was so talky about general motivations it was difficult at times to pay attention, even if the script is always clear and on point. "Hello Monster" is a drama that's at times too smart for its own good, which is probably why it's never done that well in the ratings department. Still, for those with the attention span and wherewithal, it's been a very rewarding drama.

Review by William Schwartz

"Hello Monster" is directed by Kim Jin-won-I and No Sang-hoon, written by Kwon Ki-yeong and features Seo In-guk, Jang Nara, Choi Won-young, Lee Chun-hee, Park Bo-gum, Min Sung-wook and more.

Watch on Viki