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[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Three Days" Episode 1

The immediate striking aspect of "Three Days" is how scary it is. Just to be clear, the first episode doesn't actually give a very good idea of who the bad guys are and what they're trying to do. Rather, the fear factor here comes from the Korean secret service of all people. Their elaborate surveillance scheme, the sniper on the rooftop, the excessive security detail, all demonstrate a frightening degree of control. Director Sin Kyeong-soo takes a bunch of people that are supposed to be at least kind of heroic and makes them look like the agents of a dystopia.

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This sense of ambivalency is by far the drama's strongest suit. By the time the actual villains show up the discomfort is constantly evident. It genuinely feels like central characters are at risk of dying here, even if I know logically that's not going to happen in the first episode. What "Three Days" has so thoroughly established right away, though, is the sense that this fear is artificial. That in some ways the secret service is terrorizing themselves with their own extreme paranoia, and if the cliffhanger is any indication, it will be this same paranoia that leads to the actual crisis.

Speaking of the crisis, it looks like writer Kim Eun-hee-I is developing a conspiracy laden yarn. The seeds for the attack on the president were apparently laid all the way back in the last century. It's impossible to guess what motive a group could have for planning an attack that far in advance, when there was no way of even knowing who the current day president is going to be. But the writing so confidently and clearly sets this up I'm already willing to assume it's all going to make sense by the final episode, somehow.

I haven't gotten into the acting yet and that's because...well...it's not really that great. It's decent enough, but I'm having trouble buying Park Yoo-chun as our hero, rookie agent Tae-kyoung. He's just not showing much of an emotional range here. It's possible that this is deliberate, and supposed to be indicative of his character overall. If this is the case, the direction isn't as solid with the performances as it is with the general ambience and execution.

As usual there's only so much that can be guessed from the first episode alone. But so far I like what I see. "Three Days" has a very distinctive style to differentiate it from other thrillers in a similar vein, and considering the way the timeline's been set up, I get the distinct impression that things are going to get chaotic and messy very quickly. And that's always a good feeling to have with this kind of genre fiction.

Review by William Schwartz

"Three Days" is directed by Sin Kyeong-soo, written by Kim Eun-hee-I and features Park Yoo-chun, Son Hyun-joo, Park Ha-sun, So Yi-hyun, Yoon Je-moon, Choi Won-young and Jang Hyun-sung.

Added episode 1 for the Korean drama "Three Days"

 

 

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