Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Gangnam B-Side’ On Hulu, A Crime Drama About Sex Workers Going Missing In Seoul’s Gangnam District

One of nan things that frustrates america astir erstwhile we watch dramas is erstwhile a show’s writers clasp backmost accusation arsenic a measurement of creating drama. We could telephone it You Know What You Did Syndrome, wherever it would conscionable beryllium easier to authorities what that personification did alternatively of making nan viewers guess. Delaying that payoff almost ne'er is worthy nan annoyance that nan spectator has if it’s held back. A caller Korean crime drama connected Hulu holds backmost a batch of information, to its detriment.

GANGNAM B-SIDE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: “GANGNAM, SEOUL.” A group of rule enforcement officers are successful nan parking car shed of a building, pinch 1 trying to torch his measurement into a hidden area.

The Gist: Kang Dong-woo (Jo Woo-jin) is simply a apical constabulary detective successful nan Gangnam District, and he tends to initiate busts without his boss’ go-ahead. During this peculiar bust, he apprehends a well-known supplier mule who implicates plentifulness of Dong-woo’s chap constabulary officers. Instead of letting it pass, he has those officers, including his boss, arrested. He past gets himself transferred to a agrarian district.

Three years later, backmost successful Gangham, a nine woman named Kim Jae-hee (Kim Hyeong-seo), wakes up precocious and realizes she’s successful trouble. She goes to nan bath and throws up to get nan narcotics retired of her system. She past takes a hidden telephone and calls a chap nine woman she knows has gone missing. She past runs retired of nan club, dodging postulation to debar nan bouncers and different thugs nan bosses person chasing her.

Yoon Gil-ho (Ji Chang-wook), a “broker” of nan nine girls, is uncovering a number of them drugged for illustration Jae-hee. He finds retired that Jae-hee disappeared, but it seems that he knows wherever she is. When he finds her hideout, she asks him to find and prevention her friend, who is held captive.

Dong-woo is persuaded by nan commissioner to travel backmost to Gangnam and activity connected nan lawsuit of a bid of missing nine girls successful nan district. He’s besides called backmost to nan halfway of nan metropolis by a telephone that says his girl Ye-seo (Oh Ye-ju) is connected a clasp astatine a section psychiatric hospital. Her intelligence wellness has been vulnerable since being bullied and ripped disconnected by a group of nine girls, but she remains loyal to one: Jae-hee. And because she hasn’t responded to calls and texts, Ye-seo’s intelligence wellness is being affected.

He met Jae-hee a twelvemonth prior, and nan gathering didn’t spell well; he’s besides met Gil-ho thee years prior, erstwhile he was a driver for telephone girls. And while it seems that Gil-ho and Dong-woo are connected other sides, they some want to make judge these girls are safe.

Photo: Hulu

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Gangnam B-Side is akin to different Korean crime dramas, for illustration Vigilante.

Our Take: Gangnam B-Side, written by Joo Won-gyu and Park Noo-ri (Park besides directs), tries to wound disconnected a immense chunk of communicative successful its first episode. We get introduced to Jae-hee, arsenic good arsenic Gil-ho and Dong-woo. There’s besides Min Seo-jin (Ha Yoon-kyung), a young charismatic that is besides pursuing nan case; we’re concisely introduced to her but don’t get overmuch of a grip connected who she is.

It took america 2 viewings of nan first section to really get a grip connected nan story. There are excessively galore oblique references to what nan girls whitethorn cognize aliases possess; there, nan show commits nan cardinal misdeed of holding backmost excessively overmuch information, leaving nan spectator grasping for accusation successful bid to make nan characters distinctive.

It’s difficult to fig retired their motivations astatine nan commencement of this story, speech from pursuing who is taking these girls. There’s besides immoderate purposeful disorder complete conscionable what Gil-ho’s domiciled is. When Dong-woo sees a video of Gil-ho grabbing a drugged nine woman and putting her successful a car, Jae-hee is pinch them. He mightiness deliberation that Gil-ho is nan 1 making these women disappear, but it feels for illustration he’s trying to prevention these girls from what mostly happens aft they get drugged.

Still, nan communicative is confusing, to nan constituent wherever we weren’t moreover judge if Jae-hee was live aliases dead, contempt scenes wherever she’s hiding out; we thought that mightiness beryllium different nine girl. There’s besides nan relationship betwixt Yae-seo and Jae-hee that seems to suffer from nan aforesaid oblique relationship that nan main communicative does; we person nary thought “what happened connected that roof,” arsenic Dong-woo said, to nonstop Yae-seo into her affectional tailspin, and knowing that nan accusation is being held backmost until a later section is much frustrating than thing else.

Sex and Skin: There’s a segment successful a nine wherever group are watching a man and a female having sex, but not that overmuch tegument is being shown.

Parting Shot: Gil-ho finds Jae-hee’s missing friend, but he’s excessively late.

Sleeper Star: We’ll springiness this to Ha Yoon-kyung arsenic Min Seo-jin, chiefly because we hardly spot her successful nan first section and we cognize she has a bigger domiciled to play than that.

Most Pilot-y Line: Maybe it’s a translator issue, but we publication nan words “that bitch” acold excessively galore times successful nan subtitles. These thugs request much imaginative ways to picture nan women who activity for them.

Our Call: SKIP IT. Gangnam B-Side could extremity up being a bully communicative erstwhile each nan threads benignant themselves out. But nan first section was truthful confusing and held backmost truthful overmuch accusation we’re not that willing successful waiting astir until that happens.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes astir food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His penning has appeared successful nan New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.