By: Cameron Tyo
December 24, 2023
Spoiler Alert: This review will contain what people see as significant spoilers for the show Save Me.
Save Me is a psychological thriller K-Drama that revolves around Im Sang-mi (Seo Yea-ji) and her experience in the clutches of a pseudo-religious cult, which she got involved with in a way after she was forced into it by her parents at a young age, thinking it could be a way to have a better life away from their socioeconomic struggles and mental anguish fueled from their son’s Im Sang-jin’s (Jang Yoo-sang) suicide after relentless sexual harassment in the form of bullying due to his limp. Three years later, she realizes how crazy the people in the cult are and tries to escape. Eventually, in a chance encounter, she meets with three familiar faces from the school she used to attend and asks them to save her after some attempts to escape herself. This is where the story truly begins.
Save Me greatly details the practices of the cult through the imagery of their rituals, the process of recruitment, and the lies they spread about the devils, which take the form of people who don’t believe and worship in the Mighty New Sky. It shows how easily the cult father, Baek Jung-ki (Jo Sung-ha), can manipulate unsuspecting victims into respecting him as essentially a god-like figure. Sang-mi’s father, Im Joon-hoo (Jung Hae-kyun), happens to become one of the brainwashed. Throughout the show while, despite hating the people of the cult whole-heartedly, Sang-mi must put up a font to make sure nothing terrible happens to her mother, Kim Bo-eun (Yoon Yo Sun), who is being used as a means to threaten Sang-mi not to escape and stray away from her religious, spiritual training, etc. saying if she does the treasure most precious to her will be gone.
Aside from the things happening in the cult, you have people such as Han Sang-hwan (Ok Taec-yeon), who is not only one of the few people trying to save Sang-mi but also is dealing with his corrupt father, Han Yong-min (Son Byung-ho), who is doing anything to become provincial governor and has a strong hatred for people like his wife in which he hides from the public. You also have Suk Don-chul (Woo-Do-hwan), a three-year juvie who is attempting anything to live a normal life working at a night club and a delivery guy who is also dealing with what he sees as the betrayal of his friend Sang-hwan, who refused to protect Sang-mi’s brother from bullies on the fateful night of his death and be a witness in the trial in which he lost and was sent to prison for in an effort to protect the image of his father. He, alongside the other two friends of the group, Woo Jung-Hoon (Lee David), who is in debt and streams to pay it off, and Choi Man-hee (Ha Hoe-jung), ends up trying to help Sang-mi too.
Corruptness is a big part of the show. It’s everywhere. The cult’s leader is revealed in the show to be a fraud who seemingly uses his power for personal gain. Having a history of sexually assaulting women, he can get close to them no matter the circumstances, which is shown frequently through the episodes. In the case of the series’s episodes, he uses the religious concept of the marriage between the spiritual father and mother to able the believers to enter the ship of salvation and live an eternal life as a way to attempt to rape Sang-mi. You also have people like Jo Wan-tae (Jo-Jae-yoon), who seemingly fakes his enthusiasm for the religion as he can take advantage of the rich who pay for spiritual training and give offerings to the Mighty New Sky. Furthermore, it shows how he and his so-called pal Jo Wan-deok (Son Sang-kyung) are responsible for being violent to anyone who opposes the cult, whether it comes to killing them or severely injuring them and locking them in a place where people with the so-called biggest of sins stay locked up.
The show shows the police corruptness like that of Woo Choo-kil (Kim Kwang-kyu), who cooperates with the cult; giving them homeless people to quote in quote makes them holier in exchange for money. Finally, we have the exchanges between Sang-hwan’s father, who attempts to get rid of people who threaten his chance of becoming governor, promising good things to happen to people like former thug turned detective Lee-Kang-soo (Jang Hyuk-jin), and thug Cha-Joon-go (Go jun) both of whom become suspicious of the governor’s behavior.
With all the corrupt people in the show, it’s apparent that no one is to be trusted, which makes it harder not only for the people trying to rescue Sang-mi but also for the cult to weed out the so-called devils of the church/cult. This characterization of everyone related to Mooji and Goseonwon, the home base of the cult, creates an eerie and suspenseful atmosphere. Talking about the suspense, Save Me is one of the most suspenseful shows I’ve watched, period. The ways in which the father performs rituals, such as getting rid of demons, and the overall atmosphere of how the cult believers act during said rituals can be uncomfortable in itself. However, the interactions between Sang-mi and any of the cult apostles can be extremely uncomfortable.
There are moments in the show where it is unknown whether someone is going to get caught or not, such as when Don-chul’s ruse of being a regular believer might get exposed or if any of the four friends are going to get caught when exploring Goseonwon or even the first attempt of getting Sang-mi out of her house. The suspense of each episode is what caused me to stay engrossed in the episodes and ultimately watch eight episodes a day as each cliffhanger occured during a suspenseful event. I wanted to know how a scenario ended badly. It is one of the few K-Dramas that I couldn’t stop myself from constantly watching.
I thought the show was paced very well. While there could be so many scenes considered slow for some people, I thought the psychological aspects of these scenes made me feel uneasy, and for that, I was on the edge of my seat for these scenes. The slow build-up is necessary as it fleshes out how the cult works, leading to the final episode, unraveling every mystery that revolves around the cult, and finalizing the stories going on outside from the friend group saving Sang-mi. I think the most entertaining thing about the show is the characters. There were a few characters acting, which I thought stood out—first, you have Baek Jung-ki and Jo Wan-tae. The acting for these characters was so good; I despised them as people so much that every time they did something horrible, I kept rooting for their eventual downfall, and let me say, the things that happened to them throughout the show I thought were rightfully deserved.
Sang-mi is such a strong-willed person that she puts trust in people she hasn’t seen in forever while being an independent leader, putting up a font for the cult leader and the believers of being “Spiritual Mother” for the sake of her loved ones while dealing with all the mental and physical abuse she suffers from the cult leaders themselves when she lashes out against them. The four friends all share a strong bond, and their cooperation with each other is a big factor in why they are able to succeed in saving Sang-mi. You then have Kang Eun-shi (Park-Ji-young), who can be the one who led Sang-mi’s family into the cult in the first place, using the “lying stratagem” to get her father to join the cult. Throughout the show, she is seen as constantly obsessed with getting into the ship of salvation to meet her daughter, who was in the same position as Sang-mi, who was supposed to be a spiritual mother-to-be before her death. The rest of the characters, whether minor or not, are responsible for creating the rest of the world and helping each other serve whatever purpose they are trying at a time, whether good or evil. Every character is complicated and fleshes out the world.
This is one of the darkest shows I watched. The show itself was paced out excellently. I think the show did a good job of portraying how cults act in the real world, as it portrays how good they are at manipulating people into respecting their outlandish beliefs and rules to live by. This and the fact that it shows the blackmail techniques they use to keep believers within the confines of the cult in a literal and spiritual sense. The ending is a happy ending, somewhat, but the church still remains. Even if you try to bring down the end of something like a cult, you’ll always have followers who bring it up anew. If you’re a fan of psychological thrillers and are okay with watching something a little more unsettling with darker themes attached to it, I think you’ll have a very engrossing time with this K-Drama, as I did. Maybe you’ll finish the series in two days, in eight hours, like me, which might be a problem. Whatever the case, if you give this show a watch, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.