By: Cameron Tyo
December 30, 2023
Spoiler Alert: This review will contain significant spoilers for the show Mouse.
The crime/thriller K-Drama Mouse revolves greatly around two members of a police station, Detective Go Moo-chi (Lee Hee-joon) and police officer Jeong Ba-reum (Lee Seung-gi), as they are in hot pursuit of a serial killer running amok in the city of Mujin. While doing so, many things are revealed that point fingers at suspects close to the main characters. At times, the main characters are put into question as being murderers as there are twists and turns being unraveled through 20 episodes packed with complicated situations intertwining and unfolding with each other all at once. This, in a nutshell, is Mouse.
Mouse, in my opinion, has been the most complicated series I’ve ever watched, and most of that comes with the fact that pretty much all cases introduced throughout the series aren’t given a definite conclusion until the last two episodes. Every time you think you know something about a character or an event that is taking place, new information is added to what you thought you knew to leave you feeling confused again. That said, I had an enjoyable time with the series.
Even from the very first episode, which right then and there had its fair share of twists weaved through it, I knew that I would most likely continue watching the series to the end. The first episode introduces a crucial concept to the storyline, which is that of a gene that Dr. Daniel Lee (Jo Jae-woon) discovered, which, 99% of the time, reveals that a human is a psychopath. On a rare occasion, 1% is to reveal someone gifted. It also reveals a trial that puts into question whether forced abortion of babies with psychopathic genes should be a thing or not. The result ends up being no, and this will have a significant impact later in the story. It also reveals the Headhunter’s identity from the get-go: a murderer known for removing the heads of victims for an unknown reason. There is so much suspense in the first episode, and finding out the serial killer’s identity in the first episode makes you wonder how the story is going to continue.
The story has time skips, two in fact. The first after the Headhunter’s imprisonment. This is the point at which the main characters are introduced, trying to figure out the murder suspect. Throughout half of the series, the Headhunter’s suspect is to blame, laying this suspicion on a doctor, Sung Yo-han (Kwon Hwa-woon), as he seems to be everywhere the police go. This time skip is also the introduction of the last two main characters, Oh Bong-yi (Park Ju-hyun), who has trauma from a past event that happened to her on the bridge, and Choi Hong-ju (Kyung Soo-jin), who is a television producer responsible for hosting “Sherlock Hong-ju.” Using their connections, they aid the police in finding and catching the suspect.
The suspect gets caught, and you think, “There are still so many more episodes.” Here is when we have our last string of murders and final time skip. This is where all the twists and turns come in to reveal the actual suspect of the previous batches of murder. Now, there will be some massive spoilers coming up at this point to give my honest review of the show, so please feel free to leave and read after watching.
It is hinted at very briefly during these murder cases that apparently, after the struggle between Yo-han and Ba-reum that resulted in these two men being hospitalized and Yo-han ultimately dying to save Ba-reum, the brain of Yo-hans was implanted into him as an order by Seo-joon (Ahn Jae-wook) identity of the Headhunter who originally wanted to use a random brain. We are at this point to believe that Yo-han is the Headhunter’s son and the true culprit of the murders that happened a year ago throughout the murder cases in the first half of the series. Ba-reum believes he has the memories of Yo-han as he can glimpse into the past, where he can see a person committing the murders. This being the case, he always seems to know how a murder happened and is quick to point out specific details about how one is murdered. This causes suspicion among the fellow officers he works with. Things get even more intense when bad guys end up dying. However, at this point, Ba-reum ultimately realizes that he is the one responsible for killing them and eventually learns that he was also the killer in last year’s murder case and that Yo-han was an innocent victim who was trying to stop them.
Yo-han is still believed to be the Headhunter’s son, but even that is revealed to be false, as when Ba-reum and he were babies, their mothers swapped them, indicating that Ba-reum was initially the son of Seo-Joon. While the police are putting pieces together to find the suspect in the murder cases, other main characters are still dealing with internal struggles that they have spawning from tragic events that have happened to them, such as Oh Bing-yi being attacked and kidnapped by a child predator or Choi Hong-ju coming to terms with the fact that she lured someone to death to escape the Headhunter causing her to feel shame to talk with her family. This leads to people thinking she is missing and later dead. Her father, Park Du-seok (Ahn Nae-sang), who works with Go Moo-chi, thinks she’s dead throughout most of the whole show. This explanation might sound very ranty and complicated, but I thought how the conclusion was revealed was a little confusing. These scenarios are concluded mostly from flashbacks, etc, so we know what actually went down.
Knowing all this, I think I’d feel content with the ending here. It is a story about psychopaths and how, like father and son, they will follow in their footsteps. If the baby swap didn’t happen, however, I’d find it interesting as it would mean the child of a serial killer didn’t become one themself. They, however, ended up revealing at the end that the OZ organization, governed by Choi Young-shin (Jung Ae-ri), is responsible for controlling Yo-han and Ba-reum in the sense that they allow Ba-reum to kill, covering up murders all so they can shake fear in the people of Mujin so when the time comes hopefully she can vote for the forced abortion of fetuses with psychopathic genes again and hopefully pass it, unlike last time. It is revealed that people were spying on them and their parents to ensure nothing happened to them when they were young, as they were chosen candidates even when they were not born yet. Detective Lee (Kim Min-soo) and Ba-reum’s aunt (Kang Mal-geum) happen to be a few of their members.
I think this plotline was hastily thrown together, but it led to a definite conclusion to the story. It seemed like padding though. However, one situation I really liked in the series that created real suspense was that of episode 5, where the culprit threatened to kill Han-kook (Kim Ha-eon) if the police weren’t able to come up with a connection between his killings. This whole situation happened to be broadcasted and leads to a satisfying but also heartbreaking conclusion. I found it interesting how all the murders were related to children’s literature in which people were murdered for lacking a sin, acknowledged in the story as lacking sin meant worshiping god, whom the culprit deeply hated. There were so many other suspenseful moments, like Ba-reum quickly realizing he could get caught with murder and trying anything in his power not to put the blame on himself. The OST helped immensely with creating suspense. There were also some heartbreaking moments. While probably not a fan-favorite character, I really did feel sad for Detective Shin (Pyo Ji-hoon), who died by OZ, as he wasn’t letting go of groundbreaking evidence that would get every organization member arrested. He gave me Maes Hughs vibes from Fullmetal Alchemist as he died the day he found out the gender of his baby and was so happy to get to see his wife. There were so many others, but just too many to list off.
One final thing I would like to mention is the acting. I thought Lee Sung-gi did a perfect job portraying a kind-hearted officer who was attempting to act as such, as well as a psychopathic killer who seemed to feel no remorse for anyone until he had the added brain of Yeo-seo. I could feel how remorseful he was as the series ended, and I was glad he could come clean in the end. I loved the sibling-like interactions his character had with Oh-Bong Yi a lot as well. I might actively look for a K-Drama with him just to see his fantastic acting performance again. Everyone also played their roles to perfection. The main, supporting, and one-time roles. They made the city of Mujin come alive. The acting invested me in what was being said and the events, whether good or bad.
All in all, while Mouse did get super confusing until the very end, and I was on the fence about the whole government being included in the serial killings, I thought overall Mouse did ring true of it being a suspenseful crime drama. Every episode made me contradict what I was thinking about something, and I was in the front of my seat my whole time, wondering what could happen next. If you are a fan of crime dramas that are pretty intellectually driven, I’d advise you to try the first few episodes and see how you like them.