Episode 4 had contained a sadfest scene that I totally cannot stop crying. I broke tears when Soo-hyun's parents watched a home video clips from her late daughter Soo-hyun before her disappearance. I am really happy that the writer-nam did a great and good job by putting this sad scene that made people wanted to cry like me.

Well, meanwhile, the next episodes for next week will be I think it was the case inspired by Raincoat Killer. Overall, this show still sold for me because of too-old crimes from the 1990s and even the 2000s.

I am glad they brought the younger police officer in because he tries to make Ha Young smile and the man needs some joy in his life. This drama is a great example how change, even good change is hard for some people. The resistance to using the behavioral team analysis is strange, but that may be because of hindsight.

"Animals can't speak up if they're hurt or hungry" is such a strange detail, lol.

This weekend too I read of something similar that happened in the news just before I watched episode 3 and 4 and I spent the entire weekend just crying and worried bcos these type of people really exist.

I don't know if it's just me, but this show seems exceptionally nuanced in its portrayal of killers. All the men interviewed by the team have committed monstrous crimes and created a world of pain, yet their responses to Ha-young's non-judgemental demeanour reveal a human side that cannot be ignored. Though I was disgusted by the ex-teacher's reason for killing his girlfriend (unlike many women, he had the option of walking away), there was something strained and despairing about his boasts, as if he was trying to compensate for, or conceal, his regret. Like many paedophiles, Cho Hyun-gil is a great liar and needs to be kept on a very short leash by the authorities for the rest of his life. But there is also a quiet hopelessness in his face and posture when Ha-young confronts him about the two fingers, and during his ride back to prison just a few months after leaving it. And I think it has less to do with being caught than knowing he will never be free of his terrible compulsion.

Interviewing criminals and trying to examine their psyche is a mentally draining task, and it’s likely even more so for Ha-young, who’s so empathetic that he seems to be unable to draw emotional boundaries.

This was the most interesting point for me. And KNG did such a good job of showing it. He is so empathetic. He enters into the minds of the killers as he talks to them. He meet them as individuals and talks to them about their feelings. He steps into their ugly defiling mental worlds. He goes into the pit with them. Afterwards, when he reenters "normal life", you can see him look around in confusion and slowly come back to himself, but he has been defiled by the experience. I'm not sure what the words are to describe it, except to use words like sullied, tainted, defiled. He is truly finding his way through the darkness.

While KNG is revealing a deep sadness in Ha-young's character, I don't think it will burn him out. He's well aware of the boundary between himself and the criminals he engages with. But he has the courage to enter those terrible worlds, and in doing that he is unique.

This drama is so finely detailed in the way it is addressing this new process. As viewers, we take profilers for granted. They have been mystified in so many dramas, and seeing Through the Darkness makes me realise how crudely they have been mystified elsewhere. No words to describe how much I'm enjoying this.

BTW, I only just realised I've actually seen Kwon Il Yong in Raincoat Killer: Chasing a Predator in South Korea, on Netflix. I'm going to have to go back and look at the sections where he is interviewed.

I have to say I enjoyed these two episodes much more than the premiere ones, and this time not only because of KNG hair.

I like how the drama doesn't hide the brutality: the one by the police and the one by the criminals, and at the same time we are shown how every one is human: Taegu barely being able "raped" on her report, YoungSoo drinking to forget that the little girl has the same name as her daughter, reporters being concerned about what they write, criminals liking being treated and addressed as human beings. And among them all, HaYoung that shows real compassion and wants to understand why, that hides in his room clenching his fists while he cries. The predictable HaYoung that always leaves the table before everybody else...

Kim Nam-gil with cats. If that isn’t a selling point for this show, then I don’t know what is.

I hope Ha-young manages to find a healthier work-life balance of sorts. As the recap pointed out, his deeply empathetic nature means that he becomes unable to compartmentalize between his regular life and when he’s interviewing murderers. He’s clearly suffering from the mental toll of sitting through and hearing the details of these violent psyches. Hopefully his teammates can help out more. It never stops being delightful whenever Young-soo brings out those rare smiles.

I can’t definitively say if this is my favourite Kim Nam-gil character yet (Bidam!!), but it’s already high up there. This is the Ha-young Protection Squad. Young-soo is the other member.

What a good police drama!

Yeah, it's slow because investigating is a slow process. But the focus on the characters (police, villain, family, etc.) compensates for the pace.

I like the fact that Kook Young-Soo came from the forensics, he's methodic and Song Ha-Young has the empathy to understand everyone. They make a good team.

KYS will be devasted when he will understand that his police badge was used to kill people.

I already hate the Olympic Games...

I was curious on how this would be handled, a profiler, and interested in the book that was first offered to Ha Young on the FBI counter profiler. I am now over halfway through "Mindhunter" and found it interesting and disturbing at the same time. I know finding the villain is the 'story line' this wishes us to follow as it moves the program, but I also wanted more background information on how Ha Young used the material in this book and started to apply it. Guessing that might be too real, even a short trip through this I think the general public might find informative in the application of what a profiler is/does. As the author John Douglas makes the repeated statement in the book, anyone that may have a thought in one of these deviant areas, but it is the ones with the mental (not as in retarded or such) will carry these out. He also points out the vast majority he has interviewed knew the difference between right and wrong, and therefore could not really cop to an insanity defense. What Ha Young and team are experiencing in the startup and 'quack' science is what he and his fellow FBI team members had also. I am totally hooked, actors are tremendous in their portrayals, villeins believable and if the rest continues in this vein, a solid gold star all around for the program

What I also like with this show is that they are also showing the reality that investigation takes time and takes a lot of man hours and leg work.. and since this is in the 90's , technology is not yet modern enough to help. But even with technology, it still takes time as they had to do their leg work of interviewing witnesses, analysing evidences, etc. In most police crime drama nowadays, it is often unbelievable that they get results and get their perps in just 24 hours.

I've seen quite a few shows revolving profilers but never how it started so it has been pretty interesting. And to have KNG? I can't stop looking at his eyes. Too many words and emotions go through his stares. Great actor indeed.

This show has piqued my interest back to crime-thriller dramas and I'm about to binge a few shows I've put on hold because I wasn't in the mood because what to do with this 3-weeks pre-emption?!?

"Later on, Tae-gu ends up bringing the cat home, showing that she isn’t made of stone either."

To me, this is the highlight of ep 4's ending coz while watching this episode, my mind was wondering about the 3-legged cat most of the time. Now Tae-gu is my fav 2nd character after Ha-young.