The Frog: Episodes 1-8 (Series Review)

by solstices

When you’re falling in a forest and there’s nobody around — do you ever really crash, or even make a sound? Haunting and evocative, this thriller weaves philosophical and psychological threads together to examine the forgotten, indirect victims of crime.

 
EPISODES 1-8

At the heart of The Frog lies a Korean proverb — “the frog dies from a carelessly-thrown stone.” Intention, or rather the lack thereof, cannot negate the impact that kills the frog. Even if such tragedy occurs in a place sequestered away from the watchful gazes of peering eyes — or, as the Korean title reflects, deep within the forest with no one around.

Juxtaposed against such inadvertent harm is the intentional way this story is told. In its initial arc, the show treads water in a measured and fragmented start, effectively introducing its characters with short snippets that encapsulate their distinct personalities and circumstances. Each shot is deliberate, and framed carefully to evoke a curated atmosphere. Eerie silence, ambient noises, and purposeful soundtracks set the mood, drawing out the suspense of what lies yet unknown.

The Frog follows two distinct protagonists, who both run hospitality businesses. The first, JEON YOUNG-HA (Kim Yoon-seok), rents out a vacation home deep in the woods to visiting tourists. He’s placid and practical, deeply set in his old-fashioned ways, though he quickly warms up to the young boy that a mysterious guest brings along.

Said visitor is the distant and withdrawn YOO SUNG-AH (Go Min-shi), reticent with her words and observing from afar with an inscrutable gaze. At first, Young-ha doesn’t even know her name; she’d made the reservation under the little HA SHI-HYUN (Jo Yeo-joon). While Sung-ah lingers on the sidelines and listens to a vintage record player, Young-ha and his friend spend a fun day in the pool with Shi-hyun.

Then it all takes a turn for the worse. Young-ha wakes up the next morning to a vacated cabin, with only the smell of bleach permeating the bathroom and a bloody vinyl record left behind. When he checks his friend’s dashcam, he sees Sung-ah leaving with a luggage in tow, but no trace of Shi-hyun in sight. Young-ha’s mind races to the worst conclusion, but with only his suspicion and mere circumstantial evidence, he can’t afford to risk his business reputation. Instead, he replaces the missing towels, cleans off the vinyl record, and tucks the incident to the back of his mind.

Our other protagonist, the affable and idealistic GU SANG-JOON (Yoon Kye-sang), operates the countryside Lake View Motel with his wife SEO EUN-KYUNG (Ryu Hyun-kyung). Sang-joon’s unbridled enthusiasm for his establishment has him striving to provide the best service to his guests, spurring him to invite a lone traveler into the motel on a rainy night.

Alas, Sang-joon’s kindness proves to be his undoing. Police sirens surround the motel on the following day, summoned by the terrified Eun-kyung. Last night’s guest was the serial killer JI HYANG-CHUL (Hong Ki-joon), prompting a spine-chilling scene where Sang-joon imagines what must have happened. Hyang-chul carries his victim from his car into the motel, all while Sang-joon sleeps soundly at the counter. Then night morphs into day, and Sang-joon walks into the suite to bloodstained sheets and a gruesomely dismembered body.

In the months that follow, the bad press haunts the motel, and the guilt of inviting the murderer inside digs its claws into Sang-joon. Eun-kyung can’t erase the gory visage from her mind’s eye, and their son GU KI-HO (Choi Jung-hoo) is viciously bullied by his schoolmates. Unable to hold it in any longer, Sang-joon smashes his way through the motel, culminating in a heart-wrenching scene where he futilely tries to scrub the old blood stains out of the carpet and breaks down in anguished sobs.

Initially, it seems like these cases are parallel journeys. The show plays fast and loose with nonlinear storytelling, until the police officer YOON BO-MIN connects both incidents: she’s the new recruit (Ha Yoon-kyung) opposite Sang-joon, and the weathered officer (Lee Jung-eun) next to Young-ha. The two cases are twenty years apart.

The tragedy — and the threat — of the Lake View Motel case looms over Young-ha, driving him to protect his establishment and his daughter above all else. When Sung-ah returns, without Shi-hyun in tow and behaving like a completely different person, it becomes difficult to tell what is real and what is merely a figment of Young-ha’s troubled mind. Sung-ah’s scenes are painted in a vivid surrealism, composed through arthouse shots that border on the grotesque.

Everything I wish we were given more of — Bo-min’s twenty-year trajectory, Sung-ah’s descent into volatility, Hyang-chul’s criminal motivations — all feel like deliberate omissions befitting the drama’s focus. This is not the story of the murdered, or the murderers. This is the story of the overlooked victims — the ones in the wrong place at the wrong time, the ones whose lives were irrevocably altered in one fell swoop, the ones plagued by society’s judgment through no fault of their own.

The show leaves us with several gaping holes and unanswered questions, in a precise reflection of the frogs’ plight. “Why me?” laments a tormented Sang-joon, bereft of answers. The reporter YEOM DONG-CHAN (Lee Ga-seob) offers him a platform to voice his grievances and tell his side of the story, but it soon falls through. Twenty years later, when Young-ha pays a visit to the nursing home, an aged Sang-joon is still trapped within the torturous confines of that fateful day.

Despite starting out eerie and contemplative — which I preferred — the show quickly spirals into a fast-paced thriller in its second half. A grown-up Ki-ho (Park Chan-yeol) returns with a vengeance, Young-ha’s daughter Roh Yoon-seo refuses to go down without a fight, and Jang Seung-jo makes an impactful cameo as Sung-ah’s ex-spouse. Young-ha retaliates against the turf war Sung-ah starts, escalating in the face of her absurdity. All the while, Bo-min leverages upon her penchant for honing in on crimes and criminals to uncover the truth. Concealed deep within the woods are secrets and sins with no one to bear witness, but they will not stay buried forever.

Though Sang-joon is the protagonist that we follow through his timeline, his son Ki-ho winds up being the actual foil to Young-ha. Still, Sang-joon’s frog proverb makes its way to Young-ha in his lowest moment, extending an empathetic comfort. Young-ha is not alone, for Bo-min picks up on the peculiarities surrounding him, and his rural community rallies around him in his time of need.

The tree that fell in a forest with nobody around, may or may not have made a sound — but it fell all the same. The impact rings true, and the hurt lingers on. Even so, one day, someone may learn of its plight, and reach out to it. Sometimes, the frog dies, succumbing to its suffering. Yet sometimes, the injured frog ultimately survives, and is capable of healing.

 
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