The Frog: Episodes 1-8 (Sequence Evaluate)
by solstices
If you’re falling in a forest and there’s no person round — do you ever actually crash, and even make a sound? Haunting and evocative, this thriller weaves philosophical and psychological threads collectively to look at the forgotten, oblique victims of crime.
EPISODES 1-8
On the coronary heart of The Frog lies a Korean proverb — “the frog dies from a carelessly-thrown stone.” Intention, or somewhat the dearth thereof, can’t negate the impression that kills the frog. Even when such tragedy happens in a spot sequestered away from the watchful gazes of peering eyes — or, because the Korean title displays, deep throughout the forest with nobody round.
Juxtaposed in opposition to such inadvertent hurt is the intentional manner this story is advised. In its preliminary arc, the present treads water in a measured and fragmented begin, successfully introducing its characters with brief snippets that encapsulate their distinct personalities and circumstances. Every shot is deliberate, and framed fastidiously to evoke a curated ambiance. Eerie silence, ambient noises, and purposeful soundtracks set the temper, drawing out the suspense of what lies but unknown.
The Frog follows two distinct protagonists, who each run hospitality companies. The primary, JEON YOUNG-HA (Kim Yoon-seok), rents out a trip residence deep within the woods to visiting vacationers. He’s placid and sensible, deeply set in his old school methods, although he rapidly warms as much as the younger boy {that a} mysterious visitor brings alongside.
Stated customer is the distant and withdrawn YOO SUNG-AH (Go Min-shi), reticent together with her phrases and observing from afar with an inscrutable gaze. At first, Younger-ha doesn’t even know her title; she’d made the reservation underneath the little HA SHI-HYUN (Jo Yeo-joon). Whereas Sung-ah lingers on the sidelines and listens to a classic file participant, Younger-ha and his pal spend a enjoyable day within the pool with Shi-hyun.
Then all of it takes a flip for the more serious. Younger-ha wakes up the subsequent morning to a vacated cabin, with solely the scent of bleach permeating the toilet and a bloody vinyl file left behind. When he checks his pal’s dashcam, he sees Sung-ah leaving with a baggage in tow, however no hint of Shi-hyun in sight. Younger-ha’s thoughts races to the worst conclusion, however with solely his suspicion and mere circumstantial proof, he can’t afford to danger his enterprise fame. As a substitute, he replaces the lacking towels, cleans off the vinyl file, and tucks the incident to the again of his thoughts.
Our different protagonist, the affable and idealistic GU SANG-JOON (Yoon Kye-sang), operates the countryside Lake View Motel together with his spouse search engine optimization EUN-KYUNG (Ryu Hyun-kyung). Sang-joon’s unbridled enthusiasm for his institution has him striving to supply the very best service to his visitors, spurring him to ask a lone traveler into the motel on a wet evening.
Alas, Sang-joon’s kindness proves to be his undoing. Police sirens encompass the motel on the next day, summoned by the terrified Eun-kyung. Final evening’s visitor was the serial killer JI HYANG-CHUL (Hong Ki-joon), prompting a spine-chilling scene the place Sang-joon imagines what should have occurred. Hyang-chul carries his sufferer from his automotive into the motel, all whereas Sang-joon sleeps soundly on the counter. Then evening morphs into day, and Sang-joon walks into the suite to bloodstained sheets and a gruesomely dismembered physique.
Within the months that comply with, the dangerous press haunts the motel, and the guilt of inviting the assassin inside digs its claws into Sang-joon. Eun-kyung can’t erase the gory visage from her thoughts’s eye, and their son GU KI-HO (Choi Jung-hoo) is viciously bullied by his schoolmates. Unable to carry it in any longer, Sang-joon smashes his manner by way of the motel, culminating in a heart-wrenching scene the place he futilely tries to wash the outdated blood stains out of the carpet and breaks down in anguished sobs.
Initially, it looks like these circumstances are parallel journeys. The present performs quick and free with nonlinear storytelling, till the police officer YOON BO-MIN connects each incidents: she’s the brand new recruit (Ha Yoon-kyung) reverse Sang-joon, and the weathered officer (Lee Jung-eun) subsequent to Younger-ha. The 2 circumstances are twenty years aside.
The tragedy — and the risk — of the Lake View Motel case looms over Younger-ha, driving him to guard his institution and his daughter above all else. When Sung-ah returns, with out Shi-hyun in tow and behaving like a very totally different particular person, it turns into troublesome to inform what’s actual and what’s merely a figment of Younger-ha’s troubled thoughts. Sung-ah’s scenes are painted in a vivid surrealism, composed by way of arthouse photographs that border on the grotesque.
Every thing I want we got extra of — Bo-min’s twenty-year trajectory, Sung-ah’s descent into volatility, Hyang-chul’s felony motivations — all really feel like deliberate omissions befitting the drama’s focus. This isn’t the story of the murdered, or the murderers. That is the story of the neglected victims — those within the unsuitable place on the unsuitable time, those whose lives had been irrevocably altered in a single fell swoop, those stricken by society’s judgment by way of no fault of their very own.
The present leaves us with a number of gaping holes and unanswered questions, in a exact reflection of the frogs’ plight. “Why me?” laments a tormented Sang-joon, bereft of solutions. The reporter YEOM DONG-CHAN (Lee Ga-seob) gives him a platform to voice his grievances and inform his aspect of the story, nevertheless it quickly falls by way of. Twenty years later, when Younger-ha pays a go to to the nursing residence, an aged Sang-joon remains to be trapped throughout the torturous confines of that fateful day.
Regardless of beginning out eerie and contemplative — which I most popular — the present rapidly spirals right into a fast-paced thriller in its second half. A grown-up Ki-ho (Park Chan-yeol) returns with a vengeance, Younger-ha’s daughter Roh Yoon-seo refuses to go down and not using a struggle, and Jang Seung-jo makes an impactful cameo as Sung-ah’s ex-spouse. Younger-ha retaliates in opposition to the turf battle Sung-ah begins, escalating within the face of her absurdity. All of the whereas, Bo-min leverages upon her penchant for honing in on crimes and criminals to uncover the reality. Hid deep throughout the woods are secrets and techniques and sins with nobody to bear witness, however they won’t keep buried without end.
Although Sang-joon is the protagonist that we comply with by way of his timeline, his son Ki-ho winds up being the precise foil to Younger-ha. Nonetheless, Sang-joon’s frog proverb makes its approach to Younger-ha in his lowest second, extending an empathetic consolation. Younger-ha just isn’t alone, for Bo-min picks up on the peculiarities surrounding him, and his rural neighborhood rallies round him in his time of want.
The tree that fell in a forest with no person round, could or could not have made a sound — nevertheless it fell all the identical. The impression rings true, and the damage lingers on. Even so, at some point, somebody could study of its plight, and attain out to it. Typically, the frog dies, succumbing to its struggling. But generally, the injured frog in the end survives, and is able to therapeutic.
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