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One of the most highly-anticipated K-Dramas of 2021 was undoubtedly Lee Seung Gi's return to the small screen with the psychological thriller "Mouse" alongside Lee HeeJoon. Born of the very hypothetical idea of the ethics revolving around the detection of a "psychopath" gene in a fetus, "Mouse" plays with the idea of whether human biology can overpower sheer will and strength of character. There's something inherently fictional and unrealistic about this premise but it's easy to go along with at the beginning.
Spoiler Alert!
One can easily imagine a world perhaps a decade into the future where it is indeed possible to tell whether or not the child in a mother's womb is likely to develop into a psychopath based solely on a gene. However, there is a reasonable margin or doubt and quite a dangerous one at that too. The psychopath gene is uncannily similar to the genius gene and as such, there's no telling a child with the said gene is a psychopath or simply a genius. Either way, a personal affair is transformed into potentially a national and public affair when a group of scientists begins to appeal for a doctor's right to terminate the pregnancy in case a fetus is found to carry the gene. At the same time, a psychopath's child is most likely to also carry the same gene.
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The question of ethics is clear here but the emphasis is placed more on whether or not a child carrying the gene grows up to be a psychopath, a threat to society or a genius, and a blessing and this is the central narrative of the story. The Head Hunter Han SeoJoon, played by Ahn JaeWook is a fearless serial killer and a psychopath. He targets a helpless family of four in the dark of the night. However, one of the little children makes a narrow escape and ends up being the one who proves him guilty, putting him in jail. This little child grows up to be Go MuChi (Lee HeeJoon), a police detective who has sworn to take Han SeoJoon's life, even if that means going to prison after him.
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Years later, a chain of serial killings is cropping up all over the city, albeit with a signature. The murderer seems to despise the Almighty and does all that he does in spite of God. He baits Go MuChi into coming after him and even coaxes him to arrange for a live television broadcast where he challenges him to spot the logic behind the people he chooses to kill. However, while MuChi thinks he's a step ahead of this new Predator, the latter is three steps ahead. Instead of letting the little boy he had kidnapped go in return for MuChi's answer, he murders his older brother instead.
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While it sounds disturbingly gory, the show is able to hold its audience effectively with just the right amount of suspense. However, it all starts to go downhill as fast as it raised expectations. Lee SeungGi plays Jung BaReum, a naive and quite timid police officer whose friend is murdered by the same serial killer and he joins MuChi in order to find the culprit. At the same time, we have Sung YoHan, played by Kwon HwaWoon who the audience is led to believe is the real psychopath behind all the murders.
Going back a few years, Han SeoJoon's wife gave birth to a child soon after Han SeoJoon was sent to prison and she did so with full knowledge of the fact that the child was carrying the psychopath gene. However, while she was debating whether or not she should give birth, another expectant mother had told her that her child was also diagnosed to be carrying the gene even though her husband was the purest of souls and lost his life trying to save a stray animal who had run onto oncoming traffic. The slightest hope that her son wouldn't be a psychopath, she gives birth and it soon becomes evident, from his tendencies as a child that he was growing up to be a psychopath.
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Just as we're presented with the binary between YoHan and BaReum, it becomes an untold truth that BaReum is the child of the kind gentleman who did not grow up to be a psychopath, and YoHan, Han SeoJoon's son, is very much a psychopath. However, this is where things start going out of hand. Neither are the police able to save any of the victims or even the little boy who was kidnapped nor are they ever able to trace the real psychopath. They keep going round and round, beating around the same bush like any K-Drama police department until in a combat between YoHan and BaReum, YoHan is killed by MuChi's impulsive gunshot and his brain is transplanted into BaReum's head, without his or his representative's consent.
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Not only is this a grossly inaccurate representation of the medical community but also completely science fiction at this point. From then on, BaReum starts getting flashbacks of all the murders "he" has committed and also starts getting more and more frequent urges to kill. It also looks and sounds fancy but little by little, the drama is losing its original plot, freshness, and potential. It is incredibly hard to keep up with and makes no clear sense. New characters are introduced and old ones are revealed to be not who we thought they were, removing any sense of stability or relatability and even though the drama is nearing its end, there's no way this story will get wrapped up neatly unless there are some more convenient plot-holes to support the claims the narrative has made so far.
Are you watching "Mouse"? What are some of your theories surrounding the drama? Do you think we'll get a happy ending? Share your thoughts in the comments down below!
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