K-drama midseason recap: Beyond Evil – serial killer drama keeps its knives sharp, twisting all the way
- Beyond Evil reaches its midway point having managed to surprise viewers with big revelations without sacrificing the integrity of its characters
- Through multiple episodes the show leads viewers into believing the killer may be one character, only to introduce suspects that launch us in other directions
This article contains spoilers of the show.
For writers of murder stories, it is essential viewers be convinced that any character can be capable of murder. Yet at the same time, artistic licence gives creators the opportunity to employ misdirection that leads us to suspect someone, only for the blame to ultimately lie somewhere else.
Beyond Evil has had two main cases to solve: the probable murder of Lee Yoo-yeon (Moon Joo-yeon), sister of Lee Dong-sik (Shin Ha-kyun), two decades in the past; and the disappearance of Kang Min-jung (Kang Min-ah), daughter of Kang Jin-mook (Lee Kyu-hoi), in the present.
Before becoming a police officer, Dong-sik was a suspect in the original case and becomes one again in the present. Several other red herrings, not to mention Shin’s nervy and slippery performance, accumulate over the first four episodes, each giving more credence to his culpability. Then, suddenly, he’s in the clear, but he remains in the bad books of his new partner, young hotshot Han Joo-won (Yeo Jin-goo).
Dong-sik suggests to Joo-won that he knows the killer is one of the characters we’ve come to know from the small community of Manyang, and he proceeds to list out his colleagues at the precinct and Min-jung’s father. Now we have a full-blown whodunnit on our hands. Could the killer be a police officer? Might a physically handicapped shopkeeper be capable of these horrific crimes? All these scenarios are suddenly up for grabs.