Disney+ K-drama Shadow Detective: Lee Sung-min commands moody and involving investigative drama
- Lee Sung-min is stellar as a veteran detective embroiled in a case connected to his past in Shadow Detective, which is set in a grungy, fictional port town
- Lee commands the screen, tangoing with his fellow actors rather than stealing the scene and compelling the cast to rise to his level of brooding intensity
Korean thrillers, with their shady morals and inky black shadows, have long been a driving force of the country’s film industry. But Korean cinema is not what it used to be – thrillers are struggling at the box office, and their creators are abandoning the big screen in favour of the small one.
The series offers many delights for fans of investigative thrillers.
The story is set in Geumo, a fictional port town which seems to get very little sunlight and is overrun by criminals and world-weary police.
Kim Taerok (Lee) is a veteran detective in the local police force who lives in destitution, renting a room in a gosiwon – a low-income dwelling where people share bathrooms and kitchens.
He is also taking medication for his faltering memory, though his colleagues are as yet unaware of this.
