Netflix K-drama Gyeongseong Creature Part 1: Park Seo-joon and Han So-hee shine in monster drama set during Japanese occupation of Korea

Park Seo-joon’s suave pawnbroker and Han So-hee’s sleuth stumble upon a monster created through vile Japanese military experiments in wartime Korea

Slick characters and visuals and a simple story help the show succeed where other colonial-era K-dramas have stumbled. Will the not-yet-released finale impress?

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Park Seo-jun (right) as debonair pawnbroker Jang Tae-sang and Han So-hee as scrappy sleuth Yoon Chae-ok, in a still from “Gyeongseong Creature” Part 1. Netflix’s monster drama set in Korea’s colonial era shines where others like it have stumbled. Photo: Lim Hyo Sun/Netflix

Published: 9:00pm, 19 Dec 2023

Lead cast: Park Seo-joon, Han So-hee, Wi Ha-joon, Kim Hae-sook, Claudia Kim

Netflix closes out the year with the first part of winter tentpole series Gyeongseong Creature, the streaming platform’s second monster-themed Korean action-horror drama of the month after Sweet Home season 2.

With major star wattage in the form of Park Seo-joon (Itaewon Class) and Han So-hee (My Name), the series is set in 1945 at the tail end of Japan’s 35-year rule in Korea, when Seoul was known as Gyeongseong.

The series also features big names behind the scenes, among them writer Kang Eun-kyung, known for penning all three seasons of Dr. Romantic, and director Chung Dong-yoon (Hot Stove League, It’s Okay to Not Be Okay).

With his spiffy hair and sharp threads, Park embodies the debonair Jang Tae-sang, the master of the House of Golden Treasure, a famous pawn shop. A legend around town, Tae-sang has money to burn, and the connections to make things happen and, if the price is right, find who you are looking for.