What makes a person good and what makes them a monster? What role does context play in justifying or vilifying a person’s actions, and how do these actions define their humanity? The Netflix historical drama and creature thriller series “Gyeongseong Creature” asks us to consider these questions as well as one more: Who are the real monsters — the creatures themselves or their creators?
The plot centers on the master of Gyeongseong’s biggest money house Jang Tae-sang (Park Seo-joon) and sleuth Yoon Chae-ok (Han So-hee) as they both try to survive against greedy forces both mundane and horrifying.
“There is a wide variety of greed. In 1945 and the historical background, we get a particular historical context [when Japan occupied the colonial city of Gyeongseong],” says director Chung Dong-yoon. “There’s always greed in humans, limitless selfishness, wanting to gain wealth. Those desires and human greed are what start the story.”
“Gyeongseong Creature” begins when Tae-sang is seized and threatened by Japanese police commissioner Ishikawa into searching for Ishikawa’s missing Korean mistress. Tae-sang has until the cherry blossoms fall to locate her. Otherwise, Ishikawa will take everything from him.
When his sources come up dry, Tae-sang strikes an uneasy bargain with sleuth Chae-ok and her father (Jo Han-chul). The father-daughter duo have been searching for Chae-ok’s missing mother for 10 years, and their interests temporarily coincide with Tae-sang’s. Their investigations lead them to Ongseong Hospital, which is reserved for Japanese occupiers and houses a secret military testing facility.
The show tracks them and a diverse cast of characters as they all try to fulfill their sometimes competing and interwoven missions. Survival is the name of the game, and higher ideals seem to be a luxury in this dark period of Korea’s history.
Blending the Historical and Creature…
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