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[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Cheo Yong: The Paranormal Detective" Episode 5

This episode opens up with a flashback to a rather essential series of events that involve the three main characters. Don't get your hopes up in terms of exposition- we're given the background but not any sense of how these events in the past relate to the present day. If the antagonistic presence is any relation to the current increase in ghost related mysteries, there's no obvious connection between these plot threads in this episode.

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Though there is a definite change in tone. The vengeful presence this time is a migrant worker. And not a passive one either. Whereas previous ghosts were content to just let Cheo Yong slowly get around to solving their problems of afterlife justice, this one makes an active effort to murder people. Yes- now this is a good use of the drama's setting and backdrop. Not a job for normal detectives, but ones who have some understanding how ghosts think.

A lot of this is bolstered just by the overall storyline. The last two episodes of "Cheo Yong: The Paranormal Detective" tried to be socially relevant, but it really didn't work well with the format. Here though? Who else is going to extract justice for migrant workers? These people don't trust the police, and for very good reason. It's clear that we're dealing with scummy exploitative Korean bosses even before we get to the final denoument. And we can guess who the cops are going to side with in that kind of dispute.

The drama also does a good job focusing on strengths with some wicked fight scenes. Granted, from a technical standpoints these brawls are actually kind of pointless, but who cares? I want to watch Yoon Cheo-yong punch people, what difference does it make whether there's actually a good reason for it? I'm choosing to ignore the unfortunate implications of police brutality against migrant workers because for the most part the episode is good at building up empathy.

I really do feel bad for the victimized ghost, even if I understand why our heroes have to stop his spectral rampage. It's just really nice to have an unusual point of view in this format. Even in the United States, a country with a significant migrant worker presence, it's difficult to find stories about foreigners getting ripped off and bullied by jerkass natives because what are they gonna do about it? It'a a sense of helplessness that jives really well with the broader themes of ghost detectives. I hope the drama's able to continue in this vein.

Review by William Schwartz

"Cheo Yong: The Paranormal Detective" is directed by Lim Chan-ik, written by Hong Seung-hyeon and features Oh Ji-ho, Oh Ji-eun and Jun Hyo-seong.

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