[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Narco-Saints" Episode 3

The official non-English Netflix figures for September 5th to September 11th have "Narco-Saints" doing OK with 20.6 million hours viewed for fifth place. Contrast with 31.64 million hours viewed for "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" in first place, 21.48 million views for "Young Lady and Gentleman" in fourth place, 16.84 million views for "Alchemy of Souls" in sixth place, and 9.97 million views fr "Little Women" in seventh place. "Narco-Saints" is the only one of these dramas produced directly by Netflix.

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If I had to guess I'd also say that "Narco-Saints" is also almost certainly the most expensive of these five dramas, given the location shooting and high profile of the stars. For all that glitter, "Narco-Saints" has gotten remarkably little attention in English language press, as did "Squid Game" despite it finally getting a chance to shine at the Emmys. The release of the official trailer or "Decision to Leave" in the United States has gotten considerably more attention by comparison.

Anyway! In the third episode of "Narco-Saints" the story has finally seemed to actually start. The runtime mostly consists of In-goo trying to coyly gain Pastor Jeon's trust by not wanting to actually do business with him. While Pastor Jen readily accepts that the civilian who he hoodwinked into taking the rap for drug trafficking is actually in position to make a big drug deal, he's far more suspicious of Agent Choi, the actual facilitator of the deal.

And that's pretty much all that happens. "Narco-Saints" is a cinematic story, but only seems to have about a movie's worth of actual plot. The extra time to ruminate over the plot actually hurts the impact a surprising amount. Why? Well, because some twists seem too obvious. In-goo gets mad at Agent Choi for tipping off Dutch authorities the fish were filled with drugs. But how would Agent Choi know that unless he already had a man in Pastor Jeon's organization?

More relevantly, why would In-goo assume that Agent Choi knew about any of that? The main explanation I can think of is just that In-goo is inexplicably hypercompetent, to a point that's honestly kind of distracting. No matter how much In-goo is menaced by alligators, he never seems credibly threatened or in over his head. This kills nearly all of the dramatic stakes in "Narco-Saints" and puts a lot of pressure on the story's mystery elements- which frankly speaking, just aren't well-written enough to carry the story on their own.

Review by William Schwartz

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"Narco-Saints" is directed by Yoon Jong-bin, written by Kwon Seong-hwi, Yoon Jong-bin, and features Ha Jung-woo, Hwang Jung-min, Park Hae-soo, Jo Woo-jin, Yoo Yeon-seok, Choo Ja-hyun. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2022/09/09~Upcoming, Fri on Netflix.