[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Poong, The Joseon Psychiatrist" Episode 3

Ratings for "Poong, the Joseon Psychiatrist" held steady from the first week to the third. From a modest start of 3.864% ratings in the first episode in the first week, the third episode in the second week had 4.321% ratings. The show's well-suited to a very specific kind of audience, and while it can hold that audience there's not too much to appeal outside of it. Either you like Joseon era mysteries from a forensic psychology point of view or you don't.

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The original psychiatric element has fallen a bit by the wayside, as "Poong, the Joseon Psychiatrist" moves on to murder. Well, first the drama has to introduce Detective Jo (played by Jung Won-chang), who as far as I can tell is effectively the second male lead despite the fact that he appears pretty far down on the cast list. Detective Jo seems to have known our leading lady Eun-woo since she was a kid, owing to the fact that Constable Suh (played by Kim Hak-sun) is her father.

Detective Jo's presence in the story at all is intriguing because it's quite contrived. I don't mean that the writing is contrived, I mean that his father Minister Jo (played by Yu Seong-ju) has used the excuse of a reappearing serial killer to put Detective Jo  in charge of the district for reasons that aren't particularly clear. Detective Jo himself is perceptive enough to realize that the new murder isn't actually the the work of the same culprit as the Gumiho Killer from last year, but a clumsy copycat.

Given the importance of the person who was killed, it actually makes a lot of sense that Detective Jo is sent in to investigate. But he doesn't do any really investigating. Detective Jo only reluctantly acknowledges that Poong and Eun-woo are correct that the presumed suspect, a sleepwalking girl, couldn't plausibly murder anyone in the manner described. He also agrees that the murder weapon is completely different than the one used by the Gumiho Killer.

It falls to our lead characters to do all the actual work in terms of coming up with a new theory, though, as Detective Jo seems obligated by law to put very little effort into his job. "Poong, the Joseon Psychiatrist" take a dim but entirely fair view of Joseon-era customs. You might note that Eun-woo is still in mourning for the husband she's never met, and continues dressing in white until a twist in the murder investigation comes up with a surprisingly means for her to abandon this responsibility.

Review by William Schwartz

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"Poong, the Joseon Psychiatrist" is directed by Park Won-gook, written by Choi Min-ho-II, Lee Bom-I, Park Seul-gi-I, and features Kim Min-jae-I, Kim Hyang-gi, Kim Sang-kyung, Ahn Chang-hwan, Jeon Guk-hyang, Yeon Bo-ra. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2022/08/01~Now airing, Mon, Tue 22:30 on tvN.