Mouse (2021)

This series has only one hospital in it, that does not make sense at all.

"Mouse" stands out for its exceptional cast and compelling storyline. The actors deliver stellar performances, drawing viewers deeper into the intricate plot with each episode. However, one aspect that leaves audiences puzzled is the portrayal of a single hospital and doctor servicing an entire region. This oversight raises questions about the realism of the setting and the lack of alternative healthcare options. Despite this inconsistency, the series succeeds in keeping viewers engrossed with its suspenseful twists and character dynamics. The revelation of the killer being someone trusted adds an extra layer of intrigue to the narrative. While the scarcity of medical facilities may strain credibility, "Mouse" remains a captivating watch for those enthralled by mystery and psychological thrillers.

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An engaging but ultimately overrated title:

Mouse has received a lot of great feedback from a variety of people. I fell foul of this and decided to watch the series, thinking that it would be a solid drama to see. I was disappointed. There are certainly positive aspects to the show, however the failings are numerous and they can be very jarring also.

If you were to summarise the plot of Mouse, it's a psychological thriller about serial killers, detectives and some other convoluted nonsense. It likes to think it's a series about psychopaths, but there isn't a single psychopath in the drama (despite the fact that the term is thrown around constantly).

The plot itself is a mess. It is constantly jumping around and throwing itself about, and whilst it isn't difficult to follow, it sometimes feels like the writers got distracted and started running off on a tangent just to 'remember' what they were supposed to be doing with the plot after a few episodes. Every episode tends to follow the same pattern - end it on a 'plot twist' that leaves the viewer thinking something major has happened, and then start the next episode with either a flashback, or an immediate explanation of how nothing has actually happened and it was just to misdirect us... except after the first couple times you just expect them to play it safe. And they do. Every time.

I was constantly rolling my eyes at the story in Mouse. I was not surprised by the 'plot twist'. They allude to it the entire way through the show, so nobody in their right mind should be surprised when it comes to light - however they do nonetheless keep you guessing about a lot of the plot. Not because it's well written or complex, but because it just doesn't make any sense. It's unnecessarily convoluted, to the point that it seems the writers themselves didn't understand the story either. So much happens that is irrelevant that often important points are overlooked.

Regarding the acting, it's decent. Most of it is good, although there are some scenes that are difficult to watch - without spoiling things or going into detail, let's just say there's a bit too much crying and screaming in this show, and a couple of the actors don't cry well... *cough* the Detective *cough*.

Lastly... the research. It's a real pet-peeve of mine when writers don't do their research. Clearly this show has founded all of its knowledge from stereotypes, cliches and misinformation. It is so abhorrently wrong about so much. The entire series is focused on psychopathy and serial killers (not the same thing) - but they have no idea what a psychopath is, they have no idea about policing procedures, they have no idea about crime scene management or forensics, they have no idea about biology, they have no idea how brains work, they have no idea about how experiments are conducted and theories produced. They literally just pull everything out of their butts. It's an insult to any writer that actually makes the effort.

Lots of people have excused the total lack of informed writing and just dubbed this series as 'sci-fi', but that seems a petty excuse to me. It's just laziness from the writers. They clearly didn't care much about understanding their subject material.

Ultimately, it's a watchable show, no doubt about it. Most people could still probably enjoy it for what it is, especially if they just want to watch an easy series about killers. However, I can't really recommend it to anyone. It's definitely not the masterpiece people have claimed it to be.

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BABILONICO

Simplesmente mudou vidas, carreiras e trajetórias! Mouse me surpreendeu demais mesmo, especialmente pq nunca vou assistir algo esperando muito, e ele além de conseguir me dar expectativas ao longo dos episódios, ele cumpriu todas elas!
Se o drama tivesse ido parar em alguma rede grande de streaming ele COM CERTEZA teria mais reconhecimento pois ele faz por merecer isso, muito parabéns a quem escreveu o roteiro ! É uma história muito grande e com vários personagens, histórias, emoções, então é fácil se perder na narrativa ao longo dos episódios, mas cada uma das partes foi contada da forma devida e absolutamente TUDO faz sentido no final, quase nenhuma ponta solta, e o fechamento faz todo sentido, não consigo ver o dorama terminando de outra forma da que terminou, especialmente aquela última cena ineditazinha com o rato que *, enfim! Se tivesse uma segunda temp assistiria horrores, um beijão!
(Um crédito especial a direção de arte pois a ambientação é TUDO, sem contar na simbologia por trás de várias cenas)

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Not very bad ,, dizzy ,, story complete ,,recommended investigation lovers

not too bad, dizzy and confusing at the beginning of the drama, but quite curious, and the story is finished


the early episodes 1-5, the first feeling i get from watching this drama is, annoyed, dizzy, and dissatisfied,, why???
‎
1. a lot of stupid and careless cast

2. ‎ timing is not right , and unclear ( flashback in live show ep 5 ,,
15years from 2005 is 2020 ,but after 1 year jungbareum check who hit him the date it happened was 16-11-2019, and in the last eps it when.... The date is 2021,, ‎events that already happen but not shown,nit clear timing ,i think i missed something,,but they tell it then (documentary of hanseojoon and goomoowon,,,, lawyers from ssungyohan and kangdooseok)
‎
3. ‎evidence and witnesses are always intentionally missed

4. ‎very sloppy investigations are not confirmed in the first place, relying only on guesses( mukbang vloggers who don't have anorexia, if they check the facts they will notice the oddity, because sung yohan is a genius doctor it is impossible not to know such trivial things)

5. ‎evidence and witnesses are not explained from the start , since the beginning of the investigation they did not mention the main evidence and witnesses that they obtained, but added as the story progressed, it could suddenly be that A who became a suspect for stalking, or victims A, B, C when alive have this habit or that habit that's what make them killed, and can get a shuddenly witness ( but in my opinion no reason to connect it with the case,,,such as girl employee being forced to eat, if he is a psychopath there is no reason to let her go and leave trace ) and when they saw the evidence obtained from the victim, they just looked at it, without being explained what it was, they just had a sad and shocked expression,, basically the audience didn't understand, because the photos were very unclear and bloody, especially their scenes had many sensors

6. ‎unreasonable and obvious connection of the case (supermarke girl and mukbang vloger ,, Lee Jaesik's pants that were given to Kangdoeksoo a year ago couldn't be planned, how did the killer find out? and coincidentally they both are predators),,, The evidence storage team's footage...something was cut...why didn't they cut it all? And have to leave behind the cut off image of the mysterious person?

7. ‎censorship in investigation and thriller drama is very annoying, because it is not clear what is shown if not said

8. ‎. ‎skipping the scene at an important moment, which adds (?) for this drama,, deliberately making a diversion scene in order to get a plot twist (choi hyun ju tie someone with rope in tie knot case)

9. ‎I found some camera reflections and cameraman shadows in the drama (±ep6 49.11 ,,, ep15 32:21 )



BUT ! BUT it is undeniable that this drama gives me a feeling of being addicted to watching, it's been a long time since I get a drama that made me feel very fast finish for a Kdrama with a duration more than 1 hour,,, and I noted a problem that is still not clear, and it can be said that everything has been answered at the last of the drama , can't say happy ending, but ALL COMPLETE ,,,


It's a bit unfortunate to pass the psychopathic gene fetal abortion bill, because in addition to the psychopathic gene, there is also a genius gene, and at first psychopaths can restrain themselves if they are not triggered, the most important thing is that a person does not need a psychopathic gene to do cruelty, only need intention.

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The reveals are worth it even for someone who had read a significant spoiler prior

I've watched a few of the same themed Korean dramas. At no point do I feel Lee Seung Gi is acting a part. Where I often commend actors at the exact moment that I am moved by their interpretation, Lee Seung Gi's acting is immersive that I forget it's a drama. The feeling of it being very natural is primarily the reason I want to give the show the highest rating.

I've watched a few detective-themed Korean shows as well and I must say Mouse has the best utilized team. There is always a character of a cool chief, the slightly clueless but useful sidekick, the rat, the dependable detective, the rival, the ex partners, the detective that crosses between good and evil, with compelling reason. The cast are memorable and even though they fulfill the said character roles, their acting doesn't lean on cliché exaggeration.

Onto the more faulty parts -

The storytelling comes to an abrupt disconnect in the middle. From a cohesive narrative episode by episode it's as though an unrelated arc is suddenly introduced. That wouldn't have been a problem if presented more smoothly.

I am also not a fan of the scientific fiction but I give merit to the idea. I'll leave the morality discussion to those who are interested.

From the reviews across platforms, I've noticed the mother isn't criticized enough. She is more concerned about assuming the sin for the son rather than feeling sorry for the circumstance she maneuvers that allows him, them, to turn out the way they have. The pd lady is another character with useless lines. Aside from her program being too convenient for the plot, she poses herself as a significant character with moments of taunting the "father of all psychopaths" in the show but actually doesn't do sht -- and I'm glad it is other two characters who actually are given essential parts in the end in relation to the main character.

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Thrilling, brilliant, loved it, but still left me wanting a little more…

I’ll start off by saying that I absolutely loved Mouse and I can confidently say that it’s one of the best murder mystery/thriller dramas I’ve seen. Even though I picked up on the clues very early on in the second episode, I was still completely left in the dark as to how the story would unfold and what would happen to our main characters down the road. The writers and director consistently kept me engaged and anticipating throughout the entire show, and I never really felt that the plot line was being “dragged” as is unfortunately the case with so many dramas. And of course, Lee SeunGi and Lee HeeJoon were excellent in their roles, and by the end I was completely in love with both of their characters.

Mouse is DEFINITELY worth the watch. And that’s why I’m giving it a 9.5/10.

But that being said… there are a few things that I felt were lacking, or had more potential than was actually realized. I’ve managed to narrow it down to two factors. One*, there were certain characters that I felt were too one-dimensional and could’ve benefited from more complexity and character development. And two**, I would’ve loved to see the social, political, and particularly ethical themes surrounding the treatment of psychopaths explored with more depth.

* In the end, Mouse presented us with as close of a “good ending” we could have for the victims/bereaved families as possible, but I still wasn’t quite left satisfied. More specifically, I didn’t feel there was the right amount of closure for the side characters’ stories; NOT because things were left unanswered but because their story was never properly explained in the first place. I was constantly wanting to get an inside look into the psyche of characters like BongYi… what thoughts were going through her head, how did she work through her internal struggles? We were given her backstory and an explanation of how her trauma affected her in the present day, but not much beyond that. She had so much more potential for character development towards the end but instead she became a helpless little girl, for lack of a better term. And what about characters like Detective Park DuSeok? He was just a dude who lost his kids to the Head Hunter, but I felt there could’ve been more insight on how he struggled to reconcile his desire for revenge with his own moral compass. And Choi HongJoo - who became a key character - I felt like I only ever got a stranger’s perspective on her life, rather than being persuaded of her conviction. I guess you could say that besides the two MCs everyone else felt like a prop to the storyline. Even if I liked them, and even if they served their purpose.

** I understand that the main objective of Mouse is to thrill you, keep you on the edge of your seat, maybe creep you out a little lol. And this objective was well accomplished. But for all the talk of the psychopath gene and the introduction of the “abort psychopathic fetuses” bill / debate between the two political parties that was shown in the beginning, there was hardly any dialogue that truly laid the topic out in full. In the end it was just an agenda that provided a motivation for the puppeteers in the story; one that really only came into play within the last episode or so too. Just imagine if the script also played with this theme? How psychopaths affect society, how society affects psychopaths… The ethical issue of preventing a life that also has a 1% chance of being a genius. I’m also surprised that there was never a mention about sociopaths vs psychopaths. Or the possibility of psychopaths existing without causing physical harm to anyone. Especially since they kept mentioning how a “trigger” was necessary to start a psychopath’s killing spree… What if that trigger never occurred?

Again, I just wanted more dimension beyond ‘catch the killer and make him pay’. As entertaining as it was without it, I believe Mouse could’ve reached an even higher class if the two things I mentioned were included. But oh well! The cast and crew still deserve plenty of praise!

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It was so good until the ending eps!

This is a completely fictional plot but with some realism: psychopathic genes. Should we abort babies with this gene or let them live? This ignores the nature vs nurture concept.

The beginning episodes starts off so strong, and so melo. We have a bunch of sad characters with a sad lore in this drama. I liked when it was focused on one case: the Moojin Serial Cases. I was into it, it was a little over the top alongside the broadcasting news show, but it was intense.

Then, it went downhill from there, when the writers started adding other cases and info on top, and the lines start to blur. There started being more harder to believe scenes. The show does a lot of cutting, and then going back to the scene later on to reveal a bigger picture, which is an unique directing style, but can be confusing for viewers like me.

Choi Hong Joo is the most unlikeable character in this show. She's literally in everyone's business and holds all the clues, but she doesn't reveal anything.

Despite the complicated plot that went a little all over the place in the rush to the end, the cast played an pivotal role in drawing me in to keep watching. And the kid actors!! There were so many.

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THE BEST "PLOT TWIST IN THE PLOT TWIST IN THE PLOT TWIST IN THE..." DRAMA

PROS:
- Endless plot twists until the very end of the drama. A plot twist in the plot twist in the plot twist in the...
- Brave writer(s). No other writers could easily kill (important) characters in the early episodes.
- All characters have the same position. Even main leads are not that standing out.
- Super-ultra-satisfying duration. Yeah, it's 1.5 hours an episode because the story is pretty long.
- Touching anti-climax. My hearteu couldn't accept the death of kind people in the drama...
- Solid plots. There are no duration-eating sad or romance scenes.
- No overwhelming romance stuff. There's a little aspect in it, but it doesn't lead the drama to the romance genre. It stays focused on the mystery/crime/thriller genre. Still, you can ship some characters in here xD
- The whole plot can change your heart. Like, you used to hate a character, but in the end, you would love that character.

CONS:
- TAKE A NOTE! There are a thousand names you HAVE TO remember. If you can't remember it properly, you will lose the plot. I regret I didn't take a note and I have to struggle to figure out what's happening and who's who.
- It forces you to binge-watch the drama, else you would forget about what has happened in the drama.

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