However, where Vigilante explored the different faces that justice can take, A Killer Paradox eschews moral introspection in favour of something more troubling. This is a show about a layabout male youth of questionable character, whose violent urges are forgiven thanks to the story’s fantastical conceit.
5 of the best new Korean drama series to watch in February 2024
5 of the best new Korean drama series to watch in February 2024
Choi plays Lee Tang, a college student who never follows through on his ideas. His current one is to go to Canada on a work abroad programme and visit the Rocky Mountains.
He works in a convenience store, drinks a lot with his foul-mouthed friend, and is the kind of guy who cheats on his girlfriend before starting his military service.
During a night shift at the store he is forced to deal with some drunk middle-aged customers. The altercation continues outside and, after being attacked by one of the men, Tang suddenly bludgeons him to death with a hammer.
Any guilt that feels is short-lived: it is soon revealed that the dead man is actually a serial killer who was never caught.
Tang’s good fortune continues when the murder weapon he left at the scene disappears, but the secret behind that only leads him to his next deadly encounter: he kills a young, partially sighted woman who is blackmailing him, not out of self-defence this time but purely out of self-preservation.
Yet Tang is once again morally let off the hook after this woman is also revealed to be a killer.
The protagonist comes to realise that he has a special ability to sense when he’s around people who, theoretically, deserve to die. As Nan-gam gets closer to catching him he is forced to go on the run and, with the help of another character, he becomes a K-drama mash-up of Batman and Dexter – a serial killer who kills serial killers.
Directed by Lee Chang-hee, who previously made the film The Vanished and the series Strangers from Hell, the show goes all in on its visuals. Some tricks are clearly favoured over others, such as the match cuts between similarly shaped objects connecting scenes and the use of extreme slow motion during the majority of the fight scenes.
After spiralling out in different directions, the narrative does eventually settle on a destination, but once we arrive, there isn’t much to see. Just like Mask Girl, the ideas came thick and fast, but the conclusion is missing.
Then again, given the dark wish fulfilment on display, perhaps it is for the best that the show doesn’t have a clear or consistent thematic through line. Unlike Dexter, which makes an effort to justify the existence of its serial-killer-killing protagonist, A Killer Paradox takes the easy way out with its fantastical conceit.
What that leaves us with is a fitfully entertaining male fantasy with colourful lead performances that just about justifies its existence. Just don’t stop to think too hard about it – you may not like what you find buried underneath its superficial thrills.
A Killer Paradox is streaming on Netflix.