Netflix’s Friday K-drama of the week is an action-thriller centered around a deranged man ready to kill anyone who comes in his way because he’s been struck by recent tragedy: the murder of his younger brother. Gangly warfare and murderous assassins are all you need to get excited about before watching this show. I know, it sounds super familiar. But somehow Mercy For None manages to deliver an incredibly niche twisty tale, despite having an unexciting and cookie-cutter plot we’ve seen a million times before. There’s only so much one can do with revenge, but this show becomes convoluted because it isn’t just the handful of protagonist-esque characters who are betrayed or betray people, it’s almost the entire character list. If they’re a named character, it’s like they’ve got some sort of twist lined up. In truth, this can get a bit annoying, especially when you want to watch an action-drama mindlessly, and just enjoy the gore and violence from the comfort of your couch.
However, the truth is, none of the complicated back stories actually matter in the grand scheme of things, because the Oldboy/Worst Of Evil level action is present and how. But before I get into the nitty-gritties of why this Bechdel-test-defying series is still entertaining, let me talk about why it works at all: Seo Ji-Sub. I’m going to be honest, I haven’t seen much of this man’s work, despite him being one of the biggest stars of the Hallyu industry. I mean, he’s been around since I was barely able to walk, so it’s quite a shame, especially when he’s just so good. I will never forget how much I enjoyed Oh My Venus, not only for Sin Min-Ah, who is of course, the star of the show, but the way Seo Ji-Sub is pivotal yet takes a slight step back to let her shine. The duality of this man is beyond me. While he played a gym instructor who can be referred to as brooding on occasion, he was still fun and, more importantly, secretly romantic in Oh My Venus. But here, he’s got to play a brooding young man, almost the kind of character you’d expect to be the villain in these kinds of shows, and he does it with an insanely practiced ease. Every calculated move in the action sequences looks delightful because of the ease with which he moves.
In truth, I get quite bored watching people punching and stabbing others repeatedly till their speech is gurgled and there’s blood splattered across the scene. But in this one, I was pretty entertained, and I suppose I was paying attention. The action is pretty good, and it never feels over-choreographed, and somehow the “superhero” nature of this one man’s quest is kind of believable because of his history and the “why” of his situation. It’s funny that we see people’s names displayed on screen with their designation, because there’s a past we don’t know about, and we need to understand that they’re more important than some of the other characters. But it almost feels like a school lesson, and you need to start taking notes, because you’re soon going to forget who this person is and what they do.
I think that’s the biggest flaw here, and I’ve noticed this in other action K-dramas too. Because there’s an obsession for making fast-paced thrillers today, we’re often left not grasping the magnitude of the plot itself or who the characters are. In this case, there are two gangs, and we’re left confused about who belongs to which gang because there’s an overload of characters. The advantage is that the dad-son duo of both gangs are recognisable because of the cast and essentially nothing else.
The series spans 7 episodes, each of which is between 30-40 mins long, which I found super refreshing, especially for a K-drama. Honestly, in this economy, time is of the essence, and if you’re wasting your time binge-watching a mindless show, then this is the ideal length and pacing. It also makes more sense to binge-watch it, considering there’s no real plot, just some twists that may well go over your head.
I can’t go without talking about the phenomenal cast of the show as well. If you watched The Trauma Code: Heroes On Call, you’re going to be in for a pleasant surprise with Choo Yeong-Woo’s performance. Gong Myong is devious as Jun-Mo. Then there’s a bunch of veteran actors you’re going to recognise for sure. Unfortunately, there are no popular actresses because the limited female characters are not even important enough to have names. But such is the plight of the action world still, when Korea’s very own are looking to Hollywood to make debuts in John Wick films. Honestly, a bit disappointing, but I don’t even have anything to say anymore. Some of you will say that’s not the point, and it’s based on a webcomic, so they had to follow what was in the comic, but hey, if you want to, you can do anything with source material, but I digress.
At the end of the day, Mercy For None lives up to its English title very well, because that’s definitely the message it delivers loud and clear. Nobody gets to survive the nasty events of this show because everyone is morally gray, some more than others. Some of the blood splatter scenes are a little bit funny, but the rest of the gore is explicit and fun to watch. I quite enjoyed the knife fights over the punching, but that’s just me. Also, very limited use of guns, which I liked because it’s more fun to see hand-to-hand combat choreography. I guess I’m like the Joker that way, with a knife fight you can just savor things that much better. I’d give Mercy For None 3 out of 5 stars. I think it has an audience for sure, but I still have some higher standards. It’s certainly not a bad show, though, and if you’re in any way interested in bleak fights, then give this one a go. It’ll scratch that itch for sure.
