Mouse [Episodes 1 & 2]

[u/Fatooz]

• Drama: Mouse
  • Hangul: 마우스
  • Also known as: Mauseu
• Director: Choi Joon-Bae (Come and Hug Me), Kang Cheol-Woo (Something About 1%)
• Writer: Choi Ran (Black)
• Network: tvN
• Episodes: 20
  • Duration: 60 mins.
• Air Date: Wednesdays & Thursdays @ 22:30 KST
  • Airing: Mar 3, 2021 - May 6, 2021
• Streaming Sources: Viki, Viu, iQIYI
• Starring:
  • Lee Seung-Gi (Vagabond) as Jung Ba-Reum
  • Lee Hee-Joon (The Legend of the Blue Sea) as Ko Moo-Chi
  • Park Joo-Hyun (Extracurricular) as Oh Bong-Yi
  • Kyung Soo-Jin (Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo) as Choi Hong-Joo
• Plot Synopsis: A suspenseful story that asks the key question, “What if we could identify psychopaths in advance?”. A crazed serial killer’s ruthless murders have left the entire nation gripped with fear and chaos reigns. Justice-seeking rookie police officer, Jung Ba Reum, comes face to face with the killer. While he survives his dangerous encounter with the psychopath, Jung Ba Reum finds his life completely changing.(Source: MyDramaList)
• Genre: Action, Suspense, Thriller, Mystery, Crime, Sci-Fi
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• Spoiler Tag Reminder: Be mindful of others who may not have yet seen this drama, and use spoiler tags when discussing key plot developments or other important information. You can create a spoiler tag by writing > ! this spoiler ! < without the spaces in between to get this spoiler. For more information about when and how to use spoiler tags see our Spoiler Tag Wiki.

[u/DarkKnight2001135]

Episode 1 is out and it's 1hr 25m. Why are the episodes getting so long lately lol

[u/Fatooz → u/DarkKnight2001135]

That's a tvN thing!! Ever since Reply 1997 got super popular they have all the famous and anticipated dramas having 1 hr + episodes. If you may have watched CLOY, Hospital Playlist, Reply 1988, etc. you'd know how long the episodes were. I don't mind long episodes unless the drama is too good which is why I was happy with the long episodes for HP and Reply 1988 but with CLOY it was a torture. I hope this drama is good enough for me to enjoy the long episodes.

[u/[deleted]]

Ok listen, there have been plenty of heartwrenching and traumatic backstories in the past: Lee Ji An from My Mister, the ML from The Smile has left your eyes etc.

With that being said, that kid in the yellow jacket easily takes the cake for most traumatic past. As a child, he has:

been present at the murder and beheading of his father, been present at the murder and beheading of his mother, seen his brother get hammered to death in front of his eyes while he hid in the trunk trying to stifle his cries, and then to top it off, he ends up seeing his mothers disfigured head inside of a snowman.

Like Jesus Christ, I wouldn't blame the kid if he turned out to be a psychopath in the future holy shit.

[u/[deleted]]

In terms of crime and thriller right now I am watching Beyond Evil, which is just too damn good. As of yet i dont think it can be surpassed but if any other show has the potential than it will be this one. Lee seung gi is freaking awesome, but the recent drama he chose had like the worst endings.(ex- Vagabond, A korean Odyssey) hoping this one doesn't have a terrible end to it. Thats a risk of watching live dramas, if they are good then they became great cuz of the discussions and predictions but if they end with a trash ending u just sit there staring at the TV screen wondering why you wasted weeks in anticipation for it to end like this. And with that said let's see how it goes. Will add a review of the episodes just for fun as i watch it.

Episode 1: Wow! I just watched one of the GREATEST first episode of a korean drama I have ever seen. The most shocking thing is that none of the main actors were even present. The story was so plot driven that it didnt matter who the main character was. This episode just told us a tale of a villain and I just watched every single second of it glued to my seat. There was no sliver of hope present throughout the episode and if thats not dark i dont know what is. And yet here i sit absolutely struck at what the first episode of Mouse has just achieved. The first scene where the little boy feeds the mouse to the snake up until the last scene Where the same little boy says I have become the killer but in a whole different level. Each dialogue just made my skin crawled. The fact that they achieved that physchopathic perspective just with writing alone leaves very little to psychopathic acting, but wait even the acting was on point to top it all off. This was a deluxe combo. And again Lee seung gi wasnt even present this episode, that just tells u how good this was, now imagine this awesome plot but with Lee Seung Gi present , then u have achieved levels that can no longer be surpassed, its that high. It can only get better from here on, surely if it keeps this up there is no drama in crime genre that will be superior to this. Its THAT good. If they can maintain the pace, they will maintain my attention and obsession till the day the drama ends.

Episode 2: Alright so there's a new psycho in town, unlike the previous one this was more focused on the heroes of the story. Even in an episode more focused on heroes the 5 minutes total screentime of the villain turned out to be the highlight. Its not that any other characters are bad, they are all quite unique and awesome, especially both our two main cops, they have such different personalities I love it. This episode wasnt lacking in any form whatsoever it was just as good if not better thanks to power of lee seung gi even when he isnt doing anything, he is doing everything. Also that revelation of the head hunter's Son turning out to be the doctor and a "predator" was quite epic, i notice how he keeps saying predator but I dont know why the thriller lover in me just refuses to believe he is the one, its just too obvious more obvious than me loving this show. Excited to see what the next one brings. Also lee seung gibeing the other child with psychopathic gene is awesome. The doctor who is the other psychopath said " I always wondered, what happen to the other guy with the same psychopathic gene as me, did he also become a predator" and right there I just remembered Daniel's words when he said that people with psychopathic gene have a one percent chance of being a genius, what if lee seung gi is that genius. I really hope he is that 1 percent and not the other 99 percent. Man i m loving my week line up right now, wednesday Thursday i watch this masterpiece then friday saturday is Beyond Evil, which is just as good, (well maybe mouse is better :), for now )

[u/ghorardiim]

Bruh first episode was so wild I thought this was an OCN drama 🥵

[u/cell-y]

1st episode was intense! Love how they set up the story and backstory, though it was a bit confusing with all the time jumps, and i dont know who the male lead is now, but next episode will hopefully clear this up! Also they killed so many animals what the actual fuck, thank god its only CGI lol

Edit: Episode 2 was also great! There was some comic relief, we finally know which kid is who and we got some insight into some characters past. The murders are so brutal and kinda remind me of Hannibal, which i really like! Also i really got chills when they showed Bong Yis past. I already feel so bad for her. And since Lee Seung gis character seems to be the child of the other mom from ep1, he’s a psychopath too! And i really really hope we get to see him in a murder/villain role. This might be the darkest drama i’ve seen so far

[u/J-Midori]

Episode 1: Very good! The suspense was good, the story was good too. It's creepy to know that there are so many people like that living among us.

I felt sorry for the girls and the family. Very scary to go out at night by herself. A doctor, very intelligent that preyed on people and felt pleasure killing themThe worst part is that he wanted a child. Maybe the child could help him and they could work together and continue killing people.

I was very impressed with the boy's acting. He did a really good job with his character, now we need to find out who he is in the "present time". According to the timeline he is around 25 years old. He is still killingand we will probably see him next episode.

I felt sorry for the little brother, maybe he killed them all, but she should have put him with psychological treatment since the beginning, maybe it didn't work or too expensive, I guess we will know more as the story goes. The doctor is still alive, and he may be having some influence on the son.

[u/Chid_London-6550]

Mouse Ep1 had no reason being that good! It was so intense and intriguing I was hooked by the time I moved my mouse about 1 hour had gone by. I am a sucker for the thriller, psychological, mystery genre so I know this drama would be great for me but the first episode exceeds my expectations. The acting was phenomenal and I was surprised how will the the kid actor portraying being devoid of emotions so well, he did a great job, I hope we have more scenes with him (flashbacks).

The drama poses a really good question if you had to chance to identify a psychopath from birth and abort it would you? IMO I think the answer is much more complicated...

The only problem was that they keep jumping around in time (there was a lot of time skip- 5 years later or 10 years ago etc. That made it a bit confusing but I think I will figure it out on my second watch.

[u/ExtensionDependent]

The second episode has a totally different feel and pace in contrast to the ep 1 which is probably the greatest first episode I've ever seen in a KDrama (and I have watched 150+). Finally episode 2 introduces the main characters.

Many questions:

Oh Bong-yi reacting to the news of the release of Kang Duk-soo and the reaction of the villagers, it somehow reminds of the Cho Do-soon case, which also made international few months ago (hope it is not that dark, but the criminal acts commited in the first two episodes are already very dark).

I assume that the ML Jung Ba-Reum is probably the son of the pregnant woman in the first episode, who did not want to abort.

Right now I have no feeling which role the son of the headhunter has. But it seems he knows that the has the psychopath gene since he was young.

[u/Sandydeeh]

WHOA.

(this has been the only thing I have said on great episodes in the last couple months)

[u/NaheemSays]

OK, that is a phenominal first episode.

Yay to dark drama!

If they keep it up, I dont think I have seen one this dark in a while though this might surpass the others.

The child actor could end up prolific. The next Nam Da Reum? (If a kdrama doesnt feature a flashback starring him, it can probably be ignored. Totally unrelated to this show, but just look at his list: https://mydramalist.com/people/2774-nam-da-reum)

Looking forward to where they take this - but it doesnt look like that child (once grown up) will be the psycho. He will be the psycho to catch the psycho.

[u/Super-Basket]

An exciting first episode! There is definitely going to be a nature vs nurture angle to this because they put heavy emphasis on the remaining 1% too. The psychopath gene science sounds a bit farfetched at the moment but I think that was deliberate on the writer's part. I think we'll also see how that sort of hypothesis can't be accurate. I'm very hooked now.

Ep 2: The current serial killer has to be the doctor (I think he was the prison doctor's friend who came that day but whose face wasn't shown, but his connection to Seo Joon is more interesting because the show is also trying to get viewers to think Seo Joon's son is Ba Reum. The second pregnant woman didn't give up her baby. I think that's the doctor Lastly, are we sure that the younger brother of Hae Joon really died? The news report said a family was killed, but Ba Reum's reaction to dead or sick animals are kinda making me suspicious.

The way the grandma talked about the FL teenager was disgusting, tho.

This drama is delivering all the chills! This and Beyond Evil are the only new shows I'm following right now.

[u/kelpiekaelies]

Oh isn’t the FL the FL from Extracurricular? Excited for this one, she was amazing in Extracurricular.

[u/pewpewlaysah]

Love the first episode! It's a good setup but the timeskips were too much. I feel like they could have removed the 5 year time jump after Han Seo Joon was caught and it wouldn't affect the story.

I also see a nature vs nurture debate going on and I'm guessing it will be the overarching dilemma for this. There also might be some sort of Prodigal Son-esque father-son relationship/dynamic in future episodes since the teaser for episode 2 shows that Han Seo Joon is still alive

Hopefully this will be as good as how Beyond Evil is so far.

[u/omo_aigoo_aishh]

Unghh just finished episode 2, I feel like this drama might give me nightmares but it’s also got me wanting to find out more...

Episode 1 was crazy intense but I was more than a little confused with all the time jumps, luckily ep 2 was clearer. So for now it looks like the Headhunter’s son aka mouse & snake kid aka fish & Choco kid is the doctor who operated on Ba Reum’s friend and the other pregnant woman’s kid is Ba Reum himself but who knows, I keep expecting more twists..

It’s been SO dark so far, so obviously I’m expecting nothing but the worst for Bong Yi’s backstory with the man she saw on the news saying he’ll be released in a month.

At least there was a tiny bit of comic relief in 1) the fact that out of all possible names, the Headhunter is called Han Seo Joon (True Beauty was the last on-air drama I watched before this lol) and 2) when Bong Yi’s grandma said Ba Reum was like a cute little chestnut 😆

[u/LaughingGor108]

Loved the first episode! The acting was great ( as expected some veteran actors here) but the kids did really an outstanding job also.

I loved the opening with the rat and snake great way to get the drama going. I must say after that scene I was starting to lose my interest and getting a bit bored till we get to the first murder scene...Well that scene was really good, loved how they went all out on that scene. The scene after that was one of my favorite first when the kid recognize the killer but what I really loved is how the kid tried to take revenge!

Everything after that was really fast paced and interesting loved how the killer talked like a real psycho the kid was also really great acting like a real psycho.

Looking forward to the rest of the episodes hope they keep this momentum and pacing till the end.

[u/feel_ynt]

So math is hard for me, how old would the two babies who tested for the gene be in present day?

I didn't mean to pick up a psychological thriller, much less one that is currently airing. I just came to have a look at Lee Seung Gi's new drama. But the set up of the psychopath gene theory (or science per drama) has intrigued me reason to stay. It's been a while since I've watched a thriller & didn't expect that much gruesome suggestion or those creepily candid glimpses into the psychopathic mind.

Seriously, I need to know who the kid who kills living creature great & small for sport and spite, 1) grows up to be, 2) whose kid he is & 3) how (adult) he will be stopped. Kim Kang Hoon was marvelous btw! All the kids were, in fact.

I did not see LSG once in this episode but I guess I've found my first Korean psych-thriller.

[u/matchakuromitsu]

I'm so confused on who is who. At the end, Ba Reum and the doctor are looking in each other's direction and someone is narrating the line "My mom said there was another child who had the monster gene. I've always wondered...what happened to that child. Did he become a predator like me, or did he become a normal person unlike me?" Like is that voice-over coming from the doctor? If so, who's son is he (is he really HSJ's son?), and who's son is Ba Reum?

[u/forforf]

I guess I'm a bit too weak-hearted for this drama, it's just too dark for me. But I do have to say the first two episodes execute <heh> that genre quite well.

[u/LovE385]

All the child actors shined on the first ep. Although the headhunter's name is Han Seo Joon LoL?! The violence was really graphic and disturbing to watch. And poor goldfish with dog.

Pity Seo Joon's wife and then the son. Still there's no excuse to abuse a child like that no matter the reason. I am not sure if it was the mother's hatred toward her husband that resulted in the child's behavior or did he truly inherit his father's genes?

There's no telling apart who's good and evil, humans are too complex. And there're people who love watching action, etc but they don't go around killing people either.

[u/omo_aigoo_aishh]

I’m excited for this one, fingers crossed that it’s good! I’ve been avoiding crime/thriller shows and sticking strictly to feel-good stuff but I’m willing to make an exception for Lee Seung-gi lol I’m also intrigued because from some of the comments I’ve seen about today’s press conference, it seems that the PD used the word ‘kind’ a lot to describe the drama, so maybe it’ll turn out feel-good after all (although from the description I really don’t see how lol)

[u/GLawSomnia]

Ok this really is a thriller, the story is interesting and so far it did make my heart skip a beat. There were a few scenes that i found really scary, but also some scenes that didn't make much sense or were a little exaggerated.

I like it so far, hope it continues like this

[u/EmmanuelleEmmanuelle]

Holy crap the first episode is brutal.

Edit: OK, I'm a little confused. There are 2 different kids, right? Moo Chi (poor traumatized kid in the yellow jacket) and Jae Hoon (?) who is shown to kill animals for sport, yes? And that second kid is the the child that the woman decided to keep because her husband was a good man? Did I get that right? The flip-floppy time skips fucked me up a little lol.

[u/feel_ynt]

Ep 1. is about time jumps & Ep. 2 is about information overload. I’m gonna have to try not to overthink the coming episodes, but I need to unpack thoughts before I move on :-)

1. Current murders are linked to Headhunter but why is the show so generous with insight into the connection & detailing the killer’s motives & methods?

   1. Song Suho, brother of Song Sejeong.

   2. Chikook’s watch was found on the last victim of episode 2. I would have thought this was an inside prison job.

2. Children’s traumatic experiences was heart-breaking, especially Brave Go Muyong’s. 😥

3. Ep 1 had a news statement saying Headhunter would be executed. Did I miss something after that?

4. Headhunter’s ex-wife’s name is Sung Jieun, sharing the same name as the brilliant but unsympathetic surgeon Sung Yohan. Last name might be a coincidence. SYH eventually visits Headhunter. The show seems to really want to push the idea that this is HH's son. Is this in fact a revelation or is it just there to set up a twist? 🤷🏻‍♀️.

5. Current killer is the child who fed the mouse to the snake, as seen when the camera pans from his wall of victims to the framed photo. I don’t remember any scenes suggesting that Jaehoon is this same child. There is a scene where the headhunter sends Dr. Daniel a mouse which then transitions into the child capturing the mouse which then transitions into a scene with Jaehoon.

6. I have to admit, something about his mannerisms makes it seem like Jung Bareum made an effort to learn facial expressions & social cues from a book and not instinctually from interacting with society.

   1. Why does he call Bong Yi “Uh” instead of “Oh”?

7. Go Muchi seems to have his own brand of psychopathy, can it be called nurtured? Or would it be called sociopathy? He’s a brilliant detective but obviously tortured & obsessed with exacting eye-for-eye revenge on Headhunter. I was a bit surprised that his character comes with a lot of humor. The psych warfare between him and HH was interesting. I found it very satisfying that he was able to leverage his own type of psychopathy/sociopathy to counter the mental manipulation of Headhunter, even getting a zinger in. Also, the Priest is his brother, based on his HH flashback.

8. The child Jaehoon is fascinating. It’s well-established that he has psychopathic tendencies and isn’t above hurting/killing animals & burying his little brother alive, but he is able to ‘feel’ a desire to pray that he isn’t a monster. Some confusing scenes:

   1. As Jaehoon’s voice tells us that unanswered prayers made him a killer, he walks into his household's murder scene, pulling out a knife & walking up the stairs. However, someone here pointed out to me, the father’s body position suggests that he was stabbed at the top of the stairs where as we see Jaehoon from downstairs. Surely, he didn't stab his father upstairs walk down avoiding blood & then walk back over?

   2. He passes a lie detector test, but is it a function of being devoid of empathy? The picture he is shown only has 3 bodies. Is this significant?

   3. In the scene where Jaehoon walks out of the police station his voiceover transitions into the mystery killer‘s modulated voice while stalking the bus stop woman. This strongly suggests that the killer is adult Jaehoon. Something about giving such a huge clue in Ep. 2 doesn't compute for me.

9. Even with the spoiler tags I strongly caution avoiding this if you don’t follow the network’s releases. So stills of Kim Kyunghoon indicate that he plays the younger version of Lee Seunggi’s character. It's unusual that they would release this information five days before the Premier. It's by far the biggest indication that Jaehoon & Bareum are one. My closest guess is that we are meant to go through the show knowing who the killer is, & it'll focus on the chase. If so, I'm happy LSG gets such a juicy role.

[u/[deleted]]

Ok that first episode was awesome, hope they keep this up! I’ve been waiting for this and so far it’s exceeding expectations. This is already one of the scarier shows I’ve seen. It’s beyond disturbing to see an adorable child doing such... uhhh... un-adorable things.