Veteran South Korean actor Kim Yoon-seok plays a man who grows increasingly restless and paranoid in suspense thriller The Frog. The Frog Netflix ★★★★☆ In a bucolic South Korean countryside vacation town, the summer days are filled with sunlight, pool time and nature. But underneath the idyll, an unsolved murder and a disappearance haunt its residents.
Suspense crime thriller The Frog weaves both incidents together despite being 20 years apart. One is a crime from 2001: a serial killer brutally murders and dismembers a woman in Lakeview Motel, ruining the motel’s reputation and the lives of its owner Koo Sang-jun (Yoon Kye-sang), his wife Seo Eun-gyeong (Ryu Hyun-kyung) and their son Koo Gi-ho (played by K-pop boy band Exo’s Chanyeol as an adult). The other is in the present day: a mysterious woman Yoo Seong-a (Go Min-si) checks into a vacation rental run by Jeon Yeong-ha (Kim Yoon-seok) with her young son, but when she departs, the boy is nowhere to be found.
Both crimes are tied together by police officer Yoon Bo-min (Lee Jung-eun), who finds herself back at the lakeside town once more, two decades later. While it starts slow, the eight-part series on Netflix picks up pace midway through. Here are three reasons to tune in.
1. Refreshing point of view Stories about crimes tend to focus on the perpetrators, victims or the police, but The Frog takes on a fresh perspective by approaching it from the point of view of innocent bystanders who become collateral damage. The early episodes’ focus on Sang-jun’s family is heartrending.
The impact of a murder at their motel goes beyond just ruining the family’s livelihood – it causes mental health problems for Eun-gyeong, who was the first to discover the bloody crime scene, and makes their son Gi-ho the target of vicious bullying and mocking at school. They are victims of the heinous serial killer as much as the woman who died, but their suffering is often overlooked and hidden. The Frog’s choice to zero in on them sets it apart from other offerings in this genre.
2. Strong performances South Korean star Yoon Kye-sang gives a compelling performance as a motel owner whose life falls apart after a gruesome crime in The Frog. PHOTO: NETFLIX While there are flaws and plot holes, The Frog is elevated by the calibre of its actors and performances, particularly its two innkeeper leads played by Kim and Yoon.
Even though Yeong-ha suspects that Seong-a might have killed her son on his property, he keeps it to himself, as the secret eats away at him nonetheless. Kim portrays the increasingly restive, paranoid and frenetic energy of Yeong-ha in a nuanced performance. Through many silent scenes of him running, pacing and driving, audiences feel his growing fear and desperation.
Yoon is excellent, too, as Sang-jun. His descent into guilt and rage following the murder and collapse of his livelihood feels true to the way a man in such a crisis would behave. A particularly great scene is one in which he returns to the motel after the murder and breaks down in anguished sobs, trying to scrub out imaginary blood stains.
3. Stylish, eerie vibe Go Min-si stars as a mysterious and possibly murderous woman in suspense K-drama The Frog. PHOTO: NETFLIX The Frog is a cinematic work that uses beautifully composed shots and rich saturated colours to amplify the eerie and unsettling atmosphere.
The scenes in Sang-jun’s timeline are often drenched in drab shades of brown, grey and green, and his family is dressed in bland neutral tones, complementing the dire circumstances they find themselves in. In the present day, focus is given to the beautiful decor and bright hues of Yeong-ha’s vacation rental, as well as the vibrant, fashionable clothes Seong-a wears. It makes for striking images – like when her sexy white nightdress is splattered with blood as she walks around the rustic vacation house.
The overall effect is one that reminds viewers of vividly coloured predators or plants – beneath their beauty lies venom. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you. Read 3 articles and stand to win rewards Spin the wheel now.
