03/07/2025

LYFE THURSDAY | JULY 3, 2025

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TV SHOW REVIEW

Action-packed thrills o Crime, revenge collide in latest South Korean show on Netflix T HROWING as many similar sounding and confusing names at the screen as the punches Ű BY MARK MATHEN VICTOR

and kicks, Mercy for None is the latest South Korean action crime series to hit Netflix. Crime organisations Joowoon Group and Bongsan Group co-exist in harmony following an incident that split their original gang Beomyeongdong a decade ago. After Joowoon’s leader Lee Joo-woon (Huh Joon-ho) names Nam Gi-seok (Lee Joon-hyuk) as his successor, the move sets off a cascade of events that lead to Gi-seok’s brutal murder, which in turn brings his older brother Gi-jun (So Ji-sub) back to Seoul. Formerly the best fighter within Beomyeongdong, Gi-jun carves a path of revenge looking for his brother’s killer, which eventually causes an all-out war between Joowoon and Bongsan, with various factions attempting to use Gi-jun’s return as the fuel for their own ambition. Uninhibited testosterone Mercy for None has it all: good-looking South Korean men from the baby faces up to the gruff, more masculine variety, men in suits, spoiled Gen-Z brats as the e s s

At the age of 47, Ji-sub portrays Gi-jun (left) with the athleticism of someone in their 20s. – PICS FROM NETFLIX

Action

over

character

A d

development A lot of time is spent on Gi-jun easily punching his way through groups of people, but there are only a handful of A e t

Gi-jun shares one of the show’s rare quiet moments with Joo-woon.

scenes with him and his brother. They share maybe two big scenes, one at the start and the other just before the final episode ends, with one blink-or-you-will-miss-it scene somewhere in between that reveals Gi-seok wanting to retire from the gang life and be with his brother. Mercy for None fails to establish their relationship beyond surface-level exposition and in turn, makes it hard for audiences to root for him to avenge Gi-seok or even give him a personality beyond every named and unnamed character going “Gi-jun is a badass” before promptly soiling themselves in fear whenever he shows up. This same problem extends to the other secondary main characters. The show juggles between so many characters and their myriad of scenesw They

kids of crime lords, dirty cops, foreign hitmen and of course, excellent close-quarters combat with everyone getting slashed, chopped, stabbed, shot, punched, kicked and thrown around. Choi Sung-eun’s direction leaves little room for anything other than testosterone and adrenaline – to the point that none of the leads even have romantic interests, which makes Mercy for None stick out like a sore thumb from other South Korean productions. So much of the action and crime noir are thrown at the screen that Sung-eun and writer Yoo Ki-seong seemed to have forgotten a critical aspect that would have made their TV series better: there is no character development.

Joon-hyuk’s sadly limited appearance as Gi-seok (right) is considered a cameo.

personal motivations that run in tandem with Gi-jun’s revenge plot to the point that Mercy for None has no time to just stay still and let the characters breathe. In a constant motion of hurtling forwards from one excellent action sequence to another, Mercy for None is a great thrill ride, possibly the best from South Korea among its ocean of

generic zombie productions in the last five years, but it simply lacks the oomph factor to become as memorable as the country’s older action productions such as I Saw the Devil, A Bittersweet Life, Oldboy or The Man from Nowhere . Mercy for None is streaming on Netflix.

AS South Korean Netflix show Squid Game returns for its explosive conclusion, promotional events are seen concurrently in Seoul, Taipei, Bangkok and more locations around the world. Fans celebrate the finale of Squid Game with special events marking the end of the show’s three-season The globe-conquering survival game thriller revolves around desperate people competing in deadly versions of traditional children’s games for a massive cash prize. Squid Game press tour in Asia journey, including Korean traditional games, parades, photo zones, performances and more.

People dressed as characters perform at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Square in Taipei, Taiwan last Sunday. – PICS FROM REUTERS

Young-hee and the newly-revealed Cheol-su dolls (7m-tall) at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Square in Taipei, Taiwan.

People play a skipping rope game with giant dolls at City Hall Square in Bangkok, Thailand on Monday.

A 12m-tall giant doll of Young-hee at City Hall Square in Bangkok, Thailand during the press tour.

Performers dressed as ‘Squid Game’ participants holding dalgona-themed balloons, before a parade through central Seoul, South Korea last Saturday.