Rescue Me

Rescue Me

6.5/10

Rescue Me

Genre:                                 Episodes: 16                          Year: 2017

Mystery

Thriller

Synopsis:

After a family tragedy, Im Sang Mi and her parents are drawn into a religious cult. Four young men who went to high school with Sang Mi see her in trouble and try to help her escape.

Cast:

Seo Ye Ji (Im Sang Mi)

Taecyeon (Han Sang Hwan)

Woo Do Hwan (Seok Dong Chul)

Lee David (Woo Jung Hoon)

Ha Ho Jung (Choi Man Hee)

Cho Sung Ha (Baek Jung Ki)

Jung Hae Kyun (Im Joo Ho)

Park Ji Young (Kang Eun Shil)

Jo Jae Yun (Jo Wan Tae)

Yoon Yoo Sun (Kim Bo Eun)

Jang Yoo Sang (Im Sang Jin)

Jang Hyuk Jin (Lee Kang Soo)

General Thoughts:

It's an interesting drama for sure, but I definitely wouldn’t call it fun. In fact, the first bunch of episodes were a bit of a strain to get through as they were so dark. The writers did a brilliant job at creating a heavy and mysterious atmosphere that was full of suspense, however for a drama that’s a full 16 episodes, I do think you need to balance the bleakness with a bit of light, which ‘Rescue Me’ didn’t do at all.

So very, very bleak

Dark movies can be successful as they only go for about 2 hours, however ‘Rescue Me’ was doom and despair for a whole 6 hours before there was even a hint that Sang Mi had a hope of finding a way out of the cult. On that note, I think the set-up and introduction of the series as whole just took too long.

I get that set-up is necessary- but it was a bit excessive

It was more than a third of the way through the drama before our main boys even cottoned on that Sang Mi was in a cult and needed help. I understand that we needed a solid background on how Sang Mi’s family ended up desperate enough to be drawn into the cult, but I do think the series could have set up the story faster, as the first 6 episodes or so felt a bit drawn out, especially as we were all waiting for Sang Mi to have some sort of actual interaction with Sang Hwan and Dong Chul after she’d been pulled into the cult. Once the drama had (finally) finished all its set up, the story became much more engaging, as did the characters. Sang Mi herself was pretty bland, but it worked more or less to the story's benefit just having her as an everyday sort of girl who found herself in a horrible situation. I was glad that Sang Mi wasn’t depicted as a needy or helpless girl, as that very well could have ended up being the case. Rather she was depicted as a normal girl who wanted to live a normal life, and who was willing to do whatever it took to get that. Despite how much I disliked the long intro, I did appreciate that the show bothered to show that Sang Mi had attempted to escape on her own before Sang Hwan heard her asking for help.

Immensely glad that she wasn't totally helpless

It showed that Sang Mi wasn’t incompetent or useless, and also showed just how far and deep Guseonwon’s reach into the community stretched. Having the police hand Sang Mi right back into the hands of the cult leaders was a hard moment to watch, but also illustrated perfectly why Sang Mi developed such distrust in people, and made her quiet plea to Sang Hwan much more dramatic and impactful.

Lady Officer not buying the cult's bull

As for the boys, rather than Sang Hwan, I actually found Dong Chul a more intriguing character. Sang Hwan’s inability to see his father’s corruption really annoyed me, particularly when his father screwed Dong Chul over so badly. After seeing his father fail to release Dong Chul from the detention centre as he’d promised, Sang Hwan’s trust in his father really should have been shot. Admittedly, it was enjoyable to watch Sang Hwan start standing up to his father and threatening him back, but by that point I was more invested in Dong Chul’s infiltration of the cult. Dong Chul’s story arc was an interesting one, as I fully expected him to have more of a fallout with Sang Hwan. I was glad that the show brushed over the topic lightly, but didn’t fail to address it. It kept the plot moving at a quick pace, while also addressing Sang Hwan’s utter failure to support his friend. The infiltration was extremely interesting, and kept the stakes high. As suspenseful as it was having Sang Mi trapped in the cult, we all kind of knew she would be rescued by the end (or else how sucky would this drama have been), but Dong Chul’s fate was far more unpredictable.

Dong Chul's plans were 100% better than Sang Hwan's 100% of the time

His double identity left a constant fear that he would be found out, and a fear of what would happen to him if he was. I also got slightly nervous that he might start buying into the cult for real, with all of the Spiritual Father’s weirdly accurate speeches on Dong Chul’s anger.

It's always the puppy boys that get put in danger

The characters in the cult were all fascinating characters themselves. As much as I hated Sang Mi’s father, he was a brilliantly written antagonist. Rather than the Spiritual Father, the one I was most afraid of and angry at was Sang Mi’s father. He had no clue about the horrible effects his decisions had on his family, and was constantly making terrible choices for Sang Mi under the guise of ‘protecting’ her. Not only was he making the worst decisions for Sang Mi possible, he also completely restricted her ability to escape. Had the Spiritual Father been the only one keeping Sang Mi in Guseonwon, Sang Mi’s escape would have been much, much easier. Sang Mi’s actual father has a level of legal control over her, and it was alarming how easily he could turn Sang Mi into a mentally damaged girl in the eyes of their community. Despite his inability to provide Sang Mi with a safe environment, his power over her as a father (both legally and emotionally), made it much harder for anyone to help Sang Mi.

K-Dramaland has a choice selection of crappy fathers, but you really take the cake

Sang Mi’s father was set up well, as even before he joined the cult, we were given glimpses of his poor decision making abilities and his blindly trusting nature. The drama opens on the family moving away from Seoul (because of what we assume is Sang Jin’s bullying), and the family loses all their assets due to Sang Mi’s father trusting a conman.

Here's a thought- maybe don't sell your daughter to the creeper

It felt natural for him to fall into the hands of people who were seemingly willing to help him and his family. He had the exact mindset that made it easy for him to be manipulated, and that was shown early on in the series, so it didn’t seem like an unnatural turn of events to have this man fall so heavily under the cult’s control. Apostle Jo was another terrifying, yet intricately interesting character to watch. His blatant lack of morals and willingness to do anything to make money (including protecting his cash cow Guseonwon) made him a total wild card and a threat to all of our characters. In a sense Apostle Jo was also more threatening than Spiritual Father because he was well aware that he was manipulating and taking advantage of people. Apostle Jo consciously used the weaknesses of others to exploit them, and of course had a total creep factor when it came to women.

Looks like an ajumma, acts like a psycho

Apostle Kang was fascinating as she was the only female character the show deeply explored that had bought into the cult. I almost wish we’d had a little more backstory on her shown on screen, as a lot was left up to viewer interpretation. Apostle Kang was interesting because she seemed much more desperate to believe in what the cult was preaching.

I'm not sure why being crazy reduces your scare-factor, but it kinda does

Despite being visibly uncomfortable with some of the things Guseonwon was doing, particularly in regards to the similarities in the way the cult abused Sang Mi and her daughter, she was so desperate to ‘save’ her and her daughter’s souls that she was willing overlook things that she was clearly unsupportive of. As for our main antagonist, I actually found Spiritual Father a tad lacking. Sure he was super creepy and super influential and a danger to our heroes, but I was pretty disappointed when it was revealed that he was buying what he was selling. I would have found him a much more interesting character had he, like Apostle Jo, been aware that he was taking advantage of all these people. As it was, having him be reduced to a crazy man who really thought he was a God was a bit of a letdown and actually reduced how threatening I found him.

Worst three amigos ever

Sang Mi’s Mum was an interesting character, as at the start of the series I thought she was the most useless person on the face of the Earth. I was glad that early on the show gave hints that Mum was being drugged, as it gave her a much more sympathetic standpoint.

Thank goodness for this scene else I would've hated Mum as much as Dad

Seeing that she was also being victimised by the cult, it made that much more sense why Sang Mi couldn’t try and escape on her own. It made Apostle Jo and Spiritual Father’s threats more frightening knowing that they were willing to harm a completely helpless woman who had been unwillingly drugged up on hallucinogens. It was rewarding to see Sang Mi’s Mum start to take her own small steps to try and break out of the cult, such as refusing to swallow her pills. However, I could never shake my initial dislike of the woman, as her weakness after Sang Jin’s death is really what landed her family in the cult in the first place. Like, yeah I get that his death was awful and horrific, but hello- you still have one child left to look after. The way the show was filmed played a lot into the suspense and the mystery of the series. Having intercut scenes of what was happening in the town and the cult’s worship sessions really gave off a sense that Guseonwon was deeply imbedded in this town and had connections everywhere.

Psychos en masse

The show was clever with its use of light and shadow and even with the colours that the characters wore- most notably being Spiritual Father being constantly dressed in white, and Dong Chul and the boys more often than not in dark colours. The soundtrack was an excellent accompaniment, though admittedly it did contribute to the overall feeling of complete hopelessness that the show was conveying. I don’t think there was a single upbeat or happy track.

What Was Great:

Acting:

I must say that the acting was all pretty superb. I’m not a fan of Seo Ye Ji at all, as I find it hard to warm up to her characters as she always seems a bit cold. Thankfully, Sang Mi wasn’t a character that really required any warmth. She was cool and hard and determined, and those emotions alone were enough to get me invested in the character.

Resilient isn't a trait that a lot of K-Drama heroines get

Seo Ye Ji acted out Sang Mi’s hopelessness and her deep desire to escape perfectly, and sold the character’s struggles and imprisonment. Woo Do Hwan did an astounding job as Dong Chul.

The real hero of the story

I was drawn to the character almost immediately, and he truly gave of a sense of loneliness and betrayal after his time in juvenile detention. He really made the character his own, and Dong Chul rapidly became my favourite character in the show. Woo Do Hwan was able to believable portray a different side to Dong Chul when he infiltrated the cult without making it seem like Dong Chul’s disguise was a completely different character. Even though Dong Chul was acting milder and more innocent, he always carried Dong Chul’s underlying sense of justice and showed glimmers of his disgust at the cult. And of course all the acting coming out of the main members of the cult was just superb. I adore Jo Jae Yun, so it was hard to see him play (another) evil character, but before long he had me hating Apostle Jo’s patronising smile and double faces. Park Ji Young did an excellent job at showcasing her discomfort at some of the actions of the cult without it feeling like she was losing her faith in what they were preaching, which is no easy task.

Fab job from everyone

One of the better performances of the show was Jung Hae Kyun as Sang Mi’s Dad. Unlike the rest of those involved with the cult, Jung Hae Kyun had the more difficult task of showing how a relatively normal

I like Taec's acting best when he gets to act goofy and/or dorky

(albeit weak minded) man got drawn under the influence of Guseonwon. He didn’t portray his character as being crazy right off the bat, but slowly eased into just how much Sang Mi’s father was being manipulated. Before long he became my most hated character in the show, and that was all due to the acting creating such an intensely dislikable man. The one weak point in the acting was unfortunately Taecyeon. He wasn’t bad by a long shot, but the rest of the acting was just so good that he seemed a little bland in comparison. Towards the end of the series Taecyeon settled into his character more, and he was far more believable as a character determined to right the wrongs of his father, rather than a boy who meekly went along with the demands of his father at his friends’ expense. 

Illusion of Imprisonment:

When most people think of cults and the idea of people being trapped in cults, I do think there is a mild confusion as to why people can’t just get up and leave or simply sneak off. What ‘Rescue Me’ did really well was showcasing exactly why Sang Mi couldn’t just walk out of the cult.

Trapped in more ways than one

For one, she was often forcibly detained, but the more important aspect was how far into the community the cult reached. Even if Sang Mi did make it out of Guseonwon’s grounds, due to the cult spreading lies about her mental stability she was unlikely to get far.

Escaped once just for the police to send her right back

Another interesting, though uncomfortable, aspect was seeing the exact amount of control Sang Mi’s father had over her as a parent. Despite Sang Mi’s unwillingness to remain in the cult, as her legal guardian Dad could exude his power over her as a parent and make discussions on her behalf. Another fascinating aspect was seeing how hard it is for authorities to intervene in a religious organisation. Although they could act if there was proof of any illegal activities, the show really nailed home how well Guseonwon covered up their criminal activities and how hard it was for someone to gain access to their secrets. In all actuality, infiltrating the cult the way Dong Chul and the reporter did was the only way to get any evidence. It was annoying, yet believable how untouchable Guseonwon was- I mean, technically there’s nothing wrong with people donating large amounts of money and changing their wills to leave their assets to organisations, particularly when the leader of that organisation believes in the same whacky religion as the rest of them.

Guseonwon had some mad psychological warfare

Using Jeong Gu early on to show Apostle Jo’s terrifying nature by having him murder the young boy really displayed just how much power Guseonwon had, and how far they were willing to go to cover their secrets. It made the threats on Sang Mi’s Mum feel like real threats, and added a sense that Sang Mi was trapped psychologically as well as physically. 

What Wasn’t:

Where’s My Payoff?:

The most disappointing aspect of this drama for me is that it was set up as a dramatic, hard-hitting story, but then the conclusion didn’t really live up to the rest of the drama. Technically there’s nothing wrong with the way the show wrapped up in regards to plot- everything (well, most things) made logical sense and our ultimate goal had been achieved- get Sang Mi out of the cult. However, the emotional satisfaction just wasn’t really there.

The final smackdown felt kinda easy considering how hard it was to do anything all series long

For starters almost the whole show is the set up to the actual escape from the cult, and yet the rescue operation itself takes less than two episodes. And these episodes were right at the end. Which unfortunately for us meant that we only really saw the beginnings of the villains fall- if they even fell at all.

Couldn't she have realised just a little that she contributed to this outcome?

Apostle Kang suffered no losses whatsoever. Even after being totally willing to give Sang Mi over to a creepy old man, after the fall of Guseonwon Apostle Kang sets up her own church/cult with herself as the leader. What I really wanted from apostle Kang was to have her realise that the cult had been fake all along and that her own decisions were what forced her daughter to take her life, and that she’d almost caused the same thing to happen to Sang Mi. Of course, because this show is dark and more realistic than most K-Dramas I didn’t actually expect this to happen, but I was kind of expecting Apostle Kang to face some sort of consequences, be they legal or emotional. I also felt that killing off Spiritual Father was a bit of a cop-out. Yes, it’s ironic that he died in a fire after touting that he was flameproof, but it seemed more like a quick-fix rather than an actual conclusion for the show’s main villain.

What do you do with a villain you're not sure how to resolve? Just kill him off, that's what everyone else does

For Dad I thought his resolution was fitting, being left alone to live as a crazy man, but I sort of wish that we’d been given a glimpse of Sang Mi and Mum actually leaving him and telling him what they really thought of him and his decisions.

Side note: Sang Mi's plan to go along with everything was super crap and I can't believe it worked

Sure, he would’ve just called them demons or whatever, but I was wanting a scene like that for Sang Mi where she could get her feelings off her chest and then walk away from her father freely with him having no power to pull her back. I also wish the show had cleared up why the detective chose to swap sides. He was always shown that he wasn’t 100% on anyone's side, but I was left a little confused as to why he was suddenly so desperate to bring down the cult. I also kind of wondered why the show bothered introducing Dong Chul's prison Hyung with his vendetta because at the end of the day he really did nothing. I was hoping that he'd be a bit more of a wildcard, so I was pretty disappointed when the show relegated him to being the detective's dog. At least he pulled through a bit in the end. While I suppose I'm sort of satisfied with the way the show wrapped things up, I just wish there had been a more emotional conclusion rather than simply ticking all the plot boxes. After how hard and intense it was to get our characters up to this point I was left feeling a bit like…that’s it? 

Recommend?

If you’re someone who’s into dark dramas this would be one for you. Personally, while I was intrigued by the story, it was a touch too dark for me to actually say I ‘liked’ or ‘enjoyed’ the drama. If you’re not ready for a good few hours of despair and creepiness- this series is not for you. 

More post cult scenes wouldn't have hurt either