Disclaimer: Spoilers Ahead!! A non-romantic K-Drama with dark reality…
A Killer Paradox on Netflix has a very captivating yet spine-chilling story. A crime is a crime no matter how much sugar-coating is wrapped in it. Past trauma, bullying betrayal, and self-esteem are all that make someone a monster.
Lee-Tang, who was having a pretty average life, one day decides it’s enough and an accidental murder gives him a taste of satiety, he felt never before.
A Killer Paradox proclaims killing is an act of God
The story has been divided into eight episodes, unconventionally in K-dramas. Each episode shows the outcome of the first and wraps up in a limbo of guilt and trauma. Lee-Tang, an average college student has a decent life. A family, friends, and a boss who nags but is limited.
A boring part-time job suddenly becomes a nightmare when he wants to help a man and ends up being ridiculed by him. His pent-up aggression gives him the strength to smash the man’s head with a hammer.
He immediately feels guilty about it and runs away. He washes himself vigorously and hallucinates that the man who had nothing to do with him wanted to be left alone. He had a dementia mother and three kids.
Later, a team of investigators finds out about these two men who must have gotten into a fight and killed each other. Detective Jang Na-Gam doesn’t find the dots matching the scenario.
Tang excludes himself from college and away from friends and is immensely frightened by the whole situation. Later, he is questioned by the detective about their conversation, and what they did, and suddenly throws a question at him that makes him nervous. Later, the case is dwindled off as the man who is killed happens to be a serial killer.
A blind woman meets Lee at his convenience store and blackmails him for telling the cops that he murdered the serial killer. He again commits another killing to save himself and is again saved.
The girl he murdered turns out to be a brutal and rebellious brat who enjoys seeing people being killed or getting hurt. Lee-Tang thinks that he has the power to do justice and execute the people who have committed severe crimes.
He kills people who have done something or other nasty crimes under the OnlyHeroes Telegram chatroom and is happier than ever. His behavior has changed and so has his mannerism. Detective Jang is curiously interested in this kid and has figured out that the boy is a psychopath.
He chases him without even thinking about his family and more importantly his job. He finds his old man’s enemy whom he has been searching for many years. A climactic ending in the last episode builds the entire drama into a fine balance of right and wrong.
Overall, A Killer Paradox has bound the blend of trauma and revenge into a sense of righteousness. A chance between killer and killing has widened the spectrum of bad and worst and the choice made by Detective Jang and Lee-Tang is hanging between guilty and non-guilty. The series had an open ending with the potential of season 2.
If one has to give ratings to the series; the series gets 4 out of 5 stars. From a typical K-romance, this series is highly recommended for dark stories and crime lovers.