Hunter with a Scalpel: Episodes 1-4 » Dramabeans

Hunter with a Scalpel: Episodes 1-4

by lovepark

A forensic pathologist runs away from her past only for it to come knocking at her door again. Daddy dearest is back, and the strange signs he leaves behind in his victims must be a message to his daughter. Even if it means breaking the law or dirtying her hands, she will catch him, and hopefully this time, he will stay dead.

 
EPISODES 1-4

A man stumbles across a club, bleeding from a knife wound, and his killer smiles with blood splattered across her face. The lights flicker, and the chilling murder turns into a crime scene as the woman stands before the victim, not as the culprit but a forensic pathologist. This is SEO SE-HYUN (Park Joo-hyun), a genius doctor who solves the unsolvable, but beyond her skills and accolades, something ominous lies beneath her cold professionalism.

To her bosses at the National Forensic Service (NFS), Se-hyun is a thorn in their side, refusing to collaborate or bend, and to the detectives who work with her, she is a nuisance and meddlesome intruder. She has no place or people to call her own, but Se-hyun seems content living on her lonely island as long as she can dissect cadavers and investigate cases. That is until a new string of murders lands on her autopsy table, and the past comes to haunt her. Bloody handprints, a white van, and a brush to scrub away the evidence of her father’s murders — these are the memories that plague Se-hyun as she remembers, “Don’t leave behind any traces.”

A woman was discovered dead in a field, her body wrapped in plastic with all organs removed besides her stomach. In most cases, this murder would be sent elsewhere, but lead detective JUNG JUNG-HYUN (Kang Hoon) is a fan of Se-hyun and asked for her specifically. He immediately picks up on the oddities surrounding this death, and his hunch proves to be correct as Se-hyun finds thread left inside the body. This is a message, and Se-hyun seems to know from whom.

Amongst the list of witnesses, dry cleaners owner YOON JO-GYUN (Park Yong-woo) is more of a perfunctory stop for the police given his good reputation around town, mild temperament, and noticeable limp. However, he seems to have an inexplicable interest in Se-hyun, watching all her televised appearances, and when no one is looking, the cracks in his facade start to show.

Meanwhile, the detectives on Jung-hyun’s team ignore his instructions, angry that an inexperienced graduate weaseled his way into their ranks. In particular, detective JEON CHANG-JIN (Ryu Seung-soo) disregards his superior, which costs them the capture of the victim’s stalker during a stakeout. Even this mistake, though, is not enough to get the dismissive detectives on board, and their disdain for their team leader eclipses any sense of duty.

While the detectives flounder, barely able to find a lead, another victim shows up in town: Se-hyun’s colleague who got into an argument with her the night of his death. A man dressed in black wearing a bucket hat killed him in his Seoul home, chopped up his body, and then discarded the pieces in the same city as his first murder. Another long thread is found inside the body — this time with a finger tied to the end — and Se-hyun notices that the killer used her signature bowknot. She snips it off before anyone else spots it, tampering with the evidence to cover her secret.

After some sleuthing, Jung-hyun and his team conclude that the first victim’s stalker is the culprit, but when they take him in for questioning, it becomes abundantly clear that they made a mistake. The body a witness saw coming out of his truck was actually a sex doll, and the blurry photo of the man in black only has a passing semblance to him. Though Chang-jin attempts to goad the suspect into a confession, he loses his temper instead and hits him.

The stalker demands Chang-jin to kneel and apologize, but Jung-hyun steps in and refuses to bow to a criminal. Embarrassed and angered, the stalker puts on a show about police brutality for the reporters camping outside the station, and the negative publicity puts Jung-hyun in a tight spot. The only positive outcome of this situation is that his sacrifice softens his team a bit as they actually try to help him for once, but in the end, it’s all moot since Jung-hyun ignores their advice during his press briefing.

As our newbie detective stands frozen in front of the flashing cameras and bombardment of questions, Se-hyun suddenly appears and takes the microphone. While the police were investigating the wrong person, she discovered the same fingerprints at the first and second crime scenes. She announces to the reporters that they have a serial murder case, and the fallout goes as expected. The higher-ups scold her in turn, but Se-hyun silences them all by giving them each what they want: for the police, someone to take responsibility, and for the NFS, a blind eye to their corruption.

Unidentified fingerprints, thread, remnants of a cleaning brush, bleach, and sodium — these are the only evidence they have at the moment to link the two cases, but Se-hyun and Jung-hyun are certain this is the work of the same person. The “tailor” as the press likes to call the murderer, but to Se-hyun, just an ignorant and useless piece of garbage parading his overinflated sense of self to the world.

Those exact words are broadcast across the nation, and Jo-gyun watches with a grim expression as a little girl observes him with caution. The smile and neighborly cheer are gone as his true nature peeks out, and when a scam artist tries to hustle some money from him, the mask completely slips. His limp disappears and his air turns sinister as he wraps his arms around the scam artist, and the lights to his cleaners turn off.

So much yet so little was revealed this opening week as the show dropped four episodes over four days. The airing schedule was definitely out of the norm, and I can’t say if the shorter length and increased frequency helped with the storytelling or deterred it. Personally, I think binging it all on the last day might build momentum and keep details fresh, but having breaks in between could be a nice breather for others. Regardless of your viewing preference, there’s benefits to both, and the show does a good job making sure each episode has decent plot progression and cliffhangers.

While I never found Park Joo-hyun particularly compelling before, I also never found her glaringly out of place either, until this show. Her performance is uneven at best with a stilted delivery that doesn’t quite capture what I assume is her attempt at an emotionless, possibly murderous anti-hero, which is odd because her facial expressions, at times, are quite nuanced. There’s a strange mismatch to her performance, and while it isn’t distracting enough to pull me out of a scene, it is a shame because I think Park is capable of portraying complex characters. However, something about Se-hyun isn’t working, but maybe as the show delves deeper into her character, everything will click into place.

On the other hand, Park Yong-woo is terrifying in the best way possible. He captures the duality of Jo-gyun with such ease, and I love how he uses the same expressions to convey vastly different emotions. His smile is easygoing when he hides behind his average-man persona, but then that same smile turns absolutely unsettling in the final scene as the true tailor reveals himself. His screen time isn’t particularly big but his presence is definitely felt, and I can’t wait to see Se-hyun face off against him soon.

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