Save Me
구해줘
OCN (2017) 16 Episodes, Grade: C-
Genre: Family Melodrama, Crime / Occult
Review by Benjamin, USA
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The only reason I watched this OCN crime drama Save Me (2017) was because of my respect for lead actor Taecyeon (Dream High, Cinderella's Sister, Who Are You?, Bring It On, Ghost!) who grows as an actor with every new drama he is in. However, this series was so distasteful to this Christian reviewer that I ended up really hating it with a passion. I hope Taec chooses better dramas in the future, something that doesn't make people feel dirty and traumatized afterward for watching it.
The drama examines a family unit down on its luck financially: the Im family, unemployed father Im Joo Ho (Jung Hae Kyun), housewife mother Kim Bo Eun (Yoon Yu Sun), and two adult children still living with them, a son Im Sang Jin (Jang Yoo Sang) and daughter Im Sang Mi (Seo Ye Ji), and their involvement with a cruel, sick, twisted religious cult and its leader Baek Jung Ki (Cho Seung Ha). The son is physically disabled and required more protection from parents than he received, and the daughter seems not too swift mentally, for when the religious cult leader first touches her leg in a sexually provocative way she just takes it and says nothing to her parents! What the heck? If she had told them immediately the father would have taken the children away immediately and tragedy could have been avoided.
When offered a job in an out of the way place that is a farm attached to a church of some kind the family decides it's a good chance to start anew and make some much needed money. "It doesn't look like a church that's out of the ordinary." OH YES IT DOES!!! Having Christian imagery around like crosses didn't help me stop resenting this drama. Were they trying to inSINuate that Christianity is the same thing as a cult like this? Calling their lead guy a holy person when he is a sexual deviant and cruel psychopath? It wasn't believable to me, although I realize a lot of people today are dumb about spiritual matters and would be as blind as this family was to a cult's dangers.
Just who are they praying to?
It's certainly not Jesus!
After being traumatized by the cult the teen girl cries out for four unemployed, happy go lucky young men, led by Taec's character Han Sang Hwan, to save her. They are drawn into the scary world themselves and risk becoming victims of the cult as well, since the leader is not going to turn his back on anyone from the outside interfering with his dominance over this weak family, particularly his sexual conquest. Other people in the community involved with this cult make excuses for it all the time, and it's sickening to witness. Blinded by Satan, indeed!
I give this dreary drama a C- and hope to God I never see another Korean drama like it. The darkness of cults should remain where it belongs: IN THE DARK. Steer clear of it, whether in real life, or a television drama. I honestly wish I hadn't watched this one. With so many far better dramas to watch kick this one to the curb and watch the best ones instead. Don't look for any romance between the leads either, you won't find it here. Pass.
