I've become a huge fan of the leading man in this murder mystery melodrama titled Nine Puzzles (2025), actor Son Suk Ku (Heavenly Ever After, My Liberation Notes, D.P. 1 and 2, Jirisan, Mother), and so I was not about to miss this drama, even though I am not the biggest fan of serial killer murder mystery stories and most of the time I tend to avoid them. It's not just because of his rugged handsome good looks and impressive masculinity on screen that caused me to become enamored with Son Suk Ku, rather it's mainly because he's so versatile; he can play any type of character with total brilliance and have you hooked on his performance from the first moment he enters a scene. In this drama he had very nice on-screen chemistry with his younger leading lady Kim Da Mi (Itaewon Class, Our Beloved Summer); as the drama progressed one could sense that his character had grown more than a little fond of her character, and it became quite endearing, even though there was never any overt romance depicted between their characters.

At only eleven episodes one could breeze through this murder mystery fairly quickly. My only mild criticism of the drama is that I wish there could have been more flashback scenes so that the audience could understand a little more clearly -- and sooner -- why each of the eight murder victims in this story were bumped off. With each dead body discovered a black and white illustration puzzle piece was left near the victims. The audience therefore knew that all the puzzle pieces would have to be fitted together as a whole picture to help give police more of an idea about who the serial murderer could be.

The drama writer was Lee Eun Mi, who had written one of my top favorite suspense K-dramas, Tunnel, in 2018. Perhaps I was expecting more from this drama just because Tunnel had been a veritable masterpiece that I had graded an A+. To be fair, I think that drama had a much bigger budget, and more episodes, so that may have accounted for some of the overall quality differences.

The Story:

A quirky high school aged girl named Yoon Ena (Kim Da Mi), who was raised by her ex-cop uncle Yoon Dong Hoon (Ji Jin Hee, cameo) after the death of her parents, returns home late from school one night only to find her uncle in a pool of blood, dead on the floor, his carotid artery stabbed with an awl. Ena goes into shock and right after discovering his dead body finds an odd black and white puzzle piece in her hand; she has no idea how it got there. Ena blunts the memory of what she saw -- and heard -- that horrible night and she actually comes under suspicion for the murder by the local police department, including a chief of police named Tae Dong Su (Jeong Man Sik) and a rookie detective named Kim Han Saem (Son Suk Ku).

Han Saem finds it very suspicious that Ena claims not to recall what happened to her uncle that fateful night. There is no concrete evidence proving Ena the murderer of her uncle so the police can't arrest her. She is put into therapy at the local Sunshine Mental Health Clinic (what a name!) under the guidance of therapists Lee Seung Joo (Park Gyu Young, excellent performance!) and Hwang In Chan (Roh Jae Won).

Therapists Who Rarely Smile ....

Ten years go by and now Ena has become a professional criminal profiler. She has been a member of the criminal analysis team at Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency for several years and is usually the first on the force to figure out the motive of a murderer from the evidence at a crime scene.

Ena meets Han Saem all over again, who had been convinced in the past that she killed her uncle. Slowly but surely they begin to work constructively on murder cases together and Han Saem can't help but be impressed by Ena's attention to detail. Then suddenly more murders begin to take place where black and white puzzle pieces are discovered by the victims' bodies. This of course makes the police force think that all these new murders are connected in some way(s). The connections seem to be related to the construction of a luxury apartment complex called One City, and to the former occupants of a nearby orphanage.

At one point even a member of the police force falls under suspicion, as the puzzle piece serial murder cases increase in number. His name is Yang Jung Ho (Kim Sung Kyun, excellent performance!) who is in charge of the violent crimes division at the police department. Detective Han Saem feels very close to this man and is shaken to his core when Jung Ho is arrested.

Just around this same time criminal profiler Ena begins to have some of her memories restored to her of the night her uncle was murdered and Jung Ho is let go. He actually confronts whom he thinks is the real murderer and that coincides with Ena's restored memories too so she too confronts whom she suspects is the serial murderer in the puzzle piece cases. It does not go well for this person in the end! (I won't reveal who it is here, you'll have to watch the drama and find out for yourself!). :)

In the last minute of the drama they pull a teaser that makes it obvious this production team is hoping for a season two to their drama. This kind of teaser at the end of K-dramas today has become so frequent now it's rather amusing to me because they rarely ever work to gain additional seasons, and the actors move on to different projects so it becomes almost impossible to bring them all back together at the same time for a season two. However maybe the teaser here might actually work this time since Nine Puzzles has become the most watched Korean drama on Disney+ / Hulu. I wouldn't mind a season two at all.

~~~~~~~~~

HOME TO KOREAN DRAMA REVIEWS

~~~~~~~~~