Hell exists!
A family of four moves to a new town because the father is a loser, and soon, tragedy strikes. After a short while, the son takes his own life after being bullied at school, and the family is lost. But then they meet a kind and convincing religious cult leader, and he takes them under his wing. However, the youngest daughter knows that something is wrong with him and his sick religious cult, but she can’t escape because the father has been brainwashed, and her mother is mentally ill and has checked out. Then, one day, by coincidence, she catches the eye of someone she went to school with and begs, “Save me.” He and his friends will try to save her, but he will soon discover that the whole town and the grown-ups are corrupt. Welcome to South Korea for the hundredth time!
The first season of Save Me consists of 16 episodes. I don’t like religion, I don’t like politicians, and I don’t like corruption. So in the course of 16 episodes, I was in my hell. But Save Me is a fantastic series—it’s one of the best series I’ve watched until the last two episodes, especially the final episode, which took the series from a 10 down to an 8/10.
The character I hated the most wasn’t even a member of the cult in the start of the series. The character I hated the most and wanted to see die a slow death was the father of the young woman. He is a born loser, even before he joins the cult. He looks like a goose, and he has the most punchable face I have ever seen. He is such a disgusting character, and I have to give a standing ovation to the actor who portrays him. May you burn in hell!
I can guarantee you that you will feel trapped with the poor young woman who is trying to convince her mentally ill father that he is sick and that they should leave the cult. But they have not only kidnapped her, they have also kidnapped her mother, and they are threatening to kill the mother if she tries to leave. This young woman is a strong character who is determined to destroy the cult from the inside but to do that, she needs help, and that’s when the four young men she went to school with come into the picture.
Most of the actors in Save Me are excellent. We have the cult leader, who has this annoying breathing pattern when he talks. Then there’s the stern woman with her pointy lips, who is excellent in her role—you’ll want to see her die a slow death too. And then there’s the Joker in Save Me, the curly-haired bastard and his ugly Shrek-like goon. These characters are so disgusting, and the actors are great in their roles. But none of them are as bad as the father of the young woman, who has essentially kidnapped his daughter and is willing to give her away to the cult leader, who likes what he sees.
The one who steals the show is Seo Yea-ji. I don’t think she can top her portrayal of a young woman who will do anything to save her mother, who is held hostage simply because the cult leader likes young women. Seo Yea-ji is so good that you forget you are watching a fictional series because of her acting. She is on fire when she is pushed from left to right and knocked down, but she refuses to lose. Then she calms down when she and her helpers devise a plan. But will they succeed, considering the cult almost has the entire town in its grip?
If you have watched some of the most emotionally draining movies like The Deer Hunter or Come and See, then you’ll feel at home watching Save Me. But remember, the runtime of this series is around 16 hours, not three. That’s a big difference, and the first 12 episodes are brutally dark and will make you angry. Some people might not like Save Me because of how dark and provocative it is, especially if you don’t like watching people being taken advantage of. And the villains dominate 90% of the series until the last two episodes. There’s not much hope or light in the first 12 episodes. The villains dominate the entire time, so I wasn’t looking forward to watching the next episode after finishing six episodes. But that wasn’t because of the quality, but because of how disgusting and dark the series is.
The villains are excellent, but the heroes are of somewhat mixed quality. My favorite character among the good guys, aside from the young woman who is trapped in the cult and trying to save her mother, is the young man who tried to help her when her brother ended his life. He’s pretty smart, while his three friends are more stupid, especially the two goofballs. The third guy, the politician’s son, is smarter, but he loses focus because of how much is going on in his life, which makes him a little confused, while the smartest one is more focused on his task. Then there’s the cop, who is both corrupt and trying to do his job. That’s an interesting character, but what happened to him? Again, his arc is never finished.
But then we come to the last two episodes, and things start going downhill. The reason for this is that some important characters in the series have arcs that are never concluded. The last 15 minutes are brutal in this regard, and the problem is that most of the grown-ups are corrupt, so you expect that they will get punished severely. But no, there is almost no resolution to their arcs and punishments. I have rarely witnessed such lazy writing. The ending for many characters doesn’t make any sense if you think about the law. There is especially one character that you will hate, and what happened to this character? I had to rewind the episode to see if I missed something, but I didn’t, and I was so upset. This is so lazy when, as a viewer, you have spent 16 hours watching this intense and draining series.
The person or persons who wrote the last episode and tried to wrap up the arcs should be taken behind the barn, and you know what happens when you are taken behind the barn, don’t you? It’s such a lousy and lazily written ending that I will always remember it. And not in a good way!
Up until the last two episodes, this series was one of the best I have ever watched in the dark and twisted genre. It’s a series that will make you furious while watching it, and you will also hate watching the episodes because of how excellent the actors are and how disgusting most of the characters are. But it’s a series that also has too many characters, which hurts the series when the creators can’t wrap things up in a way that viewers will accept.
You have to accept that Save Me has its stupid moments to drive the plot forward. There is one character who must pay dearly for that. It was so stupid what happened to this character and the way the character behaved when you thought it was all over and safe for the character. This character didn’t deserve the destiny that was waiting. Again, this is lazy writing, and you can feel the change in quality when it comes to the writing after about 9-10 episodes. Save Me should have had fewer episodes—12 would have been perfect to tell the story. Some episodes don’t lead anywhere when the good guys start acting. But then the good guys discover that the whole town is corrupt, and I just have to say it again, welcome to South Korea!
If the second season is as dark as the first, and as twisted as this one, I can’t say that I’m looking forward to getting my soul ripped out again. But I hope they at least write a better ending than the one in Save Me. Because the ending in Save Me, and by that I mean how some of the characters’ arcs ended, was pure garbage.