Notching an astounding feat, The Uncanny Counter will never let you down with its fantastic thrilling story!
OCN’s latest supernatural treat has a lot to be proud of for delivering fascinating narratives and portrayals. Its consistent exciting and the deftly chronicled story never missed a high note with episode cliff-hangers. Additionally, it mounted a gratifying culmination with its incredible heroes versus villain-driven plot.
The Uncanny Counter decked OCN’s highest-rated series to date. Something it definitely deserves considering its well-packaged series. For people who might be picky with K-Drama recommendations, this series can easily hook and definitely easy to love.
- Main Cast: Jo Byung Gyu | Yoo Jun Sang | Kim Sejeong | Yeom Hye Ran
- Streaming Site: Netflix |
- Thrill/Addictive Meter:
- Overall Rating:
- Rewatch Value:
abbyinhallyuland watched The Uncanny Counter on Netflix
The Uncanny Counter Plot Summary
Kind and warm-hearted So Mun (Jo Byung Gyu) survived an accident that killed his parents when he was young. It left him crippled though, but he remains optimistic and a good grandson to his grandparents. His life changes when he becomes a modern evil spirit slayer called “counter”.
He agrees to become a counter to obtain the promised chance of meeting his parents. Together with Ga Mo-tak (Yoo Jung Sang), Do Ha-na (Kim Sejeong) and Choo Mae-ok (Yeom Hye Ran), they face real-world villains with and without supernatural abilities abusing their powers.
Guided by their spirit partners in Yung, a limbo between the mortal and afterlife, they face a formidable villain that grows stronger by feeding the evil souls of the people he kills. They also journey to discover their self-worth and valiantly stand up to protect people from the evils of the world.
The Uncanny Counter Peak Points
Jo Byung Gyu
Phenomenal is the most apt word to describe Jo Byung Gyu’s portrayal of the main hero in The Uncanny Counter. On a mission to rescue his parents held captive by an evil spirit, he was also running with Team Counters rounding up the wicked people of power in the fictional city of Jungjin.
His nuanced portrayal featured varying degrees of emotions from plain to an outburst of emotions. It left me a lot of times in awe especially since the actor played a character six years younger than his real-life age.
When an actor is determined to commit to his character, you would see it syncing palpably. That’s how Jo painted his rendition of So Mun. I haven’t read the webtoon yet, but the degree of how engrossing he played his role was definitely A++.
If like me, you grew up watching adventure-type Japanese anime series, Jo Byung Gyu has layered So Mun’s identity with the right amount of underdog drama and engrossing hero journey.
His love for his family and family-like friends is a reminder of how we are always given the right opportunities after facing misfortunes. We just need to do the right choice and not be pessimistic.
Team Eonni’s Noodle Counters
Equally remarkable in their portrayals, Mo-tak, Ha-na and Mae-ok harmonized with So Mun interestingly. A blend of local supernatural heroes devoted to pounce on wandering demon-possessed humans, the main cast pictured an implied reality that anyone can become a hero for doing kindness and helping those in need.
Ha-na and Mae-ok shared the same sentiment of losing their families like So-mun. Unlike Mae-ok, who can still interact with her son Su-ho who became her partner spirit from Yung, Ha-na’s story is quite sad. But her tenacious spirit, which was channeled impressively by Kim Sejeong is also worth applauding. Sejeong has been scoring portrayals you can’t help but admire.
For her role as Ha-na, her ultimate imprint is braving the world on her own and finding the meaning of forgiveness to accept a human connection, after experiencing the emotional cruelty that a family relative gave her.
Mae-ok, a motherly figure to the counters was an unlikely image of a superheroine. But her poignantly told side story provided an affecting drive. She functions as the connecting bond of the counters by providing understanding and emotional strength. Something a mother like her is experienced to do.
Providing a quick stirring romance story, Mo-tak and his failure to start his forgotten love anew with Jeong-yeong after retrieving his memories were one of the driving points of the series.
Except for Mae-ok, all the counters aim to achieve justice for their loved ones. Betrayed by someone he used to look up to, Mo-tak’s function as a fortress of the group was heightened when his forgotten fiancé was murdered.
Enthralling & Easy-To-Follow Narrative
Albeit the series changed its writer down the wire, The Uncanny Counter superbly yarned its storytelling. It even smartly made use of its side stories. There were no out-of-place scenes nor a waste of characters. Each chapter’s side story closes convincingly but still flowed to the big picture of the series.
Often in K-Dramaland, police officers and prosecutors are highlighted in eradicating people of wealth and power. Hence, the presented neighborhood supernatural heroes and their quest to entangle mysteries related to them propelled the amazing drive of the series.
While we have met a few K-Drama characters with supernatural abilities, the counters having traumatic pasts tied up to their present lives, somehow found a connecting point of understanding each other’s pain.
Strangely, as a viewer, I also felt that shared pain. The same way that their triumphant feat also radiated to me. It turned me into a silent fan cheering for their victory.
Thankfully, the plot has really a vast world to move on, and we are already waiting for when the second season will sweetly drop. Hopefully, OCN will make it soon!
Incredible Heroes Versus Villains Showdown
Protagonists and antagonists on equal footing always yield a great result. While Team Counters dazzle with their united grit, Team Villains have mounted confrontations that pushed the heroes to their limits. Running down the degree of wickedness through the presented fiends sums up the idea of how there are people who are just pure evil.
Notably, the packaging of the villains also provided understanding that to be pure evil, you might have gone through disappointing stages to reach that level without your permission. For some though, they warrant it to happen because of greed.
I definitely want to see Jeong-sin in a good image role because I was impressed when he was barely saying any lines in the beginning, and I experienced quite a terror with his rampaging level of upgrade fueled by the souls he killed and absorbed.
Utilizing the basic structure of politician-conglomerate collaboration of exploiting a fictional city was done neat, if not of course for the interference of the counters. The breaking points for both camps have tendencies to overwhelm, but the balanced placement of plot twists and outmaneuvering games were present all throughout.
It never put me to a point of blaming the heroes and calling the villains to be overly invincible because the writing was exceptional in shifting the advantage gear. We even got a bonus on the bickering villain partnership of Hyang-hee and Jeong-sin.
Lingering Life Nudges
A few of the heartwarming moments The Uncanny Counter gave its viewers are those scenes when the characters separated by the after-life reunite. Those are full of encouraging messages of how family bond thrives even if our loved ones have departed as long as we keep the beautiful memories we have of them in our hearts.
The concept of having family-like friends was also highlighted specifically on So-mun’s perspective who even mentioned in the series how Ju-yeon and Ung-min literally became his parents. Hence, it was natural of him to be protective of them.
Filial piety and family love were layered nicely which functioned as stabilizers to the dark context featured in the series. Even with so much evilness, we at least were moved to those moments of the loving relationship of the characters to their families and friends.
When the story is not active on the supernatural side, it shifts to real-life stories which functioned as resting points but still with engrossing impact. The Uncanny Counter covered school bullying with sons of the rich and powerful in the society take advantage of. Its function to drive awareness and how it is always possible to put a stop to it even without counters, I hope will encourage those in the same predicament.
The Uncanny Counter Series Musings
At the time The Uncanny Counter was airing, I was swamped with year-end tasks, so I had to binge-watch it after and was not able to join the real-time fun. I can only imagine the torture it was for fans awaiting weekly episodes because I really enjoyed the drama ride in this OCN treat. Its ratings and scoring a weekend fan-favorite trophy definitely befits the series.
Tracing K-Dramaland for superhero-themed series, I can’t connect something similar. So, this is my first superhero-themed K-Drama. Naturally, as “firsts” are always special, this series is to me as well. With that, I’m happy to give my first kdramadiary certified favorite badge to The Uncanny Counter this season.
Even now, I am still astonished at how the crime-fueled story blended well to its otherworldly kick seamlessly. It was a case of every narrative element falling onto the right places thereby creating a ripple of relevant messages encompassing family relationships as well as societal issues often overlooked.
I highly applaud its focus on driving the story utilizing an easy-to-follow plot that was pumped with enthralling curves. It made me reminisce those youth memories of mine binge-watching Japanese adventure-action type series.
As the K-Drama landscape continuously relies on romance-driven series, stories that do not rely on love elements easily gravitate to any seasoned K-Drama fan the same way new watchers would find it addicting.
There’s always a nagging feeling of experiencing the original work if you enjoyed the live adaptation, but OCN’s live imagination warrants you not to go through it because the vivid depiction would convince you that watching it live is adequately enough. That’s how amazing the series was run.
So, if you are looking for a K-Drama blast, look no further and add it to your watchlist.
The Uncanny Counter is streaming on Netflix.
Photos/Videos: JTBC
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