Following Netflix’s breakout South Korean hit “Squid Game,” Apple this month premiered its first Korean-language original series, “Dr. Brain,” to coincide with the launch of its Apple TV+ streaming service in South Korea.
“Dr. Brain,” a new six-episode Korean-language Apple Original series directed and executive produced by visionary filmmaker Kim Jee-woon. Based on the popular Korean webtoon of the same name by Hongjacga, “Dr. Brain” marks the first Korean-language series to debut on Apple TV+.
The series follows a brilliant brain scientist Sewon (Lee Sun-kyun) who suffers a horrific personal tragedy when his family falls victim to a mysterious accident. Desperate to uncover what happened, he goes to extraordinary lengths to solve the tragic mystery by conducting “brain syncs” with the dead to access their memories for clues.
Apple’s foray into original Korean content comes as the country’s entertainment industry reaches new global popularity, from k-pop superstars such as BTS to the 2020 Oscar-winning South Korean film “Parasite,” and now “Squid Game”, which became Netflix’s biggest original series launch .
Director Kim Jee-woon said after the consecutive success of such Korean content, global audiences began to understand Korean culture through artistic works and that he had made an extra effort to get the translations right.
“I hope Dr. Brain can prove there are diverse works in South Korea that cover a wide variety of genres, sensibilities and materials as much as previous mega hit Korean series,” Kim said in an interview with Reuters.
Lead actor Lee Sun-kyun, who will be familiar to international audiences from his role in “Parasite”, said his role as Koh is one of a man dragged into a “whirlpool of emotions” whose connections to other people’s minds made him reflect on his own faults.
“It is a very deep science fiction mysterious thriller, but at the same time it is a drama about how a man who was destitute of feelings happened to receive others’ emotions due to side effects of brain scanning,” Lee told Reuters.
MacDailyNews Note: Here’s the trailer:
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Not knocking the series, but hardly close to The Squid Game or even My Name (Korean Crime Drama). Apple is going to have to do better and there will be plenty of future opportunities.