After the success of “Hellbound” on Netflix, Yeong Sang-ho, Climax Studio, and Wow Point are back for their latest entry in the science fiction/fantasy genre, this time with a stronger dash of (body) horror. However, although it certainly has strengths, “Parasyte: The Grey” shares many of the earlier show’s weaknesses without offering the same kind of drama and thoughtful commentary – or anything substantial, for that matter.
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This time, Yeong and his crew are adapting a Japanese manga, “Parasyte”, written and illustrated by Hitoshi Iwaaki between 1989 and 1994. The manga has spawned its own franchise over the years, including two live-action movies and a TV anime. “Parasyte: The Grey” is the first live-action TV series to be produced, and the first spin-off made outside of Japan, by a writer/director who has proved his ability to dramatize stories around zombies (“Train to Busan“) and hellbound creatures. This makes “Parasyte: The Grey” all the more frustrating.
The story is only a loose adaptation of the original manga. It still revolves around parasitic creatures that fall from space, infect humans, eat their brains and transform them into their puppets. Likewise, they still have the ability to transform their heads into various monstrous forms, mostly tentacles and weapons with which they kill their prey. Their plan – as little as there seems to be one, anyway – is to infiltrate human society and eat their human victims.
On the other hand, this time the setting is not high school and the protagonist is not a teen male but a young woman, Jeong Su-in, convincingly played by Jeon So-nee. As she is attacked and stabbed by a stalker early in episode 1, a parasite (conveniently) drops from space right next to her dying body. Infiltrating her, he saves her life, but this means – for reasons best not examined too closely – that it is not able to eat her brain. Instead, young, terrified Jeong is now a mutant, and will have to learn how to coexist with her alien parasite.
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As the short summary above might already betray, the details of the plot are rather outlandish and far-fetched. Whether or not one is able to overlook such problems conditions one’s enjoyment of the show, especially as the plot suffers from many inconsistencies and implausible details in the course of its six episodes. More than once you might find yourself rolling your eyes at, say, the lack of security around a key character who should very obviously be tightly protected. Worse, the actions and reactions of characters at key moments simply make no sense, acting the way they do because it is convenient for the writers that they should do so at that moment.
This criticism already applied, to some extent, to “Hellbound”. But that show had interesting storylines and an overall exploration of religion in Korean society to compensate for these flaws. “Parasyte: the Grey” has very little material to compensate with. There is a vague attempt in the last episode to discuss the power of collective organizations over mere individuals, but this rapidly goes nowhere.
Another issue is that much of what transpires on screen is highly derivative. The dialogue (or perhaps only the subtitles) even explicitly calls the parasites “body snatchers”, a reference to the 1956 movie with a similar premise (and its many remakes over the years). The aliens, when their heads morph into monsters, visually recall many other similar creatures, including the infected in “The Last of Us” (but perhaps, one could argue, the original manga has been influential over the years). And Jeong’s awkward cohabitation with her alien parasite will inevitably recall “Venom” and his own symbiote.
To be fair, the show manages to some extent to distance itself from these influences. First by having the authorities immediately aware of the aliens’ existence, as they set up the “Grey” organization to hunt them down. This is very different not only from “The Body Snatchers” but from many other similar stories as well, which typically like to play the alien invasion as a conspiracy thriller. Second, there is no banter and humor between Jeong and her parasite, making their relationship a very different one from Venom’s in the recent films.
“Parasyte: the Grey” can count on the supporting cast to help propel the story forward and make up for the nonsense of its plot. Koo Kyo-hwan is pretty convincing as Seol Kang-woo, a small-time gangster whose path crosses Jeong’s. Lee Jung-hyun as the leader of the Grey Team injects a welcome dose of sheer energy and rage as a character out for revenge against the aliens. Finally, Kwon Hae-hyo, more typically a sweet presence in Hong Sang-soo’s films, is touching as police detective Kim Chul-min, although his character and his relationship with Jeong are underserved, underused and frankly wasted by the writers.
In fact, there are many obvious opportunities that are missed by the screenwriters, who clearly want to inject human drama into the sci-fi and horror proceedings but keep undermining their own efforts. This is a shame, as the cast is a strong one and the story had a lot of potential. For example, a toxic religious cult is at the center of the story, drawing another parallel with “Hellbound”. It could easily have been used to add momentum to the characters, their motivations and their difficult relationships – let alone to elaborate on the attempted commentary about the power of organizations. Unfortunately, this is quickly left behind by the writers.
Visually the series looks good, with (mostly) convincing visual effects overall and solid tracking shots used for action sequences early on. All the more unfortunate, then, that similar efforts were not made on the plot and the characters. It could have helped the show get a second season, instead of being cancelled after its initial run. This, again, is a waste.
