[HanCinema's Drama Review] "The Tyrant" Episode 1

Viewers inside the United States might be a bit surprised to learn that outside the Western world, Disney Plus as a platform tends to better known for high concept thrillers than the family-friendly content it's famous for here. "The Tyrant" is about the purest possible expression of this odd branding ethos imaginable. It stars Kim Seon-ho as Director Choi, a mysterious figure who's trying to get a hold of something called Tyrant Project.

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As of the first episode, it's still not entirely clear what exactly Tyrant Project is. The cryptic closer suggests that it's some sort of biological weapon- more in a transformative way than a lethal way. I think. Again, "The Tyrant" is remarkably vague about what its own premise even is. All we really know is that a lot of people in Korea are fighting each over it. These include Ja-kyeong (played by Jo Yoon-soo-I) who sometimes thinks (or maybe even is?) her own twin brother.

That sounds a lot more exotic than it actually ends up being in execution. Ja-kyeong is dangerous and detsructive, is the main thing we're supposed to know about her. When Mo-yong (played by Mu Jin-sung) shows up at her father's funeral and offers her lunch at his hangover soup restaurant, she gets black noodle takeout instead. Mo-yong accepts this, not because he's a pushover, but because he knows when to pick a fight, and an argument over food with Ja-kyeong simply isn't worth the effort.

The only thing stopping any characters from killing each other at any given moment is that they insist on killing for some actual advantage, not just for the fun of it. "The Tyrant" is less about what is happening in any given scene so much as it is about how cool every actor is trying to look for the camera. Director Choi, ironically enough, is the only character who seems genuinely concerned about how much further any of this will escalate.

While I only saw the first episode, I'm not confident that "The Tyrant" is going to have any more coherent of an explanation than we've already seen. Debatedly, this might be to the show's detriment anyway. Where "The Witch : Part 1. The Subversion" was compelling at all, it was in character relationships, not the backstory. As another joint from writer/director Park Hoon-jung, "The Tyrant" is clearly going for a similar cinematic vibe, and at only four episodes, this show isn't much longer than a movie anyway.

Written by William Schwartz

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"The Tyrant" is directed by Park Hoon-jung, written by Park Hoon-jung, and features Cha Seung-won, Kim Seon-ho, Kim Kang-woo, Jo Yoon-soo-I, Kim Joo-hun, Mu Jin-sung. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2024/08/14~Now airing, Wed on Disney Plus.