The Big Picture

Gyeongseong Creature falls short of its potential, feeling drawn out and lacking energy and fun. The series struggles to balance its historical backdrop and human drama, often seeming to forget its own monster. Moments with the well-designed creature are highlights, but the rest of the series lacks impact and fails to fully utilize its monster.

It was probably a mistake to watch Gyeongseong Creature, the new historical Netflix K-Drama about a monster lurking in the shadows of what would become known as Seoul, so close after seeing the thrilling experience of Godzilla Minus One again. It is not that they have anything comparable in terms of their scope or scale, as will become very apparent to any who stumble upon the series, though each is attempting to explore elements of history via their monster stories. There is plenty of potential to this undertaking as many great works have used creatures as a way to cut deeper into their thematic aspirations. The thing is, where Godzilla Minus One sees the iconic monster smashing his way to new heights, Gyeongseong Creature is a much more superficial affair that can’t quite rise above being average at best.

Gyeongseong Creature In Spring 1945 in Gyeongseong, during Japanese rule over Korea, two young adults confront a strange creature born of greed, and battle against it for survival. Release Date December 22, 2023 Cast Park Seo-joon , Claudia Kim , Wi Ha-joon , Han So-hee , Kim Hae-sook , Jo Han-chul Seasons 2

At worst, the series feels dragged out beyond what this type of narrative could sustain. Much of it dances around its most intriguing elements with both the gruesome monster and central relationship oddly not feeling central to the experience until very late in the game. Though attempting to follow in the footsteps of Sweet Home, whose second season premiered on the streamer earlier this month, it lacks the same sense of energy and fun necessary to keep things moving. Just as we get glimpses of the creepy creature, there are flashes of a better show and some moments that grab hold. The trouble is that the rest of the series just marches right past its most promising elements without stopping for more than a second.

What Is ‘Gyeongseong Creature’ About?

Set in 1945’s Gyeongseong, the series is all about the mysterious Ongseong Hospital where cruel experiments are being conducted on Korean prisoners by Japanese military scientists. This already grim backdrop is made even more so by the introduction of a monster that almost seems like it could initially be mistaken as a distant cousin of the Demogorgon from Stranger Things. However, this creature has a lot more tentacles that can pierce through flesh and bone in addition to being much more expressive. It is a pretty interesting design, with each of the sequences we see of it finding fun ways to play around with the terror it creates, but there is a lot otherwise to wade through.

While works built around monsters that have a lot going on with their human characters are nothing new, Gyeongseong Creature is more of a rather humdrum drama for large stretches than it is a thrilling creature series. Specifically, we get to know the dynamic duo of Jang Tae-sang (Park Seo-joon) and Yoon Chae-ok (Han So-hee) who will soon have to team up to deal with the monster while carrying out a search that has personal significance for the latter. What better time is there to possibly form a potentially romantic connection than when (eventually) doing battle with a giant creature?

While not quite leaning on the enemies-to-lovers trope, it takes some time for the characters to finally come together. Even as both actors are great, they are often left with little to work with, as the story is both rather straightforward and oddly overwrought. The monster will keep popping up now and again, though it takes a while for us to see it in all its glory. Rather than feel withholding or unsettling, it doesn’t strike the right balance to pull this off. When it does go all out, we see a version where Gyeongseong Creature could have been great.

Without getting into spoilers, midway through this batch of episodes, releasing in two parts as the streamer has shifted to doing, our characters come face-to-face with a terrifying creature. This occurs unexpectedly, at least for them, as it occurred when they were trying to carry out a rescue without any idea of what they were getting themselves into. It is a great scene in the best episode released thus far, which leads to some more thrills when they are trapped in a confined space with the monster, but it soon falls back into the same rhythms just as quickly. While the actors are all sturdy enough for the story to lean on, with one scene featuring a message written on a wall bringing some more earned emotional beats, the rest of the series just doesn’t have the same heft that it is desperately reaching for.

‘Gyeongseong Creature’ Could’ve Relied More on Its Creature
Image via Netflix

Even as it can be great to see scenes like the ones where the duo run in slow motion at the same time, making for a cheesy start to long-overdue confrontations that almost mirror each other, it’s hard to not just wonder when we’re going to get to see that monster let loose again.

Gyeongseong Creature has much more on its mind about this point in time, often getting quite gruesome in some sequences, but this is less well-realized than the scenes where we get to see the creature that was supposedly meant to be at its center. There is even one instance where an episode ends with a showdown between man and monster, seemingly serving as a cliffhanger to lead into the next episode, that instead just feels forgotten about.

The way certain shots line up, recontextualizing what viewers may have just seen moments earlier, ends up feeling deceptive and manipulative rather than surprising. Even when it seems like it is about to deliver on a more deadly showdown, it dodges away just at the last second. In the end, this constant pulling back from its most promising elements is where Gyeongseong Creature gets swallowed up — not by a creature, but by its own repetitive hesitation.

Rating: 5/10

Gyeongseong Creature Part 1 is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S. starting December 22. Part 2 will be released on January 5.

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