What Is the Story About?
Parasyte : The Grey is a live-action adaptation of the manga series ‘Parasyte’ by Hitoshi Iwaaki and follows humans fighting fight against strange and unidentified parasitic creatures that thrive on human hosts by manipulating their brains to kill fellow-humans. The series is centered around Jeong Su-in/Heidi, a woman with a traumatic past, who is also a victim of this parasitic attack. Unlike other hosts, Su-in’s brain is not taken over completely by the parasite, but she instead enters in a symbiotic relationship with it. As the outer-space parasites attack humans and host them, they gain the unique ability to shape-shift to anything under the sun.
Performances?
Jeon So-nee is the star of the film and her duality in the series is stunning. The parasite-host dynamics is safe in the actress hands. As the trauma burdened Jeong Su-in, who is constantly taken aback by her apparent infection, defiance and fear she is so believable. When she is in her Heidi (parasite) mode, she is fearful, unsettling and demanding. Su-in’s bond with the character Seol Kang-woo adds quite an emotional layer to the story where too much is always happening. The voice-acting for Heidi is exceptionally convincing.
Another stand-out character in the show is Seol Kang-woo played by Koo Kyo-hwan. After his humourous turn in DP, the actor stuns again in Parasyte. While this time around he plays a petty gangster who searches for his missing younger sister (likely a victim to parasite attack) and then eventually teams up with Su-in. But here’s the catch! He is not all nice and good. His character lies in the grey.
Lee Jung-hyun‘s Choi Jun-kyung – the team lead of the Special Parasite Hunter Grey team also makes a mark. In fact she is the only character apart from the main duo, who gets a motive, back story and arc with conviction.
Kwon Hae-hyo plays Kim Cheol-min: a senior detective at Namil Police Station and also an acquaintance of Su-in. His presence initially offered a lot of scope but despite his veteran status, the actor is massively underused.
Analysis
Written and Directed by Contemporary Korean Cinema’s favourite monster horror director Yeon Sang-ho, Parasyte : The Grey is a genre binding sci-fi horror series that follows an unsettling premise of alien parasite attack over humans in an apocalyptic premise and their battles of survival. After a mixed reception for his previous Netflix show – Hellbound (also a sci-fi monster-horror) and Netflix film – Jung-E, the Train to Busan director is back with a manga adaptation of ‘Parasyte’ by Hiroshi Iwaaki.
The series begins with a look at the looming pollution, environmental degradation and man-made disasters that the planet is being subjected to. A voice-over asks if things could be different if human population is being cut to fractions. The voice-over cuts to an EDM festival in South Korea where a creepy parasitic larva falls from space, infects one of the attendees and degenerates into an unsettling shape-shifter creature that kills people around it.
The show jumps directly into the theme of Alien parasite infection without much ado. It introduces the main character – Jeong Su-in, a soft-spoken, child-hoof trauma burdened supermarket worker who accidentally becomes a host to one of the many alien parasitic larvae that falls upon Korea. This accident occurs when she gets brutally stabbed by a drunkard customer of hers who follows her post an argument at the super-market.
Unlike the other parasitic infections, Su-in’s infection hasn’t completely taken over her brain (thanks to the numerous stabbing wounds it had to heal) The rest of the series follows Su-in developing a dynamic understanding with her parasite – Heidi for mutual survival. This is when a special investigation team called ‘Grey team’ intervenes from South Korea to terminate the parasites from Namil.
The Grey team led by Choi Jun Kyung briefs about this (hidden from public) alien parasitic attack on humans, their modus operandi, powers, communication signals, weaknesses and method of termination, thereby alarming the Namil Police Station detectives. Parallely, Seol Kang-woo bumps into Su-in’s parasitic form Heidi as he searches for his missing younger sister (who could also be infected like his elder sister).
Su-in garners a partner in Kang-woo but how long can he trust him and what actually happens to her relationship with Heidi forms the rest of the series. There’s also an interesting Easter egg for the manga fanatics in the final episode hinting at a potential sequel.
Unlike the webtoon adaptation Hellbound, Parasyte : The Grey tries to do justice to its source-material’s scale and ambition. The major characters are aptly cast, their arcs well fleshed out and the narrative is equally unsettling and engaging. Yeon Sang-ho’s efforts behind the world -building is very evident. So are the moments of tension and intrigue factor the writing tries to maintain.
But this doesn’t mean that Parasyte : The Grey doesn’t come with the usual pitfalls of literary/webtoon/manga adaptations. It does. The CGI is uncomfortably below par and outdated in multiple places and the pacing takes a nosedive past the initial 2 episodes. The show introduces a lot of characters only to not develop their arcs later.
To summarise, Parasyte : The Grey still makes for a fun and entertaining weekend watch especially for the fans of monster horror. The tail-end paves way for an anticipatory second season where hopefully the creators would correct the cracks of the maiden season.
Music and Other Departments?
Chai Min-joo and Kim Dong-wook’s music and score of Parasyte : The Grey fits in the narrative like a glove. The unsettling gory scenes are aptly aided by the score and dramatic moments are scored more on the subtle side. As an expert in the monster horror genre, director -writer Yeon Sang-ho tapped in the right lighting, production values and gritty atmospherics to present his parasitic creatures. For a mammoth manga adaptation, in any hands less capable the show wouldn’t have translated this good, despite a dated, not-so-perfect CGI. The action-scenes are decently choreographed with rapidly movie camera-work to convey a sense of urgency.
Highlights?
Storyline
Main star-cast
World Building
Production Values
Intrigue Factor
Drawbacks?
Dated CGI
Pacing
Under-cooked Supporting characters
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes
Will You Recommend It?
Yes. If Monster Horror is a genre you dig, this show and the manga are right up your alley despite occasional pacing slips.
Parasyte: The Grey Series Review by Binged Bureau
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