Bullet Point Review: Pied Piper

Spoilers Ahead…

• The mystery man behind a series of hostage crises in 2016’s tvN drama Pied Piper, seeks inspiration from the titular character of the famous legend from Hamelin, as he wishes to exact his revenge on those who have wronged the weak and the poor. Though the show does take this interpretation a little too literal at times — there is even a children’s storybook — the framework of the story is similar. The Pied Piper of the 20th-century whistles into the phone as he selects his next unsuspecting victim to do his bidding, who follows every single instruction of his and even when caught, doesn’t give up his identity. At the center of this pursuit (for the Piper) is the Crisis Negotiation team, consisting of Joo Sung Chan (an ineffectual Shin Ha Kyung), a corporate negotiator who has joined the team as a consultant, Yeo Myung Ha (an impressive Jo Yoon Hee) and with them, the news anchor Yoon Hee Sung (a splendid Yu Jung Sang).
• Crisis Negotiation is an unexplored territory in K-dramas, and apparently in South Korea as well. We see this when most police officers scoff at the Negotiation team for being an unnecessary addition to the force. Their office is located in the basement, and when we are introduced to the team, they are on the verge of getting dismantled. This is because most people think negotiating is an easy job, which only requires talking. Like Hee Sung asks Myung Ha during a televised interview, why do we need negotiators when we can just have a simple communication center? The drama nicely builds upon this argument throughout the first half of the runtime. Though their (the negotiators) job mostly entails talking down jumpers, as Myung Ha explains, it also means to ensure that person doesn’t end up on that bridge or on that rooftop again. And though they are police officers, negotiators aren’t involved in the investigations that follow a hostage situation or a suicide attempt. This is brilliantly shown in one of the episodic cases where Myeong Ha has to come to terms with the fact that her empathy with the victim ends the moment she is in police custody. So, in a way, her concern is fake, as she isn’t allowed to care for or help the victim during or after the investigation. This hits harder coming from Myeong Ha, who herself once attempted to commit suicide and was talked down by her adoptive parent (Sung Il Dong).
• The drama also brings to light how crucial communication is. This especially rings true in our current times where we are all connected to each other but rarely interact. Pouring out our feelings, concerns, and worries on internet forums is easier than talking to people or finding someone to talk to. These are the very people that the Pied Piper targets, people with no one on their side, making it easier for him to find them and manipulate them. You see this in the Negotiation Team Leader, Gong Ji Man (Yoo Seung Mok) son’s case, where the whole fiasco could have been avoided if both of them just had a heart to heart conversation.

• The first half of the runtime is a steady buildup on who the Pied Piper could be, his motivations, his M.O. etc, through various hostage crises. It’s the second half that suffers from the fatigue of the numerous hostage crises, and the over dramatization of these proceedings. Now you can argue that in dramas, it is almost customary to have episodic murders, ghosts, or illnesses — a problem to tackle every week. Each one presents a new problem with a different solution, but in Pied Piper, even though the motive for each of these victims to commit the crime is different, the approach to help them, however, ends up being the same. The culprit takes a bank, office, or hospital hostage with some demands. The Police and SWAT surround the building. The hostage-taker announces his terms. The higher-ups want the SWAT team to take down the culprit quickly. The Negotiation team disagrees and steps in, and after some talking, the hostage-taker is either apprehended or escapes. This is thrilling to watch for the first few times but soon becomes foreseeable.
  In fact, the screenplay is expertly divided into three parts. The first concentrates on the identity of the Pied Piper and his motive. The second part reveals the identity of the Pied Piper and the last part, is a sort of cat and mouse chase between the Pied Piper and the police with some focus on the whys and the hows. This structure works. The problem is that we are so worn out by the sheer number of hostage crises that when the big final act occurs, it comes off as too dramatic. Instead, as a break from the hostage crises, I would have loved to see some detailed investigation into the Pied Piper, considering that all the major characters are police officers and some of the information they unearth was quite unexpected. That would have been a breather from all the tension, and it would have made the finale, which was a complete high stakes situation (with its very shocking yet interesting twists and turns) more effective. Sadly, like most dramas, the third act falls into the trope of the protagonist suddenly coming up with all the answers through a lot of speculation or some odd plot choices like hypnosis. This feels too convenient especially when you consider that the villain has spent ten years planning this elaborate plot and has been clearing all his tracks yet the investigation conveniently reveals everything in a short amount of time.
• The parallel drawn between Myeong Ha and the Pied Piper was a nice touch as it brought out the different ways victims of the same tragedy process their grief and cope with their loss. Though the police and the larger establishment in hand were in charge of Myeong Ha’s parents' death, she still decides to become a police officer, to make sure that what happened to her, won’t happen to anyone else. The Pied Piper on the other hand sees Myeong Ha’s decision as a betrayal and wishes to inflict the same pain on the people responsible for the incident. This is why I felt the drama could have worked better if Myeong Ha led the investigations, not Sung Chan. This personal tie between Myeong Ha and the Piper would have made the negotiations more urgent, emotional and impactful. On the other hand, Sung Chan’s addition to the team does bring about a link between the Negotiation team and K Group, but Shin Ha Kyung’s interpretation of the character didn’t work for me. Though equipped with his own backstory and personal demons, Sung Joon’s anger felt misplaced at times and Shin Ha Kyung played the character way too emotional for someone who is an expert at these high stakes negotiations. I did enjoy Sung Chan’s reflection on his past mistakes, his confusion regarding his position with the Negotiation team in the initial few episodes, but when the Pied Piper’s motivation comes to light, I would have loved for Myeong Ha to step forward, while Sung Chan could have propped her up from behind.