“Mouse” (마우스)

By Jae-Ha Kim
jaehakim.com
March 3, 2022

Jeong Ba-Reum (played by Lee Seung-Gi)
Go Moo-Chi (played by Lee Hee-Joon)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.

If there was a test that determined whether your unborn child carried a psychopath gene, would you trust it enough to terminate your pregnancy? Or would you believe that regardless of your child’s genetic makeup, you could raise him to be a good person who wouldn’t grow up to be a killer? Would you trust nurture or nature?

In “Mouse,” that’s the dilemma for two women, who choose not to abort their pregnancies, knowing that the babies they’re carrying have the potential to grow up to be serial killers. Yo-Han (played by Kwon Hwa-Woon) is the son of South Korea’s most infamous murderer, known as the Headhunter. Though he has grown up to be a well-respected doctor, his detached mannerisms indicate that he will follow in his father’s footsteps.

The other carrier is obvious if you catch the clues early on. But the writers do a good job of making viewers guess. (I’ll say a bit more about them in the Spoiler Alert below.)

When a rash of crimes indicate that the Headhunter has a protege, police officer Ba-Reum (played by Lee Seung-Gi) is convinced that Yo-Han is the culprit. The two have a contentious relationship that turns violent, especially when Ba-Reum’s beloved friends are attacked.

Ba-Reum has a close circle of friends who rely on each other and he always makes himself available to help whoever needs assistance. Ba-Reum and Moo-Chi (Lee Hee-Joon) — whose parents were slaughtered by the Headhunter — don’t particularly like each other, but they form a strong bond over their need to find the serial killer.

This series is violent and gruesome in its depiction of how the victims were toyed with and tortured. But the scene that is stuck in my head is from Episode 15. Yo-Han’s girlfriend has given birth to their child. The babysitter pretends to be a wonderful caretaker. But while the mother is away at work, she invites her friends over to socialize, and ignores the baby, except to slap, shove and hit him. Why? Because in her mind, the infant deserves it because of his lineage.

Honestly? This woman is no better than a psychopath. Hurting babies — no matter who their parents are — isn’t moral or acceptable. Ever.

Airdates: Twenty episodes — each about 80-minutes long — aired on SBS from March 3, 2021 to May 19, 2021. The series also spawned three special episodes, two spin-offs and a film.

Spoiler Alert: The showrunners did a great job of keeping viewers on their toes. We thought we knew who the killer was for sure, only to find out it was someone else. Ba-Reum actually is the Headhunter’s son. Yo-Han was a genius who didn’t carry the psychopath gene. Apparently the psychopath and genius genes share similar traits.

Anyhow… The babies were switched as infants. After a brutal altercation with Yo-Han that leaves him brain dead, Ba-Reum becomes the recipient of the latter’s brain. Yo-Han dies. Ba-Reum lives with Yo-Han’s brain ensconced in his head and remembers Yo-Han’s memories. He also benefits from Yo-Han’s genuine goodness, which he was lacking prior to the surgery. When Ba-Reum realizes that he is the serial killer and not Yo-Han, he develops a plan to make sure that all the guilty parties — including himself — are punished.

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