I skipped Season 1 of Voice, but decided to give Season 2 a go since the show received such high ratings. Lee Jin Wook joining the cast as psychopathic detective Kang Dong Woo was another motivation for me, because I truly enjoyed his performance in Nine.
Looks like Voice 2 off to a great start with the premiere already breaking OCN’s records.
From what I’ve read, what I can expect is a gritty, dark, fast-paced drama with gruesome murders and intriguing crime-solving. The premiere definitely met those expectations. The first few minutes were so difficult to watch. From there, the episode just takes off in a breath-taking pace with a hostage situation on a train followed by the death of Kang Kyung Hak and then a quick moving investigation that takes place on the go as both Dong Woo and and Kwon Joo set off on a separate paths to find the one who placed the accelerator in Kyung Hak’s car. We are introduced to the villain, who is resourceful and bent on taking down the team. The cinematography is beautiful and I loved the car chase being shot from the top of the winding road, with the voiceover of our villain creepily telling the story of how Eskimos hunt down wolves. In short, I can definitely see why this show is popular as it is energetic and exciting.
It’d be interesting to see how Dong Woo’s psychopathic abilities of reading a crime scene immediately to identify the criminal’s actions and intents complement Kwon Joo’s voice profiling abilities. Already in this premiere, we see Dong Woo’s hints about the shoes serving as an important piece to help Kwon Joo link together what she sees about the skim marks on the road. I have to admit I’m fascinated by the concept of a voice profiler and watching her at work is nothing short of fascinating as she uses nothing but sounds to reconstruct a sequence of what happens.
However, the show’s fast and exciting pace can be a pitfall as the characters were barely fleshed out and many times, merely seemed as chess pieces to move the plot ahead where required. I’ve read reviews about the characterisation being weak in Voice and I’m already seeing signs of this in the premiere. For me, the draw is always about the characters, their stories and motivations; however, this was sorely lacking from the premiere. Besides seeing the gruesome murder of his assistant in the first few minutes, we barely understand more about him.
Based on the trailer in Episode 2, I believe we will get to understand more about Dong Woo’s motivations and I’m liking that potential complicated set up between him and Kwon Joo where there will be a secret investigation into the murderer while his arrest serves as a cover. I’ll give the show a few more episodes before I decide to plunge in till the end. If it’s good enough, I might even watch Voice Season 1.