Psychopath Diaries

10/10 is my rating. A 2019/2020 South Korean psychological thriller spanning 16. 60 minute episodes.

Yook Dong-Sik (Yoon Shi-yoon) , is a financial analyst with the quintessential “nice guy” personality. He does just about anything for anyone up to and including taking the fall for a bad business deal. Miserable and pushed to the brink he goes through the motions up to the point of suicide. As his luck would have it the “under construction site” Dong-sik chose for his suicide attempt (he changed his mind) was the site where a serial killer was attempting to kill their next victim. The serial killer kept diaries to record his crime and his victim hits the diary sending it where Dong-sik is hiding. As the serial killer stalks toward his location, Dong-ski fleas into traffic. He is hit by Police Officer Shim Bo-Kyung’s (Jung In-sun) patrol car. When he revives after the accident he is suffering from retrograde amnesia and does not remember anything about his past including the murder he witnessed. The diary seems like the perfect way to discover who he was but when he reads it he thinks HE is the vicious psychopath who wrote in the diary. Shim Bo-Kyung has been sticking close to Dong-sik feeling guilty for hitting him with her car. And; she begins to see details that are alarmingly similar in some of the seemingly unrelated cases she has been working on. As they grow closer and explore the edges of the case, (Dong-sik is a crime drama buff and has unique insight into the mind of criminals) they wind up squarely in the sights of a real life monster? Will Dong-sik figure out who he really is before it is too late. Can Shim Bo-kyung trust her new friend who she suspects may be harboring a dark secret? Seo In-Woo (Park Sung-hoon) is a chaebol and executive at th company where Dong-sik works. In-woo also has the nasty habit of killing people he deems inferior as a hobby.

Spoiler 🚨 I really loved this series. I saw Yoon Shi--yoon in “Flower Boy Next Door” and did not, at first, realize it was the same actor. Once I realized it was him I was excited. He was so good in FBND so I expected he would be good in this and he did not disappoint. He played the “pushover” character so well and, when he switched to psycho mode, that was also very believable. I watched Jung In-sun in “Welcome to Waikiki” and she performed that comedic role incredibly. Her role in Psychopath Diary was mostly serious and her portrayal of a lady detective was very compelling. I loved the camaraderie of all the main characters. The plot was interesting enough it kept me looking forward to every episode. I highly recommend this. It is one of my new favorites.