Netflix has decided to make a strong commitment to Korean fiction, something logical given the enormous success of ‘The Squid Game’. In 2022, dozens of titles from South Korea will reach us and the one in charge of kicking off is ‘We are dead’, a zombie-themed series called to become the new platform phenomenon.
It so happens that ‘Kingdom’, Netflix’s first Korean original series, also opted for zombies, but in this case combining it with historical fiction, while in ‘We are dead’ the zombie epidemic focuses on a high school our days. Having seen its first four episodes, I can tell you that it is an effective pastime with a use of violence at the level of ‘The Squid Game’ but without becoming so addictive.
The contrast
‘We are dead’ starts with a first episode in which he first pays attention to the characters and what is behind that zombie awakening instead of playing the clueless about what could have caused that strange infection. It is fair to say that the interest does not skyrocket until everything gets out of hand and the debts begin to accumulate. bloodthirsty creatures.
It is then that it becomes clear that the focus of the series changes exponentially depending on whether we are facing an action/horror scene or a more intimate one to explore the situation in which its protagonists find themselves. ‘We are dead’ becomes overwhelming in the first, transmitting an impressive energy to the viewer so that the level of threat that their characters have to face is clear.
That is something that is especially noticeable in its first episode, where the strong contrast with what has been seen up to that point is reminiscent of the enormous surprise that the first competition of ‘The Squid Game’ entailed. From there, everything possible is done to maintain the same level of impact and do it in different ways -and even giving more space to what happens in a different location-, but it is fair to recognize that it is not achieved by being the threat Always the same.
A weak point that is not so weak
This also happens in part because the gallery of characters that ‘We are dead’ raises lacks something that makes them really special individually. It is also true that the dynamic between them is well thought out, something that bears its best fruit so far in the third episode, the most effective in purely dramatic terms, but it is that none of them get to shine, to have that something to hook us and that what may happen to them has an authentic emotional echo.
By that I don’t mean that they are lazy characters or that they focus more than necessary on the adrenaline overdose, as happened in ‘Alice in Borderland’, but I do mean that the scripts of Chun Sung Il from the webtoon of Joo Dong Geun they tend to be more correct than anything else when it comes to defining their protagonists. Sometimes it feels a bit like neutralizing what might make them special individually to highlight the strength of the group. Just when that doesn’t happen is when ‘We are dead’ engages with more force, but the usual thing is just the opposite.
It is curious that this happens, since here sufficient attention is paid to the human component so that everything is much more than a succession of massacres. In fact, there comes a point where the issue of casualties becomes more individual out of necessity – and becomes more often the story of how to dodge almost certain death – as the number of survivors dwindles. lower and there is less room for zombie rage.
Of course, ‘We are dead’ has for now managed to avoid the dreaded fatigue derived from telling a story of these characteristics in series format. With a skillful use of cliffhangers and an effective plot progression, yes, that step forward in terms of its characters would have been appreciated, but the mix works and at least one is curious about what will happen next. And it is that, obviously, how the imminent threats are dealt with is more important than the idea of what happens in higher instances, although everything indicates that it will be entered into in later episodes.
In short
‘We are dead’ is a series to be taken into account by those who are looking for a good zombie-themed fiction. Very energetic during the attacks of these creatures and generous in doses of violence, it is a pity that their characters do not engage so much -that is where the bulky duration of the episodes leads to more notice-, but at least they are given enough voice to have faith that can change in the remaining six episodes.