The Girl Who Sees Scents (2015)

A show of interesting juxtapositions: 

serious, gory + comic

intriguing murder mystery + romance, comedy and the important things in life (dogs, family, friends, food)

chilling villain + an inept police force

trauma + healing

 

Cho-rim (Shin Se-kyung): loss of memory and family tragedy + the need to create laughter

Moo-gak (Park Yoo-chun): loss of sensing + intense care for his sister Eun-seol (Kim So-hyun) and Cho-rim; seriousness + comedy

Chef Kwon (Namkoong Min): meticulous as chef + meticulous as murderer; losing self + gaining others’ lives

 

There is fun camaraderie among the characters, the friendship/family theme is movingly highlighted, and the ‘fantasy’ part of the show doesn’t overwhelm the plot.  I love how the smells are depicted so prettily and imaginatively as little patterns and objects – a very creative portrayal of PTSD, along with Moo-gak’s inability to sense and Chef Kwon’s need to kill and kill and kill.  

waking up from her 193-day coma, to see the sight of hospital smells 

Moo-gak can't feel full

Leads

Se-kyung and Yoo-chun move smoothly between being hilarious, sweet and emotional.  I enjoyed watching their relationship grow and how it healed both of their past.

one of my favourite scenes -- catching the crook in the sauna!

Silly police officers

One look at these guys tells you they are there for comic effect.  How are any crimes solved with such ineffective police?  How did the Chief of Violent Crimes become chief?  He doesn’t contribute to solving any crimes, only asking questions like how did this happen, why, and such.  At least Sergeant Ki (Jo Hee-bong, playing a policeman for the n-th time) figures out a few things, and Ye (Choi Tae-joon) is earnest, even aspiring to be Chief, although he sure doesn’t have what it takes for the position!  They rely too much on Cho-rim’s smell-seeing, for example, to find the button under the table, and waste time waiting in a café when rain washes away the scents.

come on guys, even if she's looking for the smells, you can search the place too?

The senior police officers seem only interested in their rivalries, though you wonder how they are even fighting for promotions when they hardly have achievements to boast of.   Yeom-Mi (Yoon Jin-seo) and Moo-gak are the only officers doing serious and proper investigation.  Why didn’t anyone investigate Eun-seol’s murder?  Why were serial killings just passed over and how could it be that no one previously figured out the murderer’s pattern before these two came onboard?!

Nevertheless, they are funny – the Chief and all his children who look like him, Ki with his Russian girlfriend, and Ye turning out to be chaebol nagged and threatened by his father! In contrast, the people of the Frog comedy troupe aren’t in the least amusing.  They make Cho-rim do chores and run errands, without properly mentoring her when they keep saying she isn’t funny enough.  Moo-gak is the only one who nails stand-up comedy when he stands in as her partner.

Girl power

Yeom-mi -- cool and calm in captivity

The girls save the day!  Yeom-mi and Cho-rim (who is not even a police officer) use their brains and skills to solve crimes.  Yeom-mi is outstanding as a police officer, and her courage and intelligence pull the trigger on Chef Kwon’s confidence.  Special mention also for Cho-rim’s wonderful friend Ae-ri, played by the cute Park Jin-joo. 

Killer and witness at large

on some days, a friendly guy with a soft spot for Cho-rim

Namkoong Min is a chilling Chef Kwon (though he had too much make-up in some scenes).  Such a smart guy, committing almost ‘perfect’ murders, and too bad he gets undone by a smart lady.

 

I do have some questions, though:

- Why doesn’t he install CCTVs in his rooms and lift when he is such a thorough person?

- What is in Joo Mari’s diaries and what is his alibi for the time she was murdered?

- What happened to his dog?  It disappeared after some episodes of being fussed over.

- How did Dr Cheon (Song Jong-ho) get to know him so well and why does he reveal that the witness (Cho-rim) is still alive??  Shouldn’t he be trying to protect her from Chef?

It was very smart of Detective Oh (Jung In-gi) to have Cho-rim ‘hidden in plain sight’, but didn’t he expect that her identity would come to light eventually?  It’s a pity that he is left in the background so much.  I thought his care for Cho-rim was touching and she is living the life she has, and is still alive, largely because of him.  Their relationship is one of the sweetest adoptive father-daughter ones that I’ve seen, so why isn’t he at their wedding?

 

This show is funny and exciting at the same time, with an able cast.  You can’t achieve lively chemistry among many characters without people acting well.  I’m glad I caught it shortly before it was taken off Netflix.  

16 episodes, SBS