‘Flower Of Evil’ K-Thriller Delivers Monsters That Hide In Plain Sight

Would you recognize evil if you were intimately acquainted with it? Maybe not. There are an infinite number of ways to be evil, many of them subtle, almost invisible, and being close to someone does not necessarily make a person objective. 

The edgy new thriller Flower of Evil was perhaps named after Baudelaire’s poem La Fleurs du Mal, which touches on how monsters can hide in plain sight. Discovering you cannot trust those closest to you constitutes one of the most chilling thriller plots. 

The tvN drama’s opening scene is so frightening that it could be a nightmare, but it might also be an omen. In this scene Baek Hee-sung, played by Lee Jun-ki, is submerged in water, drowning, and his wife, Cha Ji-won, played by Moon Chae-won, hesitates when deciding to rescue him.

That dramatic sequence segues into their daily life, where these characters are happily married and the parents of an adorable child. Hee-sung seems to be the perfect husband, kind, loving, attentive enough to make snacks for his daughter’s teachers, and supportive of his wife’s career as a detective.

Nothing troubles their idyllic marriage until they must interact with his caustic parents for dinner. After Ji-won leaves, the parents suggest that it might be problematic for Hee-sung to be married to a detective, given his past. 

Ji-won is a competent detective and she’s quite perceptive, except, perhaps, when it comes to her husband. While discussing a potential abuse case with a colleague, she notes that if there had been abuse, there would surely be signs.

Comparing the value of instinct versus evidence in convicting criminals, Ji-won and her fellow officers discuss how it might be possible for the victim of a crime to overlook the signs, to not to have known what her husband was doing. It comes down to not wanting to know, they decide. People see what they want to see. 

What will Ji-won want to see? What exactly is in her husband’s past? Is he a killer and, if so, can she still love him? It’s a detective’s job to ask questions and those are questions she must answer as Hee-sung’s past is threatened with exposure.

While playing the role of Hee-sung, Lee is a master at subtly shifting his expression from meditative to menacing. Lee’s resume includes a range of complex, well-executed characters, that play with notions of good and evil, such as his cruel yet vulnerable Scarlet Heart prince, and Tae-won, his character in Two Weeks, an innocent men accused of murder.

Lee’s last drama appearance was Lawless Lawyer in 2018 and his last film role was in Resident Evil: The Final Chapter in 2018.

Moon plays Ji-won with a subtle veneer of never quite feeling worthy enough to be happy. Her desire to hang on to that happiness that she’s not sure she deserves will cloud her judgement. Moon’s last drama appearance was in Tale of Fairy and her last film was Feng Shui in 2018. 

She and Lee previously co-starred in the drama Criminal Minds, which was a remake of the U.S. drama series.