The Girl Who Sees Scents

The plot concerns a serial killer who tries to kill a young girl who witnessed him during a killing. She is wearing a jacket belonging to her friend so the killer gets the wrong name tag and ends up killing the wrong girl who is the sister of a man - Moo Gak - who is determined to join the task force hunting him down.

The police task force is something of a keystone cops operation which relies on comedy rather than effectiveness. There is also a Theatre Group that the girl. Cho-Rim aspires to join. Their idea of comedy is somewhere between childrens television and pantomime.

Moo-Gak has no sense of pain and no sense of taste -and a giant appetite - these disabilities have no bearing on the plot and it is hard to see why they were included. Drinking boiling water and eating twenty plates of food at a time is downright dangerous and should not be shown as having no ill effect.

The plot plods on with Cho-rim helping to solve simple cases by following smells whilst she and Moo-Gak fall in love.

The serial killer is shown to be super clever and outwits them at every turn until they finally catch up with him.

The acting is OK - I like the ML and the villain - but the story went on for too long and the ending is somewhat silly.

It's an ok drama. After watching now the 3rd drama with the leading actress, not in favour of her. Liked her in the "Bride of Halbaek" though, it fits her in that drama but here, she was supposed to be a comedian but she is not funny. Continued watching is mainly for the lead actor. He played his role well. He is funny, serious, intelligent cop!

But they don't really have chemistry together, it feels forced!

Easygoing, almost childish, romantic, drama, character lost memory, character lost family member, protect family, murder, serial killer nearby, family, sister, police, special investigation team, marriage, return of the villain.

A character who can feel no pain, a character who can see smells and a character with face blindness are all part of this comedy thriller. A detective trying to track down a serial killer teams up with a girl also linked with the same killer. It has its amusing moments and a fair share of drama as the serial killer leaves barcodes on his victims bodies. Well acted by the cast but would have been better if episodes were reduced as it drags out at the end too much.

As this Korean series opens a teenage girl returns home and finds herself face to face with a serial killer known as 'The Bar Code Killer' due to the fact that he carves a barcode into his victims' arms. She flees but is hit by a car. In hospital the killer, intending to eliminate the only witness, murders a girl of the same name by mistake. Her brother, Choi Mu-gak, is so traumatised that he loses his senses of taste and smell and the ability to feel pain; later on he becomes a police officer so he can bring the killer to justice. Meanwhile the witness eventually wakes from a coma but has no memory of her life before the accident; she has also gained a strange ability; she can see scents. The retiring officer in charge of the case at the time takes her in as his own daughter and gives her the name Oh Cho-rim. Events a few years later bring them together and she uses her ability to help him solve cases; however neither realises that she is the witness he is seeking. Meanwhile the killer is continuing to kill, unaware that the girl he killed wasn't the witness because he has a condition that means he can't remember faces.

If you want something gritty then this probably won't be for you. However if you want a light hearted crime drama with elements of comedy and romance it is a lot of fun. The identity of the killer is not kept secret. He is shown to the viewer early on and it isn't much longer before the police regard him as the prime suspect... the problem is proving it. Tensions rise nicely as the killer learns the witness is still alive and starts searching for her. The characters are a lot of fun and the cast does an impressive job. Shin Se-kyung and Park Yoo-chun, particularly impress as Oh Cho-rim and Choi Mu-gak; they have a fine chemistry. The special effects used to depict Oh Cho-rim's ability are rather fun aren't over used. Overall I found this to be a lot of fun and would certainly recommend this to fans of light-hearted K-drama.

These comments are based on watching the series in Korean with English subtitles.