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This is the type of fare that South Korea is famous for. It's a psychological carnival ride that leaves you wondering what the next twirl will bring. By the end, you're not even mad that it turns out, it's all about life and human failings, after all.

Yes, people exist who are just as dastardly as the dastardly father. Indeed, some people get hung up on terrible things in their past and do everything to make their chosen scapegoat pay - with their blood, if needed. And, for a fact, you'll find people whose past trauma convinces them they are unlovable and should not ever be loved. Outsiders, those who've never endured that kind of life, would never understand these things. They're nice and helpful, but they can never enter that circle.

You'll find all this and more in Perfect Family, and it's brilliantly done.

Kim Byung-chul and Yoon Se-ah resume their roles as a married couple, a partnership they played in Sky Castle (in a very different dynamic!), Park Ju-hyun continues to excel; she gives off serious Park Hyung-sik vibes. The rest of the cast complements them well.

Minus one star for draggy scenes, and for that weird burnt-house-dinner scene that hardly made sense. Otherwise, well worth the watch.

Teen dramas are often hard to stomach, what with the silliness and pearl clutching. This one, with just two episodes, has no room for all that.

You feel sorry for the kids, and wonder about their parents' remoteness. In fact, you wonder about all the adults, and why they don't seem to have much of a duty of care towards the kids. Particularly poignant was the kids wondering if their parents love them, at all.

Was that just teen angst speaking, or did they have genuine reason to believe they somehow became afterthoughts in their parents' lives? How you see it depends on your experiences.

More than anything, this 2-hour presentation makes you wonder WTH at every turn. Especially that twist at the end of the first episode.

Lots and lots of comments on the two leads, the stereotypes, the alleged racism. I'll not add to them. Instead, I'm on the allegory this story tells.

In the US, they say if you work hard, you'll earn your success. Defense engineering is hard work, and protecting your country is noble. So how come the plastic surgeon has the nice house?

In the US, they say freedom and equality, almost in the same breath as declaring the population not economically viable. Right to work laws, predatory financial schemes, lack of consumer protection make everyone not economically viable. That makes the obcenely high incarceration rate make sense; behind bars, everyone is economically viable.

The film's ultimate parallel to America today is the rotten guardrail failing to catch the grievously wounded man. That is symbolism, par excellence.