The Veil (2021)

Captivating spy thriller, intelligently questioning the philosophy and ethics of secret services

"The Veil" is a really exciting, all-round first-class KDrama in the secret service milieu. The world of spies, the unconditional obedience to orders and professional ethics as well as the swampy terrain surrounding ´right´ vs. ´wrong´ / ´good´ vs. ´evil´ is not only extremely exciting, but also multi-layered and downright critical. (With "Moebius: The Veil", the makers provide background information on some of the central characters of the series in an equally gripping 2-part prequel.)

At the center of the "The Veil" is an excellent agent of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), who suddenly reappears out of nowhere one year after his mission had gone wrong. He has no memory of the past year whatsoever, but is determined to find the cause of failure at that time.

The international title of the KDrama refers to the veil of the protagonist's memory that is lifted in the course of the story. At the same time, it also refers to the veils within the NIS behind which many secrets are kept hidden, and what happens when someone wants to lift them. In the original, however, the title is translated "Black Sun" and refers (no less symbolically) to the phenomenon of the solar eclipse.

MBC spared no expense or effort in the production of "The Veil". With this series, the station is celebrating its 60th birthday in 2021 in a successful way that is well worth seeing. Not only excitement and action are guaranteed, but also an intelligent story that is up to date. (See side note below.) The gripping script is multi-layered with numerous characters who repeatedly move back and forth between the poles of good and evil - eventually, in this intelligence service profession it is neither clear who is who, nor is it unambiguous why...

The overall first-class cast has proven itself altogether through their strong, convincing presence. Namkoong Min in particular gives everything here. He is hardly recognizable compared to e.g. "Stove League" from 2019. For "The Veil" he had trained intensively and gained 10 kilos of muscle mass. He impresses with his powerful physicality, which gives his role even more weight. In that sense, he also performed all the stunts himself.
(Apropos stunts.... this KDrama has its bloody, brutal side, too... for some it could be a bit challenging at times...)

Right down to the camera, light and music, everything is of the highest standard. Since both the characters and the story are so sophisticated and complex with many details, the KDrama is also suitable for re-watch - even if you know how it ends...

"The Veil" is a captivating spy thriller of international caliber that intelligently questions the philosophy, mission and ethics of the secret services from multiple angles. The story also deals with recent history and political past, with present and future ´NIS´ of South Korea.



------------------ SIDE NOTE: --- political/historical context of the NIS ---

The NIS has only had this title since 1999 - and not anymore since July 2020, to be precise. (The story is from 2018 though.) The history of South Korea's intelligence agency is paved with some abuse of power over its own people on South Korean soil.
The South Korean intelligence service originally goes back to the KCIA (Korean Central Intelligence Agency) from 1961, which General Park Chung-hee had initiated. The responsibilities included overseeing and coordinating both international and national intelligence operations and investigations by public and military agencies. The power to get involved in political events (unsolicited and without permission) was correspondingly great. With all this, the KCIA is also one of the elite of Asian secret services in terms of the demanding training.

Following the end of the military dictatorship by General Park Chung-hee, who was assassinated in 1979 by the then head of the KCIA, the KCIA was purged and operated as ANSP (National Security Planning Agency) from 1981. Their most important tasks included spying on North Korean activities and, for example, the suppression of political activists of the pro-democracy movement in their own country.

In 1999 ANSP became NIS. For its part, the NIS actively intervened in domestic politics in favor of Park Gyun-hye (daughter of the former dictator) during the presidential election in 2012, prompted by the head of the intelligence service, Won Sei-hoon. In fact, that NIS campaign against Moon Jae-in resulted in him narrowly losing the election. Meanwhile, Park Gyun-hye has been in prison since 2016 on serious corruption charges, and Moon Jae-in has officially been in office since 2017 (-2022) as the 12th President of South Korea.

In 2020, the government, the presidential office and the ruling Minjoo party agreed that the state secret service NIS should stay out of domestic politics in the future. In connection with corresponding reforms, the NIS was renamed "External Security and Intelligence Service". Illegal actions by secret service employees, abuse of power or interference in domestic politics will from now on be subject to severe penalties.

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"The principle of justice are choosen behind the veil of ignorance."

"When you try hard to find answers from your past, the past will come crawling to you and eat you up." The Veil that you wear to protect yourself from external forces, can either cause you immense pain or fee you from all the sufferings. Yet, your efforts to put things at their rightful places shouldn't go waste; make sure of that.

"The Veil" is indeed one of a kind action as well mystery thriller Korean drama, justifying it's own title and doing a good job in relaying it's performance in overall. It's definitely one of the most underrated dramas of the year 2021 bcs of known reasons.

The story revolves around Han Ji Hyuk (Namgoong Min), an ace among the National Intelligence Service (NIS) top agents and an 'one man army', known to be stubborn & unbeatable. While carrying out an operation to destroy an underworld drug cartel in China with his 2 partners, he comes across abrupt truth behind the entire thing and suddenly vanishes off from the earth surface, while his partners are found murdered. He resurfaces after a year in the Peninsula but this time with lost memories of one year, just to discover the rat or traitor among the NIS who helped their enemy on the back to have the upper hand. Due to his unstable state, he is partnered with Yoo Je Yi (Kim Ji Eun) to carry out minor tasks. Je Yi, who has joined the organization to find out about his father, an ex-agent gone missing a decade ago, joins hand with Ji Hyuk. Together, they work secretly and find out the bigger forces behind it, who turn out to be their own and strive to reveal everything.

The plot development is actually very amazing for a 12 episode drama which reflects a steady progression with several temporary brakes, whenever the antagonists face some downfall. Can't really call it a 'staircase' development but the duo keep solving one case after another with clues from previous case, so yeah, it's somewhat similar to it. 1st ep is the basic intro with lots of confusion which is an obvious happening. 2nd ep also lays the foundation further clarifying the previously created subtle indications. The progress after it, is what will amaze you continuously and keep you hooked. The antagonists continue to dig deeper and unveil more answers and the twists at the end of each episode leaves you awestruck. In fact, the revelations are quite astonishing and very unpredictable; it's like you know who is involved and who ain't but in what way and how much, that's the matter of curiosity. In this regard, the writer has painted an intertwined yet intriguing sketch that's quite difficult to figure out for the viewers.

What bothered me is the ending of 9th episode and the entire 10th episode plus it's ending too. The reason is, one of the most major question of the drama was answered at the end of 9th and first half of the 10th episode bore it's detailed explanation. So I really was worried as to what else is left to explain and answer now when we got 2 episodes yet to come? The latter half 10th episode showed further progress in open investigation within the organization with joined efforts of more people who joined the lead duo. The 11th ep was a lil slow but at least not rushed which is better. Anyways, the ep laid foundation for the final big operation to catch the main culprit behind everything and then the finale went very well according to that. I was again afraid something would go wrong for the drama but I am greatly satisfied.

Just like any other crime dramas, The Veil is mysterious & confusing in many ways, ngl. So, some of us might binge it bcs we're anxious to wait but some others also find it interesting to go slow as it's more interesting that way too. I am telling this because I binged the 10 eps in 2 goes and and had a difficult time for a day trying to put everything in place. Since there are only 12 episodes, binging it would feel like time flying by so fast. So take it slow, try to enjoy and relish each episode as it proceeds and make sure you are attentive to the details because lots of facts are interconnected and there are in fact so many small and merely significant characters, each contributing significantly to the story; so if you don't remember them, you might end up getting confused. They introduce new characters each episode as the lead dup keep digging deeper but they don't stick around or simply, as soon as their essence is over, they are thrown out of the script.

Namgoong Min is the central character as said earlier. Not only he's strong and skillful, he's smart enough to predict and draw an entire scenario, before he start executing his plans. He surfers from trauma related to his chikdhood and is also full of untold emotions. Kim Ji Eun (Yoo Je Yi) does her job well by helping the ring leader at many points. She was definitely more quick-witted and what makes her character strong is her instincts of righteousness by the virtue of which she chooses to believe in Ji Hyuk constantly and taking his side till the end, despite all the odds she had to face.

In supporting role, Ha Dong Gyun (Kim Do Hyun), is a mysterious one who turns out to be different from the usual assumption of character. Dir. Kang Pil Ho (Kim Jong Tae) is a concerned superior to his juniors who also has secrets that he commited in order to protect the organization. Dep. Comm. Do Jin Suk (Jang Young Nam) is a ambitious woman who can pull any strings to get her work done. Dep. Comm. Lee In Hwan (Lee Kyung Young) is a greedy and inimical man and source of all the bad deeds in the org. Seo Soo Yun (Park Ha Sun) is the bearer of many secrets behind the conspiracy but her character is the only one that was poorly written and got wasted unreasonably. There are plenty of other characters played by very very good actors but I suppose I should stop here not to give out any spoiler.

Action!? What are you asking about? How should I explain this? Superb, amazing, etc. fancy words would become understatements. Nam Goong Min carried the entire show with his acting plus action skills. I am not a fan of ripped bodies but well, this is NGM *blushes*. His physique is what we call an ideal fit for stunts. The character Han Ji Hyuk, had his ground rules set. Being so skillful & determined as a person, he was unbeatable. His fleetness and swift hand movements, oof, those are reverential moments to witness. What makes the action scenes and NGM's stunts perfect is, the way those elements serve the story as well as his characters. Those were jaw-dropping and heart-poundinh. Most of the scenes also involve several types of firearms, which were also used skillfully and in an enticing way. In overall, the action and stunt scenes are enthralling and greatly pleasurable to eyes. The action director obviously deserve extra bonus for drawing the detailed arcs and keeping the most appropriate pace. "The Veil" definitely is the 2nd best action kdrama of the year after Taxi Driver, this year; at least for me ;-;

Direction is top notch I would say. For any thriller, particularly action thrillers, the chief PD is the most responsible for the execution and here Kim Sung Yong PDnim has done a stupendous job in directing the drama as well as managing and editing the screenplay. Given that he's not that experienced in directing as thw main PD, it's difficult to say so from this drama. The pacing is accurate for the entire drama, there seemed no exaggeration for the story or any specific event.

Applauses for him. Also, I still can't bring myself to believe that it's the writer's first ever script??? I don't know who are they, but dear jakka-nim, you are very talented. This is so very good to prove how nice your skills are. Please keep this up because we anticipate to witness more of your works. The development of overall plot, the character development for Nam Ji Hyuk, the arcs of each seemingly insignifican characterst, the awe-inspiring revelations at perfect points of the story, the U-turn & downfall twists, etc are very well drawn with visibly wonderful efforts. Brownie points for the dialogue writing too. The screenplay writing along with pleasing dialogues is what makes the character to serve well and makes the audience connect and feel. The formatting is nice and subtext is clear plus no dragging of scenes with only important conversations.

The composition is something that you can look forward to too. For a dark and intense action thriller where every other scene has the smell of sobriety, the OSTs and background scores are very well written and composed which gives off appropriate mood and are very suitably used in the drama. "Reason" by YOARI is undoubtedly the show-bearer, which in fact explains the title and essence of the drama. It depicts the emotions and eagerness of a man who is lost in a dreadful tunnel among plenty of enemies surrounding him. "Stay With Me" by Elaine on contrary, is a melancholic track, that portrays a man's emotions of betrayal, self-realization and has losr track of everything. "Get Ya" by Lee Jung Min is an enthralling and catchy song on the other hand. The OSTs are all in English.

I am happy to be aware that they are giving us 2 extra episodes. I mean we deserve it because there are only 12 episodes even though they're around 80mins each. From the trailer, it seems the special episodes will have the back stories of of entire main plot so it's more like a prequel of the drama and the point where it all started. It feels promising too so I'm kinda looking forward to it.

Notes:
1. There is no romance at all, which is expected and I feel that's the best decision by the writer. There is a subtle portrayal of one sided liking but it wasn't anything near to romantic feelings I suppose.
2. It's kinda gore as well. Since it's NIS and not a simple crime investigation unit, killing people easily is nothing biggie so watch it with TW if you're sensitive to bloodshed and murders.

SOOOO, THE VEIL, in overall is such a stupendous Kdrama, in terms of story, direction, acting, performance, action & stunts, etc and definitely a must watch. It also has high rewatch value for those who are avid action fans. Spy investigation dramas involving NIS and action are not something very new to us but this surely stands out for a unique basic storyline, it's immense action scenes and fabulous execution. If you're hesitant to start because the genre ain't your cup of tea, give it a try for Nam Goong Min at least, you can't help but fall for him deep into the firey pit lmao.

P. S. Didn't know I would end up writing a long review for a 12 episode drama with lil context to narrate w/o spoilers but well, now that I'm done writing, I don't wanna remove any part of it TT.

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