[First Impression] Mouse: Pilot Episode

I wasn’t really planning on watching a new drama because I haven’t finished watching Ghost Doctor. Thanks to TikTok, I checked out the first episode. Now, I’m hooked and I’ve got to watch it.

An hour and a half for one episode is A LOT. I got hungry watching one episode.

Quick Recap:

The narration of the story was divided into three different timelines. 

First, a five-year old child who dropped a mouse inside a caged snake in a zoo. Children panicked, as they should, while he amused himself with the snake-mouse showdown. 

Second, the fall of Head Hunter, a notorious serial killer.

Dr. Daniel Lee, a scientist, found proof that 99% of people with MAOA gene have the possibility psychopath while the remaining 1% have the possibility of being a genius. It earned him a Nobel prize nomination. 

A family gets murdered by an unknown man while camping in the dead of winter and left one survivor. The survivor identified Han Seo Joon as the killer. 

Han Seo Joon was a famous doctor and Daniel’s bestfriend. The bodies found inside the snowman in front of Seo Joon’s house led to his arrest. In front of the police station, Ji-eun, heavily pregnant with Seo Joon’s baby, confirmed that her husband made the snowman in front of their house. As proof, she pulled out a polaroid picture from her coat. Daniel tested Ji-eun’s baby for the MAOA and it was positive. The fetus is fully developed. It was too late for abortion. Hence, she gave birth to the baby.

Third, Ji-eun remarries and had two children. Jae Hoon, her child from Seo Joon, showed violence towards animals and his classmates in school. Also, domestic violence from Ji-eun’s new husband was directed towards Jae-hoon. Jae-hoon also attempted to kill his half-brother. Eventually, Jae hoon snapped and murdered his stepdad and his half-siblings.

Character Review:

Daniel Lee

Man! This guy, out of all the victims, had it worse. The serial killer was his best friend, his late sister’s fiancé and his late sister’s murderer. The psychological trauma would take years of therapy and I doubt he would even recover. 

I am not downplaying the death of other victims. These are all equally horrible. However, the fact that he was great friends with his sister’s murderer made it worst. And on top of that, Seo Joon narrated how he killed Daniel’s sister.

Seo Joon

He is the epitome of the saying “If someone seems too good to be true, he/she probably is”. Seo Joon led a double life. In his public life, he encapsulated the persona of a successful doctor, a doting husband and father-to-be. His was also a prolific serial killer who liked manipulating the world around him for fun and he kept all of that under wraps. The main reason he’s kept relationships with women? To have a child. Ah, misogyny! What’s new?

Lots of question comes to mind as he was already behind bars. How does Seo Joon contribute to the story? Does he ever find out about his son? Will they ever communicate or build a relationship?

Ji-eun

Her perfect life fell apart in a blink of an eye while she was pregnant. The fact that she revealed her husband was the Head Hunter was brave. Sure, she asked Daniel for reassurance whether or not psychopaths had the ability to love. I liked the quick thinking from her part. Plus, she kept the baby despite knowing about the MAOA gene. Was that a good call from her part? Apparently, not. She caught Jae-hoon trying to bury his brother alive. Due to this incident, she voiced her regret of having Jae-hoon as her son.

On the last scene where Jae-hoon stabbed his stepdad, Ji-eun was nowhere to be found. What will happen to her? Will she be the first person to find the crime scene?

Jae Hoon

Since his mother decided to keep him, I wanted this kid to have a good childhood and see how he turns out. But I guess that’s out of the question because his father was Seo Joon. It’s easy to shift the blame Jae-hoon’s murderous actions to an abusive upbringing. Nevertheless, Jae hoon made a compelling character. Where would he end up after the murder (or attempted murder) of his stepdad and half-siblings? His half-siblings weren’t dead when the first episode ended.

During this time, his mother was not in the frame. What will he do? What kind of lie will he come up with? Also he doesn’t seem to have the charm that his dad had. He’s the weird kid in school. I wonder if that’s going to be the same as he grows up. How will he survive and how would he turn out?

Moo Chi

He lost his family at such a young age. If he doesn’t end up wallowing in self-pity in an asylum, he would avenge his family. He might end up as a lawyer, a police, a detective or anything along those lines. Makes me wonder how he would turn out.

Review

Fact Checking

I got curious, Googled what this MAOA gene was and was surprised it exists. It’s probably a controversial topic in the psychology world. IDK. I can’t pretend to know this.

Also, Ted Bundy is not a cannibal. Why was that in the university lecture? I mean… Google is free. Wikipedia is free.

Ethical Conundrum

The government was desperate for utopia to the point where they considered eradicating unborn babies with MAOA gene. Of course, they didn’t proceed with it. What would be the repercussions? I can’t wait to find out!

Overall Impression

This is a great start. I cannot wait for the present day timeline to see how the characters turn out and the plot unfold. The actors and actress’ acting made the characters and their stories compelling. An hour and a half doesn’t feel that long it at all.

In fact, the first episode as an introduction was not enough. It’s already an hour and a half long. Lee Seunggi was not in the scene yet. Yet, the pilot episode set the ground for the story.