# The Worst of Evil (2023)

> A detective couple go undercover inside a sprawling Korean drug syndicate in 1980s Seoul.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/132220

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 12
- Episode runtime: 58 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama
- Created by: Han Dong-wook, Jang Min-seok
- Network: Disney+
- Cast: Ji Chang-wook, Wi Ha-jun, Im Se-mi, BIBI, Im Sung-jae, Cha Rae-hyung, Lee Shin-ki, Jeong Jae-kwang
- TMDB rating: 8.3/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20600022/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: brutal
- Tone: gritty, tense, brutal, paranoid, addictive

## What critics say

Viewers find it a gritty, addictively watchable South Korean crime drama, with a familiar story carried by believable characters, though its brutality may be a hurdle for some.

## Synopsis

The Worst of Evil (2023) is a South Korean crime miniseries created by Han Dong-wook and Jang Min-seok for Disney+. Ji Chang-wook plays detective Park Jun-mo, who, alongside his wife, fellow detective Yoo Eui-jeong (Im Se-mi), goes undercover to penetrate a vast criminal organization running illegal narcotics between Korea, China, and Japan. Wi Ha-jun plays Jung Gi-cheol, another key figure caught in the operation's shifting loyalties. The engine of the story is the slow, dangerous work of earning trust inside a crime family, where every deal, favor, and lie carries lethal stakes and the couple must protect each other while maintaining their cover. Told across twelve hour-long episodes as one continuing arc, the series builds steadily through tense meetings, rival gang confrontations, and escalating smuggling operations. Its tone is gritty and grounded, with a brutal, violent edge and a bleak, paranoid atmosphere. Set in 1980s Seoul and the wider underworld, it sits within the Korean crime tradition, and fans of Breaking Bad and Narco-Saints will find resonance in its moral grit and its drug-trade underworld. The result is a relentless, addictively watchable crime drama.

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