He is Psychometric is about a man (Jinyoung) who can read the secrets of people by touching their skin that meets a woman (Shin Ye Eun) who is trying to hide her own deep secrets. They team up to solve a mystery surrounding a fire that changed both of their lives when they were young.
Finally! A drama that hooked me from the first episode. He is Psychometric starts off strong by introducing a mystery surrounding the tragic death of Lee Ahn’s parents due to a fire. We then quickly move to the present where we have to briefly adjust to things, but it doesn’t take long once Lee Ahn meets Jae In.
Jinyoung plays Lee Ahn who develops the ability to read other people’s secrets by touching them. But he struggles to harness his ability and make it useful. Eventually, he meets a girl named Jae In who not only captures his interest but gives him the push to work on his abilities.
Shin Ye Eun is Yoon Jae In. She is connected to Ahn through the same incident from their childhood. This incident has caused her a lot of heartache in life that she has fought hard to overcome and eventually led her to become a police officer.
Kim Kwon plays Kang Sung Mo. He is a prosecutor and an older brother figure to Ahn after saving him from the fire as a child. There is some mystery around him though as to what happened with him in the past leading up to the fire and what he is doing about it in the present.
And then there is Kim Da Som as Eun Ji Soo. She is a very moral and passionate investigator who likes to get Ahn’s help when solving crimes even though he frequently gets things wrong. She also has feelings for Sung Mo.
He is Psychometric is that exact mixture of elements I love. There is a nice romantic side to the show that is very sweet and fun, but then there is the main crime element that is much darker and was quite serious. And it gets more serious as the drama progresses. This show may initially come off as a lighter crime drama, but it explores some pretty dark subjects, particularly later on.
The show did an excellent job by having a very intriguing mystery included from the very beginning. It then expanded the mystery through flashbacks that included more information and present day investigations. It carefully peeled back the layers to everything that happened leading up to the fire that changed everyone’s lives.
This drama is the definition of a serialized crime drama with all of the crimes dealt with tying into the main mystery. It makes every investigation feel relevant to our characters and their story. And that’s exactly how I like my crime dramas!
The show had fantastic pacing, and it got more suspenseful as it went which really kept me interested. There were quite a few “aha” type moments as well as some great cliffhangers. Everything was really laid out so well.
I thought Ahn’s ability to read other people and even objects was presented in an interesting way. He has to practice using it in order to get better at it. This becomes crucial throughout the drama. I also found it interesting that his ability was known by many people right from the beginning of the drama.
His core circle of friends all know about it. Many times an ability like this would be a huge secret, but that wasn’t used as a big plot point. Although secrets are always fun, in this case, I think it was done nicely to not detract too much from the main mystery.
On the romance side, Ahn and Jae In are a great couple. I love seeing a romantic pairing team up to solve a mystery, and that’s what we got with this duo. It takes them a bit of practice, but they eventually become a pretty good detective team. Their banter back and forth is also quite entertaining.
Of course, the central mystery that affects them both is the main thing they are trying to solve. Despite having feelings for Ahn, Jae In is very hesitant for a long while to let him come in contact with her and read her secrets. Watching her slowly let him in was very touching.
They do have to face some serious issues concerning their connection to each other though. Some of it is very difficult for them to cope with, and they have to take a hard look at whether or not their feelings for each other are stronger than their past.
But as they grow closer, we get a very sweet romance between two people who are trying to overcome their past hurts. Their relationship developments felt very natural as they blossomed into a very loving couple. They were such a good team!
Sung Mo is also a very interesting character. He’s one that you’re not sure what to make of at first, but learning about his story was both surprising and quite sad. Just like the mystery as a whole, his story has to be peeled back layer by layer to reveal the bigger picture. And that picture is very disturbing.
MAJOR ENDING SPOILERS BELOW
So in the end, it turned out that Sung Mo was the one who set the fire and murdered those people. He did it to protect his mother and himself who had spent years running from his terrible father after he had held them prisoner and chained up in a basement for many years prior.
About a third of the way through the drama, I started to wonder if it was Sung Mo who started the fire rather than his father. He had been taking care of Ahn and Jae In since it happened. The implication was that he did it because of guilt that his father set the fire. But it was also plausible that he set it himself. I knew it could go either way, but I thought it would be really interesting if it was Sung Mo. And it was.
I was actually pretty satisfied that the drama went this direction. You don’t see a major character ultimately being guilty of something so terrible that often (plus they actually killed off another major character, poor Ji Soo). And as awful as what Sung Mo did was, the story did well at exploring the reasons that he did such things and went pretty in depth with his character.
It was quite tragic to see play out, especially as Ahn and Jae In had to deal with the reality that someone they looked up to for saving them was actually the cause of their tragedy, but Sung Mo being the guilty one was very fitting. And everyone coped with that realization as best as they good. I thought the ending for the characters was very appropriate.
END OF SPOILERS
He is Psychometric turned out to be a wonderful watch. The mix of mystery/crime and romantic elements blended together nicely to create a type of story that I really love. Add in solid characters, good pacing, and a suspense element that built as the show went, He is Psychometric was completely enjoyable all around. I really wish there were more dramas out there that pulled off this mixture so well.
My Rating: 8/10
Check out more Kdrama Reviews.
Leave a Reply