A Killer Paradox review: new Netflix serial killer comedy bends genres in compelling South Korean series

The first half of Netflix’s latest K-drama, A Killer Paradox, is a whiplash experience of genre-bending black comedy, drama, mystery, and at times horror. The series, out on Netflix on Friday, follows Lee Tang, a South Korean convenience store worker who is attacked by a customer and accidentally kills him in an attempt to defend himself.

Certain that he will be collared for the murder, he waits listlessly to be arrested, but learns that the man he killed was a notorious serial killer and that all evidence of his involvement in the man’s death has disappeared.

Events continue on this track for the first couple of episodes, with Tang accidentally dispatching a few more unfortunates who again turn out to be very bad guys and gals. 

Through these events we also follow Jang Nan-gam, a rogue detective in charge of the murder cases who begins to suspect Tang. But Tang, believing he is protected from detection by some cosmic force, continues on his perilous path as he starts to stack up murders, some of which are no longer accidental.

A Killer Paradox begins as black comedy with the simple ironic premise, an honest man accidentally kills a serial killer. There’s plenty of funnys to mine here, and the show does just that.

But this is not a cut and dried genre series - out of nowhere the show switches things up, and Tang is tormented and tortured by the ghosts of his victims, a manifestation of his guilt, as he repeatedly tries and fails to give himself up to the authorities.

Okay, so now we’re watching a show about the human psyche - vengeance and justice, and all the big questions that come from taking the law into your own hands. Netflix tackles these issues head on as Tang begins to go out looking for new villains to kill. 

But don’t get too comfortable because once again we jackknife into a new story, and suddenly Tang is being nurtured by a secretive tech genius who wants to channel his strange abilities to sniff out evil and evade detection, setting him on a dangerous path. Just halfway through the series and it’s already been a while ride, dipping and diving through genres like a Barbenheimer fan trailer.

Choi Woo-shik crushes it as the tortured Tang, a helpless hero being carried by fate, whilst Son Suk-ku shines as the relentless detective with a razor sharp comic edge.

All eight episodes of A Killer Paradox will be released on Netflix on Friday February 9. A review of episodes 5-8 will be released then.