[In-Depth Review] For Those Whose 'Tomorrow' Is No Different from Today

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Recently, 'jeoseungsaja' (grim reapers) have gained attention as popular characters in K-content. The jeoseungsaja craze, which began with the global success of the tvN drama Goblin (2016) featuring an amnesiac handsome grim reaper and the film Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds (2017) starring three distinctive grim reapers, has continued through the success of works such as Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days (2018), OCN's Extraordinary You (2020), tvN's My Roommate Is a Gumiho (2021), and Netflix's Hellbound (2021).

The background of the jeoseungsaja craze includes not only a growing preference for the fantasy genre but also the anxieties of modern people about the present. In fact, in these works, jeoseungsaja are depicted not as simple objects of fear as seen in the past 'Jeonseol-ui Gohyang' (Legend of the Blue Sea) series, but as figures that make people reflect on their current lives or foretell the end of the present world.

At the forefront of this trend is MBC's Friday-Saturday drama Tomorrow. Based on the webtoon of the same name, this drama tells the story of the anxieties and sorrows of modern people who fear tomorrow through a groundbreaking grim reaper character. In an era where high suicide rates have become a social problem, Okhwang (Kim Hae-sook), the chairman of the company 'Jumadeung' that manages the afterlife, establishes a crisis management team to prevent the overwork of grim reapers. The crisis management team carefully monitors those whose depression levels reach dangerous thresholds using advanced technology and sounds alarms to prevent extreme choices. Indeed, the era has come when grim reapers go beyond guiding the deceased to 'saving those who want to die.'

While the unprecedented grim reaper character is fresh, more importantly, the dark shadows of our society revealed in the process of saving people in crisis are highlighted. Those attempting extreme choices are portrayed as suffering not from individual depression but from socio-environmental factors. For example, the first episode, which deals with the story of a broadcast writer, reflects the severe damage caused by school violence. Eun-bi (Jo In), 29, is haunted by nightmares she tried to erase when she interviews a webtoon artist who ostracized and bullied her in high school. The victim's pain, which cannot be easily overcome despite the passage of time, raises awareness of the seriousness of school violence that destroys a soul beyond physical harm.

The second episode depicts the story of Namgung Jae-su (Ryu Seong-rok), a long-term civil service exam student frustrated by repeated failures. To save Jae-su, the crisis management team travels back to his childhood, where happy memories remain, and meets his father Namgung Hyun (Kim Kyung-min), who is in a similar situation. Within that unhappy family history, the tragedy of many breadwinners who lost their jobs due to the IMF crisis and today's youth unemployment problem naturally overlap.

In this way, in the face of social problems that are impossible to overcome by 'individual effort' alone, hope for tomorrow gradually fades. However, the drama tries to listen to the voices of those plunged into despair so they are not completely isolated and offers consolation in its own way. While the crisis management team leader Gu Ryeon (Kim Hee-sun) provides a sobering effect with her cold tone urging reflection on reality, team member Jun-ung (Rowoon) soothes wounds with a warm empathetic attitude. Their efforts resemble supplementing neglected areas that social systems fail to manage with the interest and solidarity of the civic community. Thus, Tomorrow warmly embraces an era where tomorrow is unseen through the paradoxical comfort of grim reapers who save lives.

Kim Sun-young, Popular Culture Critic

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