Moving

What kind of drama it is

A few students at an ordinary-looking high school have a secret they cannot share: they must keep quiet about special abilities inherited from their parents. And those parents, in turn, live without revealing their own pasts, even to their children. It is billed as superpower action, but at its heart lie parents trying to protect their children and young people growing up as they come to recognise one another. Rather than flashy battles of powers, it spends a long time on the circumstances of people who have to live with their abilities hidden.

The makers and the cast

It is based on Kang Full's webtoon of the same name, and Kang Full wrote the screenplay himself. Known for works such as The Neighbors and 26 Years, he is skilled at mixing genre imagination into the lives of ordinary people. Park In-je, who co-directed season 2 of Kingdom, directed. The parents' generation is led by Ryu Seung-ryong, Han Hyo-joo and Zo In-sung, joined by Cha Tae-hyun, Ryoo Seung-bum and others, while Go Youn-jung, Lee Jung-ha and Kim Do-hoon play the high school generation. One of the show's defining traits is that actors from both generations each carry stories of their own.

• Released: Disney+, 2023, 20 episodes
• Original work and screenplay: Kang Full (webtoon of the same name)
• Director: Park In-je
• Parents' generation: Ryu Seung-ryong, Han Hyo-joo, Zo In-sung, Cha Tae-hyun, Ryoo Seung-bum
• Students' generation: Go Youn-jung, Lee Jung-ha, Kim Do-hoon

People before powers

The superpowers here are less a hero's means of saving the world than a burden to be hidden. The moment an ability is exposed, ordinary life could fall apart, so the characters are always careful and holding back. As a result, the scenes where they struggle not to use their powers can stay with you more than the scenes where they do. Watch for moments where a power is portrayed as an inconvenience, such as a boy who can fly straining to keep himself from floating up. Through its superpower premise, the story can be read as asking what it means to be different from others.

A story of two generations

The early episodes flow like a school-based coming-of-age story, and then at a certain point time winds back to the parents' youth. Why today's parents live so cautiously is revealed piece by piece as the episodes go on. Adults who first seem like supporting characters each become the lead of their own episodes, so you grow deeply attached to every one of them. Once you know the parents' stories, recalling the children's scenes makes the same lines sound completely different.

Things to watch for

The focus moves to a different character from episode to episode, and keeping the points below in mind adds to the fun of watching the puzzle come together.

• The small everyday habits of the parents and the reasons behind them
• The children's expressions when they realise each other's secrets
• Scenes that replay the same event from another character's view
• The emotion in scenes where someone holds back from using a power

When a webtoon becomes a drama

Kang Full's webtoons are known for weaving many characters' stories tightly together until they form one big picture. The drama keeps this structure: an episode can feel like one character's short story, and later the pieces interlock. If you have already read the original, there is the pleasure of comparing how scenes were brought to the screen; if you have not, there is the pleasure of following the puzzle with no information at all. The original can be just as enjoyable if you read it after finishing the series.

Worth knowing before you start

There are many superpowered fights, gunfights and brawls, and a fair amount of bloody, brutal imagery. If you judge it as a light teen drama from the bright school scenes early on, the intensity from the middle onwards may surprise you. With 20 episodes and long stretches of backstory in the middle, it takes a little patience until you get used to moving between past and present. The cast is large, so keeping the family relationships straight in your head makes it much easier to follow.

Who it suits

It suits viewers who like the superpower genre but care more about characters' stories than flashy combat. If you are moved by stories of parents and children or of couples, it is likely to stay with you for a long time. If you enjoyed works like Kingdom that place a picture of Korean society inside a genre frame, you are likely to enjoy this too. It is a long series, so rather than bingeing it all at once, spreading it over several days and slowly growing attached to the characters is the way to go.