'A Bona Fide Killer': A working mom with a deadly secret wins over drama viewers

The void left by So Ji-sub's secret agent dad in "Agent Kim Reactivated" has been filled by “killer mom” Gong Hyo-jin, as MBC’s Friday-Saturday drama “A Bona Fide Killer” surpassed a nationwide viewership rating of 10 percent after just six episodes, taking first place in its time slot.

Playing a contract killer named “Kingfisher,” Gong's character returns to work as an assassin to target vicious criminals let off with light sentences.

Unbeknownst to everyone, “Kingfisher” is actually Yoo Bo-na, a working mom with a 4-year-old daughter. She works on a sales team at Durumi Electronics, which is the front for an organized group of killers specializing in poisoning, stabbing and sniping.

Having just returned from parental leave, Yoo Bo-na worries when a nighttime assignment is suggested: “Let’s do it during the day. I have to go pick up my kid.”

The drama has drawn praise from critics for its fresh blend of genres, combining the catharsis of punishing villains and the struggle to juggle work and private life with a touching family drama.

The premise of a family-oriented assassin immediately draws attention. Unlike female-led titles such as Netflix’s “Kill Boksoon” and Disney+’s “A Shop for Killers,” which largely revolve around survival and revenge in the ruthless world of professional killers, “A Bona Fide Killer” focuses on Bo-na’s human side as she struggles to balance work and family.

Some scenes in the drama, such as the daily battle to get her daughter off to kindergarten and clashing with her in-laws, could have been lifted straight from the life of any working mom.

“This drama is ultimately the story of one person struggling to protect her life and family,” director Yoon Jong-ho said. “I directed it hoping that viewers would connect first with the universal emotions at its heart, rather than its unusual premise.”

Bo-na’s ordinary life is constantly disrupted by her job as a killer, creating plenty of tension. Her journalist husband, Kwon Tae-sung (played by Jung Joon-won), and detective Lee Dong-jin (played by Lee Sang-yi) relentlessly pursue Kingfisher’s true identity, keeping the suspense high.

Bo-na’s signature action sequences, in which she overcomes each crisis with superhuman stamina and combat prowess, maximize the visual thrills. In one scene, she takes aim at a distant hotel room from a cable car and brings down two villains with a single bullet. In another, she wields slabs of raw pork belly like nunchucks to wipe out an organ-trafficking ring.

Above all, the catharsis of vigilante justice against vicious criminals whom the law has failed to punish is considered a key driver of the drama’s success.

However, concerns have also been raised about the premise. Drama critic Gong Hee-jung cautioned that “no matter how righteous the cause may be made to seem, an ordinary person killing someone outside the state justice system cannot be justified.”

“We need to remain wary that when violence is combined with warmth and comedy, it can appear easier and less consequential than it really is,” Gong said.

How the drama resolves the dilemma between lawful justice and vigilante punishment will be a key point in the second half of the series, as public opinion over Kingfisher is divided between those who see the killer as a hero and those who consider her a psychopathic murderer.

“With vigilante revenge dramas having become commonplace, a morally and ethically coherent conclusion matters more than another debate over the subject matter itself,” pop culture critic Kim Hern-sik said. “If the drama also sufficiently exposes the limitations of the real-world justice system, it can avoid fizzling out toward the end.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.