The Killer's Shopping List: Did Curiosity Kill the Cat?

The Killer's Shopping List (available on VIKI) is a drama released between April and May 2022 that briefly tells the story of a serial killer's search in a quiet neighborhood through the objects found at crime scenes.

Through very well done comedy, this drama brings up serious issues for reflection, especially in such a conservative society as Korea. Issues such as childhood trauma influencing adulthood, homophobia, divorce, and domestic violence are deeply portrayed even with only 8 episodes, something that dramas with 16 or more cannot do because they give little space to these themes.

Ahn Dae Sung and his failures

Our protagonist begins the story as a brilliant child who is recognized and "spoiled" for being who he is. As time goes by, this confident child gives way to an insecure adult with no prospects after failing yet again in the civil service exam. Despite the support of his girlfriend and his parents, he finds himself increasingly charged and humiliated by these failures, in addition to the questioning about his intelligence that is present in all his instantaneous calculations and photographic memory.

At a certain point in the drama, we get the big answer as to why he fails so badly on important tests: the fear caused by the events that occurred in his family when he was a child and adolescent, and that he was not treated as he should have been.

Fish and the delicacy of being who we are

When we first meet Fish, we learn that there are three petty thefts on his criminal record, but because he is a referral from the neighborhood policeman, evidentiary hiring takes place. The mystery surrounding Fish continues for more episodes and ranges from things bought similar to the supposed purchase made by the serial killer, to clothes found in his closet. Which changes everything.

Any young person or person informed about the LGBTQIA+ community would have already solved the "mystery" in the first frame of the scene where Dae Sung breaks into Fish's room and sees the huge transgender pride flag displayed on one of the walls. But this was not the case for our protagonist and probably for most viewers of the drama.

I believe that this small detail is there precisely for this, to show us that we live in information bubbles and that knowledge is not universal, everyone knows what they know and what is beyond that needs to be discovered or taught.

With Fish, we see that not everything we see or know is exactly the real thing.

Women and Silent Domestic Violence

The main point of The Killer's Shopping List is the domestic violence that affects countless homes around the world without "anyone" noticing, until it is revealed, and then, mysteriously, everyone knew all along. They are different and unrelated stories, but with the same common point: suffering in silence. All the women in the story suffer in silence for fear of their abusers and the judgment of society, which in most cases blames them for the situation.

At one point in the drama, we have a conversation between the market employees that, to me, makes clear the open criticism of Korean society. Gong San, the employee who sells cosmetics around the neighborhood, says something about how marriages with foreigners are mostly filled with cases of domestic violence. In other words, domestic violence is something normalized and that even though we know about it, no one gives the woman help to face and get out of the situation. In another moment, this same character also talks about the sense of protecting women who live alone in the neighborhood, giving an opening for us to understand that by being married, other women lose this protection.

Yool and the unnoticed childhood

The only really intelligent character in the drama, our little Yool. A child who, despite being loved by everyone, has her suffering unnoticed. Those who watch the drama can perceive, through the unfolding of the story and the flashbacks, the change in her behavior and physiognomy. Yool in the scenes with his mother in the past, was smiling and well-groomed, completely different from the serious and dirty child we see emerging little by little.

But it is not only her appearance that goes unnoticed by the adults in the neighborhood, her comments, purchases, and movements are also ignored, which, analyzing, causes more deaths than would have happened if there had been a single person watching the thousands of hints that the girl left wherever she went, as in a desperate cry for help without being able to speak so as not to be one more victim.

Society versus Community

For sociology, society and community are words used to designate groupings of people, the former being broader and the latter for groups with a greater connection between their interests. In this drama we can clearly see that the people in the market district, and possibly the majority of the Korean population, live in a societal relationship with each other, with no firm connections beyond what is necessary to solve trivial situations. It is also made clear that once we bond with those close to us and form a community, the burdens are shared and problems are more easily solved.

In years of watching Korean dramas, I have noticed more and more the use of community as a way to address taboo subjects, showing society the importance of togetherness for our development as human beings.

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In The Killer's Shopping List we can see how the external help is fundamental for people who go through these situations to feel welcomed and listened to, but mainly, to have the courage to face difficult situations. It is possible to see throughout the story the consequences of when there is support and when there isn't, which in the case of the plot was the final limit: death.

The deaths of women who live alone in the quiet neighborhood of Seoul make the residents reflect on how necessary it is to care for each other. Being curious about your neighbor's life is not intrusion in all cases; sometimes it is the opening for a cry for help, and consequently, a life saved. With The Killer's Shopping List we learn that sometimes curiosity doesn't kill the cat, but in fact, it saves both cat and mouse.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator