Jeon Young Ha In ‘The Frog’: ‘The Frog’ is a Korean psychological thriller created by proclaimed writer Son Ho-young and director Mo Wan-il. With its primary producers being Studio Lululala and Studio Flow, the mini-series was released on August 23, 2024, and is currently popularly streaming on Netflix worldwide.
Jeon Young-ha, one of the protagonists of the newly released Netflix mini-series, ‘The Frog’ is an aged owner of a vacation rental in a small town near Seoul, South Korea. Used to his simple and mundane lifestyle, he finds solace in looking after his deceased wife’s vacation house, alongside his good friend Yong-chae.
We are told how he left his high-paying corporate job to fulfil his dying wife’s final wish of building such a rental. After her death, he maintained the house well, fixing every little repair, keeping the linen clean and fresh, and most importantly, making the guests feel at home.
One such guest, who became a little too comfortable, namely Yoo Seong-a comes around and challenges everything Jeon Young-ha stood for thus far. A previously cool, calm and collected man, he is driven to become deceitful and violent due to his guest’s actions. He covers up a child’s murder and dithers about informing the authorities. In an attempt to right Yoo Seong-a’s wrongs, he becomes selfish and vindictive in his ways which proves to be counterproductive in the end.
While he does manage to collect enough evidence against his guest, it only threatens the lives of his loved ones. Alas, even he is made to repent for being complacent with the crime his guest committed when his decisions return to hurt him and those around him.
However, being innocent and honest at the core of his being, his truth triumphs in the end as the police help him gather evidence and lawfully indict Yoo Seong-a who is then chastised for her sins, while he lives happily ever after with his daughter, son-in-law and grandchild in his vacation home, which he puts off the market. In the end, he doesn’t only enter the good graces of his family and friends, but also Gi-ho, whose revenge he helped cover up and Chief Detective Yoon Bo-min, who thanks to him, puts another psychotic criminal behind bars.
A popular name within the South Korean entertainment industry, Kim Yoon-seok has been a prolific writer, director and actor. Part of many big projects in small roles, he finally got his big break in the 2008 film ‘The Chaser.’ Other well-known projects he has been a part of include ‘The Yellow Sea’ (2010), ‘The Thieves’ (2012), ‘The Priests’ (2015) etc.
He also made his directorial debut with a 2019 film called Another Child. In ‘The Frog’, he reprises his role as the morally-grey protagonist and has received much critical acclaim for his performance.
