Goodbye Earth (Jongmalui Babo/종말의 바보): Season 1 – TV Review

TL;DR – This is an interesting premise that is well acted, but the glacial pace holds it back when there is such a specific counting clock driving all the motivations.  

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this series.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

The destruction of the Earth mural.

Goodbye Earth Review

In the past couple of years, there have been two huge surprises. The first was how emotional Greenland turned out to be, and the second was how impactful All of Us Are Dead turned out to be. When I heard that there was a series that could be the Venn diagram between these two, well, I had to check it out. In today’s review, we will be looking at the first six episodes to see if it captures us.    

So to set the scene, we opened in an abandoned construction site for apartments, with cranes left standing, swaying in the wind mid-load, as if society shifted in an instant. In this world, a young girl lives alone on the top floor in a society that is starting to collapse around them because on February the 22nd, 2026, an asteroid Dina is going to crash into Earth, striking the Korean Peninsula, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. There are just 201 days before the end of most life on Earth. While anyone who can get out of Asia is in the city of Woongcheon, Korea, at Cheondong Middle School, people are trying to go on. Now from here, we will be looking at the series as a whole, so there may be [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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All of Us Are Dead (Jigeum Uri Hakgyoneun/지금 우리 학교는/ Now at Our School): Season 1 – TV Review

TL;DR – A very compelling look at a zombie outbreak at a school and the carnage that would leave in its wake but one that goes on for a bit too long.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix subscription that viewed this series.

All of Us Are Dead. Image Credit: Netflix.

All of Us Are Dead Review

The Zombie genre is one that has been played out in many regards. However, if there is one place that can still create something new in this space, it is South Korea, where you can get visually fascinating stories, but ones that also hit on an emotional level. When I heard that there was a new series on Netflix that hit all these marks, well, I had to check it out.

So to set the scene, it is an ordinary day at Hyosan High School, with the students cleaning the school after class. However, while most of the school goes home, one student falls asleep in the Science Lab. When Kim Hyeon-ju (Jung Yi-seo) wakes up, she hears a noise in the supply room, where there is a tiny mouse in the cage that just so happens to bite her. The science teacher Lee Byeong-chan (Kim Byung-chul), notices the bite and kidnaps the student. The next day Nam On-jo (Park Ji-hu), Lee Cheong-san (Yoon Chan-young), Choi Nam-ra (Cho Yi-hyun), Han Gyeong-su (Ham Sung-min) and their friends make their way to school when the missing student is found in an agitated state. People think the science teacher drugged her, but they don’t know that she is turning into a zombie and that one bite is all it will take to spread the virus. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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