Abyss – Netflix Season 1 Episode 4 Recap & Review

Facing The Truth

After yesterday’s cliffhanger, Abyss returns with episode 4 where we see more drama but not an awful lot of progression with the fantastical elements of the plot. We begin with Young-Cheol managing to slip away from Detective Seo while Park Ki-Man is taken back to hospital. After being hit by a bike and losing sight of Hee-Jin, Cha Min goes searching for his ex around the town. A bizarrely out of play musical montage then follows before seeing him head back to the police station with Se-Yeon.

To their surprise, Hee-Jin walks in, telling the police she has news about Cha Min regarding Se-Yeon’s death. Se-Yeon, disguised as a different person of course, heads into the room next to the interview and listens to the conversation take place. Hee-Jin appears to lie, telling the police she saw Cha Min days after Se-Yeon’s death which is impossible, especially given the timeline.

Still, some of what she hears does get through and she begins doubting Cha Min, growing suspicious of him. These concerns ultimately wind up coming to nothing when they learn their fingerprints are unchanged despite switching bodies. After hearing Hee-Jin on TV, the news is out that Cha Min is allegedly responsible for Se-Yeons death.

In a strange twist of fate, it turns out she was working with Young-Cheol the whole time thanks to him holding her mum hostage. As they talk in a cafe, she tells the man (unbeknownst that he is Young-Cheol) she’s done what he asked and wants no further part of this.

While Cha Min and Se-Yeon discuss the prospect of Min being the suspect of murder, Young-Cheol drives past and throws out the lifeless body of Hee-Jin. Unable to use The Abyss with people around, Cha min snatches her up and takes her in the car to hospital, determined to save her. Once he gets there, he does use the abyss which proves to be enough to bring her back.

Determined to find Young-Cheol Cha min wanders around the hospital. As Se-Yeon heads to the hospital too and time ticks by, Cha Min runs into Young-Cheol. As we cut to showing Young-Cheol washing blood off his hands, we cut back to Se-Yeon who finds Cha Min on the ground, on the verge of dying. She tries to use the abyss to save him but a new rule about revivals flashes up, causing the orb to evaporate and Cha Min’s fate hanging in the balance.

While there is some good drama and a few nicely worked twists, for the most part Abyss feels very formulaic and lacklustre in its execution. The body-swapping trope has been seen time and time again and the early work done to add a mix of slapstick humour with the fantastical drama has been replaced by a much more traditional crime thriller vibe. There’s still enjoyment to be had here of course but it all feels quite run-of-the-mill which is a bit of a shame. Hopefully Abyss picks up soon after a solid start but for now, we’ll have to wait a week hanging on this cliffhanger to find out.