Grid – K-Drama Episode 1 Recap & Review

The Mysterious Time Traveler

Episode 1 of Grid begins with a solar flare from the sun decimating a satellite nearby. It hurtles into another just outside Earth and prepares to crash into our planet. Only, a large forcefield covering the entire globe stops that from happening.

In this timeline, the entire Earth has been blanketed with an orange shield known as the Grid since 2004, a year before this solar flare. The explosion causes big problems with the communication equipment across the planet.

A big blackout plunges the world into darkness. Well, some of it anyway. Communication equipment is sporadic at best, with some characters able to use their phones and the Korean authorities and other government agencies still able to use their computers and equipment to monitor the Grid.

The only hope is that the Grid can withstand this oncoming storm and become operational. Thankfully, it does. This shield was actually crated to artificially expanded magnetic fields with the distinct purpose of protecting mankind from solar winds.

One of the characters here is shocked, taking a break and reflecting how “she was right.”

We then fast forward to October 31st 2021. Kim Sae-Ha shows up at a convenience store to grab a parcel but he notices the man acting shadily and the package he receives with an ominous drop of blood on it. Realizing it could lead to something bigger, the actual shop assistant happens to be murdered, stabbed with a pair of scissors.

The CCTV footage seems to confirm that Saeha has lip-reading skills and it appears he told the murderer not to drunk alcohol in the store. Among those investigating is Jung Saebyeok, the young girl we saw earlier in the episode.

Anyway, she joins Saeha as they investigate the scene together. It’s worth noting here that Saeha isn’t actually a detective but he’s just allowed to waltz in and look at the dead body all the same.

Eventually Saeha heads over to a care-home, where he’s been looking after his Mother. Whilst there, Saeha begins assembling his gun while listening as a news report confirms that the police are having difficulty tracking down the assailant.

When Saeha arrives at work the following day, at the Administration Bureau of all places, he begins searching online about the failed operation from the police.

The suspect’s name is actually Kim Manok. Saebyeok’s statement confirms they dispatched a team to track him down after finding his address. Officers managed to corner him, with Saebyeok giving chase.

Manok managed to use a rope to get to the rooftop but with the door locked and nowhere to go, he skips across the rooftops and eventually hides under a truck. Saebyeok finds him but a mysterious masked female stops her, allowing Manok to leave. When Saebyeok tries to punch her, this woman disappears right in front of her face.

However, Saebyeok does manage to find a strand of her hair in the truck Manok was hiding under and remains determined to try and track down who this unknown assailant is.

The Episode Review

Well that was a bit of a mess. The ideas in Grid are actually quite alluring but the execution – especially over a 48 minute episode – feels rushed and under-developed. The whole Grid concept is not explored at all, nor are the logistics around how this would even be possible, much less with a global effort all pulling together to stop a solar flare.

Not only that, beyond a few snippets of their childhood, we learn absolutely nothing about Saebyeok and Saeha. Saeha seems to be good at lipreading and his job involves working for the Bureau but how or why he ended up there is still unknown. Likewise, Saebyeok is given no background beyond her on the school field but, of course, there’s still time for that to change.

However, it’s hard not to think Grid is rushing through its plot points and I hope we actually get some flashbacks to explain the Grid’s inception along with this strange time traveler too.

Grid’s opening episode is far from perfect, and these Korean sci-fi shows are usually a bit of a mixed bag. Hopefully things pick up going forward.