“Black” is a grim reaper drama that refuses to play it safe. Created by Kim Hong-sun for OCN, the series pairs a supernatural premise with a police procedural’s grit, and it mostly lands. Across 18 episodes running from October 14, 2017 through December 10, 2017, the show tracks a Grim Reaper named Black, a detective, and a woman who can foresee death as they chase a mystery tied to events twenty years in the past. It is a crime series dressed in fantasy, and it knows exactly what it wants to be.
Trailer, via Crunchyroll Dubs.
Black, Grim Reaper
Song Seung-heon plays the title role as Black, a Grim Reaper tasked with collecting souls. His job is simple on paper: show up, take the soul, move on. In practice, his presence complicates everything. He moves through the world unseen by most, except those he is meant to collect. That isolation gives the performance its weight. Black is not a hero in the conventional sense. He is a man doing a job he does not fully understand, and the show spends its runtime slowly peeling back why he does what he does.
“A Grim Reaper, a detective and a woman who foresees death get ensnared in matters of life and death — and dark mysteries of twenty years past.”
Kang Ha-Ram and the Woman Who Sees Death
Go Ara plays Kang Ha-Ram, a woman whose visions of death pull her into cases the police can’t solve. Her gift is not a blessing. It brings her pain and danger, and she carries both with a weariness that grounds the show’s more fantastical elements. She is not a sidekick. She drives the investigation forward, and her connection to the twenty-year-old mystery at the center of the series gives the story its emotional core.
EL plays Yoon Soo-Wan, and Kim Dong-jun plays Oh Man-Soo. Together, they form the human half of the investigative team, working alongside Black to uncover what happened decades ago. The chemistry between them is sharp, and the show leans on it to keep the procedural momentum moving.
The Detective’s Role
Park Doo-sik plays Je Soo-Dong, the detective who anchors the human perspective. He is skeptical of the supernatural, and his refusal to accept it makes him a counterweight to Black’s acceptance. Their partnership is the engine of the series. One believes too much, the other believes too little, and the tension between them keeps the audience engaged.
Jo Jae-yun plays Grim Reaper #007, and Kim Jong Yoon plays Club Guy. These supporting roles fill out the world without overwhelming it. They exist to populate the background, giving the central trio room to breathe.
The Twenty-Year Mystery
The plot centers on a mystery from twenty years in the past, and the show uses that distance to create a sense of dread. What happened then shapes the present, and the characters are chasing answers that have been buried for decades. The slow reveal works well, building toward a finale that ties the threads together.
Cast and Performance
The cast sells the show’s ambition. Song Seung-heon brings a quiet intensity to Black, and Go Ara matches him with a haunted exhaustion that makes Kang Ha-Ram feel lived-in. The supporting cast fills out the ensemble without stealing focus, each performer delivering a distinct presence within the show’s tight framework.
Where It Falls Short
Not every episode earns its runtime. Some middle chapters lean on recap and filler, and the pacing sags in stretches. The show also struggles to balance its crime procedural demands with its fantasy elements, sometimes leaving the supernatural feeling tacked on rather than woven in.
None of that sinks the series. It simply means the best episodes are sharper than the rest.
Score
“Black” is a solid addition to the genre, one that respects its audience enough to ask questions about fate, free will, and the nature of death itself. It is not perfect, but it is consistently engaging, and its best moments land with real force.
Key Facts
- Creator: Kim Hong-sun
- Network: OCN
- Season: 1 season, 18 episodes
- First aired: October 14, 2017
- Last aired: December 10, 2017
- Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Crime, Drama, Comedy
- Starring: Song Seung-heon, Go Ara, EL, Kim Dong-jun, Park Doo-sik, Jo Jae-yun
The Verdict
“Black” succeeds because it trusts its audience to sit with discomfort. The mystery of the twenty-year-old case never fully resolves in the way a traditional procedural might want, and that refusal to tie things up neatly is the show’s boldest choice. It leaves questions unanswered, and that choice feels earned rather than lazy.
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