Criminal Minds Went Global With A K-Drama Adaptation You Likely Never Knew Existed

Crime procedurals are a genre of show that translates across borders and cultures, with South Korean television, or K-dramas, particularly prolific in producing crime thrillers. One particularly interesting crime show to come out of Korea within the past several years is a remake of the long-running American procedural "Criminal Minds." Also carrying the title "Criminal Minds," the K-drama version of the hit show premiered in 2017 and ran for a Korean-standard single season of 20 episodes. Despite this truncated length, compared to the American version's 18-season run, the K-drama "Criminal Minds" has plenty of similarities to the original while putting its own spin on the material.

The Korean "Criminal Minds" sees veteran criminal profiler Kang Ki-hyung (Son Hyun-joo) return to active duty after an extended hiatus following a bombing that left most of his team dead. Ki-hyung leads a quirky younger team to track down serial killers across Korea, with each bringing their own special skills to the table. This includes volatile hotshot investigator Kim Hyun-joon (Lee Joon-gi), who deeply resents Ki-hyung for the past explosive incident. Thus, Ki-hyung must learn to overcome his past trauma and work with his new team to stop the country's most notorious killers.

All in all, this sounds like an offbeat interpretation of "Criminal Minds." Nevertheless, the concept makes for a truly gripping crime thriller thanks to the way the show reimagines it.

With its single-season run, the Korean "Criminal Minds" features an overarching narrative in a way that the American series only touches on in a broader way. Ki-hyung returns to work and leads his team in pursuit of a particularly vicious serial killer known as the Reaper, played by Kim Won-hae. There are side cases that the team investigates as well, most of which are variations on episodes from the earlier seasons of the American "Criminal Minds," but the Reaper storyline is what ties them all together. This vaguely mirrors the original show's Boston Reaper (C. Thomas Howell) arc, but serves as more of a prominently unifying narrative for the K-drama.

Of course, the thing that really shapes and defines both versions of "Criminal Minds" is its main ensemble cast, with clear analogues between the two shows. Most notably, Ki-hyung lines up with Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson) but also Jason Gideon (Mandy Patinkin) and his traumatic past involving a bomber on the American iteration. Hyun-joon, meanwhile, is similar to Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore), with his childhood tragedy regarding his father, but the tension between him and Ki-hyung is more antagonistic than Hotchner and Morgan. That gives the K-drama more interpersonal friction than its American counterpart has, at least between its primary duo.

Currently, the Korean version of "Criminal Minds" isn't available to stream legally in the United States, adding to its relative obscurity. But it's always interesting to see how other cultures reimagine television staples, and this K-drama certainly has its own take on the typical crime procedural.