#doubt mbc

doubt 2024 is such an interesting piece, because the root of its core conflict (is ha-bin a serial killer) is so small. Ha-bin isn’t a serial killer. She hasn’t got a homicidal bone in her body. What she is tho is: quiet, withdrawn, serious, bad at reading social cues (but great at lying lol), inexpressive. Basically all the things that a child, especially a daughter, shouldn’t be. She has the slight misfortune of being a neurodivergent girl in our world, and then her brother dies, and her neurotic father, who has absolute faith in his skills as a criminal profiler, decides to deal with his grief by projecting guilt onto his surviving child.

Doubt uses the conventions & heightened cinematic language of a crime thriller to explore the consequences for a girl who exists “off-script”, but the effect is also slightly humorous. Like, all that drama & sensation for a kid who might just be autistic. But w/o that visual language & without that drama, the pain of being misunderstood & villainised by those supposed to care for you most wouldn’t be conveyed - & likewise, the lack of support given to parents trying to build a happy world for their “weird” kids. Du-cheol’s unwavering faith in his son’s innocence seems misplaced, but instead becomes affirming, rejecting criminality as genetic, and making Tae-soo’s refusal to believe Ha-bin all the more shameful.