Parasyte: The Grey

Parasyte: The Grey
Promotional poster
Hangul	기생수: 더 그레이
Revised Romanization	Gisaengsu: deo geure-i
McCune–Reischauer	Kisaengsu tŏ kŭrei
Genre	Science fiction[1] Horror[1] Body snatcher[1]
Based on	Parasyte by Hitoshi Iwaaki
Written by	Yeon Sang-ho Ryu Yong-jae
Directed by	Yeon Sang-ho
Starring	Jeon So-nee Koo Kyo-hwan Lee Jung-hyun
Music by	Kim Dong-wook[2]
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	6
Production
Producers	Byun Soong-min[2] Yang Yoo-min[2] Cho Eun-hye[2]
Cinematography	Byun Bong-sun[2]
Animator	Yoo Hyun-hee[2]
Editor	Han Mi-yeon[2]
Running time	43–61 minutes
Production companies	Climax Studio Wow Point
Original release
Network	Netflix
Release	April 5, 2024 (2024-04-05)

Parasyte: The Grey (

A group of mysterious parasitic creatures fall from outer space and begin using humans as hosts, killing them, and completely transforming them into unique creatures that can shapeshift their heads into anything.^[3]

The Grey is formed, led by Choi Jun-kyung, who saves the society from parasite attacks and keeps it completely off the news and social media. Her husband was one of the first parasites, she keeps him as a hunting dog, captive under a skull mask due to which he informs the team Grey when any parasite is nearby as Parasites can sense their own kind when around them.

Jeong Su-in is a cashier at a supermarket who is attacked by a drunk customer after work. She wakes up in hospital with the assailant dead. Police officer, Kim Chul-min, tells her that the suspect was cut open in the middle. Su-in and Chul-min share a bond from years ago when Su-in reported on her abusive father and was rescued by Chul-min. Su-in is cornered by two parasites to confirm if she is one of them. This is witnessed by Seol Kang-woo, who is ambushed by Su-in's Parasite. Kang-woo, is a small time thug, who mentions that one of the parasite was his older sister whereas his younger sister was missing. Parasite in Su-in, named Heidi, gives him task to inform Su-in of her presence. Apparently Heidi could not take complete control of Su-in's body as she was stabbed by the drunk man hence she is living in Su-in's subconscious and only awakes to protect her as she can not leave her body.

Jeong Su-in is again chased by parasites and is taken to a secluded church where there are many parasites and their leader, a pastor. They hear a noise, apparently, Kang-woo is also there who found his younger sister's body. Parasites chase him while he escapes with help of Su-in. While inspecting the site, Chul-min finds the key chain he gave to Su-in. He meets her to question her about it but is attacked by Jun-kyung who followed him. Su-in passes out and Chul-min's partner Kang Won-seok kills the hunting dog which is witnessed by Kang-woo.

Su-in is taken captive by team Grey despite her results being negative. Chul-min and Kang-woo team up to free her during her transfer. During transfer a group of Parasites attacks them and Kang-woo takes the chance and succeeds in freeing her. Chul-min is killed by the Pastor's parasite who later takes his physical form and joins Won-seok to kill all the Parasites at a location with help of team Grey.

Su-in informs Jun-kyung about the parasites in the team but she does not believe her initially, however after some investigation she starts suspending that there are moles in her team. A parasite who uses Kang-woo's older sister body wants to work together with Su-in to kill the Pastor's parasite and they agree to ambush Pastor's plan to take over Mayor's body during festival celebration.

At the festival, Pastor's parasite leaves Chul-min's body and takes over Won-seok. Later it leaves his head to get into Jun-kyung as the mayor has escaped with the help of Kang-woo. But Su-in saves her, whereas Jun-kyung kills Won-seok.

Cast

Main

• Jeon So-nee as Jeong Su-in / Heidi: a young woman with a traumatic past who becomes a parasite victim; when it fails to take over her brain due to her stab wounds, she enters a bizarre coexistence with it, unlike other parasites.^[4]
• Koo Kyo-hwan as Seol Kang-woo: a small-time gangster who initially tracks down parasites in order to find his younger sister but teams up with Su-in after learning of her condition.^[4]
• Lee Jung-hyun as Choi Jun-kyung: the team leader of "Grey Team", a task force that wants to eradicate parasites.^[4]

Supporting

• Kwon Hae-hyo as Kim Chul-min: a senior detective at Namil Police Station, whom eventually becomes infected with a parasite.^[5]
• Kim In-kwon as Kang Won-seok: Cheol-min's junior detective who also secretly teamed up with the parasites.^[5]
• Yoon Hyun-gil as Seol Kyung-hee: Kang-woo's elder sister who is infected by a parasite.^[1]
• Lee Hyun-kyun as Kwon Hyuk-joo: A pastor, and the leader of the parasites.^[6]
• Moon Ju-yeon as Seol Jin-hee: Kang-woo's younger sister who went missing.^[7]

Special appearances

• anime series.^[8]

Developed under the working title The Grey (더 그레이; Deo geure-i), Parasyte: The Grey was a collaboration between Netflix and director Yeon Sang-ho.^[9] Yeon and Ryu Yong-jae team up to direct and write the series. Climax Studio and Wow Point managed the production.^[10]

Casting

Koo Kyo-hwan and Jeon So-nee were cast to play the lead roles for the series.^[9][11]

Koo and Jeon together with Lee Jung-hyun were officially confirmed as the main characters for the series on August 24, 2022.^[12]

Release

Parasyte: The Grey was released worldwide on Netflix with six episodes on April 5, 2024.^[13]

Reception

Critical response

On the

In Digital Mafia Talkies, Pramit Chatterjee gave a 5/5 stars and proclaimed that "Parasyte: The Grey is a great extension of Hitoshi Iwaaki’s manga, while also being a relevant piece of art that comments about the times that we are living in".[19] Pajiba's Dustin Rowles described it as "a gloriously schlocky, B-movie-esque escape from reality" and "Director Yeon Sang-ho (of Train to Busan fame) serves up six episodes of gory creature designs and fight scenes that will have you simultaneously wincing and cheering".^[20] Steven Nguyen Scaife of IGN said that "it offers weighty action and some smart departures to complement a fearsome live-action portrayal of its famous monsters, but the characterization never reaches the same heights as the original".^[21]

Singapore's national newspaper The Straits Times gave the series three out of five stars. While finding the scenes of parasitic hosts changing their heads "hilarious and cheesy", the article's writer Joanne Soh praised Jeon for her acting and called her character Su-in a "compelling protagonist" for her coherent portrayal of the character's tragic background and will to survive, as well as the switch between Su-in and her symbiotic companion Heidi. Soh also praised the chemistry between Jeon and Koo, who were both "dynamic as the pair of reluctant heroes", and Koo himself also was effective to serve as a bridge between Su-in and Heidi. The director's use of horror was also praised.^[22]

Viewership

Parasyte: The Grey topped Netflix's Global Top 10 TV (Non-English) category three days after its release and was well received in 68 countries from April 1–7, with 31.5 million hours watched by 6.3 million viewers in its first week.^[23] During the second week, the series maintained its top spot and viewership increased to 49 million hours watched by 9.8 million viewers. It also ranked among the top 10 in 84 countries and at number one in 34 countries.^[24]

References