Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Island’ On Prime Video, Where An Unlikely Team Fights Demons On Korea’s Jeju Island

Shows that have a ragtag team trying to defeat evil itself need to have a sense of humor, don’t you think? It doesn’t have to be a laugh-a-minute, but there needs to be some light elements that can alleviate some of the dark and grim stuff we see in this genre. The best of these kinds of series have just enough humor to balance out the more serious aspects. A new Prime Video series from South Korea’s Studio Dragon has those elements.

ISLAND: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: As we see scenes of a lush mountain with a natural lake on top, we hear about Tamra, and the legend of 46 children demons being sealed up as statues and kept in a place called Hell’s Gate. We transition to a photographer telling this legend to a just-married couple as they climb to a scenic vista for portraits.

The Gist: Two of the statues are at the scenic point, and when the newlyweds look at them, they break apart, with embers and ash overtaking the two of them, and slugs crawling about. The photographer learns the hard way that these two have been transformed into “lust demons”, ready to wreak havoc on Jeju Island and the world. Suddenly, Ban (Kim Nam-gil), clad in a black suit, speeds into the remote location and kills the groom demon with his dagger.

Meanwhile, at a remote mountainside monastery, Father John (Cha Eun-woo), who is an expert at demons, is busy performing an exorcism when he’s summoned and told about the Jeju Island legend. There are signs that the demons are released about poised to take over the world, and a young woman will be led back to the island as a savior, and Father John’s job is to help her.

In Seoul, Won Mi-ho (Lee Da-hee) is poised to take over her father’s conglomerate, leaping over her aunt, who is a major shareholder. But after a traffic incident where she flips over another driver goes viral — which Mi-ho is convinced her aunt is behind — her father sends her to Jeju Island to teach at Tamra High School, at least until the heat from the viral video subsides. She goes with her loyal assistant and her confidant, Butler Jang (Oh Kwang-rok), who was set to retire to Jeju to farm.

As soon as she arrives at the airport, she’s attacked by the lust demon that took over the bride’s body. When she’s cornered in the back of a truck, Ban zips in, chases down the demon and kills it. Turns out that Ban has been alive since Jeju Island’s ancient days, when a priest rounded up the local children and infected them with demon’s blood in order to be half-human, half-demon fighters. Ban and another boy, Gungtan (Sung Joon), were the only ones who survived.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Island feels like part The Walking Dead, part Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Our Take: Written by Jang Yoon-mi and directed by Bae Jong, Island plays out like many typical fantasy series where an unlikely warriors team up to prevent evil from taking over the world. There’s a degree of mythology, a degree of self-seriousness, and also a lot of moments where the show doesn’t take itself at all seriously. The combination of the three, plus compelling lead characters and scary-enough demons, make for an appealing combo.

Lee, who plays Mi-ho, is the standout here, because her character is coming from the less-serious place. She’s a shark of a businessperson, as we see, and was on to her aunt’s succession plan as soon as word of the traffic incident video got back to her. But she’s also going to be thrust into this role of demon slayer, where she has ability — thanks to Butler Jang, whom we suspect is more than just a butler — but likely will fumble her way through this new role in her life.

The two men, Ban and Father John, are still blank slates at this point. We’ll likely learn more about them as the series goes on; we do know that Ban is hoping that Mi-ho’s presence will flush out the demons and release him from what seems like a torturous centuries-old life. But what we’re looking forward to seeing is if the two men interact. Will their styles mesh or clash? Will the priest and the half-demon be at odds as they try to defeat evil together? And how will they interact with Mi-ho?

The first episode sets up those intriguing possibilities, while giving us a good glimpse at what the lust demons are capable of. It was more than engaging enough for us to want to see more.

Sex and Skin: None.

Sleeper Star: Like we said, we suspect that Butler Jang is more than a butler, so we’re looking forward to seeing more from Oh Kwang-rok.

Most Pilot-y Line: The subtitles for the show identify Father John as “Father Giovanni”. We found that funny, because John is Korean. More than likely his given name is Yo-han, which became “John”, which became “Giovanni.” Amazing how languages work.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The first episode of Island does a good job at setting up the legend of Jeju Island, and the stakes that the show’s heroes face. We don’t have a complete picture of all the main characters yet, but we suspect we’ll see that in subsequent episodes.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.