Goodbye Earth S01E01: ambitious but long-winded – the Lagarde

Dystopian South Korean thriller responds to the question: what will life look like if we expect an asteroid impact in the near future?

The future of South Korea and the world itself is in limbo in the dystopian thriller Goodbye Earth (Jongmalui Babo). An asteroid is heading towards Earth. The story begins when the South Koreans have 201 days left before impact. Martial law is declared, but the South Korean government cannot prevent chaos from breaking out. The idea that there is a good chance that most people only have a year left to live leads some to prepare themselves for what will likely be a harsh life after the impact.

There are also South Koreans who report to the airports, hoping to emigrate at the last minute to a place further away from the crater that will soon be formed by the impact of the celestial body.

Goodbye Earth, based on the book of the same name by Japanese author Kōtarō Isaka, provides a kind of cross-section of such an event. The camera follows, among others, the idealistic teacher Jin Se-kying (Ahn Eun-jin) and a police officer (Kim Yoon-hye). They are characters who diligently try to adapt to the new situation. Jin sees it as her job to continue to protect children, despite the fact that the end of time is imminent.

All this is presented in an ambitious manner. Perhaps a little too ambitious: the episodes, as is often the case with South Korean titles, last too long and some storylines are unnecessary.

It is interesting that actor Yoo Ah-In has been edited out of the series. Initially there was a major role reserved for him. But in 2023, police suspected him of using the illegal drug Propofol. A hair test finally confirmed this. That meant the end of his career for Yoo. That is ironic: many South Korean dramas actually resist the strict pattern (which is anti-drugs) that South Koreans have to squeeze into and that is precisely what Yoo has fallen victim to.

Goodbye Earth S01, available in its entirety on Netflix from Friday, April 26, 2024