We can finally see the Netflix series Parasyte: The Grey, which has only just been released; To be honest, I was nervous before I started watching it. Although production houses, whether it’s Netflix or others, are notorious for botching their live-action adaptations, Netflix has given us One Piece yet again. The series, based on the manga Parasyte, is presented as a continuation of the original story which takes place in Japan. Rather than a half-hearted imitation of the manga, this series presents an original story set in South Korea.
The Netflix adaptation obviously draws the parallel, but then sticks to its own narrative. And although the flaws and the sometimes ridiculous storyline do not allow me to call Parasyte: The Gray a work of art, the series is still entertaining. This adaptation did not fail to take up the existentialist themes addressed in the manga, which therefore constitutes one of its key points.
- Who are the parasites?
The Parasites are an extraterrestrial species that arrives on Earth from space, their origin remains unknown, but their behavior resembles that of a virus. The parasite invades the brain of its human host, replaces it, takes control of the body and eventually kills its host’s consciousness completely, like a strand of RNA infiltrating a cell.
Just like viruses carrying a single-purpose genetic code, parasites come to life with a single goal, that of taking over human brains. They take on the appearance of an Earth larva before infiltrating a body, while possessing extraordinary agility and being able to quickly take control of a human host. Once they have merged with the human body, they can shapeshift and take on various abstract forms, primarily for combat purposes.
Parasites can only be identified by pulling out a strand of hair which subsequently disintegrates into several pieces as soon as it is pulled out if the person is actually a parasite.
- What is the plot about?
At the center of the plot is Jeong Su-in, a young woman who works in a supermarket in Namil-gun, South Korea who was abandoned by her mother who went to start another family because of her abusive behavior. his father during his childhood. Following her mother’s departure, Su-in suffered her father’s anger which led to her being arrested. Jeong Su-in’s act of self-defense backfired as Korea’s highly conservative society shunned her for having her father arrested.
Police officer Kim Cheol Min, who was like a father to Su-in and the only family figure she had in her life, is the only person who showed her compassion by responding to her complaint.
While living a pessimistic life, Su-in gets into an argument with a psychopathic man who follows her on the way home and pushes her off his scooter while stabbing her repeatedly. She therefore tries to lose this man, but before he can kill her, the latter dies after being divided into two parts by an unknown force.
It is discovered that a parasite larva entered Su-in’s brain at the time she was stabbed, and killed her attacker. Su-in retained her humanity, unlike the other victims of the parasitic invasion. During the story, we witness the journey of Su-in, a human-parasite hybrid, in the company of Seol Kang-woo, a former gangster, who escapes both the other parasites and the human authorities determined to hunt her down.
- Why does Su-In remain human?
In principle, when the body of a human is infected by a parasite larva, the human inside disappears, because the parasite then takes on its identity which is not the case for Su-in because things present themselves differently. After entering her body, the parasite fused with her brain, but Su-in had already bled to death causing the parasite inside her to spend its energy trying to treating his wounds, an act which did not allow him to completely replace his brain. As part of Su-in’s brain, Heidi is actively aware of the real world, but as soon as she takes control of the body, Su-in loses consciousness.
Heidi’s counterpart in the manga is Migi (右), meaning “right”, as the parasite merges with Izumi Shinichi’s right hand. Shinichi’s brain, who was wearing headphones during the incident, could not be touched by Migi, thus preventing the larvae from entering it. As part of Heidi’s plan to connect with her host, Su-in learns of Heidi through Seol Kang-woo.
So that Su-in can learn about the parasites and ensure their mutual survival, Heidi asks Kang-woo to deliver her message to her. Afterwards, Su-in and Heidi begin to correspond by writing notes when one or the other is in control of the body. Since Heidi has not fully merged with Su-in’s brain, she can only take control of the body for 15 minutes every few hours. When Su-in is in danger of death or capture, Heidi automatically takes control of the body.
- Why do parasites create the organization?
Simple organisms, parasites only seek to ensure their survival and to feed on humans. Despite their physical strength, they cannot reproduce and have no way to increase their numbers. Su-in and Kang-woo, eager for answers, infiltrate a meeting at the Organization’s base, Saejin Church, and discover Pastor, the de facto leader of the Parasites, addressing the group. crowd, explaining that their only strength is to unite against humans.
Like other parasites, it fears humans as well as the abilities of a rather physically weak species. The creation of a social organization is against the nature of parasites, but they begin to evolve in the human world. Parasites, like any organism, fear death, and decide to form an organization for themselves in order to avoid their extinction.
- Why is Team Gray chasing Su-In?
An organization made up of members of the Korean special forces led by Choi Jun-kyung, Team Gray was created to counter the parasitic threat weighing on humanity following a massacre caused by a deadly parasite during a music festival. Their only goal is to eliminate all parasites from South Korea.
Having seen her husband transform into a monstrous being and massacre people, Choi Jun-kyung created this organization to prevent this from happening to other people, she also played a key role in the creation of this special forces branch. In order to hunt down other parasites, Team Gray uses the parasite inside Jun-Kyung’s husband, whom they call “the Hound”, even though he has been immobilized and tortured.
To catch the parasites, the Team Gray division called on one of the greatest strategists in South Korea, who showed great efficiency. They even collaborated with local police detectives Chol Min and Kang Won Seok on the case. Jun-Kyung discovers that Su-in is a parasite only thanks to Chol Min and sends his forces after her. After the death of the Hound, Jun-kyung’s husband, the latter must capture Su-in against her will in order to make him the next Hound.
- Who is responsible for killing the hunting dog?
Su-in being pursued by Team Gray, we learn that Kang Won is in the service of the Parasites. He was an agent of the Pastor, who spied on Team Gray and passed on its secrets to the Parasites. Having had a mediocre life, Kang Won started attending Saejin’s church and therefore already knew the pastor when he was human. Once he became a parasite, the pastor was unmasked by Kang Won who then offered him to take control of a human organization and in return, Kang Won will be offered an important position under the authority of the Parasite.
Upon learning of the hunting dog, the pastor immediately realizes the threat it poses to the Parasites and therefore orders Kang Won to kill it. The Pastor then creates a blade resembling the tentacles of the Parasites in order to make it appear that the hunting dog was killed by a Parasite.
- How does Kim Cheol Min die?
Convinced that Su-in has retained his humanity, Cheol Min disapproves of Jun-kyung’s plan to use Su-in as the next hunting dog even though he is part of Team Gray. Despite the fact that everyone treats Su-in as an emotionless parasite, he believes in her because he has known her since childhood and saved her from her abusive father.
When she is supposed to be transferred to Team Gray HQ, he finds a window to save the girl and enlists the help of Kang-woo, who disguises himself as a special forces agent and poses as the guard of Su-in. Unfortunately, the plan to transfer Su-in to HQ begins before Kang-woo can get her out.
On the way to Team Gray HQ, the convoy carrying Su-in is ambushed by the Parasites. Kang-woo and Cheol Min manage to fend off the Parasites and Team Gray personnel at the same time and free Su-in. While Kang-woo rushes away with Su-in, Cheol Min, without knowing Kang Won’s true intentions, accompanies the latter in pursuit of Su-in. Kang Won takes a detour to a farm, where he reveals that he actually works for the pastor.
Meanwhile, Su-in sees Cheol Min and Kang Won, who were driving right behind Kang-woo’s car, go off the road. Thinking about Cheol Min’s safety, she rushes to the farm but by the time she arrives, Cheol Min has already shot the pastor’s body during a fight between them. The leader of the parasites removes his alien head from the body and in turn decapitates Cheol Min, in front of Su-in. It is then that the Parasite merges with Cheol Min’s body.
- Why does Kyung-Hee betray the pastor?
Questioning his purpose and becoming a being who began to understand the human condition, the pastor was a being who was not simple-minded like the other members of his family. He employed a human as a companion to learn human expressions and the complex nuances of human languages. He wanted to become as formidable as he judged his enemies. His desire for knowledge and power made him more dangerous, especially when he learned the Machiavellian methods of the human world.
The Pastor, disguised as Cheol Min, directs operations at the Organization’s new base during Team Grey’s descent. Being diligent, he poses as a human officer to ensure the mission is successful. The Pastor is therefore willing to sacrifice his own race in order to achieve his goal and replace the mayor, a successful operation that leads Kyung-hee to witness the Pastor’s massacre of her people. A crucial moment for this parasite who has never felt emotions before.
For the first time in her short life as a sensitive person, Kyung-hee experiences human feelings in the form of betrayal upon seeing the pastor’s actions. Teaming up with Su-in and Kang-woo, she decides to kill the pastor, the parasite who gave her people the meaning of their existence.
- How does the pastor die?
The invasion of an invisible alien does not prevent the Korean government from organizing the Korean folk music festival in the Namil-gun region which this year is attended by the mayor of Namcheon. As one of the leading candidates in next year’s presidential elections, the pastor realizes that taking over the mayor’s body will benefit his own campaign as head of a human organization. The pastor is nothing more than a naive human drowning in greed and thirst for power.
As the mayor goes to the festival grounds, the pastor begins his attack and reveals his true form in front of the crowd. In the chaos that ensues, the mayor flees to save his skin while the pastor pursues him to parasitize him. Su-in, Kang-woo and Kyung-hee arrive to the mayor’s aid after convincing Choi Jung-kyung to join them. After Cheol Min is injured during the fight, Pastor decapitates Kang Won Seok and the Parasite, despite helping the Parasite throughout the fight. On this occasion, we discover another ability of the Pastor, namely that of getting rid of his parasite while controlling his human body.
The violent battle between Su-in and the Pastor finally ends when Su-in kills the parasite while Jung-kyung shoots the Pastor’s human body. Like Icarus, the pastor got too carried away and ended up perishing.
- What happens to Su-In and Heidi?
After the fight, Su-in and Kang-woo find themselves surrounded by Team Gray personnel, waiting for Jung-kyung’s order to take them down. Jung-kyung, however, orders his men to stand down and take them to the hospital while clarifying that Su-in is in fact a normal human being. His prejudice against the Parasites finally comes to an end. After hating these creatures for what happened to her husband, Su-in changed her mind about them. As for Heidi, who fought against this war because she was afraid of death, they begin to accept the fact that she is alive.
Heidi realizes, from an existential point of view, that awareness of one’s own mortality is the first step towards self-knowledge because it is death that gives meaning to our life. What’s more, Heidi, like Migi in the manga, ends up bonding with her human, Su-in. They begin to sympathize with Su-in’s tragic life and comfort her.
- What to expect in season 2?
Since the moment I started writing this article, I’ve been dying to talk about the ending scene. Being a fan since I watched the anime as a kid, I was very excited to see Shinichi in the ending scene. Indeed, Parasyte: The Gray has a lot to offer for the second season. It’s obvious that, like Kang-woo, Su-in will join the Gray Team, since Jung-kyung already asked her to do so and as a mutant, she would be very useful, not only for obtaining information, but also to combat dangerous parasites.
For his part, Shinichi Izumi was only 18 years old at the end of the anime, but in the series, he is a slightly older investigative journalist who holds crucial information about the Parasites. Indeed, Shinichi Izumi is the only one with so much knowledge about parasites, and with him, Team Gray will be ready to face enemies more deadly than Gotou.