As Blood Free drops its first two episodes on Hulu, a South Korean firm’s revolutionary and intensely profitable faux meat tech is all of the sudden below assault, leaving its CEO making an attempt to proper the ship and questioning who she will be able to belief. Directed by Park Chul-hwan and written by Lee Soo-yeon, Blood Free stars Han Hyo-joo (The Pirates: The Final Royal Treasure), Ju Ji-hoon (Kingdom), Lee Hee-joon (Badland Hunters), Park Ji-yeon (Hospital Playlist), and Lee Moo-saeng (The Silent Sea).
BLOOD FREE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: A herd of cows, grazing in a inexperienced area beneath an excellent blue sky. However don’t get hooked up to this iconic scene. Abruptly, the picture bursts from the display screen and into the midst of the well-heeled company viewers gathered in a theater, who witness by way of hologram the realities of how livestock is historically harvested and processed for human consumption.
The Gist: “What sort of meat would you want?” asks Blood Free founder and CEO Yun Ja-yu (Han). “I requested you all this query simply 4 years in the past. However I don’t have to ask anymore, as a result of BF efficiently commercialized cultured meat for the primary time in 2022.” Yun goes on to tout the success of her firm’s mobile culturing expertise, which has expanded from purple meat into common seafood varieties, and she or he pledges the culturing of agricultural grains and palm oil inside six months. Then a glossy brand and company branding seem. Blood Free: A Firm that Saves the Earth.
BF’s rise and Yun’s notoriety haven’t come with out controversy, as dueling protests outdoors the occasion reveal. Whereas some assist the corporate’s profitable partnership with the Korean authorities, others criticize the roles eradicated by its animal-free expertise, and information retailers are circulating an nameless report that the proprietary serums developed by BF bioengineer Kim Sang-ho (Kim Sin-gu) really inject germs and poison into the corporate’s lab-grown meat. When a bankrupted livestock dealer leaps to his demise by smashing into the roof of Yun’s limo, it’s one other indication of the difficulty the CEO is going through.
Then Blood Free is hacked by a ransomware group referred to as CitizenX, which holds the corporate’s analysis hostage in change for billions of received in bitcoin. And whereas Yun considers her subsequent transfer, we additionally meet Woo Chae-woon (Ju), former Naval intelligence officer turned company safety operative. The latest assaults on BF put him in line for a job defending Yun Ja-yu. However Woo can be coping with traumatic flashbacks and the political fallout from a latest terrorist bombing, the implications of which have put Yun and her decision-making on the radar of South Korean prime minister Seonu Jae (Lee Hee-joon) and the previous president the blast knocked from energy.
What Exhibits Will It Remind You Of? The stress between Large Tech’s means to remodel our world and the potential prices to our society can be on the coronary heart of FX/Hulu’s A Homicide On the Finish of the World. And Blood Free’s Ju Ji-hoon valiantly fought Joseon Dynasty-era zombies within the South Korean horror sequence Kingdom.
Our Take: These days, with huge corporations, we’re largely within the period that comes after Google’s authentic motto of ”Don’t Be Evil.” (Downfall: The Case In opposition to Boeing appeared in 2022, and that was earlier than doorways began flying off the airline’s planes.) Which makes it fascinating how Blood Free presents the corporate on the core of the sequence. is BF a drive for world good, like its polished branding purports? Or as its founder and CEO, does Han Hyo-joo’s Yun Ja-yu know precisely what corners her firm lower to achieve its 72-percent market share? We’re additionally interested by Yun’s rising connection to Ju Ji-hoon’s Woo Chae-woon, who have already got extra in frequent than she is aware of. It goes again to a terrorist bombing which itself has still-murky hyperlinks to the company hacking Blood Free is experiencing. And whereas Free takes care to determine the lonely emotional lives of Yun and Woo – there may very properly be a love connection within the midst of all this enterprise world battling, as a result of Korean dramas adore a romantic angle tinged with melancholy, and Han and Ju are enticing folks – it additionally hints at an intriguing stew of unstable unknowns. Large income, and who advantages; political schemes intersecting with enterprise pursuits; and simply who’s making an attempt to take down who.
Intercourse and Pores and skin: None.
Parting Shot: “Go to Yun Ja-yu,” South Korea’s former president instructs Woo. “Turn out to be her right-hand man. Achieve her belief.” However whereas that’s an order he’ll observe, Woo additionally has motivations which can be extra private.
Sleeper Star: Park Ji-yeon (Hospital Playlist) performs Jeong Hae-deun with confidence and a contact of pleasing sarcasm – Jeong’s the one member of Yun’s internal circle that doesn’t simply reflexively soar on the CEO’s each directive.
Most Pilot-y Line: After the CitizenX ransomware assault, it takes Yun Ja-yu just some seconds to formulate and difficulty her firm’s tiered response. “Arrange a brand new firewall. Deny all allegations and threaten to take authorized motion. Request a tradition fluid evaluation from meals security organizations, and report the outcomes. As for this hacking incident…let’s hold it amongst ourselves.”
Our Name: STREAM IT. Up to date meals tech, company warfare, intrigue within the halls of energy, and a contact of melodrama – Blood Free is taking its drama in some fascinating instructions.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an impartial author and editor dwelling at giant in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Information, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.
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