Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Uncanny Counter’ Season 2 on Netflix, Where Superpowered Humans Do Battle With Demons (And Make Delicious Soup)

In The Uncanny Counter, which returns to Netflix for its second season in a two- episodes-per-week release format, a group of people who work at a noodle shop in the fictional South Korean city of Jungjin are also dedicated demon hunters imbued with special powers by spirits known as the Yung. These darned demons look just like us, and they walk among us, so it’s a good thing that Counter powers include the ability to track their movements. This will be even more key in season two, because the demons are smarter and stronger. The Uncanny Counter is based on the webtoon Amazing Rumor by Jang Yi.    

THE UNCANNY COUNTER – SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: It’s a pleasant day in Jungjin until a demon inhabiting the body of a bus driver takes a group of adorable kindergartners on a dangerous joyride through downtown. The heart-shaped “You Are Nice” sticker one of the kids gave him unfortunately becomes ironic as the bus careens out of control and the Counters leap into action. 

The Gist: Let’s meet the team. So Mun (Jo Byeong-kyu) is a noble teen, always watching out for the underdog or the persecuted. With his connection to the powerful Yung being Wi-gen (Moon Sook), he possesses super speed, psychokinesis – he’ll move you with his mind – and can manipulate another Yung force known as “The Territory,” which manifests in Uncanny Counter as a spectrum of different colored beams. The powers of demon location are strong with Do Ha-Na (Kim Se-jeong), who is linked to the Yung being Woo-sik (Eun Ye-jun). Chu Mae-ok (Yeom Hye-ran) makes the best bowl of noodles in town, and is also the Counters’ healer; Mae-ok’s Yung link is with the spirit of her departed son Kwon Su-ho (Lee Chan-hyung). Ga Mo-tak (Yoo Jun-sang) is super strong, and also helps out the Counters through his work as a police detective. And Choi Jang-mul (Ahn suk-hwan) is a semi-retired Counter who retains his powers of strength and serves as the team’s logistics lead. When they’re zonked out – not sleeping, but communicating with the Yung on the astral plane – Jang-mul keeps watch over their physical selves.

The relationship between Yung and Counter can be testy at times. The spirit people demand a lot as they’re just chilling around their gleaming white table. And though the team based in Korea aren’t the only Counters on the planet, they still have a lot of ground to cover. (One of So Mun and Mo-tak’s gripes will be addressed this season when Yoo In-soo joins the cast as a newly hired Counter named Na Jeok-bong.) Add in the fact that they’re also operating a noodle shop and spending time helping out seniors in their community, and the Counters are busy people. But they’re about to have no free time at all. 

At a mansion in rural China, after the powerful Hwang Pil-kwang (Kang Ki-young) and his demonic associates Gelli (Kim Hieora) and Wang Li Qiang (Kim Hyun-wook) overwhelm a Chinese team, they discover that they’ve inherited the powers of the Counters they killed. Now the demons do things like read thoughts and wield powers of healing for their own evil ends. Not only that, but Pil-kwang seems to have a backstory that connects with Mae Joo-seok (Jin Seon-kyu), a kindhearted firefighter who’s close to So Mun. As our brave Counters clean up a different demonic mess, they don’t know that Pil-kwang, Gelli, and Wong are en route to Korea and ready to wreak havoc.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Uncanny Counter co-creators You Sun-dong and Kim Sae-bom are also behind the Netflix series Bad and Crazy, where a loose cannon cop fights for justice with the help of an entity of unknown origin. And there’s a TV superhero vibe to Counter, too, aligning it with shows like The Flash and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Here, they’re battling demons. But So Mun and his friends could just as easily be fighting interdimensional supervillains.

Our Take: The tone of Uncanny Counter varies. First of all, it definitely loves to be sentimental and heartwarming. The Counters are clad in identical cherry red sweatsuits, they love to congratulate each other’s demon-fighting moves with thumbs up signs, and the show engages with a little slapstick as Ga Mo-tak tries to perfect his skills of psychokinesis. It keeps developing this bouncy, lighthearted mood, emphasizing how the Counters seem more content to make fools of the demons they battle rather than, like, blow them up with energy beams or something. But then So Mun and the team intervene to protect a woman and her young son from domestic violence, and it leads to them busting up a ring of vicious organ thieves. And in Hwang Pil-kwang and his minions Gelli and Wang, the series has added a demonic threat that has no qualms about massacring innocents as well as an entire team of China-based Counters. They are introduced as proven killers who revel in bloodshed. But that level of depravity can feel a little misaligned with the warmth and light humor that permeates the bulk of Uncanny Counter. The team is out here feeding everyone nourishing bowls of noodle soup, and happily donating their time down at the community center, helping a group of seniors make a giant batch of kimchi. We’ll have to see how the series rectifies this pleasant side with whatever mayhem unfolds once Pil-kwang and Co. arrive in Jungjin. The mood might not stay sentimental for long. 

Sex and Skin: Not that kind of show, pal.

Parting Shot: When a particularly scumbaggy demon and his crew of earthly thugs level up from simply blackmailing helpless Jungjin residents to kidnapping them in order to harvest their organs, the Counters team is on the case in a jiffy. They proceed to put their motto in action. “Do not mess with good people!”

Sleeper Star: Chu Mae-ok is not quite the leader of the Uncanny Counters, but she’s definitely the team’s spiritual center, and Yeom Hye-ran plays her with an engaging mix of maternal instinct, sharp wit, and the occasionally unexpected burst of demon-punching power. 

Most Pilot-y Line: “If a level three spirit absorbs a Counter’s soul, it absorbs the Counter’s powers, too.” When the Counters learn about these formidable Level Threes from the Yung spirits, they’re incredulous. “Wait, they can read and erase memories, and heal people?” The fight to come will not be an easy one. 

Our Call: STREAM IT. There are fun bits of lore sprinkled throughout The Uncanny Counter, as we learn about the links between humans and the Yung spirits, and the show’s lighthearted mood makes it feel at times like a comfort watch. Then again, it just introduced a murderous new crew of demons, so maybe keep that in mind as you’re imagining the delicious aromas of Ms. Chu’s noodles.

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges