Episode 1 is the first episode of the Netflix streaming series Parasyte: The Grey. It aired on April 5, 2024. It also serves as the series premiere.
Synopsis[]
After a brutal attack, Jeong Su-in learns she may not be the same person as before. Choi Jun-kyung discovers the monsters are forming an organization.
Plot[]
Somewhere in South Korea, a guy is on his computer, and is getting angry that the people in the chat room don’t think he has it in him to kill someone.
Elsewhere, several parasites begin falling from the sky and onto an EDM festival hosted at a stadium. It ends up infecting one of the attendees, who wreaks havoc and kills several people there.
One hour earlier, in another part of South Korea, Jung Su-In finds herself dealing with a rude customer at the register. Who eventually mutters to himself how he should just kill her and everyone at the supermarket. Eventually, her work shift ends, and she heads out first. She puts on her helmet and gets on her moped, but not before noticing a silver car in the corner of her eye. She drives off, and it turns out that the driver is the rude customer from before. He begins tailing her until on a desolate road, he gains speed, and runs into her. The impact caused Jung Su-In to tumble onto the side of the road. She tries to stand up, but still angry, the rude customer she dealt with gets out of his car and pulls out a knife. She tries to get away, but the man stabs her in the back and prevents her from getting away. Jung Su-In loses consciousness, and at that moment, a parasite falls from the sky, and towards her. But not before attacking her assailant, by slicing him in half.
At the police station, Kim Chul-min is tired after dealing with three violent crimes back to back. It turns out that Jung Su-In’s assailant is named Lee Kyung-chun who is 43 years old, and has two priors for violent crimes, as well as a history of schizophrenia. It seems that Jung Su-In is fine, despite being attacked. The other two policemen inform Kim Chul-min that what is odd is that the victim does have scars on her back, as though she was stabbed. In addition, her clothes were also heavily stained with her own blood. But apparently, the scars are not from that day.
In a South Korean hospital, Jung Su-In begins to stir, as she recalls some painful memories of a woman giving her some money, and telling her to never show up near her again. Eventually, she is questioned by the police, and her answers puzzle them. Su-in recalls how misfortune follows her no matter what, and stems from when she was ten years old, and being abused by her dad to the point that she would end up with broken bones. Kim Chul-min reminds Su-In that she is strong, and that it took a lot of courage to call the police at 10 years old to turn in her own father. He reminds her that she can only count on herself , and that this tenacity is always in her to push forward and survive.
A few months later, Seol Gang-Woo disguised as a waiter tries to stab a gangster but fails, and instead flees the scene. He is told to lay low and to toss his cell phone until things die down. He arrives at his elder sister’s home, who is acting weird and like she doesn’t recognize him. When he asks her where Seol Jin-hee is, Seol Kyung-hee informs him that she has gone somewhere far away, but she doesn’t know where that is precisely.
Meanwhile, Su-In is on her way to work but at the next stop she gets a bad ringing in her ears before being stared at rather creepily by one of the passengers on the bus.
Elsewhere a man is about to be killed by another parasite when a smoke grenade is thrown at their hideout, and he is able to get away. Just as some military-looking people arrive on the scene to take them out. One of the parasites gets away, despite Choi Joon-Kyung trying her best to shoot it until it dies. Eventually she comes across the room where the parasites were storing the bodies of their victims, and she tells one of her underlings that it seems as if these creatures have gone on to form an organization, and are working together now.
After she gets off the bus, Su-In begins walking but hears the piercing ringing sound, and when she looks up, the same guy that was staring at her in the bus earlier is walking towards her. She pulls out her phone and calls Kim Chul-min, but has to also run for her life, as the creepy man begins chasing after her. She is then cornered by Seol Kyung-hee and the other man catches up with Su-In. The man asks Su-In if she is one of them, while Kyung-Hee, points out that she does a great job at acting like a human. They attack her, and it is then that the parasite inside Su-In emerges and tells the other two that she is one of them. All while Gang-Woo watches in horror at what is happening in front of him. The other parasite tells the parasite inhabiting Su-In that they need to stick together in order to survive. It then gives its fellow parasite a flier that mentions a revival prayer meeting at Saejin Church. Gang-Woo tries to discreetly leave, but ends up stepping on a water bottle and inadvertently gives his presence away. He is caught by the parasite inhabiting Su-In who informs him that she did not want to draw extra attention to herself. So she will have to kill him, but before she does, the parasite asks him why he was watching her and the other parasites. With nothing to lose, he tells her that his sister was acting weird, so she followed her to their current location.
Sometime later, Su-In wakes up and Gang-Woo greets her. He explains to her that the ringing noise she has been experiencing as of late is as a result of being able to sense unpleasant brain waves from certain people. He warns her to not go near those people, as they are dangerous. He continues by explaining that after she was attacked by the lunatic from the supermarket, a parasite went inside her, and ended up defending her and killing her assailant in the process. Apparently she was supposed to mutate but for whatever reason she did not. He compares her current situation to that of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
As soon as she gets back home, she opens her journal, and writes “is there someone else is in my body”, before she looks at the clock which says it is 11PM, and she closes her eyes. When she looks at her digital clock again, it is now 11:30PM. Much to her surprise there is writing below the question she posed in her journal. The response saying that everything Gang-Woo said earlier is true. The parasite tells Su-In to believe everything he said, and it states that Su-In still needs a detailed explanation for their condition. The parasite then tells its human host to make sure to write down all her questions. This leads her to ask who the thing living inside her is, and what exactly it is as well.
The following morning at the Namil Police Station, a special task force arrives. In order to get inside Kim Chul-min mentions that he does not like starting his day with a gun pointed at him.
Meanwhile, Su-In wakes up, and sees more writing in her journal after the additional questions she asked.
At night, Chul-Min is one of many police officers who ends up at a briefing by the aforementioned special task force. Eventually, Joon-Kyung starts the briefing after introducing herself. She starts off by saying that she is leader of the parasite special forces unit, otherwise known as Team Grey. She continues by saying that earlier that day, they took X-rays of their bodies. This led to the team finding no parasites hiding amongst the police force. Joon-Kyung continues by stating that because the parasites all arrived together, they seemed to have finished synchronizing with their human hosts. Eventually, she shows the police forces the article about the EDM Festival, and the massacre that took place there was the work of a parasite. She shows them the body of the host that this parasite inhabited, and explains that in order to avoid social chaos from taking place, Team Grey restricted media access, and have been strictly controlling all information pertaining to parasites.
As it turns out, a few months ago the larvae of this parasite started to pop up all over South Korea, and eventually was found in other parts of the world like the United States, Mexico and Canada. The origin of the larvae is still unknown to them, but intel gathered tells Team Grey that once the parasite penetrates the human body, either through the ears, nose or mouth, they take over the brain Until they consume it. However, their mutation is not complete until the parasites follow their instincts and try to eat humans. One important characteristic is that they can freely transform their heads. The cell is an independent living organism that is somehow capable of processing thoughts as well. What is scary is that because they inhabit human hosts, they have been able to infiltrate human society, and are currently targeting humans. Joon-Kyung explains that once synchronization is complete, the parasite takes over the human body completely. This results in the human consciousness also being entirely absorbed by the parasites. Which means they are longer than the humans they all once knew. Their bodies are the only thing that lives off, serving as a source of nourishment for the parasites.
Elsewhere, Su-In reads the answers that the parasite left her, where it explains how at first it was a larva trying to follow its instincts and take over a human brain, which led it to Su-In on that fateful night. It tried to eat Su-In’s brain and parasitize her body, but quickly realized that her human host was seriously wounded. Instead, the parasite tried to synchronize itself with Su-In’s entire body to heal the wounds first. This resulted in being able to save Su-In’s body, but failing in taking over her brain completely. To be more specific, the parasite can only take over Su-In’s brain when she is in danger. The parasite has conducted several experiments, which have led it to believe that it can only take over Su-In’s consciousness for about fifteen minutes a day. The parasite explains how the other parasites may choose to eliminate her if they discover that she is a mutant. It warns her that approaching any of them is far too dangerous. So if she wishes to continue to survive, it is crucial that they get to know one another, and work together as well.
Back at the parasite briefing, Joon-Kyung explains that the parasites cannot survive without a human host, so if they are separate from it, they wither and die. So in order to attack the parasite, they need to destroy the human body they are inhabiting. One way to do it is by destroying the heart in one go by using a shotgun. When asked by one of the police officers why they are keeping one of the parasites alive, Joon-Kyung explains that their research tells them that these alien creatures use brain waves to detect other parasites around them. So by keeping some of them alive, they can use them as a form of radar that aids in detecting other parasites. According to the parasite they have, which Joon-Kyung refers to as Hunting Dog, the highest concentration of parasite can be found in the Namil-gun area of South Korea. Thus, they are planning to stay a few days and hunt down the other parasites. She asks that they send any mysterious cases, and unsolved murders their way, as they could be connected to parasite phenomena. When the chief asks Joon-Kyung if she doesn’t think it is unethical to torture and treat a human being like how she is. She explains that this way of thinking is dangerous, and proceeds to show him how as a result of her husband turning into a parasite, she lost her ear, and now wears a prosthetic. She yells out that the thing in front of them is no longer her husband, but a monster, an insect, or a virus that needs to be exterminated. This is because once a human is inhabited by a parasite, they stop being human altogether.
Elsewhere, Su-In gets off her bus, and sits at the bus stop, where she screams out in frustration after everything she just learned.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Jeon So-Nee as Jung Su-In/Heidi[1]
- Koo Gyo-Hwan as Seol Gang-Woo[2]
- Lee Jung-Hyun as Choi Joon-Kyung[3]
Guest-Starring[]
- Kwon Hae-hyo as Kim Chul-min[4]
- Yoon Hyun-gil as Seol Kyung-hee[5]
- Jin Yong-Wook as Lee Kyung-Chun
- Oh Jung-Min as Boss Jang
Co-Starring[]
- Park Sin-Un as Namil detective
- Lee Hyo-Na as Parasite
- Jeon Su-Ji as Jeong Su-In's mom
- Cho Dong-In as EDM Male concertgoer
- Kim Ye-Rin as EDM Female concertgoer
- Ko Han-Min as foreign car man
- Yong-Jin as Boss Jang's subordinate
Gallery[]
Promotional Stills[]
BTS Images[]
Trivia[]
Coming Soon
External link[]
- Watch Parasyte: The Grey on Netflix
References[]
- ↑ Jeon So-ni selected for lead role in ‘The Gray’… Meet the old exchange - Naver
- ↑ Koo Kyo-hwan meets director Yeon Sang-ho again... Lead role in the next film ‘The Gray’ - Naver
- ↑ Director Yeon Sang-ho directs ‘Parasite: The Gray’… Jeon So-ni - Naver
- ↑ VFX technology is just amazing... 'Parasite' steals attention press stills released - Naver
- ↑ ‘Koo Kyo-hwan’s younger sister’ Moon Joo-yeon, short but strong performance in ‘Parasite: The Gray’ - Naver