If you’re the kind who finds cosy romcoms a bit too… beige, then Netflix has something rather more explosive up its sleeve. Enter Trigger—a gritty South Korean thriller that swaps soft lighting and love triangles for armour-piercing bullets, a crumbling society, and the kind of moral tension that keeps you hovering over the pause button.
A new wave of Korean storytelling
Netflix’s love affair with Korean dramas is no passing fling. Following the seismic success of Squid Game, the platform has been doubling down on K-content, from tearjerking romances to zombie schoolyard chaos (All of Us Are Dead). But Trigger turns the volume up on the action—and then some.
Set in a South Korea spiralling out of control, the show draws us into a world where illegal firearms flood the streets, transforming a relatively gun-free society into something resembling a war zone. The premise alone is enough to get your heart racing: What happens when a population unused to weapons suddenly finds itself armed to the teeth?
Chaos, corruption and a nation on the edge
At the centre of Trigger is Lee Do, a former military sniper turned detective, played with simmering intensity by Kim Nam-gil. Think less buddy-cop banter, more brooding moral dilemmas. His job? To track the source of the gun epidemic and stop it before the country implodes.
Hot on his heels—or perhaps always just a step ahead—is Moon Baek (Kim Young-kwang), a mysterious figure whose motives are as cloudy as his alliances. Is he a misguided revolutionary? A criminal mastermind? A victim of circumstance? The line between hero and villain is beautifully blurred, and their confrontation is as cerebral as it is violent.
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More than just bullets and body counts
While Trigger doesn’t shy away from violence (it is, after all, rated 18+), it’s not bloodshed for its own sake. The series poses uncomfortable questions about power, fear, and justice. Director Kwon Oh Seung (Midnight) wanted to explore what happens when a deeply divided society suddenly gets access to deadly weapons—for free.
The show’s core message is clear: violence is never a solution. It challenges viewers to look beyond the trigger finger, to consider what drives people to pick up a gun in the first place—and what it takes to stop them. Co-director Kim Jae-hoon adds that the drama isn’t glorifying crime; it’s exposing the devastating ripple effects of desperation and disconnection.
A timely warning in thriller form
There’s something chillingly prescient about Trigger. In an age where polarisation is rife and access to weapons is a tap away on the dark web, its central premise doesn’t feel so far-fetched. It’s a fictional warning, yes, but one that cuts uncomfortably close to real-world anxieties.
If you’re after a thriller that goes beyond bang-bang theatrics and dares to wrestle with the ethics of a society on the brink, Trigger is well worth your time. It’s bold, brutal, and asks the kind of questions we might not want answered—but can’t afford to ignore.
