Nine Puzzles Review: A Classic & Visually Rich Murder Mystery

Here’s a curious fact about me: I watched the original run of Criminal Minds (2005-2020, CBS) about… a hundred times? Okay, not all of it. But the first 10 seasons? Absolutely. So I must confess to having a soft spot for criminal profilers. You won’t be surprised, then, if I tell you that I vowed to watch Disney+’s Nine Puzzles as soon as I first read the premise of the show.

With an original script penned by Lee Eun-mi (OCN’s Tunnel and tvN’s Navillera) and directed by Yoon Jong-bin (2005’s The Unforgiven and 2018’s The Spy Gone North), expectations were naturally high. Fortunately, the final result delivers what it promises. Nine Puzzles pulls you into its dark and enigmatic universe from the very first minute, shedding layer after layer of twists and turns as we follow our protagonists towards the answers they are looking for. Gritty, compelling, and clever, Nine Puzzles delivers a murder mystery that emulates — and pays homage to — all the detective stories that precede it.

Nine Puzzles starts ten years ago when high-schooler Yoon E-na (Kim Da-mi) was the sole witness to her uncle’s murder. Back then, lead investigator Kim Han-saem (Son Suk-ku, who has just finished JTBC’s Heavenly Ever After) was convinced that she was the culprit but could never prove it. Years later, E-na becomes a skilled criminal profiler with the Criminal Analysis Team at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. As a new serial murder case brings E-na and Detective Kim together, a string of puzzle pieces might lead them to the shocking truth behind her uncle’s murder.

This review is spoiler-free! But if you don’t have enough time to read it all, why don’t you pin our summary? It’s at the bottom!

The Importance of Perspective: The Audience as the Protagonist

Following the classic structure of traditional mystery stories, Nine Puzzles counts on a diverse (and surely suspicious) cast of characters who are somehow intertwined. The threads that connect them weave a labyrinthine narrative whose layers unravel progressively throughout its 11 episodes. And then, you have all the elements any fan of Poirot, Holmes, or Fletcher is familiar with: a series of murders, a pair of intelligent sleuths, and a bunch of red herrings. Nothing groundbreaking, no, but Nine Puzzles has an alluring, engaging rhythm, effectively set by its well-rounded protagonists, emotional nuance, and visual richness.

We look at the universe of Nine Puzzles through the eyes of Detective Kim and E-na, which allows us to investigate the crime alongside them. We are constantly offered questions and, as Kim and E-na guide us through their quest, we try to concoct our own answers. They are the ones opening the doors into the mystery that surrounds them — and into their own personas.

By allowing Detective Kim’s and E-na’s perspectives to be our own, Nine Puzzles encourages us to empathise with them as they are forced to face truths that they would rather not. We soon realise that they may not be heroic but they are certainly human. As Kim suspects E-na and E-na doubts her own innocence, we observe as these two connect through their similarities and learn from their differences, establishing a bond of trust and highlighting the emotional journey they are fated to embark on.

We are prompted to learn who our protagonists are as much as we are prompted to pinpoint the criminal at the core of this plot — because the values that motivate and challenge E-na and Kim are the ones that strengthen the themes of the series. With every episode, we see how Kim is persistent, sceptical, and stubborn, while E-na is eccentric, quick-witted, and reckless. Despite their quirks and flaws, however, they are good people who find themselves questioning their beliefs regarding justice, trust, and identity.

The Dramatic Heart Behind Nine Puzzles

Beyond the murders and crime investigations, Nine Puzzles is a story that explores what justice means in a world ruled by money and power. Not exactly realistic yet not entirely fantastical, this narrative inhabits the grey area between the two, introducing us to strange, unconventional scenarios with recognisable events that certainly criticise the greed and apathy that lurk in the corners of our society. Fairness, in Nine Puzzles, is almost illusory as our characters might have to fight to save the corrupted and arrest the oppressed. So, who can define what justice really is? As the concept of justice becomes more complex, our characters struggle to trust one another and even their own perceptions of others.

The heart of Nine Puzzles lies in how its characters reveal who they are through the choices they make, reflecting how they change and evolve (or regress) throughout their lives. The mosaic that makes up their identity is only partially known to the people around them and, as they learn more and more about one another, their perspectives are forced to adapt. Eventually, Kim and E-na propose the question to us, the audience: Do we really know the people who surround us? Do we know their inner ghosts and demons, their goals and beliefs? As we’re all transformed by our experiences, who can we become? Our personalities are as intricate as the social and moral concepts we live by and, even in the relationships we cherish the most, we might struggle to form an accurate judgment of others.

And here’s where trust comes in. In the process of discovering and rediscovering our identities, our relationships are kept afloat by trust. If they want to find the answers they are looking for, E-na and Kim need to put their own hearts on the line as the path towards the truth becomes ever more personal. It’s only through the trust they place in each other that they can continue moving forward and process the emotions that obscure their reasoning. As the relationship between Kim and E-na becomes stronger, it’s this confidence that becomes key for them to face a world that becomes increasingly more suspicious. As is often the case, the bond between our two leading sleuths contrasts with the main element of a good mystery: suspicion.

Technical Notes: Tone, Performances, and Visuals

Everyone can be a suspect in Nine Puzzles, reinforcing the dark and tense tone of the series and the multiple layers of this enigma that will only be fully solved in its last hour. Every clue leads to a different riddle, to which the narrative refuses to deliver straightforward solutions.

To be fair, if you put this script under the microscope, you’ll realise that it isn’t exactly flawless. However, Nine Puzzles bets on its characters to keep the show on track. It embraces their humanness, presenting them as individuals with strengths and weaknesses, principles to uphold, and desires to fulfil. With strong characterisation, they naturally create the events that follow, igniting a chain of cause and effect that seem inevitable in hindsight.

Nine Puzzles is fascinating thanks to how carefully this script was translated into moving images. First, performances are impeccable: Kim Da-mi and Son Suk-ku are extraordinary individually and as a duo. Their chemistry is bewitching as they bounce off each other and allow their dynamics to evolve throughout the series. The supporting cast is just as charismatic, which isn’t a surprise when you realise Nine Puzzles is supported by a group of extremely talented performers: from Kim Sung-kyun, Hyun Bong-sik and Park Gyu-young to Ji Jin-hee, Lee Sung-min, and Hwang Jung-min.

Then, sharp editing and a strong score meticulously set the pace and tone. And finally, Director Yoon gives the show a very clear visual identity. From the incredibly smart opening credits to the meticulous production design, superb compositions, and calculated use of colour and light, Nine Puzzles creates visual interest in its story, allowing its visuals to contribute to the construction of its mystery.

Should You Watch Nine Puzzles?

Once you put all the pieces of this puzzle together, the picture that emerges is a complex, immersive, and thoughtfully executed story of murder, mystery, and intrigue. If you (like me) don’t really enjoy gory or excessively violent dramas, rest assured that violence in Nine Puzzles is never gratuitous and there are very few graphic scenes. Instead, the series invests more in the psychological thriller side, offering a rewarding experience through an intricate plot that will put your own deductive skills to the test.

If you are a fan of detective novels and films, you’ll also appreciate that Detective Kim is a fellow fan and rejoice with all the literary and cinematic references sprinkled throughout the series!

Compelling and perfectly delivered characters, a curious conundrum to crack, exceptional visuals, and just a tad of emotional drama make Nine Puzzles very much worth a watch.

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