WhileLost’s Jin-Soo Kwon will remain most people’s favorite role of his, Daniel Dae Kim’s turn as Chin Ho Kelly inCBS’Hawaii Five-0rebootremains a true standout in his filmography, with his mix of stylish action and heartfelt character work. With his season 8 departure due to a pay equity dispute,Butterflymarks his long-awaited return as a lead in an action series.
Based on the BOOM! Studios graphic novel, the series centers on Kim as David Jung, the founder of a private intelligence organization who faked his death nine years before keep his daughter, Rebecca, safe. However, when he learns Rebecca has been working as an assassin for his former agency, he resurfaces to give her a new life.
Joined by Reina Hardesty and Piper Perabo,Butterflycertainly strivesto deliver a more emotional take on the spy genre with its central father-daughter plot and mind games played between David and his former partner, Juno. Unfortunately, even as the series delivers plenty of action and a hefty body count, the stakes are never high enough.
Butterfly’s Plot Is Too Safe & Lacks Any Major Stakes
Developed byThe MentalistalumKen Woodruff and Steph Cha in her screenwriting debut,Butterflyeffectively employs its strained father-daughter relationship. With intense conversations with Rebecca regarding David’s nine-year absence, it stays true to the concept and never strays too far, even as the action picks up.
One of the central conflict’s best twists comes from the reveal of how David spent his life in hiding. The mid-season twist nicely raises the emotional tension between David and Rebecca as she feels further betrayed by his choices and makes us wonder if she’ll truly accept her father’s return, or go to her prior point of connection in Piper Perabo’s Juno.
What’s even worse is the fact that I never really felt as though any of the mainButterflycharacters were in any real danger.
Despite its efforts,Butterflyplays it too safe. The first half of the season is more of a fugitive series, while the second half is a proper spy thriller. Yet, even as it strives for some big twists, they’re too easy to predict ahead of time. What’s worse is that none of thecharacters ever felt like they were in any real danger. Apart from one scene in which David is injured by Gun, played byMoney Heist: Korea’s Kim Ji-hoon, he and Rebecca aren’t put in situations where they can’t talk or fight their way out of.
Butterfly’s overall story is further hindered by the show’s ending. As is too often the case with shows nowadays, Woodruff and Cha tie most things up in a neat enough bow that a one-season run could have worked, but they throw a last-second wrench in the gears that not only comes out of nowhere, but also makes the season feel incomplete with this cliffhanger.
All that said,Butterflydeserves some credit for when it makes the shift from David and Rebecca fleeing to them taking the fight to Juno and David’s former agency. Seeing the father-daughter duo come up with sneaky spycraft plans, and adjusting to each other’s action styles makes for some entertaining sequences.
Butterfly’s Action Is Sleek & Well-Choreographed
But They’re Not Without A Couple Key Problems
WithBad TripandfutureStreet FighterdirectorKitao Sakurai heading up the show’s directorial team,Butterflyis a gorgeous show to look at. He and the rest of the production team do a remarkable job of utilizing various Korean regions for everything from fast-paced car chases to hand-to-hand combat and gorgeous landscapes.
But where it starts off sleekly directed and gives its choreography the chance to shine, later episodesultimately are too choppily edited. Scenes of David fighting enemies become a little dizzying to watch as we get cuts for nearly every single hit and kick rather than allowing the camera to stay wide and follow the action from a modest distance.
What’s more,Butterfly’s action sound design is muted. Sure, fight impacts don’t sound nearly as cartoonish as they did in the genre’s past. And yet, I so often felt like David and Rebecca’s fights with others weren’t as effective as they could have been.
Even worse were the sound effects used for the guns. In the wake of numerous heartbreaking accidents on sets, many productions have moved away from using gun replicas, but most have maintained the appropriately loud sound effects in post-production. InButterfly, however, the guns sounded like they were being shot underwater, lessening the impact.
Reina Hardesty & Piper Perabo Are Magnificent To Watch
Though they might not have always had the best material to work from, I was kept engaged throughoutButterfly’s six episodes thanks to its cast. Kim is equal parts charming and gripping as we follow David’s efforts to reconnect with Rebecca, while Charles Parnell is a delight as a senator who reluctantly trusts in David to bring down Juno.
But the real standouts are Reina Hardesty as Rebecca and Piper Perabo as Juno. Hardesty, on the rise after the likes ofStartUpandNetflix’sIt’s What’s Inside, is mesmerizing as she navigates between her resentment towards David, her enjoyment of the job, and her confusion over whom to trust.
Perabo, who’s so often shined in protagonistic roles, so seamlessly dons the snake skin ofButterfly’s antagonist. It’s one of her best performances yet. In a number of scenes, I found myself truly unable to predict what she would do and how she’d react to certain twists and turns, while also being haunted when she went the villainous route.
All six episodes ofButterflybegin streaming on Prime Video on August 13.
