The 2025 Korean drama, The Defects, appears to be a rather original work about genetically modified children. It's an examination of Korean parents' obsession with "perfect" children. I suppose artificial youth has been around for many years, but it hasn't reached this level yet. The series premiered four episodes today, all very captivating, with a fast-paced and very realistic story. It begins with the kidnapping of a young girl to be murdered, before she suddenly grows up and lives in hiding. While the possibility of something like this happening in real life seems impossible, this K-drama reminds us that we have become inhuman enough to be able to return "defective" parts, even if they are real children. But I won't waste any more time and go straight to the recap of the first four episodes of The Defects.
Episode 1 of The Defects begins in 2011, where a young girl is kidnapped by two men. One of these men is Tae-Sik, whom this girl will affectionately call "Ajhussi" as she grows up. But, at the moment, it seemed like he was about to kill her with a gun. Tae-Sik took this job because he needed money to pay for his mother's hospital bills. After many odd jobs, Tae-Sik finally decided to raise these children as his own out of guilt, but he basically turned them into weapons for their own safety.
Stars: Yum Jung-ah, Won Jin-ah, Choi Young-joon
The youngest, Ah-Hyun, is now grown, and there are three other children with her. They've been living off ramyeon and can't go anywhere alone without permission or prior orders. But when one of the other girls, So-Mi, says she wants chicken, Ah-Hyun decides to give it a try. They head to a gambling den to steal money, but end up fighting with everyone there, nearly killing each other. But wait, they're not stealing a fortune. They only take enough to buy themselves a chicken—how cute!—and leave the rest for the police (eh?).
But as soon as they buy the chicken, Tae-Sik sends them away, which means they can't even eat. Suddenly, they're practicing target shooting, and each of them has a negative memory they recall to help them aim accurately. These people they remember are their parents. The parents who abandoned them and hurt them in other ways. But when they all get shot, Tae-Sik tells her they shouldn't go out because some people want them dead, even after all these years. Now, So-Mi gets angry because she's tired of living in hiding, but Ah-Hyun reminds her that the only reason they're still alive is because of Tae-Sik, and that they asked him to save them. Tae-Sik is worried the children will end up trapped in Korea, so he plans to send them out of the country. But there's another Ah-Hyun in the series.
This girl's mother is named Se-Hee, and she's like a good woman everyone trusts. She goes to an orphanage, and the children are delighted to see her. She even asks one to call her "Mom," and the boy calls her that right away. But she's the mastermind, or at least the visible mastermind, of this bioengineered baby show. A man named Jung-Hyeon works for her, and we see him kill a journalist who got too deep into their story. When Se-Hee visits her daughter's school, we see a boy named Si-Woo.
The first episode focuses primarily on this boy's story. He will be the fifth member of the family. Si-Woo's mother is disappointed with his school performance, but Se-Hee's daughter Ah-Hyun is good friends with him. Suddenly, we learn that Si-Woo is a "defective" piece and his mother wants to get rid of him. Unbeknownst to him, this is the last time he'll see his mother, who pretends to take him out to play. The reason she doesn't want him is that he gets bad grades, while they wanted a perfect son. The return process basically means Tae-Sik kills the children.
But this time, when Si-Woo is saved, he overhears his own mother talking about wanting him dead, and he still believes she will want him back. He thinks he can apologize and everything will be okay. But it's not. He ends up calling his mother on the way to the bathhouse, where the other children are hiding, and this ultimately ruins Tae-Sik's entire plan. Not only does Si-Woo overhear his mother say that he isn't dead yet, but Jung-Hyeon learns that the boy is still alive, which means Tae-Sik has likely saved more of them. Eventually, Si-Woo makes it to the bathhouse, but news of his disappearance has spread. This makes the children realize something is wrong, and he admits to calling their mother. On the other hand, Jung-Hyeon ultimately kills Tae-Sik, leaving the family to fend for themselves. It's a huge loss, as he was the only adult caring for these children.
So-Mi has taken the name of K-pop idol Jeon So-Mi. In a flashback, we see that she auditioned to become a K-pop idol, but her mother didn't want her to go through with it. Meanwhile, her adoptive father is a pedophile and hypnotizes his own daughter to assault her. But So-Mi always believed that her mother wanted to abandon her too. In the present, Ah-Hyun finds a letter left by Tae-Sik explaining everything he's done so far.
She also finds out about all those who have "returned" their children because they didn't live up to his standards. Meanwhile, since Si-Woo wasn't declared, the other Ah-Hyun starts to worry about him. Rumors also spread quickly at school. But Se-Hee tells Ah-Hyun that studying should be her number one priority, also reminding her that she used to think as a child that if she wasn't number one, she would have died (phew!). Ah-Hyun refers to Jung-Hyeon as her maternal uncle, but it turns out Jung-Hyeon is also one of the children like her, and Se-Hee expects him to call her Mom, as we discover later in the show.
Tae-Sik left someone as a safe haven for the children, but when they get there, it turns out to be a trap, and Jung-Hyeon is there to get rid of them for good. But eventually, the children manage to escape because Tae-Sik has trained them well. Ah-Hyun has a newfound enthusiasm; he shows the other children recordings of what their parents said about them before getting rid of them. This makes them decide they won't give up easily and will fight back against those who started it all. Episode 2 focuses on So-Mi's father. He's now the principal of a school, which is truly shocking since he's a predator. They want to get information from him about a black card to reach the leader. At night, Ah-Hyun poses as a designated driver, and he notices how young she looks. He tells him that when kids like her need money, he gets even more excited. Ah-Hyun pretends to be willing to do anything for him, and he's delighted. Then she says she knows someone even younger and would be happy to introduce him. It turns out to be Joo-An dressed as a girl, but Chul-Soo invites her over, unaware of the difference (Sister Hong, who?).
The kids then torture Chul-Soo for information about the black card. It turns out that So-Mi's mother never abandoned her; she didn't even know her husband was "giving them back" their daughter. She lost her mind shortly after So-Mi's disappearance, and Chul-Soo committed her to a psychiatric hospital.
So-Mi wants to find her mother, but the kids are initially skeptical that Jung-Hyeon will be there. The kids also find a nice place to live and quickly make it their home. Meanwhile, Se-Hee meets with an important woman, whose identity is still unknown. She says her infertility is her biggest flaw and that she's married to such a perfect man, so she needs a perfect child for him. We also see Se-Hee's indifference toward children and natural childbirth. She says it's ridiculous that people call embryos babies when they're just cells. At the same time, a police officer finds Ah-Hyun's phone and discovers that Tae-Sik and Ah-Hyun were like family. This could help them uncover a bigger secret.
Elsewhere, Se-Hee reunites with the woman, who says she wants a perfect child like Se-Hee. It seems she wants her to donate her own eggs for the child. But Se-Hee tells her she can do better and give her her 14-year-old daughter's eggs (phew!). Elsewhere, the children go to the hospital, and So-Mi gets closure because her mother never abandoned her, but she can't save her. Their mother is left abandoned in the hospital when Jeong-Hyun's men become too much for the children. Separately, we learn that the son of an assemblyman has disappeared, and the boy's name is Sung-Woo. This boy is Seok-Su, one of the four who are with Ah-Hyun. He disappeared three years ago. If he reappears, it will be a big problem not only for the assemblyman, but also for the organization. But a police officer seems to be catching up.
The children manage to find out about a baby-buying event. They go inside to find out exactly what's going on and see wealthy parents bidding for babies. All the children are disgusted by what they are saying; they can't believe such an elaborate system exists, and now they must stop it.
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