Lead cast: Ryoo Seung-ryong, Han Hyo-joo, Zo In-sung, Go Yoon-jung, Lee Jeong-ha, Kim Do-hoon, Cha Tae-hyun, Ryoo Seung-bum
Seven of the show’s 20 episodes dropped on the day it launched, an unusually large number but a wise choice given that the series takes some time to iron out a few kinks.
Give it time and you will find yourself immersed in an ambitious series the likes of which has seldom been seen in the K-drama industry.
The show’s huge cast features veteran stars Ryoo Seung-ryong, Han Hyo-joo and Kim Sung-kyun playing parents with ordinary jobs but extraordinary abilities, which they have all passed down to their children, played by Go Yoon-jung, Lee Jeong-ha and Kim Do-hoon, who all attend the Jeongwon High School.
Also featured are Cha Tae-hyun as a friendly neighbourhood bus driver, Ryoo Seung-bum as a ruthless operative hunting those with super powers, and Zo In-sung, whose character appears only briefly in these early episodes.
All the characters have their own, fleshed out backstories as well as new threads binding them together.
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Hui-soo has just moved to town with her dad, Jang Ju-won (Ryoo Seung-ryong), who has opened a fried chicken shop. The move came after Ju-won was expelled from her previous school. She got into a fight when she stood up for a bullied classmate, but her lack of injuries – she has the ability to self-heal – put her in a tough spot.
Lee Mi-hyun (Han) runs a spacious and secluded pork cutlet restaurant where she tries to keep down her son Bong-seok with a duvet that hooks to his bed and heavy weights in his school bag – he begins to float away when his emotions get the better of him.
There are other individuals with super powers around them who have been keeping low profiles. They start dying one by one following the appearance of Korean-born American spy operative Frank (Ryoo Seung-bum), who, posing as a delivery truck driver, wreaks havoc across town.
Behind all these characters are shadowy international government functionaries who seem to have had a hand in creating them, not to mention the mysterious staff at Jeongwon High, who are preparing their students for special tests and who serve at the beck and call of an unusual man with hairy ears and a sniffly nose.
Moving starts out in very broad style, filled with humour, cutesy characters and comfortably familiar family stereotypes. These clash with violent action scenes featuring the vicious Frank.
The first few episodes are a bit slow going, but provide time to introduce us to the many characters. Some of the interactions between those characters are initially a little awkward.
As the story starts to come together and some of the characters learn about each other’s secrets – the unfolding friendship between Bong-seok and Hui-soo is a pleasure to behold – the show sheds some of its cutesy trimmings.
We begin to care about the characters, and the looming threat of Frank – he keeps asking his adult victims if they have any children – adds some serious stakes to the story. When Frank is not busy talking – sometimes in awkward English – he gets down to business, excelling in some white-knuckle action set pieces.
There is an extraordinary shoot-out and dust-up in a cramped hair salon, and other inspired moments such as a single shot that captures Frank inputting an address in a GPS and barrelling through tight alleys and terrified pedestrians until he mows down his target, a delivery scooter rider.
By episode seven the show has really set its hooks in us, and yet the story has only just begun. The students are only beginning to control their super powers and the scope of the danger that awaits them is not entirely clear.
Moving is streaming on Disney+.