Forget the aliens and UFOs, ‘Glitch’ is about a journey of self-discovery

UFOs, aliens, and two friends who are after the truth — this is the plot of “Glitch.”

The Netflix sci-fi mystery series, released worldwide on the streaming service on Oct. 7, currently sits at No. 8 on Netflix’s Global Top 10 chart, having been streamed over 7.44 million hours from Oct. 10 to 16.

The series revolves around a woman in her 30s portrayed by Jeon Yeo-been, who struggles because of a big secret — she sometimes witnesses aliens that seem to only appear to her. She leads a relatively normal life apart from these sightings, with a steady job and a steady boyfriend whom she’s been dating for four years.

That is until her boyfriend suddenly disappears without a trace.

She becomes convinced that the aliens kidnapped him and during her efforts to find him, she reunites with her childhood best friend and UFO enthusiast, portrayed by singer and actor Nana.

Together the pair embarks on a journey to find him.

“Glitch” was written by Gin Han-sai who is also behind the hit Netflix series “Extracurricular” (2020) and directed by Roh Deok behind the hit romance film “Very Ordinary Couple” (2013).

Although defined as a sci-fi mystery, the narrative switches between mystery, sci-fi, thriller, and comedy as the two friends search for the truth.

According to director Roh during a press interview at a cafe in Samcheong-dong last week, she understood the pair’s journey as ultimately being the protagonist’s search for herself.

“Ji-hyo [the protagoinst] has lived with a memory that she met an alien presence in her teens,” Roh said. “The story starts with the premise that is what happened. Instead of focusing on whether or not there is an actual alien presence, I thought what was more important was the fact that Ji-hyo went through something incredulous, almost unbelievable, which makes it hard for even her to decipher what actually happened. This is Ji-hyo’s journey of discovering herself and her truth, which has always been a big mystery in her life.”

Roh hoped the global audience could relate to the protagonist and her courage.

“I think Ji-hyo was on this quest to complete the missions that all of us are expected to go through,” Roh said. “The final stage [of her 30s] was marriage. Maybe she could have gone on and lived her life as it was. However, she chooses to deviate from that path, which, from the perspective of an individual, could be a very big event for her. I hoped the audience could relate to Ji-hyo’s worries and situation [instead of viewing her case as unique or unbelievable].”

Although as different as night and day and with plenty of faults, the two friends are there for each other no matter what. Some viewers commented their relationship was close to the genre of GL (girls’ love, a subculture of homoerotic romance). According to Roh, she said that she had discussions with Gin about the degree and extent to which the relationship should be portrayed.

“I first approached their relationship as friends who were on this journey together,” Roh said. “But [as the narrative developed] I understood that their relationship was unique, the extent to which the other thinks of one another was different than how we normally categorize friends. Through discussions with Gin, we’ve arrived at a conclusion that Bo-ra [the protagonist’s best friend] was someone who has unconditional faith in Ji-hyo. She is a presence who reminds Ji-hyo that she’s not alone. Their relationship was so fantastical that I was even open to the idea that Bo-ra was Ji-hyo’s imaginary friend that she created in her teens. It may not be true, but Bo-ra was so intricately tied to and part of her that I could imagine in a parallel world, the two were somehow part of each other and Bo-ra somehow derived from Ji-hyo.”

Viewers also get to see the aliens in the series — gray blob-shaped creatures with wide, black-rimmed eyes that don baseball hats.

“Two sorts of aliens appear in ‘Glitch,” Roh explained. “One is a presence that is seen only by Ji-hyo, and the second is the ‘real’ aliens that Bo-ra and Ji-hyo meet inside a UFO. For the former, the design of the alien was conventional, or what the audience would generally picture an alien to look like when they think of one in their minds. What was important was that they [the aliens] were situated in everyday places that we’d see, such as cafes or convenience stores so that the audience would feel that they don’t fit with their surroundings. For the latter, we [the staff] let our imagination run a little wilder — since they’re now in the UFO, we thought the audience would be more open to different alien forms.”

According to Roh, the main plot point of “Glitch” is neither the journey to find the missing boyfriend nor the journey to prove the existence of aliens.

“It’s about self-trust,” Roh said. “Trust, in this series, is portrayed through a variety of characters in different ways […] Bo-ra, who believes in herself; and Ji-hyo who is constantly on the watch because she doesn’t believe in herself. I believe it’s a very tormenting thing, not to be able to trust oneself. It’s not about having complete assurance about the direction I’m headed to, but at least finding the minimum amount of faith about my decisions.”

Roh also explained the ending of the series, when Ji-hyo makes an unexpected decision about her relationship.

“Si-guk [the boyfriend] was like the last stage for Ji-hyo in her attempt to lead a normal, conventional life,” Roh said. “After her journey together with Bo-ra, she found a way to trust herself, and she knows that she can now lead an independent life […] It [her decision] was a symbol showing Ji-hyo’s process of becoming an adult.”

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]