REVIEW: ‘A Shop For Killers’ Season 2 Episodes 1-2

The Lee Dong-wook and Kim Hye-jun-led show, A Shop For Killers, returns to Disney+ for a second season—expanding the assassin-based shopping mall world. Jeong Jin-man (Lee Dong-wook) and Jeong Ji-an (Kim Hye-jun) thwarted some threats in Season 1, but returning and new enemies continue to try to tear down the black market arms shopping mall: Murthehelp. Bale (Jo Han-sun) might be the least of Jin-man and Ji-an’s worries this season.

A Shop For Killers Season 2 faithfully adapts the source material from the novel, The Murderer’s Shopping Mall by Kang Ji-young. Season 1 began when a girl named Ji-an lost her parents and was raised by her uncle Jin-man, who runs a suspicious online shop. Season 2 branches out the world of the novel and the first season, going deeper into the syndicates and up to the interpretation of series creators Lee Kwon and Lee Eon-hee. 

The VFX holds up, feeling grounded and terrifying.

Following the events of A Shop For Killers Season 2, the Murthehelp team may have won the battle against Bale, Lee Yong-han (Ahn Kil-kang), and the evil corporation Babylon, but a bigger threat appears this season. The two-episode premiere for Season 2 introduces new Babylon key figures Kusanagi (Jung Yoon-ha), Q (Hyun Lee), and J (Masaki Okada). These first two episodes showcase why the Murthehelp team should be worried about this merged forces of the Babylon and East Asia Babylon squad.  

A Shop For Killers Season 2 Episode 1, “Jinman, That Same Day,” serves as a semi-recap of the whole first season while also being a cool perspective change. Essentially, the audience is allowed to see why Jin-man had to fake his death to infiltrate Babylon and protect Ji-an—most of Jin-man’s on-screen storytelling was told in flashbacks. Tonally, and for pacing, it’s smart to see the action-heavy side of the same story from Season 1. Viewers are treated to Jin-man and his allies planning and executing their heist of the Babylon server. 

The best part about kicking off Season 2 with Jin-man’s point of view is that it’s filled with tons of action sequences. As far as the VFX go, the robot dogs still hold up as grounded and terrifying, thanks to how their staccato movements feel. Even more fearsome to see, Jin-man faces what looks to be the show’s rendition of a Terminator T-1000. These mechanical beings are flexible, steel-strong, and mostly bulletproof. It’s crazy to see Jin-man getting tossed around and punched with superhuman strength. 

A Shop For Killers Season 2 Episode 1 perfectly captures what Jin-man was up to during Season 1’s present day.

The editing and camera tricks also help sell these fights with CGI enemies like the robots Jin-man faces in Episode 1. But even when Jin-man has another climactic fight with Bale, the cinematography and camera work is insanely dynamic. The two ex-Babylon comrades clash in the middle of a missile silo setting, raised way above ground level.

Clearly, a camera drone circles around the fight on the raised bridge platform as Jin-man and Bale duke it out. This unique filming style is both dizzying and more fun to watch than the quick cuts of other films and TV shows capturing fight choreography. Overall, A Shop For Killers Season 2 Episode 1 perfectly captures what Jin-man was up to during the present-day events in Season 1, but also teases the new threats which appear in Episode 2.

Even though the whole Murthehelp team reunites at the end of Season 1, Ji-an decides to leave Jin-man, Min-hye (Geum Hae-na), Pasin (Kim Min), and Brother Lee (Lee Tae-young) in order to start a new, normal life somewhere else, in A Shop For Killers Season 2 Episode 2, “Recluse.” Fast-forward one year, and the new current timeline diverges from the source material. Ji-an moves to a small island town called Hanam-do, introducing new characters—including three new grannies and a young man named Woo-jin (Yoon Hyun-Soo). 

The way Kusanagi storms into the Korean Babylon headquarters shows how commanding she is.

Ji-an appears to be lying low to avoid standing out, but sticks out like a sore thumb when she’s around the townsfolk since she doesn’t really talk to anyone. Even though Ji-an tries to run away from Murthehelp, her uncle Jin-man, and the assassination world, she remains plagued by the ghost of Lee Seong-jo (Seo Hyun-woo). As a quick reminder, Seong-jo was the legendary sniper assassin who Ji-an ultimately killed in Season 1, Episode 8. So much so, Ji-an struggles to sleep, and booby-traps her house for fear that other assassins may come kill her. 

A Ji-an who’s suffering through her PTSD of the day she was attacked one year ago is an appropriate place where she should be. Seeing Ji-an try to live a normal life perfectly sets up that she cannot escape the assassin life, ever since she was forced to join the world during the events of Season 1. Despite A Shop For Killers Season 2’s story going in an original direction from the novel, witnessing Ji-an’s struggles to escape the criminal underground is entertaining—especially as she sees ghosts and adds horror elements to the show. 

For Jin-man and his trusted allies, his team continues to thwart Yong-han and Bale’s Babylon. Enter Babylon East Asia branch members, led by the mysterious and cunning Kusanagi—who lives in Japan but is originally from Korea. The way Kusanagi storms into the Korean Babylon headquarters shows how commanding she is, and her actions to straighten the Korean branch back up her fearmongering passive effect.

A Shop For Killers Season 2 Episodes 1-2 get the season off to an exciting start.

A Shop For Killers Season 2 Episodes 1-2 appear to be off to an exciting start, perfectly recapping the first season’s highlights while setting up what’s to come. But also, these first two episodes help set up what’s to come and the challenges the protagonists will have to overcome in order to defeat both branches of Babylon.

The action and intrigue continue to hit on the right notes. So, as long as the rest of the season keeps up the pacing from the first two episodes, this second season should be shaping up for an entertaining one—determining if Ji-an will end up becoming an assassin when all’s said and done or not.  

A Shop For Killers Season 2 Episodes 1-1 are streaming now on Disney+, with two new episodes every Wednesday.

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