Butterfly review out now

A Prime Video series blends espionage with a family drama led by Daniel Dae Kim, weaving Korean culture into a fast paced thriller.

Butterfly blends spy thrills with a moving family drama

Butterfly follows David Jung, a retired intelligence officer, who returns to South Korea on a personal mission to bring home his estranged daughter Rebecca, who works as an assassin for the private agency Caddis led by Juno, David's former partner. The six-episode series, based on Arash Amel's graphic novel, stars Daniel Dae Kim and Reina Hardesty with Piper Perabo, weaving a story about loyalty, betrayal, and the ties that bind a family apart. The production leans into cinematic action with choreographed fight sequences and dynamic set pieces on locations that feel lived in, from Seoul Station to fast trains. The show also anchors its drama in Rebecca's evolving loyalties and in the tension between a father who wants to protect and a daughter who wants independence. While the espionage plot contains familiar twists, the emotional core of the family triangle often feels fresh and central.

Review notes that Butterfly is not a pure spy thriller but a family drama set within a spy world. Its pace is relentless, moving quickly from one beat to the next, which some viewers will find immersive and others may see as overwhelming. The cultural cross currents—the makgeolli moments, bilingual dialogue, and the setting in a city named after each episode—give the series an identity that sits outside standard genre fare. The performances, especially Hardesty's Rebecca, bring complexity to a character who is both enigmatic and vulnerable, while Kim grounds the show with a father's vulnerability. In the end, Butterfly earns its emotional weight even if its plot machines feel familiar.

The show sits at a trendy crossroads: it uses a Western pipeline to tell a Korean story while leaning into a global cast and audience. Its choice to favor family dynamics over pure suspense reflects a broader shift in thrillers toward emotional investment. That balance makes Butterfly feel distinctive even as its action playbook remains familiar. The strongest moments arrive when the camera lingers on relationships—the risk of abandonment, the cost of loyalty, the trouble of reconciliation—more than when it chases the next chase sequence. If the series sustains this mix, it could shape how future cross cultural thrillers are judged by both critics and fans.

Highlights

The real test will be how the show ages and what it teaches about cross cultural storytelling.