Butterfly Review
Director: Kitao Sakurai, Kim Jin-min, and Jann Turner
Date Created: 2025-08-13 15:48
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Butterfly Review: Directed by Kitao Sakurai, Kim Jin-min, and Jann Turner, this six-episode action-packed thriller is the adaptation of graphic novelist Arash Amel. Daniel Dae Kim leads the cast of David Jung, and Reina Hardesty plays the role of Rebecca, Louis Landau plays Oliver, Piper Perabo plays Juno, Kim Tae-hee plays Eunju Kim, and Park Hae-soo plays Choi Yong-shik. Sean Dulake, Charles Parnell, Kim Ji-hoon, and Sung Dong-il play Hollis, Senator Dawson, Gun, and Doo Tae-kim, respectively, adding depth to the show’s intricate world of espionage and deceit.
Every episode, about 50 minutes long, blends high-stakes spy thriller with interpersonal drama. The series is about David Jung, a retired spook living a peaceful existence until his estranged daughter Rebecca becomes embroiled in a game of lethal lies. What started as a rescue turns into a struggle that includes old foes, changing allegiances, and wounds that are very, very deep.
Butterfly Review
When I started watching Butterfly on Prime Video, I was in the mood for a simple spy thriller with plenty of fighting, chases, and double-crosses. And yes, the series does provide all those, but what I wasn’t expecting was how much the show would have heart. The personal drama between David and Rebecca ends up being the real bedrock of the show.
Rebecca’s abandonment complex and David’s guilt over what happened years before provide some of the show’s best moments. It’s not bullets and car chases — it’s a father and daughter, who were apart for years, trusting again. That internal struggle kept me more invested in the characters than the pyrotechnics.
The highlight is that the acting is what makes the Show come alive. Daniel Dae Kim is believable as David, the rough-around-the-edges spook and the vulnerable dad who’s trying to make amends for his transgressions. Reina Hardesty’s got just the right amount of toughness and vulnerability to Rebecca to keep you on your toes — you can never quite tell whose side she’s on.
Piper Perabo’s Juno is also not to be forgotten. She is icy, calculating, and unapologetically manipulative. The rest of the supporting cast, including Kim Tae-hee and Park Hae-soo, enriches even the supporting roles, so the world of the Butterfly series is richer.
That’s where my emotions get in the way. The Butterfly series on Prime Video does contain some decent fight scenes and suspenseful parts, but the actual fights aren’t that revolutionary. If you’ve seen a lot of spy thrillers, you can likely anticipate how most of the car chases and shootouts are going to turn out.
The show takes cues from usual tropes in its spy storylines — behind-the-scenes agendas, secret societies, and betrayal. That makes it so easy to keep up I just wish it took more risks to keep us guessing. Otherwise, the pacing is superb, so even if I knew there was a twist, I was still interested in knowing what it was.
What Butterfly does best is family drama. David’s struggles to re-start with Rebecca are echoed in other dysfunctional family dynamics on the show, like Rebecca’s on-again, off-again with Juno or David’s life with Eunju and their teenage daughter, Minhee.
These emotional strands are woven throughout the picture as a whole so that you’re never simply seeing action for action’s sake. Even the static shots — such as family dinners or climactic showdowns — are as charged as the huge action scenes. To me, these were the best part of the Butterfly series.
Without giving too much away, the last episode of Prime Video’s Butterfly leaves you wondering and not knowing. When everything seems to be back to normal for David, the last few minutes turn everything upside down. I like endings like that myself, as it leaves the characters lingering in your head long after the credits roll. Some will be annoyed, but to me, it was an excellent way to set things up for season two.
What I was most impressed with Prime Video’s Butterfly doing was how it made me emotionally invested in the characters outside of the action sequences. The acting is real, especially Daniel Dae Kim as a flawed father and Reina Hardesty as a daughter torn between two cultures. That dynamic carries a lot of the emotional load, and the show gives them sufficient space to craft real relationships without rushing. The drama and action are precisely in balance, and the pacing makes it easy to watch all six episodes in one sitting. The series finale, with a winking cliffhanger, leaves you wondering what can be done next, which keeps the momentum rolling for a possible second season.
All of which being said, however, the show isn’t perfect. While the fight choreography is well-timed and well-executed, and the chase scenes are smooth, they’re occasionally just a bit too toned down. Many of the spy-plot twists are things that nostalgia-fans of old school thrillers will be able to anticipate, which takes away from their tension. Some of the supporting cast, especially the more shadowy villains, aren’t developed to their potential — they can be darker or more complex, but don’t receive enough screen time to really make any difference. This makes some of the plot threads feel like wasted potential.
Prime Video Butterfly Review: Summing Up
Overall, it’s quick, binge-watchable with only six episodes, and it pairs its spy plot with good family drama in a manner that engaged me. Although I do think that it could’ve been more daring with its action scenes, the acting and the chemistry between characters redeem it. For me, Prime Video series Butterfly is noteworthy not because it’s the most innovative spy show, but because I found myself caring about what’s going on with its characters. And in a genre often dominated by faceless villains and invincible heroes, that’s something worth appreciating.
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