Concept: A pair of “trauma cleaners” clean up after people who die unexpectedly, delivering the most prized belongings of the deceased to loved ones while dealing with tumult in their own lives. 

• • One of the best streaming series around.

  • I gave up reviewing TV programs a while back, for several reasons (programs are too variable, too long), and I decided that I would only write a review when a series is excellent and one that people should see. That’s why I’m writing a review on this series, because it’s excellent and you should see it.

  • Why should you see it? Because it deals with the most difficult aspects of life and does it very well, in ways that are enriching as well as entertaining.

  • It’s not at all preachy. It doesn’t intend to provide answers, instead acknowledging the questions, like the “Book of Job” from the Bible, recognizing both the suffering and the happiness that our lives commonly consist of.

  • The top-notch writing provides full-blooded characters that make it easier for the actors to inhabit.

  • The production puts the 4K cinematography to full use, delivering stunning visuals of even ordinary streets and environments.

  • Tears in every episode (your tears). This series will make you cry, a lot. It deals with death and loss without pulling punches or exaggerating, without sentimentality. Although there’s a positive sense of humor and hope in the series, it’s not a “Hallmark-style” superimposed fake hope that tries to take away from the pain of tragic loss. It’s not depressing, but can be sad, sad, sad.

  • If you’ve lived long enough as I have, you watch a series like this and are continually saying to yourself, “Yep… Yep… Yep, that’s the way it is… Yep…” The series feels truly authentic and speaks with insight.

  • This is not a bingeable series for the most part. Each episode is so heavy with feeling and drama that it could be too draining to watch more than one episode at once.

  • By the way, if you’re anti-religious, don’t get put off by the title; there’s not much religion here. Or don’t watch it expecting to see something religious. The series is about loss—the tragedy of those who lose their lives, and of those close to them.

  • Don’t be put off if you’re not into “weepies” or “tearjerkers” (I’m not into them either). Give the series a try and you won’t regret it; I haven’t found any negative reviews of this.

  • Better than “Squid Game” (a more famous, recent South Korean series), but of course, very different, “Squid Game” being a more action-focused, dystopian thriller.

  • Like “Squid Game,” “Move to Heaven” has a very strong first episode that makes you think, “Can the other episodes be as good as this one?” In the case of “Squid Game,” the answer was “No” until the very last episode; the other episodes were fun but not as great as the first. In the case of “Move to Heaven,” the answer is “Yes”; other episodes are as great as the first—not every episode is great, but most are, and those that aren’t are still extremely good

  • South Korea has become the “new and improved” Hollywood. With the quality of the programs coming out of South Korea during the past two years, it not only has caught up with Hollywood but has surpassed it on every measure—production, acting, and so on. I think the key to this success has been that Korea is remembering what Hollywood has long forgotten—that the key to any series or movie is the writing. If you have mediocre writing but everything else is great, then at maximum you’ll have a good series or film, but never great. The great writing and stories coming out of Korea is what has put that country’s production in the forefront of today’s cinema and series.

  • You may read this and think, “My real life is bad enough; why do I want to watch a series about loss?” I think it’s precisely because of the suffering we go through that we can get value out of a series like this. It’s not going to teach you anything, but that wasn’t the point anyway. I can’t read the minds of the producers, but I believe the point is to see one’s own sufferings reflected by the goings-on in the series, even if the details are very different, and to help us come to terms—even in a small way—with what is going on in our lives. And if a series can accomplish that, plus be entertaining—that is quite a bit.

  • Available on Netflix

Move to Heaven (2021) 98%