Statistics compiled by the organisation get a lot of media coverage in South Korea, almost always because they highlight a major problem; the people behind Tomorrow, produced by Korean broadcaster MBS, are all too aware of this.

The Jade Empress (Kim Hae-sook), who leads a bureau of grim reapers in the afterlife, rattles off statistics during a meeting with her subordinates. She mentions that 40 people take their lives each day in South Korea (almost 15,000 a year) and despairs that the country also has the lowest birth rate among OECD members.

Why does she bring up these statistics? Because the managers of the various teams in her organisation take a dim view of suicide (a mortal sin) and she needs to illustrate why they should care about preventing it by highlighting the country’s declining population.

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If we ignore the heavenly background, it’s easy to imagine similar discussions taking place in company boardrooms in real life. South Korea’s pressure-cooker society takes a massive toll on mental health from a young age, but talking about that is still a taboo in a country where therapy remains rare.

The one underling who does care is Koo Ryeon (Kim Hee-seon), the grim reaper who leads the risk management team, a division tasked with preventing suicide but which is in danger of being disbanded.

In many ways Ryeon seems like a product of a society that lacks mental health services. In the show’s opening she marches up to a small van occupied by four individuals attempting a group suicide.

She disconnects the exhaust pipe and hops into the vehicle alongside its drowsy passengers, slams on the ignition and takes them on a hell ride through the South Korean capital, Seoul, scaring them out of their wits.

She eventually backs the van until its teeters precariously over the edge of an elevated road and barks at them, asking whether they want to live or not. They do.

This is hardly an isolated incident. On two other occasions Ryeon manages to bully people onto a ledge rather than talk them off it. They both jump, although both survive.

But just when you think the show may have taken too literally the idea of using tough love to tackle depression, in comes Choi Jun-woong (Rowoon). Jun-woong is a handsome young lad with a laundry list of certificates and qualifications, but his prize – a position at a good firm – still eludes him.

Despondent, he is walking along a bridge at night following another rejection. Jun-woong ponders his failures, but before he has the chance to work himself into a bad state, he notices a man walking to the edge of the bridge.

He tries to walk away, but his conscience draws him back and he physically tries to stop the man killing himself.

Unbeknown to him, Ryeon and her colleague Lim Ryung-gu (Yun Ji-on) were about to intervene, but once they do, rather than save the suicidal man, both the man and Jun-woong go over the edge.

Jun-woong wakes up in a hospital bed and gets up. Or least he thinks he does until he turns around and sees his unconscious body still in bed. Also in the room is Ryeon, who explains who she is and the mistake that happened.

He is brought to the afterlife admin building to meet the Jade Empress and given a choice. He can spend three years in a coma, or join one of her teams to reduce the term to six months, with a promise of a placement at a good company when he wakes up.

He just needs to choose what team to join, and it so happens that Ryeon’s risk management team could use an extra hand.

The bulk of the first two episodes sees the team tackle the case of a depressed TV writer confronted with her school bully, who has found fame and fortune by chronicling the writer’s school trauma in a webtoon.

Considering the early episodes’ aggressive style, unclear stance on mental health and occasionally over-the-top performances, the narrative could go a number of ways from here, but there’s no denying that Tomorrow is off to a spirited start.

Tomorrow is streaming on Netflix.