Hwang Pil-gwang (Kang) and Gelly Choi (Kim) are caricatures, with hairstyles and wardrobes to match and a cookie-cutter brand of evil that lacks grounding elements. They are evil spirits stalking Earth without a driving motive.

The Uncanny Counter season 2: hit fantasy action K-drama returns on Netflix

Pil-gwang wants to acquire more powers and retrieve money from crooked real estate gangster Lee Chung-jae (Kim Hyeon-jun), but to what end? If he has a grand plan, we have yet to be clued in on it.

Gelly is given more shades of character after it is pointed out by her counter nemesis Do Ha-na (Kim Se-jeong) that no one comes to her aid when she is in trouble, unlike Ha-na. This turns Gelly against Pil-gwang, but her character evolution is buried under Kim’s manic performance.

That leaves Ma Ju-seok (Jin), the kindly neighbourhood firefighter who loses everything when his pregnant wife is killed by Pil-gwang’s gang.

Full of rage, Ju-seok festers in jail after he stops just short of killing Chung-jae associate Park Seong-uk (Park Jung-ok), who he believes is responsible for the murder.

In his susceptible condition, Ju-seok is possessed by a powerful spirit and Pil-gwang seeks to draft him to his side when he catches wind of this, continually feeding him lies about the counters and Chung-jae, who he wants him to kill.

Ju-seok is a formidable foe fuelled by a powerful evil, but the good-hearted Ju-seok is still in there somewhere and the counters strive to free him before it is too late. This makes him a compelling pawn to be used by Pil-gwang, but also exacerbates just how superficial an antagonist Pil-gwang is.

Jeok-bong is a country bumpkin caricature of the highest order, whose counter power – smelling evil spirits – stems from his experience with cow dung.

Aside from a side plot involving him briefly giving up and returning to his father’s farm, Jeok-bong largely serves as comic relief. In a group already filled with pantomime-prone goofs, he is far and away the goofiest.

After standing out in season one and cementing Kim Se-jeong, formerly of the K-pop groups I.O.I. and Gugudan, as a screen presence, Ha-na has been saddled with a disappointing romantic subplot.

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This begins when she bumps into her high-school crush Do-hwi (Seo Byeock-joon) in a piano academy. Ha-na and Do-hwi meet from time to time but she holds back from his clear interest in her, for fear of mixing her dangerous work with pleasure.

The thread is strung together with half-baked scenes that see the show devolve into a sappy romantic drama. It is one of several examples of season two offering up unconvincing sideshows as it attempts to appeal to everyone.

One of season two’s better sequences takes place at the noodle shop when Pil-gwang waltzes in and engages in a wordless mental battle with So Mun (Jo Byeong-gyu) while a group of schoolchildren unknowingly slurp up their meals beside them.

This is the sweet spot where the show operates best, when evil encroaches on the ordinary. Sadly, Eonni’s Noodles is sacrificed in the wake of this scene as the counters relocate to a nondescript warehouse for the remainder of the series.

During this season’s biggest confrontation yet, in a sky-high penthouse at the end of episode eight, Mun has his memories and thus powers wiped from his mind.

While ostensibly the show’s main character, he has had little to do this season. Hopefully this reset will be just the thing to get him and the show back on track for the final sprint to the finish line.

The Uncanny Counter season 2 is streaming on Netflix.