The Observer.

Two full-season reviews of entertaining but flawed series reveal the gap between Mid and Mid-Plus, and a new American series set in Korea runs into a slight problem - that Korean series are better.

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The Observer is a spoiler-free curated collection of television series and films.

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It’s not often that I’ll watch a full season of a series and focus on its merits and demerits from beginning to end — there are just too many other series to get into the conversation — but in this instance I think one series really helped me get a better sense of what I think is Mid and Mid-Plus (and, though it’s not related to either, Mid-Minus).

That’s helpful, and on some level it ends up also being an indictment of what’s getting made now. But first, a reminder of my terminology here: Mid isn’t “meh,” and neither is it bad. In fact, Mid is the quintessential “good,” if you don’t give the word “good” too much heft. The minus and plus is, obviously, less good and better than good.

Because so many series fall into this category, “Mid” needed to have those nuances and not be seen as “bad.” I don’t have time to do bad here, nor an interest in that, as you know, mostly because it serves no purpose for you (or me).

About the only time I write about something that ends up truly being bad, and a waste of your time, is when a series starts well and then goes off the rails — and usually I’ll suffer that on my own and not even write about it.

So let’s start with three new (and new-ish) series, building up to the better choice at the end..

“Butterfly,” (2025) Amazon Prime, 6 episodes.

This American-Korean series came out a week ago on Amazon, starring Daniel Dae Kim (of “Lost” and “Hawaii Five-O” fame), who was born in Korea but moved here when he was one. It’s an action-thriller based on a graphic novel from Arash Amel, created and adapted for television by Steph Cha and Ken Woodruff, most likely because Korean television is extremely popular globally. The series is shot in Korea, which is a plus.

The problem with “Butterfly” — it didn’t take two episodes to figure this out but that’s what I watched — is that so many other Korean series are better. Like, a lot. And while I enjoy Daniel Dae Kim quite a bit, and it’s nice to see him be able to make a series in South Korea (and have his accent mocked by South Koreans who live there, a smart and funny light touch), there are issues here.

Everything from the jumbled switching between English and Korean to the slower fight scenes and, compared to most other Korean series, less frenetic and gritty gun scenes and pacing, leaves a lot to be desired.

And it seems a particularly American oversight that co-star Reina Hardesty, who plays Kim’s daughter, is Japanese-American. Hardesty is very good in the first two episodes that I saw, but there’s certainly no shortage of Korean-American actresses if you’re going for authenticity.

“Butterfly” doesn’t seem to be interested in that, much of the time. Kim plays David Jung, an American intelligence operative who started a company with a sociopathic-leaning woman named Juno (Piper Perabo), and along the way he had to fake his own death for nine years to save his own daughter, Rebecca (Hardesty), who nevertheless grows up and becomes a sociopathic-leaning assassin working for Juno at her dad’s old company.

That’s the premise. They reunite in South Korea and kick ass while working out all of those family issues that arose from his departure (and remarrying in Seoul). If you haven’t seen many Korean series then “Butterfly” is, at best, a Mid series that’s harmlessly entertaining. But if you have seen basically any Korean TV or movie thriller, then “Butterfly” drops quickly to Mid-Minus and calls into question why you would watch it over the real thing.