Do you want expansive spoilers that reveal everything or just basic answers that do not reveal too much?
1. Baek Hee Sung's parents are not Hyun Soo's parents. I don't think his mother is ever explored in the show. You are seeing his 'adoptive' parents. 2. To start the show he's in a coma at the family's home. He wakes up partway through the show and is revealed to be Do Min Sook's accomplice. This explains why his parents were so terrified of Hyun Soo revealing himself. Baek Hee Sung hit Hyun Soo with his car and then tried to bury him alive. He was caught by his mother. That is some incredibly dirt to have on a couple. 3. As far as I'm aware he's dead. Hyun Soo sometimes hallucinates him. 4. Again I don't really remember his mom being explored, his fake mom goes to jail eventually because she helps her son (the real Baek Hee Sung). 5. I think she gave her reason at the time as trying to protect Hyun Soo who was getting exorcised over and over again (so basically physical non-sexual abuse). She cornered him, told him to stop and things got out of hand and she stabbed him.
I'll try to summarize here so brace yourself (and I'm removing as much of the emotional rollercoaster as I can:
Hyun Soo (with help from the reporter he tortured) tries to cover his tracks & hide his identity. While trying to do this he gets caught by the perpetrator of the recent murders - the husband of a woman who died (Jang Mi Sook?) who labels Hyun Soo an accomplice. He almost dies, Ji Won saves him. Ji Won learns his secret while he's in the hospital babbling nonsense after nearly dying.
Ji Won starts digging into his past and is conflicted about what to do professionally and personally with Hyun Soo (she will be for the rest of the show pretty much). Her co-worker detective is also suspicious that Hyun Soo survived the attack by the murderer. Why did the murderer take his time with Hyun Soo? Remember he thinks Hyun Soo is Baek Hee Sung.
The reporter and Hae Soo meet up - she eventually lets out that she killed the village chief. It seems like Hyun Soo may not have killed anyone. Baek Hee Sung's mom tries to kill him by removing his oxygen mask. Instead he wakes up.
Hyun Soo, tortured reporter and Hae Soo team up. Hyun Soo has a recording of an accomplice of his father's serial killings. He recognizes a sound, tracks it to a sketchy looking bar and attacks the bartender for information. He learns of a mob boss who worked with his father & the accomplice. Hyun Soo comes up with a plan to take down this mob boss and his human trafficking ring by pretending to to make a deal with him. He contacts the police using a burner phone to let them in on it. I think he also tells his adoptive father but I honestly forget, drama is messy.
I think around this point the co-worker detective has a recording device of the reporter's restored and learns Hyun Soo is pretending to be Baek Hee Sung. Ji Won at some point overhears that Hyun Soo is not a murderer (but also hears him say he does not love her).
The operation goes ahead. The audience learns it was Baek Hee Sung's father who betrays Hyun Soo to the mob boss. Hyun Soo gets caught by the mob boss, the reporter tries to save the situation, the police show up late. Hyun Soo is tied up and about to die when Ji Won shows up to save the day. Hyun Soo knows that Ji Won knows his real identity. She tells him to run and not take the rap for his sister's crime. The mob boss eventually escapes by killing a cop.
At this point we learn Baek Hee Sung is the accomplice of the original murders and both his parents know. Co-worker detective comes looking to arrest Hyun Soo but decides not to. Co-worker detective helps cover for Hyun Soo with Ji Won. The hunt for Hyun Soo kind of fades in police priority.
There's a deaf nurse who had been looking after Baek Hee Sung. She blackmails Hee Sung's mother for money in exchange for keeping the secret. Baek Hee Sung learns about it and kills her.
This part might be early: We learn Baek Hee Sung hit Hyun Soo with his car, tried to bury Hyun Soo alive and was caught by his mother who stabbed him.
Hyun Soo meets up with the co-worker detective and he seems to have guessed his adoptive father was behind trying to kill him and wants to set up a trap to catch his adoptive father.
Hyun Soo goes to his adoptive parents home to work this trap and instead leaves his fingerprints which Baek Hee Sung quickly uses to frame him for the murder of the deaf home-care nurse. Ji Won thinks Hyun Soo did kill that woman after she privately compares his prints to the ones on the corpse which Baek Hee Sung had planted.
Hyun Soo takes Ji Won hostage to escape. Hyun Soo is on the run again. The mob boss calls Baek Hee Sung and tells him to bring him money and that he still has Jang Mi Sook(sp?). Remember the start of the summary? She's the wife of the man who nearly killed Hyun Soo. She's still alive.
Ji Won gets free from the "hostage taking" and learns her mom is in hospital. She asks Hae Soo to pick up her daughter, pick up some clothes for her daughter and look after her for a little while. Hae Soo finds Ji Won's police ID, puts it on, hides Ji Won's daughter in a locked room and tells her not to come out until her mom is there. Hae Soo has figured out Baek Hee Sung is stalking them and she gets stabbed. Baek Hee Sung leaves her to die. Hyun Soo has found the place where Jang Mi Sook is being kept and has been unravelling the mystery.
Hae Soo is struggling to live in a hospital OR as they operate on her, the police decide to claim Baek Hee Sung killed Ji Won.
And now we're finally in the end stretch - Baek Hee Sung goes to where Jang Mi Sook is being held because that was a victim he wanted to kill. Hyun Soo ambushes Baek Hee sung and gets the upper hand. There's fighting and eventually Baek Hee Sung says "I killed your wife". Hyun Soo contacts the police who have their fake story of Ji Won dying and confirm it.
Hyun Soo goes crazy, Baek Hee Sung gets loose but is slashes/stabbed numerous times and Hyun Soo is taunting him, telling him to get up and run only to slash him again after he stumbles a few more feet. They eventually get to a cliff's edge and Hyun Soo is about to kill Baek Hee Sung when his wife shows up. He decides to choose his wife over murder. He gets shot in the head by Baek Hee Sung who steals a cop's gun. Baek Hee Sung is shot and killed right after that.
Amnesia. Separation as a result. Hae Soo gets a trial and wins on self defense. Hyun Soo and Ji Won get back together and it's a hug between the two of them and their daughter.
The End.
Keep in mind I simplified quite a bit and removed a lot of the emotional rollercoaster and some of the stories of the side characters. This show was filled with insane twists and turns that would make a makjang proud. And it did it in 16 episodes instead of ~50.
This was ridiculous. On the level of makjang daily dramas in terms of melodrama.
I'm struggling with ratings. If I classify this as a makjang I'll probably rate it average at a 7.0-7.5 but it's not. This was supposed to be primetime TV. I guess I'll probably settle on 7.0 because the cast put in a lot of effort for this mess of a script.
By the way - the product placement in episode 16 was hilarious.
I'm kind of on the fence between a score of 1 and 5.5.
This is Japanese nationalistic propaganda and denialism at its finest. It does tell a story and there should be one told about Japanese Americans, their property being confiscated, their life in internment camps, the racism, etc...
But the way this show glossed over war crimes by the Japanese is unacceptable. And make no mistake - the writers and director are aware of these crimes. It's referenced once during a break at the trial by one of the Japanese-American characters. Paraphrasing it here: "why are the Americans hung up on what happened in Manchuria 10 years ago?". Remember - the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and America's entry into the war happened because of American sanctions on Japan to end the occupation of China (Manchuria). This is basic, basic history. So America very much cared. Instead a Japanese TV show presents it as "oh the Americans didn't care until they could use it against us!". False.
They just don't care. For them Japan is a victim here. Millions of civilians dead, trafficking of hundreds of thousands of women as sex slaves, inhumane medical experiments on live human beings, concentration camps for civilians and POWs alike where it's estimate 1/3 of the population died... but lets give the orchestrators of these genocides emotional moments with their families at sentencing. Poor them. A few were sentenced to death. So unfair.
How about all those Chinese, Korean, Filipinos who died throughout the war? They didn't get the same time or attention as the sympathetic war criminals or any subject matter that presented Japan as the victim. They got one line by a character dismissing them as "why should anyone care about that?".
I mean seriously. As soon as this got to the trial portion of the show... you would have thought this was a sham trial of innocent Japanese men. Millions of innocent civilians died. The director has to know that. We have letters and memos written in Japanese by members within the Japanese military and political establishment at the time writing stuff like "kill all captives". That's a war crime. Written on paper and carried out by their military. And yet all that merited in this show was a dismissive 'why does America care about something that happened over 10 years ago'. Give me a break.
I think this rant sealed the deal. It's going to be a 1/10 because this propagates all the denialism of the extreme right wing nationalists in Japan. Extreme nationalism is bad whether it's in Japan, America, China or anywhere else. And it's bad whether it comes in an art form like movies and TV or government statements.
The characters seem to go a million miles an hour without moving a single mile over 6-7 hours of screen time. A review in a word: boring.
Not really the show for me. If you like slice of life and can make connections with characters easily then then I could see this being for you. There are life lessons, moments and meals. There were things I did enjoy, just not enough for an entire show IMO.
Quite often I have read about her poor acting skills. It sounds odd for me. In "Vagabond" she had the hard part,…
Plus reading the descriptions down below of the webtoon or whatever - the character doesn't seem too complex. Confident and flirty (or teasing). She's a former idol who had experience with both before moving to acting and she has a bunch of dramas under her belt.
I can't say I will watch this - we're simply way too far out and I might be watching, doing other things but it's not a bad casting in my opinion.
I gave it a second watch and the comparable for this drama to me is probably the Get Smart movie starring Steve Carrell.
It's not the best thing ever but it made me laugh and I think Dong Shik has similar vibes to Steve Carrell's character in Get Smart - believe in yourself and fake it until you make it. And the audience is along for the trainwreck of a ride.
This is a really strong start to this drama. In terms of making a TV show, I think it's easier to make a good romantic comedy but hard to make a great and memorable one.
With only three episodes I think this is a show that could likely end up in that "great and memorable" category. The cast is good, the female lead has strong facial expressions. The male lead also manages to have his moments. The side characters are fun and light.
They keep setting up tropes for the characters and then mocking them in their drama-within-a-drama. They subvert other tropes especially with the second leads and the grandpa.
This could be a hit or an all-time favorite romantic comedy for me if they can keep the momentum going.
It's probably a good idea this is only 12 episodes. They can keep it fun and light, the leads can show chemistry and they can end it before the clichés pile up too high. There were quite a few in episode 1. I guess the flipside is they aren't shy about making fun of themselves with that TV show within the TV show.
Jing Tian seems like she was born with the physical traits, presence and demeanor to play Republican era characters.
As for the drama I think it starts really strong but the last 5 or so episodes go at a bit of a frantic pace and it's jarring when you compare it to the rest of the drama.
This reminds me of an American indie movie. I feel like it would have been a bit better with one or two fewer 'heavy' topics some of which you see in the tags. Still, really strong drama. Hope the leads get more roles in the future.
I didn't have an issue with the cast but the story feels off and I dropped it. Maybe I'll come back to it later. It's unfortunate. Again no issue with anyone on the cast... the story just felt so light and was already going in circles.
1 
1 
2. To start the show he's in a coma at the family's home. He wakes up partway through the show and is revealed to be Do Min Sook's accomplice. This explains why his parents were so terrified of Hyun Soo revealing himself. Baek Hee Sung hit Hyun Soo with his car and then tried to bury him alive. He was caught by his mother. That is some incredibly dirt to have on a couple.
3. As far as I'm aware he's dead. Hyun Soo sometimes hallucinates him.
4. Again I don't really remember his mom being explored, his fake mom goes to jail eventually because she helps her son (the real Baek Hee Sung).
5. I think she gave her reason at the time as trying to protect Hyun Soo who was getting exorcised over and over again (so basically physical non-sexual abuse). She cornered him, told him to stop and things got out of hand and she stabbed him.
I'll try to summarize here so brace yourself (and I'm removing as much of the emotional rollercoaster as I can:
Hyun Soo (with help from the reporter he tortured) tries to cover his tracks & hide his identity. While trying to do this he gets caught by the perpetrator of the recent murders - the husband of a woman who died (Jang Mi Sook?) who labels Hyun Soo an accomplice. He almost dies, Ji Won saves him. Ji Won learns his secret while he's in the hospital babbling nonsense after nearly dying.
Ji Won starts digging into his past and is conflicted about what to do professionally and personally with Hyun Soo (she will be for the rest of the show pretty much). Her co-worker detective is also suspicious that Hyun Soo survived the attack by the murderer. Why did the murderer take his time with Hyun Soo? Remember he thinks Hyun Soo is Baek Hee Sung.
The reporter and Hae Soo meet up - she eventually lets out that she killed the village chief. It seems like Hyun Soo may not have killed anyone. Baek Hee Sung's mom tries to kill him by removing his oxygen mask. Instead he wakes up.
Hyun Soo, tortured reporter and Hae Soo team up. Hyun Soo has a recording of an accomplice of his father's serial killings. He recognizes a sound, tracks it to a sketchy looking bar and attacks the bartender for information. He learns of a mob boss who worked with his father & the accomplice. Hyun Soo comes up with a plan to take down this mob boss and his human trafficking ring by pretending to to make a deal with him. He contacts the police using a burner phone to let them in on it. I think he also tells his adoptive father but I honestly forget, drama is messy.
I think around this point the co-worker detective has a recording device of the reporter's restored and learns Hyun Soo is pretending to be Baek Hee Sung. Ji Won at some point overhears that Hyun Soo is not a murderer (but also hears him say he does not love her).
The operation goes ahead. The audience learns it was Baek Hee Sung's father who betrays Hyun Soo to the mob boss. Hyun Soo gets caught by the mob boss, the reporter tries to save the situation, the police show up late. Hyun Soo is tied up and about to die when Ji Won shows up to save the day. Hyun Soo knows that Ji Won knows his real identity. She tells him to run and not take the rap for his sister's crime. The mob boss eventually escapes by killing a cop.
At this point we learn Baek Hee Sung is the accomplice of the original murders and both his parents know. Co-worker detective comes looking to arrest Hyun Soo but decides not to. Co-worker detective helps cover for Hyun Soo with Ji Won. The hunt for Hyun Soo kind of fades in police priority.
There's a deaf nurse who had been looking after Baek Hee Sung. She blackmails Hee Sung's mother for money in exchange for keeping the secret. Baek Hee Sung learns about it and kills her.
This part might be early: We learn Baek Hee Sung hit Hyun Soo with his car, tried to bury Hyun Soo alive and was caught by his mother who stabbed him.
Hyun Soo meets up with the co-worker detective and he seems to have guessed his adoptive father was behind trying to kill him and wants to set up a trap to catch his adoptive father.
Hyun Soo goes to his adoptive parents home to work this trap and instead leaves his fingerprints which Baek Hee Sung quickly uses to frame him for the murder of the deaf home-care nurse. Ji Won thinks Hyun Soo did kill that woman after she privately compares his prints to the ones on the corpse which Baek Hee Sung had planted.
Hyun Soo takes Ji Won hostage to escape. Hyun Soo is on the run again. The mob boss calls Baek Hee Sung and tells him to bring him money and that he still has Jang Mi Sook(sp?). Remember the start of the summary? She's the wife of the man who nearly killed Hyun Soo. She's still alive.
Ji Won gets free from the "hostage taking" and learns her mom is in hospital. She asks Hae Soo to pick up her daughter, pick up some clothes for her daughter and look after her for a little while. Hae Soo finds Ji Won's police ID, puts it on, hides Ji Won's daughter in a locked room and tells her not to come out until her mom is there. Hae Soo has figured out Baek Hee Sung is stalking them and she gets stabbed. Baek Hee Sung leaves her to die. Hyun Soo has found the place where Jang Mi Sook is being kept and has been unravelling the mystery.
Hae Soo is struggling to live in a hospital OR as they operate on her, the police decide to claim Baek Hee Sung killed Ji Won.
And now we're finally in the end stretch - Baek Hee Sung goes to where Jang Mi Sook is being held because that was a victim he wanted to kill. Hyun Soo ambushes Baek Hee sung and gets the upper hand. There's fighting and eventually Baek Hee Sung says "I killed your wife". Hyun Soo contacts the police who have their fake story of Ji Won dying and confirm it.
Hyun Soo goes crazy, Baek Hee Sung gets loose but is slashes/stabbed numerous times and Hyun Soo is taunting him, telling him to get up and run only to slash him again after he stumbles a few more feet. They eventually get to a cliff's edge and Hyun Soo is about to kill Baek Hee Sung when his wife shows up. He decides to choose his wife over murder. He gets shot in the head by Baek Hee Sung who steals a cop's gun. Baek Hee Sung is shot and killed right after that.
Amnesia. Separation as a result. Hae Soo gets a trial and wins on self defense. Hyun Soo and Ji Won get back together and it's a hug between the two of them and their daughter.
The End.
Keep in mind I simplified quite a bit and removed a lot of the emotional rollercoaster and some of the stories of the side characters. This show was filled with insane twists and turns that would make a makjang proud. And it did it in 16 episodes instead of ~50.
I'm struggling with ratings. If I classify this as a makjang I'll probably rate it average at a 7.0-7.5 but it's not. This was supposed to be primetime TV. I guess I'll probably settle on 7.0 because the cast put in a lot of effort for this mess of a script.
By the way - the product placement in episode 16 was hilarious.
This is Japanese nationalistic propaganda and denialism at its finest. It does tell a story and there should be one told about Japanese Americans, their property being confiscated, their life in internment camps, the racism, etc...
But the way this show glossed over war crimes by the Japanese is unacceptable. And make no mistake - the writers and director are aware of these crimes. It's referenced once during a break at the trial by one of the Japanese-American characters. Paraphrasing it here: "why are the Americans hung up on what happened in Manchuria 10 years ago?". Remember - the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and America's entry into the war happened because of American sanctions on Japan to end the occupation of China (Manchuria). This is basic, basic history. So America very much cared. Instead a Japanese TV show presents it as "oh the Americans didn't care until they could use it against us!". False.
They just don't care. For them Japan is a victim here. Millions of civilians dead, trafficking of hundreds of thousands of women as sex slaves, inhumane medical experiments on live human beings, concentration camps for civilians and POWs alike where it's estimate 1/3 of the population died... but lets give the orchestrators of these genocides emotional moments with their families at sentencing. Poor them. A few were sentenced to death. So unfair.
How about all those Chinese, Korean, Filipinos who died throughout the war? They didn't get the same time or attention as the sympathetic war criminals or any subject matter that presented Japan as the victim. They got one line by a character dismissing them as "why should anyone care about that?".
I mean seriously. As soon as this got to the trial portion of the show... you would have thought this was a sham trial of innocent Japanese men. Millions of innocent civilians died. The director has to know that. We have letters and memos written in Japanese by members within the Japanese military and political establishment at the time writing stuff like "kill all captives". That's a war crime. Written on paper and carried out by their military. And yet all that merited in this show was a dismissive 'why does America care about something that happened over 10 years ago'. Give me a break.
I think this rant sealed the deal. It's going to be a 1/10 because this propagates all the denialism of the extreme right wing nationalists in Japan. Extreme nationalism is bad whether it's in Japan, America, China or anywhere else. And it's bad whether it comes in an art form like movies and TV or government statements.
Not really the show for me. If you like slice of life and can make connections with characters easily then then I could see this being for you. There are life lessons, moments and meals. There were things I did enjoy, just not enough for an entire show IMO.
I can't say I will watch this - we're simply way too far out and I might be watching, doing other things but it's not a bad casting in my opinion.
It's not the best thing ever but it made me laugh and I think Dong Shik has similar vibes to Steve Carrell's character in Get Smart - believe in yourself and fake it until you make it. And the audience is along for the trainwreck of a ride.
With only three episodes I think this is a show that could likely end up in that "great and memorable" category. The cast is good, the female lead has strong facial expressions. The male lead also manages to have his moments. The side characters are fun and light.
They keep setting up tropes for the characters and then mocking them in their drama-within-a-drama. They subvert other tropes especially with the second leads and the grandpa.
This could be a hit or an all-time favorite romantic comedy for me if they can keep the momentum going.
As for the drama I think it starts really strong but the last 5 or so episodes go at a bit of a frantic pace and it's jarring when you compare it to the rest of the drama.