Bad Guys - Episode 1 (A "I Squee So Hard I Almost Burst Something" Cap)
Never have people waited for subs more desperately, it seems, and never before have I found the time to actually help with subs for a show. But this? Totally worth it. And editing over at Dark Smurf Subs? Highly addictive. The editing is so much fun, I'm now 100% more excited for episode 2. But ... I'm signing up for that clone, alright? Heck, make it two!
JoAnne: I love it. I love it to pieces. It's so much fun.
kakashi: Even more fun: at the time of writing, all the streaming sites have taken the unfinished subs. Including all the crazy stuff we just sucked out of our fingers!!! Let's do some funny stuff with episode 2, shall we? :D
So. This show. It's exactly what I expected it to be and this makes me HAPPY. I want to spend a lot of time with this show to maximize that happiness. So we will recap. Even thought he Big Sisters also recap. This cannot be recapped enough. And only here do you get gifs. Of beautiful, beautiful men.
JoAnne: I want to have this show's babies. No. These are bad guys. I want to run off for lost weekends and just have lots of unproductive (well, something will be produced but it won't be babies)... never mind.
JoAnne: He is familiar, yes, and doomed, also yes. We know he is very serious about his undercover work because he desperately needs a hair cut.
kakashi: If one has to go, one should go with good hair, yes.
Shortly after, he sits in the car with Mr. Camera Man when our murderer appears ... knife drawn. A fooking long one! He is after a woman with a red umbrella, like really close behind her!!! so Detective Nam gets out of the car in a hurry and starts chasing the hooded figure through the heavy rain ... only to be stabbed, several times, when he finally catches up to him. When camera man gets there, Detective Nam collapses. Blood mixes with rain. He isn't moving. He is dead.
JoAnne: One would have expected him to have some sort of plan for when he actually met up with the murderer, but no.
kakashi: Too busy stalking him, I guess? It's a common issue.
At his gloomy (but esthetically beautiful) funeral, we meet his father, Nam Goo-hyun (Kang Shin-il), a high-ranking police official (is he the Chief?). With him is Yoo Mi-Young (Kang Ye-Won), a police inspector, and what seems close colleague. Her eyes grow large when he asks where Oh Goo-tak aka Mad Dog is.
JoAnne: I do think he's the Chief, yes. I think they go to a shaman and actually schedule burials for rainy days, because if you're gonna be miserable, why waste it on a sunny day? It's raining. Might as well bury someone and then go get drunk. Alternatively: Even the heavens cry at the loss of a bright young talent, working so hard to protect society. Now let's go get drunk.
Oh Goo-tak (Kim Sang-Joong!!!) is pretty hung over, I'd say, and currently waking up in his apartment. Confidently talking about the difficulties of the police and how to overcome them on TV while he eats some breakfast is Yoo Mi-young. A phone call interrupts Goo-tak's meal - it's Nam Goo-hyun.
JoAnne: Goo Brothers. Yes. I love these actors.
(sometimes, too HD isn't good - re pores)
The two men meet in an (otherwise empty) restaurant. It's clear that they know each other well - Nam is quite obviously concerned for Goo-tak, who drinks hard liquor all day long. That's considerably more than the average already hard-drinking Korean consumes. Goo-tak doesn't want any advice though and tells Nam to cut to the chase: what does he want? This: For Mad Dog to catch the guy that killed his son. If he helps him, he will in turn help him: to cleanse his heart from anger (= take revenge?)
JoAnne: Yeah, as near as I can figure. If I felt more comfortable pharaphrasing there, I'd have said 'exorcise the demons from his heart' or 'work out his rage' but while those work really well and sound right in English...
Flashback to Mad Dog's own tragic past: his beautiful and talented teenage daughter ... murdered. And Goo-tak sobbing ... howling and sobbing as he clutches her lifeless body. It's raining, by the way.
JoAnne: This time it's not an aesthetic choice (although it well could be in a larger scheme of things) - the stabber likes to get things done on rainy days.
We don't know whether she was killed by the same guy though.
Nam's female shadow inquires about Mad Dog outside the restaurant, and Chief Nam tells her with a glance at the man's back that this guy always used excessive violence in his work. He is like a vicious bloodhound when he is after a bad guy. Or one of those dogs that doesn't let go once they have found their prey, like a German Shepherd? That's our Goo-tak.
Chief Nam is confident that Goo-tak will do what he asked, but Yoo Mi-Young seems less certain. She stays outside the restaurant and watches the man drink more. And more. When it's dark, she follows him through the streets. What she doesn't know but we do is that he is already thinking about this new task - and Nam's words "to beat up good people, that is violence - to beat up bad people, that is justice" ring in his ears, as he stops and watches two guys being violent against a woman. For a moment, it seems like he might turn away, disinterested, but no, he just turned to pick up a piece of wood and then starts beating the living shit out of the assailants. Mi-young interferes when it seems he is about to kill one of them.
JoAnne: I really don't understand the people who just stand around and watch something like that.
"Let's get a bunch of crazy guys together", he tells her right there and then.
SQUEEEEEE! and meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Sitting in a pojangmacha at the Han River (OCN: you really do so well with cinematography! Thank you), he tells her in more detail who is to be part of that crazy bunch: He wants an ex-mobster with an uncanny ability to take over the whole city in a heartbeat. Park Woong-Chul (Ma Dong-Suk), currently in prison for 28 years, and a bear of a man. And not at all staying quiet behind bars: we see how he beats up a prison guard for beating up one of the inmates. So he is violent but with a sense of justice?
He also wants Jung Tae-Soo (Jo Dong-hyuk), a contract killer. Nothing is known about him: neither the details of whom he killed and in what way, nor anything about his past. (I just know he is goddamn HOT and he is one the reasons I couldn't wait for this drama). He wasn't caught, but he surrendered - for unknown reasons. The crazy guy just walked into a police station, clothes stained with his victim's blood. He got 22 years.
JoAnne: He's the Sex Assassin. He kills you with hotness, but you die smiling.
The last guy is Lee Jung-moon (Park Hae-Jin). He had an IQ of 165 at the age of 12 and is Korea's youngest member of Mensa International. He also is the youngest person to obtain a PhD in mathematics. Sadly, he also is the youngest serial killer. He killed 15 people in total over a few months. There were absolutely no traces at the crime scene: only the bodies (So .... how did they catch him? One of this show's many mysteries). He is a total psychopath. He is also totally scary.
JoAnne: I think if Park Hae Jin pulls this off he is pretty much set. Don't you?
You mean he isn't already? A man with a nose like this!
Understandably, Miss Yoo is not exactly pleased about this suggestion. Why such animals?! Combine Park's strength, Jung's skill and Lee's intellect, says Mad Dog, and you have the perfect mix to catch any type of criminal. And these beasts will be very obedient with the right incentives.
JoAnne: Me! I have them! Incentives! Come get some incentive!
When Yoo Mi-young tells Chief Nam about her extreme reluctance and the high risks involved with the choice of the three dangerous criminals, he (who is currently fishing, one must add) tells her to hand him one of the worms. She doesn't take one out, but hands him the whole can. Cue life lesson: you have to get dirty sometimes to get what you want (i.e. touch worms if you want to catch fish - or: use bad guys to catch a bad guy).
JoAnne: I hope we get a really decent exploration of where that line is, and how it can shift, then shift back. I want them to screw with my perception of who actually IS a bad guy, and why.
Three prison buses are on the move: they carry Park Woong-Chul, Jung Tae-Soo, and Lee Jung-moon towards Seoul and Mad Dog (OMG Jo Dong-hyuk is SO HOT, somebody help me!!!). They're confused, of course, at least the two sane ones, since their prison guards are not exactly forthcoming with information. Where are they being taken? Why do they get civilian clothing?
JoAnne: That's right, boys, ask questions. Since you won't get answers, you'll be edgy when you arrive at your location. This is bound to cause some posturing when you arrive. I can't wait!
The Bad Guys' headquarters seem to be in an abandoned church. (Really gorgeously filmed, inside and out, and I suppose we could talk for days about symbolism.) Mi-young and Oh? They don't like each other. She informs the (drinking) squad-leader that the three criminals are the worms for him to put on the hook and wants to shake his hand, but he refuses and makes himself comfortable to sleep a while. Her lack of respect for him is obvious, but he doesn't seem to care much (until he does, towards the end of this episode).
JoAnne: So do you think it's him she falls for, or Jung Tae Soo?
kakashi: Not sure she'll fall. This is OCN. They have been observed to have NO romance *gasp*
Woong-chul has arrived and gets off the bus. He looks at the building behind him, which is covered in poison ivy, when another bus arrives. Tae-soo gets off. In a suit. Nice of them to clean his shirt! The two men see each other and ... immediately start getting into each other's hair. This will be FUN! Before they can start beating each other up, Mi-young interrupts. Two prison guards come out of nowhere and unlock their handcuffs. She introduces herself as Police Supervisor and tells them to follow her. They're expecting someone else, but he seems to be a bit late.
JoAnne: So the meet cute was cute but I wasted a lot of time wondering why they were just left off at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, before I realized that the guard was just parking the bus. Then I wasted more time wondering why they didn't park and then ESCORT their prisoners.
This scene wouldn't have been half the fun with those stupid guards standing around!
Inside the church, Mi-young informs them about the serial killer case. Eight victims. Take a good look. Woong-chul (who isn't the brightest under the sun, right?) demands to know why she's showing them this and she bites back: because they'll catch the guy, of course. Bully Woong-chul gets up to show her how ridiculous he finds her and everything she says, but Tae-soo tells him to listen and shut up. That doesn't go down well: Woong-chul attacks, but Tae-soo is much too quick for him. Still, Woong-chul manages to grab Tae-soo's throat, but only for a moment, because Tae-soo swaps his massive arm away like it's nothing. Oh man .... this contract killer is HOT dangerous.
JoAnne: He really is breathtaking. This is Shinichi on steroids. Minus the steroids.
And the lighting director is a genius.
Miss Yoo once again needs to tell them to stop, but then, Goo-tak saunters in, telling them to please continue, since it's just now becoming interesting. Very casually he mentions that their sentences will be reduced by five years if they catch the criminal. Well, only the sentence of the person who actually gets him. Such is life in a capitalist society.
JoAnne: I am probably not alone when I say that line made me laugh really hard.
There's a few conditions, though. No women, no alcohol, no driving, no weapons, no violence. Quasi everything. So just do it all, Goo-tak suggests, because how can people who can't drink alcohol survive?! Also, there's one thing they must do: wear electronic shackles. Oh, that they don't like! Because in Korea, electronic shackles are worn by sex-offenders. Anybody who will see them wearing that will think they're rapists! exclaims Woong-chul.
JoAnne: Even criminal society has levels.
Tae-soo refuses to wear them too. They have rights, even though they're criminals. And anyway, the crime is to be condemned, not the person (uhm ... not sure, dude). Goo-tak doesn't agree either. It's the person who commits the crimes - so how could you not hate that person? And anyway, both of them have committed crimes for which people already hate them. So don't make a fuss and go catch the guy.
JoAnne: I think that was his sly reference to the church they're sitting in, plus all those do-gooders out there who think criminals would be fine people if someone just took an interest in them. Which, oh dear...well, you'll see.
Woong-chul gets a bit violent at that, but Goo-tak just bares his teeth at him: don't bark at him if you don't bite. And be careful you don't die from his bite first. Damn. I'm not sure who the most dangerous person in that room is ... The atmosphere is very tense when Miss Yoo's phone rings. Uh-oh. Psycho maknae has escaped!
JoAnne: I'd venture to say the most dangerous person isn't actually in the room at all.
The two guards tell them some story about how Psycho Boy had to go pee, so they stopped at a service station. Inside, Psycho pulls a crazy stunt, including smashing a toilet lid over one of the guy's heads. Both guards fight bravely. Only ... something's not quite right with that story. Mad Dog asks the one guard a few questions and then "passes him on" to Tae-soo. Who takes the poor guy apart bit by bit. The wound on the nose is a scratch, which does not occur from a punch. And where is the head wound?
JoAnne: I was a bit confused by that at first because they actually SHOW you the guard's version of the story long before they tell you the story, but I love this bathroom scene now that I do understand it.
Mad Dog is back. With a toilet plug. Uh-oh. He tells the guard to at least stop lying since he earns tax payers' money. And since the problem is the mouth, they just need to get rid of that mouth. And he puts the plug over his mouth!!!! Aaaaaaaah. And the poor guy can't breath! He is saved by the entrance of the 2nd prison guard, who has been cajoled into telling the truth by Woong-chul. And the truth is ... far less glorious.
JoAnne: Couldn't decide whether to laugh or gag, honestly.
The result is the same, though: Psycho kiddo is free and who knows where. He has a two-hour head start and valuable minutes pass as Woong-chul is being difficult again. Tae-soo on the other hand is ready to get going: the guy who catches Lee Jung-moon gets 4 years off their sentence. On go the electronic shackles and on is the man hunt.
JoAnne: Tae Soo is winning all the points right now, seriously.
Goo-tak is quite certain where Jung-moon has gone: to find Yang yu-jin, his former girlfriend. And almost his last victim. And also the woman who got him convicted. And indeed .... it's true! Jung-moon is on his way to see her. But where is that woman? Mad Dog et al. don't know, but Goo-tak knows someone who might know. He sends his two hounds to do the dirty work, but all they get is an hour.
JoAnne: Imagine the horror of finding out the person you love and trust is actually a serial killer, someone you do not know at all. Stephen King wrote a very good short story about it which will be a movie soon. I can't wait!
When they're gone, Yoo Mi-young suspects that Goo-tak might be keeping something from her: why does he know so much about Jung-moon? She also has her doubts about the two guys and whether to trust them, but Goo-tak puts it that way: human beings need a sense of urgency to live decently. And these two? They have a GREAT sense of urgency. All will be well.
JoAnne: I have a bit of dread in my heart though, Kakashi, because the only way all can be well for me is if no one of them ever actually killed anyone at all and they all get to go free by the end of the drama. Plus babies.
Huh? Of course they have killed people!! They're bad guys!!
The two men are inside a club (Heartless City Club!), briefly discussing (and dismissing) escape. So who is to go in? "You? Or me?" Tae-soo asks. "Me", goes Woong-chul and saunters in. One, two men he throws to the floor with his huge arms, then he shouts out for the guy they're looking for. On the left, a true giant gets up - Woong-chul looks up at him ... and throws him into the room where their target is. He used to be Yang yu-jin's boss and while being treated to Woong-chul's boot in the face, he tells them where to go next.
JoAnne: That guy was... he couldn't have really been THAT big although he was certainly taller than Ma Dong Suk. Do you think some of it was camera angle? (yeah, or he stood on a chair) Because he was nearly 8 feet tall, otherwise.
A warehouse full of gangsters. Nice. "Me?" - "No, me", says Tae-soo and walks towards the guys that took Yang Yu-jin. Or rather: that the woman was sold to. Oh, action school pays off, dear Jo Dong-hyuk, because this next scene is my favorite in this episode. He is so beautiful O___o He disarms them all with a hammer he takes away from one of the guys and when they're all down, he throws the hammer across the room to almost hit boss' head. Looooove you, Tae-soo!
JoAnne: That was very nearly as cool as Baksa and Cutie's stroll around the pool. Heartless City, I still love you! Now dreaming of a gangster drama that has these guys plus Baksa and Cutie and Safari.
8 minutes short of an hour, they're back in the car. Woong-chul babbles about how this woman resembles folk tales of poor women who are sold (getting it wrong), but Goo-tak only wants to know where she is. In Busan! Psycho Kid is already there. And he has already found her. Yikes. Woong-chul uses his gangsta-network to find her address and phone number. In Busan, Yu-jin's door bell rings. She gets up from the bed and walks towards the door, when her phone rings. It's Yoo Mi-young! Yu-jin picks up - but she opens the door before Mi-young can fully explain. Yikkkkkes.
JoAnne: I liked that moment of tension, when you don't know if she's going to turn back or not. And then she DOES turn back, and somehow, it doesn't matter - she's still in just as much as danger. Way to keep my heart pumping!
The woman is dead afraid. Psycho Kid asks her why she feels sorry for what she did to him. She doesn't, stammers the woman, but apparently, the police officer in charge of Jung-moon said so (all we see in a flashback is a shadowy figure from the back!). Doesn't he remember?! asks Yu-jin, he tried to kill her! Why should she feel sorry for a guy who wanted to kill her?! But ... Psycho Kid does not remember a thing.
JoAnne: The first time I watched this, there were no subs, and I STILL could tell that something was wrong. He's not guilty! He's not! Please!
The van with our constantly bickering convicts arrives. Ha, so this time, it's no "Me, no me", but a race to get there first! Outside the door, the competition turns serious as they start hitting each other to prevent the other from getting there first. Mad Dog intervenes, but then, the door to the apartment they were targeting opens and a guy that definitely is NOT Lee Jung-moon looks out and babbles something uncomprehensive (in, I guess, a foreign language). Awesome lines from Woong-chul, who comments that Jung-moon got "a bit tanned" (while cool Tae-soo has already turend around and left).
JoAnne: The shoving down the hallway was very funny. I hesitate to say hilarious because that sort of makes it seem like it's really over the top, when it's not. Nothing is overdone. They are handling things so well, with the moments of lightness in such a NON-comedic drama.
At Yu-jin's place, Jung-moon wonders about what she keeps saying to him. He tried to kill her? What about all the other people, she wants to know, does he remember that? Nope. He doesn't. But she know that he's a psycho killer. So it seems that after witnessing his parents' death, he has strange lapses during which he remembers nothing. Brought on by trauma. During those times, he kills people, she says. And he killed his parents too! And then claimed to not remember!!! Flashback to him standing in a living room, carnage all around him. And he has ... a bloody stone in his hand. *shivers* So he does remember? But he says it wasn't him. And grabs her neck. Hard.
JoAnne: Imagine the desperation of believing yourself innocent... but not really being sure. Or, well, you're sure to the core of your being that you ARE innocent... but you have no idea what happened, and you're so afraid you're wrong.
The guys are coming! Everybody is running but Woong-chul, whose leg hurts. Hahaha, this guy. He's a hoot, yes!
Jung-moon is slowly strangling his former love while she tells him to make sure to remember killing her this time. She's damn brave, this woman. Fine, he says - let's die together.
JoAnne: And this defnitely does NOT make me think he's a killer... but it reminds me that anyone could be, driven far enough.
Tae-soo has arrived outside and carefully listens at the door. Hurry! And here comes Goo-tak, not at all quiet. He shouts for Jung-moon and then shoots the door open. Ha. that's effective! He definitely knows him, that much is clear from the way he greets him. He shows him his gun and tells him to better come along unless he wants to suffer. Jung-joon still has his hand around Yu-jin's neck - and doesn't let go. Fine, says Goo-tak, then suffer first before you come. And shoots him! He hits him in the arm and I wonder where he was aiming at, because Yoo mi-young pushes his arm aside.
JoAnne: Jung Moon leapt to protect the girl he was just strangling (which doesn't mean he isn't a killer, JoAnne, sorry). Cue MY kokoro. He's going to kill my heart, Kakashi.
Jung-moon flees immediately, jumping off the balcony and onto the street below. He quickly steals a car (he is resourceful!!) when Woong-chul starts running towards him, and shakes him off said car when Woong-chul jumps on the hood and starts smashing in the front window by accelerating. Ouch. Tae-soo also arrives in the street and coolly takes over another car, chasing Jung-moon. He takes a slightly different route and ... bang! smashes his car into Jung-moon's car as soon as he gets the chance. Game over, kiddo.
JoAnne: Couple things: One, Jung Moon hesitated before he did anything that would hurt Woong Chul; and two, the look of disdain Tae Soo threw at Woong Chul for chasing after the car on foot. I could HEAR him think 'Dumbass!'
A slightly shaken Tae-soo gets out of the car and looks over to Jung-moon's car ... Psycho has hit his head, but he is now waking up, only to be met by Woong-chul's fist. Wait ... does that mean Woong-chul gets the four years off?! Yes! That's mean! Tae-soo did all the work!
JoAnne: Maybe that's how Woong Chul was able to take over the entire city in 28 days. Leveraging the situations he found. He's not clever or quick the way Tae Soo is, but he's got a brute sort of instinct for survival that works.
And thus, Psycho Kid comes to join our team of Bad Guys. They're gathered at a small restaurant and they all drink to Woong-chul's 4 years off (all but Psycho). So they're a team - but there won't be teamwork. And there won't be team spirit. But this is what they have to do: be like rabid dogs. Bite and tear them up.
JoAnne: False! There will be a team! It will make us cry!
Flashback to earlier when Yoo Mi-young asked Mad Dog why he chose the three guys. There is something strange that she noticed: all three went to jail at almost the same time - in late summer of 2012. Which, how interesting, is also the time Oh Goo-tak was suspended. Hmmmmmm...
JoAnne: So then don't you think they should have recognized him, if he's the one that put them all in jail?
Oh, I'm sure it's a bit more complicated than that ...
JoAnne: Goo Tak is a good man who got tired of bullshit, I think, and in his single-minded pursuit he must have gone too far. Or got too near the truth of something. Mi Young... she has to learn that sometimes the book won't tell you what to do. Plus, I think she sees the world clearly as us vs them and she's going to learn that it's not so clearly defined as that. And our guys...oh, our guys. I love them already.
They'll be perfect together, that much is clear - even with just the two fighters, the drama made a point to show us how they supplement each other. And yet, there can be no friendship, there only is competition: Goo-tak made sure of that. I'm curious to see how (whether) Jung-moon also can be incentivized by the same urgency - so far, nothing about him seems very urgent. I have no idea how he "ticks" and that's why I find him very scary.
JoAnne: I think even with competition, there will still be at least a grudging sense of brotherhood eventually. I've seen it happen before, and when the payoff is a moment that a competitor actually puts aside his own success to help another - that is one of the best drama moments of all for me. I hope we get good bromance here, along with a really good look at who's good, who's bad, and whether that label changes depending on where you're watching from.
JoAnne: I love it. I love it to pieces. It's so much fun.
kakashi: Even more fun: at the time of writing, all the streaming sites have taken the unfinished subs. Including all the crazy stuff we just sucked out of our fingers!!! Let's do some funny stuff with episode 2, shall we? :D
JoAnne: I want to have this show's babies. No. These are bad guys. I want to run off for lost weekends and just have lots of unproductive (well, something will be produced but it won't be babies)... never mind.
Episode 1: Crazy Dogs
A young detective gets ready to be filmed by a hand camera for some TV program. He is so doomed, people. Not sure whether it's a kdrama law, but people who get filmed by hand cameras tend to die, no? (And I know this guy, who is it??! I'm thinking TEN2) He is telling us about a big murder case he is responsible of - a woman slayer whom he is after. In fact, it's a serial killer and Detective Nam (that's the guy's name) knows very well that he is putting himself in danger with his undercover work, but because he is a very devoted (and possibly obsessed) police man, he has figured out the killer's modus operandi.JoAnne: He is familiar, yes, and doomed, also yes. We know he is very serious about his undercover work because he desperately needs a hair cut.
kakashi: If one has to go, one should go with good hair, yes.
JoAnne: One would have expected him to have some sort of plan for when he actually met up with the murderer, but no.
kakashi: Too busy stalking him, I guess? It's a common issue.
JoAnne: I do think he's the Chief, yes. I think they go to a shaman and actually schedule burials for rainy days, because if you're gonna be miserable, why waste it on a sunny day? It's raining. Might as well bury someone and then go get drunk. Alternatively: Even the heavens cry at the loss of a bright young talent, working so hard to protect society. Now let's go get drunk.
JoAnne: Goo Brothers. Yes. I love these actors.
(sometimes, too HD isn't good - re pores)
JoAnne: Yeah, as near as I can figure. If I felt more comfortable pharaphrasing there, I'd have said 'exorcise the demons from his heart' or 'work out his rage' but while those work really well and sound right in English...
JoAnne: This time it's not an aesthetic choice (although it well could be in a larger scheme of things) - the stabber likes to get things done on rainy days.
We don't know whether she was killed by the same guy though.
Chief Nam is confident that Goo-tak will do what he asked, but Yoo Mi-Young seems less certain. She stays outside the restaurant and watches the man drink more. And more. When it's dark, she follows him through the streets. What she doesn't know but we do is that he is already thinking about this new task - and Nam's words "to beat up good people, that is violence - to beat up bad people, that is justice" ring in his ears, as he stops and watches two guys being violent against a woman. For a moment, it seems like he might turn away, disinterested, but no, he just turned to pick up a piece of wood and then starts beating the living shit out of the assailants. Mi-young interferes when it seems he is about to kill one of them.
JoAnne: I really don't understand the people who just stand around and watch something like that.
SQUEEEEEE! and meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Sitting in a pojangmacha at the Han River (OCN: you really do so well with cinematography! Thank you), he tells her in more detail who is to be part of that crazy bunch: He wants an ex-mobster with an uncanny ability to take over the whole city in a heartbeat. Park Woong-Chul (Ma Dong-Suk), currently in prison for 28 years, and a bear of a man. And not at all staying quiet behind bars: we see how he beats up a prison guard for beating up one of the inmates. So he is violent but with a sense of justice?
JoAnne: So far, the gangsters we have known have a pretty strong moral code. In a twisted way, anyway, which I'm fine with on tv. (Ma Dong Suk, I love this guy.) OMG me too! (who doesn't)
JoAnne: He's the Sex Assassin. He kills you with hotness, but you die smiling.
JoAnne: I think if Park Hae Jin pulls this off he is pretty much set. Don't you?
You mean he isn't already? A man with a nose like this!
Understandably, Miss Yoo is not exactly pleased about this suggestion. Why such animals?! Combine Park's strength, Jung's skill and Lee's intellect, says Mad Dog, and you have the perfect mix to catch any type of criminal. And these beasts will be very obedient with the right incentives.
JoAnne: Me! I have them! Incentives! Come get some incentive!
When Yoo Mi-young tells Chief Nam about her extreme reluctance and the high risks involved with the choice of the three dangerous criminals, he (who is currently fishing, one must add) tells her to hand him one of the worms. She doesn't take one out, but hands him the whole can. Cue life lesson: you have to get dirty sometimes to get what you want (i.e. touch worms if you want to catch fish - or: use bad guys to catch a bad guy).
JoAnne: I hope we get a really decent exploration of where that line is, and how it can shift, then shift back. I want them to screw with my perception of who actually IS a bad guy, and why.
JoAnne: That's right, boys, ask questions. Since you won't get answers, you'll be edgy when you arrive at your location. This is bound to cause some posturing when you arrive. I can't wait!
JoAnne: So do you think it's him she falls for, or Jung Tae Soo?
kakashi: Not sure she'll fall. This is OCN. They have been observed to have NO romance *gasp*
JoAnne: So the meet cute was cute but I wasted a lot of time wondering why they were just left off at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, before I realized that the guard was just parking the bus. Then I wasted more time wondering why they didn't park and then ESCORT their prisoners.
This scene wouldn't have been half the fun with those stupid guards standing around!
JoAnne: He really is breathtaking. This is Shinichi on steroids. Minus the steroids.
And the lighting director is a genius.
JoAnne: I am probably not alone when I say that line made me laugh really hard.
There's a few conditions, though. No women, no alcohol, no driving, no weapons, no violence. Quasi everything. So just do it all, Goo-tak suggests, because how can people who can't drink alcohol survive?! Also, there's one thing they must do: wear electronic shackles. Oh, that they don't like! Because in Korea, electronic shackles are worn by sex-offenders. Anybody who will see them wearing that will think they're rapists! exclaims Woong-chul.
JoAnne: Even criminal society has levels.
JoAnne: I think that was his sly reference to the church they're sitting in, plus all those do-gooders out there who think criminals would be fine people if someone just took an interest in them. Which, oh dear...well, you'll see.
JoAnne: I'd venture to say the most dangerous person isn't actually in the room at all.
JoAnne: I was a bit confused by that at first because they actually SHOW you the guard's version of the story long before they tell you the story, but I love this bathroom scene now that I do understand it.
JoAnne: Couldn't decide whether to laugh or gag, honestly.
JoAnne: Tae Soo is winning all the points right now, seriously.
JoAnne: Imagine the horror of finding out the person you love and trust is actually a serial killer, someone you do not know at all. Stephen King wrote a very good short story about it which will be a movie soon. I can't wait!
JoAnne: I have a bit of dread in my heart though, Kakashi, because the only way all can be well for me is if no one of them ever actually killed anyone at all and they all get to go free by the end of the drama. Plus babies.
Huh? Of course they have killed people!! They're bad guys!!
The two men are inside a club (Heartless City Club!), briefly discussing (and dismissing) escape. So who is to go in? "You? Or me?" Tae-soo asks. "Me", goes Woong-chul and saunters in. One, two men he throws to the floor with his huge arms, then he shouts out for the guy they're looking for. On the left, a true giant gets up - Woong-chul looks up at him ... and throws him into the room where their target is. He used to be Yang yu-jin's boss and while being treated to Woong-chul's boot in the face, he tells them where to go next.
JoAnne: That guy was... he couldn't have really been THAT big although he was certainly taller than Ma Dong Suk. Do you think some of it was camera angle? (yeah, or he stood on a chair) Because he was nearly 8 feet tall, otherwise.
JoAnne: That was very nearly as cool as Baksa and Cutie's stroll around the pool. Heartless City, I still love you! Now dreaming of a gangster drama that has these guys plus Baksa and Cutie and Safari.
JoAnne: I liked that moment of tension, when you don't know if she's going to turn back or not. And then she DOES turn back, and somehow, it doesn't matter - she's still in just as much as danger. Way to keep my heart pumping!
JoAnne: The first time I watched this, there were no subs, and I STILL could tell that something was wrong. He's not guilty! He's not! Please!
JoAnne: The shoving down the hallway was very funny. I hesitate to say hilarious because that sort of makes it seem like it's really over the top, when it's not. Nothing is overdone. They are handling things so well, with the moments of lightness in such a NON-comedic drama.
JoAnne: Imagine the desperation of believing yourself innocent... but not really being sure. Or, well, you're sure to the core of your being that you ARE innocent... but you have no idea what happened, and you're so afraid you're wrong.
Jung-moon is slowly strangling his former love while she tells him to make sure to remember killing her this time. She's damn brave, this woman. Fine, he says - let's die together.
JoAnne: And this defnitely does NOT make me think he's a killer... but it reminds me that anyone could be, driven far enough.
JoAnne: Jung Moon leapt to protect the girl he was just strangling (which doesn't mean he isn't a killer, JoAnne, sorry). Cue MY kokoro. He's going to kill my heart, Kakashi.
JoAnne: Couple things: One, Jung Moon hesitated before he did anything that would hurt Woong Chul; and two, the look of disdain Tae Soo threw at Woong Chul for chasing after the car on foot. I could HEAR him think 'Dumbass!'
JoAnne: Maybe that's how Woong Chul was able to take over the entire city in 28 days. Leveraging the situations he found. He's not clever or quick the way Tae Soo is, but he's got a brute sort of instinct for survival that works.
JoAnne: False! There will be a team! It will make us cry!
JoAnne: So then don't you think they should have recognized him, if he's the one that put them all in jail?
Oh, I'm sure it's a bit more complicated than that ...
Comments
Oh yes! Yes! Yes! I know every line by heart by now (thanks to DarkSmurfing) and I still don't get tired of it. The characters are great, each and every one of them. Goo-tak, the corrupt cop, who clearly has some kind of connection to all of them. Yoo Mi-young, who wants to best for the police but gets confronted by the worst. And then, our three convicts: Woong-chul, slightly dense, but oh-so-funny; Tae-soo, not dense at all, but deadly and precise; and Jung-moon, whose crime (and affliction) remains a mystery.JoAnne: Goo Tak is a good man who got tired of bullshit, I think, and in his single-minded pursuit he must have gone too far. Or got too near the truth of something. Mi Young... she has to learn that sometimes the book won't tell you what to do. Plus, I think she sees the world clearly as us vs them and she's going to learn that it's not so clearly defined as that. And our guys...oh, our guys. I love them already.
They'll be perfect together, that much is clear - even with just the two fighters, the drama made a point to show us how they supplement each other. And yet, there can be no friendship, there only is competition: Goo-tak made sure of that. I'm curious to see how (whether) Jung-moon also can be incentivized by the same urgency - so far, nothing about him seems very urgent. I have no idea how he "ticks" and that's why I find him very scary.
JoAnne: I think even with competition, there will still be at least a grudging sense of brotherhood eventually. I've seen it happen before, and when the payoff is a moment that a competitor actually puts aside his own success to help another - that is one of the best drama moments of all for me. I hope we get good bromance here, along with a really good look at who's good, who's bad, and whether that label changes depending on where you're watching from.