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SBS Drama "Doubtful Victory" Yoon Kyun Sang & Jung Hye-Sung. *~The END~*


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  • Mysterious Il-seung: Episodes 5-6DV05-00109.jpg

 

It’s another race against the clock this hour as our hero finds that his new identity comes with a price. As he navigates uncertain waters, he has to fend off both a suspicious partner as well as the mysterious Men in Black. All in a day’s work for an escaped convict on the run.

 

 

EPISODE 5 RECAP

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Jong-sam wakes up in the place he’d left Il-seung’s body, wearing Il-seung’s clothes. He’s greeted by the unhappy Men in Black, the older of whom wraps a tie around Jong-sam’s neck and begins choking him. He chides Jong-sam for ruining Il-seung’s body—causing postmortem trauma when it rolled around in the trunk, rendering it suspicious to call a suicide—and sighs that the only solution is to replace it with a fresh corpse.

Jong-sam produces a long strip from his pocket that’s dotted with Morse code. He calls it a treasure map and we see that he’d found it hidden in Il-seung’s police badge. The Men in Black incredulously ask what kind of treasure, finally releasing Jong-sam when he says, “The treasure you guys lost—100 billion won.†(Roughly 100 million dollars.)

 

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The older man scans the strip and asks where the money is. With a devilish grin, Jong-sam holds up the torn end of the strip before stuffing it in his mouth.

The Men in Black call the chairwoman—Chairwoman Gook—to report the note, which states that Il-seung didn’t commit suicide, and that he hid the 100 billion won and evidence. Unfortunately, they don’t know where it’s hidden, since Jong-sam ate that part. Hee.

Jong-sam demands a new identity and a modest sum in return for his cooperation, but their conversation is cut off with the arrival of the police. The Men in Black knock Jong-sam out and we learn that earlier, they’d set Il-seung’s body—dressed in Jong-sam’s prison jumpsuit—on fire in his cell.

 

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Jong-sam awakens in the hospital and bolts up, ripping out his IV. He’s startled to find Jin-young sitting next to his bed, who asks if he’s going somewhere. Jong-sam chuckles nervously that he isn’t. Suspicious, Jin-young flashes Il-seung’s badge, which now bears Jong-sam’s photo.

She asks if he’s really a detective, and Jong-sam laughs that it would appear so. To get out of answering Jin-young’s barrage of questions, like what department he works for, Jong-sam suddenly cries out, clutching his stomach, and insists he needs to poo before running off to the toilet.

The younger Man in Black finds Jong-sam in the bathroom and drops off a bag of clothes for him as well as some spending money. Jong-sam asks why they killed Il-seung and is told that Il-seung stole 100 billion won. Jong-sam wonders why they didn’t just forge the autopsy with the real corpse.

 

====Read more: http://www.dramabeans.com/2017/12/mysterious-il-seung-episodes-5-6/

 

 

COMMENTS

Jong-sam really has a knack for landing himself in trouble. I really thought he’d found the money when his face lit up like a Christmas tree! However, I’m happy there was a twist, because I was starting to feel a bit disappointed at how conveniently Jong-sam was able to piece together the puzzle. I love having a smart hero, but you lose a lot of tension if he solves things too easily. Luckily, Jong-sam also felt it was weird and I do wonder who masterminded that twist… Did Jong-sam make a last-minute switch? Or did Il-seung lay out a more complicated plan before his death? Both men have proven their craftiness so it’s hard to say.

​

 

I found these episodes a bit lacking compared to last week. Part of that may be because I was so invested in their childhood story line and am dying to know what became of Detective Kang. Additionally, the teen counterparts have a chemistry that has yet to translate to their adult selves. Regardless, maybe it was a lack of Ddakji or perhaps it was just a lack of desperation coming from Jong-sam that fell a little flat this hour. He had a deadline and his life was on the line, but he didn’t seem as anxious compared to his last outing. Perhaps because no one else was at risk this time? All I know is, I didn’t feel nervous for him until he ran into the Men in Black in the shipping yard.

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I’m also getting concerned about the characters’ sense of priority. Llast week, Jin-young wasted time interrogating Jong-sam on his identity while Eun-bi was drowning, and this week Jong-sam actually debated whether to stop Gil-choon from choking Jin-young or grab the wallet. It wasn’t going anywhere! I know he was on a time crunch, but that just seemed silly to me.

On the upside, we finally caught mega-creep Gil-choon. It doesn’t quite seem like his story is over, unless the mention of the illegal immigrant cook was just a random red herring. I’m not sure what that means going forward but I wouldn’t mind learning why he’s nuttier than squirrel poo… He’s pretty low on my priority list, though so I’d rather not dwell on him too much unless he has something new to offer.

I’m glad we’re finally getting more insight with Jin-young. I wonder what her father’s apparent suicide has to do with the rest of the conspiracies going around. The detective was pretty dismissive, so it makes sense she’d want to investigate herself. It’s interesting that she saw Jong-sam the night he was arrested. I’ve been curious for a while, but does she think he’s guilty? Depending on that answer, I’ve wondered whether she’d be more receptive of him if he’d come clean to her about his identity. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

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  • Mysterious Il-seung: Episodes 7-8doubtfulvictory0708-00096.jpg

     

 

 

How many times can a man escape prison before he finally gets caught? Jong-sam tests that limit, but first he reunites with an ally from the past. While he’s busy trying to untangle the mysterious Il-seung’s last moments, Jin-young and her unit literally dig deeper into their recent case, where they uncover past deeds grislier than anticipated.

 

 

 

EPISODE 7 RECAP

 

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We return to the river where we last left Jong-sam with the ex-NIS agents. They’ve tied him to a weight and drop him into the water. Jong-sam struggles to free himself, but then he gets an assist from an unidentified underwater hand that cuts the rope to the weight and sets Jong-sam free.

 

On land, that helpful hand is revealed to belong to Jong-sam’s former mentor, Detective Kang. Jong-sam is not happy to see him after all this time, but the former detective has one last scheme for the two of them—he wants to help Jong-sam find the missing 100 billion won and crush Director Lee (the former president), his long-time target, once and for all.

 

 

 

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Jong-sam’s not buying it, so he turns away from the detective, only to be surrounded by police cars. They’re here from the prosecutor’s office to arrest Il-seung for theft.

 

Chairwoman Gook is not happy at all to hear this latest turn of events, and she orders her agents to tail Jong-sam. As they do, they also start gathering intel on the prosecutor who has called Jong-sam in.

 

That man, Prosecutor Kim, grills Director Lee about his monetary exchanges with Chairwoman Gook. The director’s attorney, Lawyer Ahn, interrupts briefly to insist that the director not be kept past midnight.

 

 

 

===Read more: http://www.dramabeans.com/2017/12/mysterious-il-seung-episodes-7-8/

 

 

 

 

 

COMMENTS

 

It seems four is the limit for easy jailbreaks. He’s got to somehow reach the other exit and escape, right? But when he does get away (because we all know he’s going to have a magic solution to this problem), the guards are going to know that someone managed to get out. When they see that all prisoners are accounted for, would they even try to chase down Jong-sam? I can never tell with this show. They like to introduce a problem, and then resolve it super quickly, so the prison could either be another entity trying to unmask the escaped Jong-sam, or just a quick dramatic detour resolved by next week.

 

I’m happy to see that Jong-sam and Detective Kang get a chance to reconcile, but I can’t help but be frustrated that it just seems to further delay Jong-sam and Jin-young’s official team-up. I keep waiting for the chemistry to kick back in for our two leads, but the show has really divided itself by separating them for this long. I feel like there’s no real reason for Jong-sam to ever meet back up with Jin-young, unless the unfolding murders linked to Gil-choon somehow connect back up with the missing money.

 

​

 

 

And with Jin-young stranded solely with her police unit, she’s grossly underutilized. The group dynamic seems to place Jin-young into more of a side character, even though she’s obviously doing a lot of the heavy lifting for the team. The more interesting interactions are now between Chief Jang and Detective Park, as they maneuver for control.

 

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There’s another power struggle on the other side as well, and my suspicions are on the divide between Chairwoman Gook and Lawyer Ahn are only going to set the bad guys back. I’m fine with the whole organization taking itself down from within. Give Jong-sam the money and let him find a new life with Ddakji somewhere.

 

I am enjoying the moments where Jong-sam struggles to adjust to normal life outside of prison. He’s an eager learner when it comes to new technology, but that can’t save him from habits that he’s grown comfortable with. The scene where both he and Ddakji find sleep on the floor was touching. I suspect a soft warm bed is something often mentioned in the dreams of the Musan inmates, and yet when Jong-sam has a chance to claim that dream, it’s not comforting.

 

I’m not sure what Ddakji’s long-term plan is here. I suspect Eun-bi would gladly take him in to her apartment, but he needs to find her first. He’s got his money back now at least, but I’m not sure he knows what he wants to do next, and it’s so anxiety-inducing. On one hand, I wish that Jong-sam had reached out, especially since he had to know that news of his supposed death would travel out to Ddakji eventually. But of course, I know that Jong-sam has had his hands full of constant action since he first broke out of prison, so I can see why he might not want to reach out, and how even if he wanted to, it might be a little low on the list of priorities. Still, this is all that Ddakji wanted from him, so they need to join forces soon.

 

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Team Dramabeans: What we’re watching??

 

 

So, what are we all watching this week? What kept you reaching for more (or agonizing when there was no more), and what made you want to throw your remote through the screen? Time to weigh in…

 

 

 

javabeans

  • Mysterious Il-seung (D.Victory): Whenever Yoon Kyun-sang is onscreen, I find this show funny and interesting and fast-paced. Whenever Yoon Kyun-sang leaves my screen, I realize five minutes later that I have zoned out the past five minutes and not absorbed a thing about the ex-NIS agents, the illegal money hand-offs, the eeevil chairpeople and directors of corruption, or the prosecutors. Then Yoon Kyun-sang comes back on and I’m entertained again.

 

cr

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  • Mysterious Il-seung: Episodes 9-10DV10-00050.jpg

 

Jong-sam has a lot on his plate, but that doesn’t stop anyone from piling on more problems. Every step forward seems to be followed with three steps back, but this pattern can’t go on forever. The only question is: Will Jong-sam finally gain his footing or will he fall even farther?

 

EPISODE 9 RECAP

We back up to just before Jong-sam’s fourth prison break to see that Ddakji hadspotted Jong-sam when they’d passed each other. Hopping off the bus, Ddakji chases after him but by the time he arrives at the construction site, Jong-sam has already vanished. He spots the grate covering the passageway but before he can open it, the construction workers return.

Ddakji hides as one of the workers backs a truck over the grate, blocking Jong-sam’s exit. Hearing Jong-sam frantically rattle the grate, Ddakji alerts the driver that someone is trapped. Alarmed, the driver runs off to retrieve the keys as Jong-sam watches the guards closing in on him.

The driver moves the truck, clearing the grate, which Ddakji yanks open. Jong-sam is shocked to see him, but Ddakji just shouts to run. The guards who were on Jong-sam’s heels are suddenly called back since the construction site is full and they’ll be fired if they’re seen chasing an escapee.

 

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Jong-sam and Ddakji catch their breaths at the edge of the lake and Ddakji exclaims that he’d almost died of worry. Laughing, Jong-sam playfully squishes Ddakji’s face, but they grow serious when they realize no one is chasing them.

Back at the prison, an unconscious Baek Kyung is loaded into an ambulance. The head guard decides they’ll lie that Baek Kyung hurt himself in the workshop and orders the passageway sealed. When asked about the escaped inmate, the head guard snaps that all their prisoners are still there so as far as anyone’s concerned, nothing happened. They decide to dispose of the phone Jong-sam left behind.

 

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With the bugged phone gone, the agents lose Jong-sam’s trail and decide to follow Baek Kyung instead, who turns out to be fine despite the serious-looking head injury. Agent Ki notes that the passageway will no longer be usable and Baek Kyung likely questioned. But Agent Kwak said he called the prison duty officer; Baek Kyung will be granted a stay of execution, ultimately freeing him from prison.

At the bus stop, Jong-sam vaguely explains his situation to Ddakji, avoiding details. Ddakji asks if what he’s doing is dangerous but Jong-sam assures him it’ll be over in a few days, then changes the subject to ask where he was headed.

 

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They arrive at the place holding the supposed remains of Jong-sam (aka Il-seung). Ddakji explains to the clerk that while they’re not blood-related, he’s the only family Jong-sam has. Passing over the paperwork, she warns him they’ll have to wait for the body to be cremated.

Jong-sam suddenly has an idea, and pays to keep Il-seung’s body in storage for a month. When Ddakji asks why, he explains that if they let the body be destroyed, there’ll be no evidence of Il-seung’s murder.

Jong-sam asks what Ddakji was doing at the prison, and Ddakji says he just wanted to see Jong-sam. Scoffing, Jong-sam wonders why he’d come back after being released, but Ddakji sadly replies that he had nowhere else to go.

 

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Meanwhile, Jin-young meets with Ddakji’s sister, Eun-bi, who wants to know why Gil-choon targeted her. Jin-young notes that he seemed to know her, but Eun-bi can’t imagine how. Jin-young points out that it wouldn’t have been recent since Gil-choon was locked up for the past six months, and when she hears the name of the prison, Eun-bi says that her brother was just released from the same place.

At the station, Jin-young tries to work out how everything’s related while the other detectives indulge in some PPL pizza. She asks Detective Park to approve her request for Ddakji’s picture from the prison, explaining that he’s the victim’s brother.

 

 

read more: http://www.dramabeans.com/2017/12/mysterious-il-seung-episodes-9-10/

 

 

 

 

COMMENTS

Argh!!! I knew that little cinnamon bun was too precious for this drama! All along, Ddakji has been the only real bargaining chip that could be used against Jong-sam, so when he decided to leave him behind, I had a feeling something like this would happen. Threatening Jong-sam’s life has very little impact so I’m not surprised Lawyer Ahn revisited his tried and true method of hurting the only person Jong-sam cherishes. Which is why I’m a bit surprised Jong-sam didn’t consider this possibility. Especially after Detective Kang’s betrayal, since he knew firsthand how tight that bond is.

 

Speaking of Detective Kang, that turnaround was brutal. I’ve always been on the fence about whether or not he was a good guy with a slightly shifty compass or a weasel. I was a bit suspicious of the whole trapped-on-a-boat story but this show is a fan of easy plot resolutions so I was willing to let it pass. This revelation is much more compelling but also so tragic when you consider that Detective Kang is just another adult that took advantage of a wayward youth. I was really getting on board with their little team, so I’m sad the party is over. That being said, I’m still not sure about Detective Kang’s motives. Is it possible that he’s playing an even deeper game? Or maybe he is on Director Lee’s side but has some genuine affection for the boy he took under his wing? I’d like to think so, anyway.

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I still don’t know what Gil-choon has to do with the grand scheme of things. Surely he fits in somewhere because if not, I’m not sure why we’re keeping him around. Apparently he’s a serial killer, or at least intends to be but is he really responsible for all those other bodies they discovered or are they just more pieces in a grander puzzle? I hope so because while Gil-choon made for a creepy adversary, he seems to have served his purpose.

These episodes were very light on Jin-young. Honestly, she hardly seemed like the female lead when she probably had barely ten minutes of screen time, only to swoop in a drop a bomb at the end. I wish we had more insight into what she’s thinking because at this point, I have no clue. She clearly had affection for Jong-sam as a teenager but then he was arrested for murder. That can put a damper on a relationship, no doubt… But despite her initial suspicions that he was assisting a psycho, she discovered that Jong-sam had done his best to save Eun-bi so shouldn’t that count for something? I can understand being peeved about the whole fake identity thing, but the poor guy is an escaped convict… I just want to understand her. Maybe the next couple episodes will shed some more light on the matter.

Regardless, the show has finally decided to put our leads back into the same room so that’s certainly a plus. With the fake identity out of the way, they have a lot of issues to work out. Hopefully they can clear up some of those problems enough to work together because they’re sure to make a fearsome team and I’d like Ddakji back in one piece, please and thank you!

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Edited by FranCella
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  • Mysterious Il-seung: Episodes 11-12doubtfulvictory1112-00055.jpg

 

I’m not sure that there’s anyone left who actually believes that Jong-sam is really Il-seung anymore, but that doesn’t stop him from getting up to some major hijinks anyways as a pretend detective. Jong-sam and Ddakji’s reunion quickly turns bittersweet, as their brotherhood is set up to be their undoing yet again by those who need them to disappear.

 

EPISODE 11 RECAP

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Ddakji has been abducted to lure back Jong-sam with the 100 billion won, and is now tied up and blindfolded in a shipping container. Jong-sam races back to the locker where he left the money, but he’s intercepted by Jin-young, who calls out his real name. He doesn’t deny that he’s Jong-sam, and furthers her suspicions by repeating the same words from their balcony encounter as teenagers: “It’s best to let me run away in a situation like this.â€

Jin-young’s not the only one is pursuit of Jong-sam, and he tears away from her grasp as Prosecutor Kim and his team turn up to give chase. Jong-sam and Jin-young tear through the subway turnstiles, while the prosecutor’s guys are delayed by a rules-abiding subway attendant who insists they pay the fare before entering the platform.

 

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Jong-sam’s duck-and-cover tactics are ineffective in throwing off Jin-young, and she handcuffs herself to his bag of money. After wasting time tugging the bag back and forth, Jong-sam finally just yanks Jin-young over and scoops her into his arms to sneak away to the elevator exit.

Even after they exit the elevator, Jong-sam continues to carry Jin-young until she asks him to put her down. When she refuses to remove the handcuffs from the bag, Jong-sam just does it himself, using a bobby pin from Jin-young’s hair (and makes it look way too easy). Jin-young doesn’t let go of him immediately, until he says that someone will die if she doesn’t. So she releases him, but then still chases behind, the prosecution team catching up.

 

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Jong-sam locks himself into the ventilation room as he searches for an escape. While the prosecutor crew and Jin-young struggle with the locked door, Jong-sam finds a ladder and starts to climb. The prosecutor crew sends some men to block the vent exit, Jin-young darts off, and the others finally retrieve the key to the room and continue to pursue Jong-sam.

The vent exit is locked, but Jong-sam’s lock-picking skills come in handy again and he manages to climb through, where Prosecutor Kim and his men are waiting. But we know Jong-sam always manages to escape, and this time it’s thanks to Jin-young, who grabbed her car and arrives to serve as the getaway driver.

 

===Read more: http://www.dramabeans.com/2017/12/mysterious-il-seung-episodes-11-12/

 

 

COMMENTS

I take back what I said last week, Jong-sam and Ddakji should have never reunited! I knew that once they were back together, it wouldn’t be long before someone used their bond against them. Why was I in such a hurry to get to that point?

I do think it’s interesting though that we’ve now set up Jong-sam to have a motivation similar to his mentor’s own reasons for working with the eeevil former president, but if Detective Kang hasn’t figured out a way out of it, it seems like Jong-sam is definitely in over his head.

​

 

Some of Jong-sam’s actions in these episodes make it very clear that he isn’t a hero, not yet at least. He’s always been a young man between the law, someone down on their luck doing what they have to do to survive. I like that right now, he’s not motivated by any great betrayal. I mean, yeah, he was framed for a murder that he did not commit, but right now there’s no shadow man lurking in the background to motivate him to seek justice. He just wants to disappear and go lead a quiet life.

And because he doesn’t have that motivation yet, Jong-sam can get a little gray in terms of his adherence to the law or what is just. Showing up and actually handing over the money to the bad guys, then offering to work for them… Jong-sam just wants to get just enough ahead of the game to get out. It’s great consistency of character, and asks the audience to root for this petty thief to do whatever’s necessary just get away.

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But at some point, the show will have to give Jong-sam a goal that he can achieve. We’ve spent a lot of time on this money, and I don’t think we’re done yet. But that can’t be the only thing that Jong-sam is trying to fix or solve. We eventually need to find something to root for, and this just isn’t it. Director Lee’s little story of his greed even in his youth grossed me out and made me hope that his ship of money sinks with him aboard.

I also have to admit I just don’t love Gil-choon as a long-term villain. I find this fine line between evil and developmentally disabled that they’re toeing to be really uncomfortable, and I’d prefer that Gil-choon is eventually just tried for the crimes he has committed, and cleared of the bigger investigation. I prefer my antagonists full of intelligent smarm, so that I don’t feel bad about hating them.

I really thought that Detective Park’s wife was going to be unrelated to Detective Kang, and last week’s episode was just an editing choice designed to trick us, but now it seems that Detective Park married his missing partner’s girlfriend. Or did he? With so much misdirection and secrets still not uncovered, I don’t think we’ve seen enough yet to draw any conclusions about the relationships that these detectives had, with one another or anyone else.

And hey, we got to see a little more of Jin-young in action alongside Jong-sam in this hour. I’m still not won over yet, but I don’t think it’s Jung Hye-sung’s fault. This character doesn’t seem to be much more than a couple of clipped responses, tough glares, and off-the-wall kicks. I feel that the character is tough and I like the outline of it, but Jin-young just doesn’t get enough lines for it to feel lived in yet.

At first I thought the idea of Jin-young letting Jong-sam get away to take care of the hostage situation himself was nonsensical, especially if she’s actually convinced now that he’s Jong-sam and not Il-seung. Sure, they have this bond from childhood, but she’s a cop now. Her whole job is enforcing the law, and this is a criminal who should be in jail who is still doing shady things. But then I thought about the first thing that Jong-sam says to her in these episodes, when he asks that she let him run away in these situations. In the past, she didn’t let him get away, and in a way, that got him on track to his eventual imprisonment. She might not see all of that, but she might see some of it, and I could see how a small part of her wants to believe that he was right all along, and that if she lets him go this time, maybe things will correct course in some way.

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  • Team Dramabeans: What we’re watching?

 

 

So, what are we all watching this week?

What kept you reaching for more (or agonizing when there was no more), and what made you want to throw your remote through the screen? Time to weigh in…

 

javabeans

  • Mysterious Il-seung: This show isn’t comedic, necessarily (at least not above a few lighthearted moments per episode), but I do find that the less seriously I take it, the more I enjoy it. The logic seems somewhat scattershot and things kind of just hurtle onward, but as long as they keep hurtling (rather than dragging), I can sit back and watch Yoon Kyun-sang escaping scrape after scrape. He sure gets into a lot of them.

 

tineybeanie

  • Mysterious Il-seung: My love for Yoon Kyun-sang is resurging again! I must admit during Rebel, I thought his performance could have used a lot more work, but I think that may have been because Kim Sang-joong’s emotive delivery was off-the-charts stellar, and anyone next to him could have easily been cast in the shadow. I’m not quite sure what Jung Hye-sung is doing, or why her character even exists, but I love the bromance between Yoon Kyun-sang and Ddakji, so I’m hanging in there!
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  • Mysterious Il-seung: Episodes 13-14 DV14-00216.jpg

     

 

 

As the fate of the 100 billion won comes to a close, Jong-sam finds his own fate thrown into the air once again. All his life, he’s been pushed around by the wills of others but perhaps now is the time to take his life into his own hands and forge his own fate.

 

 

 

EPISODE 13 RECAP

 

Detective Park pulls the breaks on Jong-sam’s heist when he catches Jong-sam red-handed, mere feet from the exit. They’re both startled by the appearance of Detective Kang and Jong-sam manages to escape, but not before the security cameras blink back on and catch him running away with the money.

 

Although shaken by the appearance of his old partner, Detective Park still manages to run after Jong-sam. It’s too late though, as the Men in Black pick Jong-sam up in their car and speed away. Detective Park immediately calls for backup and goes to check the CCTV footage.

 

 

 

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Meanwhile, Prosecutor Kim tries to retrieve the money and discovers it’s missing. Detective Park goes back to check on his team and ask why they aren’t ready to go, but Jin-young just nods her head towards Chief Jang. Seething, Chief Jang says that he told the team to stay put because the money isn’t their problem.

 

The chief wants to know what’s the deal with Gil-choon but Detective Park thinks a theft in the police station takes precedence. Chief Jang demands to know why they brought the money in the first place, calling it a bomb. He points out that it can’t be used as proof of anything and that it was the NIS that took it back—in the form of Jong-sam, who’s supposed to be working for them.

 

 

 

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Since they can’t investigate the NIS anyway, Chief Jang thinks they’re lucky the problem seemingly has taken care of itself. However when Prosecutor Kim appears moments later to demand the money, Chief Jang lies that they’re searching for it. Barely controlling his frustration, Prosecutor Kim demands the case be handed over to him.

 

Detective Park agrees to hand over the CCTV footage but refuses to pass the case, citing that since the theft occurred in their station, they have the right to the initial investigation. Prosecutor Kim explodes but Chief Jang benignly asks him to let the station save face by taking care of it themselves. Displeased, Prosecutor Kim relents but asks who took the money.

 

In the car, the agents congratulate Jong-sam on a successful mission but he admits he was caught. They brush it off, saying there’s no danger from one officer’s eyewitness account but Jong-sam clarifies that he was also caught on camera. The men sigh that things will be complicated now.

 

 

 

====Read more: http://www.dramabeans.com/2017/12/mysterious-il-seung-episodes-13-14/

 

 

 

 

 

COMMENTS

 

Yay! I’ve been waiting for Jong-sam to jump aboard the revenge train. He’s needed a fire lit under his rear since the start and I’m only sad that it took Ddakji’s death to do it. I may have predicted this outcome from the onset, but that doesn’t mean the impact was any less heartbreaking. And this is exactly why I’m always reluctant to grow attached to genuinely good and innocent characters like Ddakji—because unless it’s a cotton-candy romcom, they just never seem safe. The upside is that now Jong-sam truly has nothing to lose, and a man with nothing is a far more terrifying adversary.

 

 

 

From Director Lee’s standpoint, I’m not really sure why Ddakji had to die. He was the perfect pawn in getting Jong-sam to do his bidding and he posed zero threat as an ex-convict that was still somewhat naive. Instead, his actions have only managed to “poke the bear,†if you will, because until now, Jong-sam has only been concerned with living quietly. He was taken aback when Ddakji had wished he was a real cop, not understanding the point in clearing their names and willing to let the injustice of their past go. Jong-sam really isn’t one to rock the boat, but Ddakji’s death has capsized his little vessel and I’m pumped to finally see him motivated to take down the jerks that have hurt them.

 

On the other end of the spectrum, Director Lee’s obsession with money is downright disturbing. I was already aware that he was a few fries short of a Happy Meal when he shared his desperate dive into human waste over the equivalent a nickel. So I wasn’t really surprised when he quibbled with Jong-sam over the missing money—despite his own men pointing out it was unavoidable, and he’d agreed to give Jong-sam that much plus more—because a man that riddled with greed never planned to let Jong-sam keep his cut anyway. That should’ve been made clear when he ordered his men to kill Jong-sam last week after he’d handed over the money.

 

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At least we know very clearly where Director Lee stands. All his underlings, however, are a bit of a mystery. His main cohorts all have their own agendas and while I’m pretty confident that Chairwoman Gook and Lawyer Ahn are bad news, Chief Jang is up in the air. We don’t know when he started working for Director Lee or what his motivations are, yet. So far, he’s the least sinister of the group but I’m not making any bets until more is revealed. As for Detective Kang, he’s pretty much defected, what with all the times he’s saved Jong-sam’s life. He certainly wronged Jong-sam in the past no matter how valid and unavoidable the reason, I just hope he knew nothing about the scapegoat plot before he was shipped out.

 

The “bad guys†I find truly baffling, however, are our Men in Black. One minute, they’re pushing Jong-sam off a pier to a watery grave, and the next they’re feeling sympathetic that Jong-sam is to be trapped on a smuggler’s ship as a slave for the next decade? Agent Kwak had laughed about sending Detective Kang on the same boat 10 years ago, but actually seemed remorseful that Jong-sam was facing the same fate. They’re so bizarre! To their credit, they had been about to help Jong-sam save Ddakji… but that’s also strange because they had kidnapped him in order to kill him anyway. I always notice Agent Ki’s conflicted expression, but Agent Kwak usually doesn’t seem to share his reservations. Regardless of their inner turmoil, they still obey Chairwoman Gook’s commands so they’re definitely on the “naughty†list, but I do wonder what they would do if she wasn’t around.

 

Are we done with Gil-choon yet? I hope so, because his character has really worn out his welcome. I’d been wary when the show started tacking on extra bodies and dragging out his interrogation. I guess the point was so there’d be an excuse for Chief Jang to create his little pet project with the Hidden Crimes Investigation Team? There were probably other ways to accomplish that but I’ll let it go so long as we’re done with crazy pants.

 

On a brighter note, Jong-sam has officially joined the police force! I’m happy that this means we’ll get to see more of the detectives and, of course, Jin-young. She’s really taken the back-burner lately and it’s made it difficult for me to connect with her character. Apart from a lot of glaring, and a few glimpses at past scars, we haven’t been able to gather much from her and that’s such a shame because she has some interesting components. I’m looking forward to learning more about her… and maybe getting some fun workplace hi-jinks while we’re at it.

 

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  • Mysterious Il-seung: Episodes 15-16doubtfulvictory1516-00001.jpg

 

I think we might finally be getting to the point where Jong-sam actually gets to pretend to be a cop and solve some crimes. The newly-formed Hidden Crimes Unit solves its first case together, while some more of the tangles that twist Jin-young and Jong-sam pasts together are unraveled.

 

 

 

EPISODE 15 RECAP

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In the officers’ new basement office, Jin-young reveals to Jong-sam that she knows he is innocent of the murder of the prosecutor, because she saw him on the 18th floor of the Jinsung Group building at the time of the crime. Jong-sam asks why she didn’t tell anyone, and Jin-young says that she did in fact tell the detectives, but they didn’t believe her because Jong-sam had confessed. When Jong-sam asks what she was doing at the Jinsung Group building, Jin-young doesn’t answer and darts off.

Detective Park checks in with Chief Jang, who says that the team’s new assignment and new team member were all directives from above. The chief says that Detective Park’s team is the best place for Il-seung, so they can keep an eye on him. The detective’s protests are cut short when he gets a call from his team asking him to return.

 

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They’ve called him back because Prosecutor Kim has dropped by. It seems that he’s been reassigned as well to the Hidden Crimes special investigations, and he’s not pleased at all to see Jong-sam in the unit. In fact, he promises to spend some time investigating Il-seung’s qualifications as a police officer.

Detective Park pulls Jong-sam aside to try to level with him. Jong-sam isn’t ready to blow his cover yet, especially as he recalls Ddakji’s final wish for him to be a real cop and punish those who had wronged them, so he confirms that he is really Il-seung, and he’s here to catch bad guys. With nothing left to do but accept what’s been given to him, Detective Park warns Jong-sam about the importance of trust and teamwork.

 

=== Read more: http://www.dramabeans.com/2017/12/mysterious-il-seung-episodes-15-16/

 

 

 

COMMENTS

I thought we would live to regret holding on to that small portion of the money, but instead I was never more grateful to see it reappear one last time (this is the last time, right?). Finally things came together in a way that felt like a win, instead of a scramble to just hang on.

The show took four weeks to get to its premise, and everything it did previously just made it seem an even more improbable setup. A convict escaping prison and impersonating a cop sounds like a far stretch, and when you pile on all the mishaps that have basically unmasked his secret identity to absolutely everyone, it’s hard to understand how anyone thinks it’s reasonable to put this fake Il-seung on a police squad.

 

But I guess that’s actually kind of the charm of the show as well. Logic doesn’t stand up well, so if you just let go and run with the action, it’s all pretty fun. I think that’s why some of the side characters, like the NIS agents and the other police officers, tend to shine, because they get to really play around in those scenes where it’s not so much plot driven as much as it is fun driven. I giggled every time I watched Min-pyo and Dae-woong strut into that restaurant in their fancy outfits because I mean, why not?

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But also, what good villain puts all of his adversaries into one big unit? Doesn’t he understand that their strength will only grow? Who thinks pairing Jong-sam up with the one uncorrupt police team and the dogged prosecutor out to get him is the path to success?

And now the Hidden Crimes Unit has been tasked with gathering up all of the unsolved cases and taking a crack at them, so I’m guessing we’re heading into mystery-of-the-week territory. I’m actually kind of looking forward to it; I could use a break from Chairman Lee and his brand of evil.

I’m not sure how Jong-sam will turn out as a police officer. The man is a little dumb. And that’s not his fault. He’s been part of a society that has made sure he hasn’t had access to an education. But he did manage to pass the police exam, so will he still have some of that information tucked away from ten years ago? And how useful is that information when he’s never had the chance to actually use it in a real-life situation? I feel like practical on-the-job experience is more important than book smarts for a detective, so I’m not sure that will pan out for him. But we’ve seen that it’s his thief skills that might add a new element to the team, so perhaps everything will be fine even if he’s a bit of a bumbler.

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  • Team Dramabeans: What we’re watching??

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So, what are we all watching this week?

 

What kept you reaching for more (or agonizing when there was no more), and what made you want to throw your remote through the screen? Time to weigh in…

 

 

javabeans

  • Mysterious Il-seung: I’m losing interest, although I feel like there’s justenough Yoon Kyun-sang to keep me hanging on… although after they offed Ddakji (nooooooo!) it was a blow. Now, if they just ramp up the partnership between Yoon Kyun-sang and Jung Hye-sung, I think it could keep me invested… but it’s a close call as it is.

 

 

tineybeanie

  • Mysterious Il-seung: Nooo. I wanted this to be so much better than it is now. Il-seung/Jong-sam has been intelligent by thinking up plans and backup plans and even more backup plans to his backup plans when his enemies catch on to him. I can’t understand how he had this naive side when it came to Ddakji. Of course they were going to kill him! Poor Eun-bi!! I have a feeling that now Jin-young will be the next Ddakji… but I’m done with all the former president’s intrigue business. It’s boring, and I feel like they’ve left so many loose ends untied that there’s too much evidence for them to not get caught already. I’m disappointed in the one dimensional villains.

cr

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  • Mysterious Il-seung: Episodes 17-18DV17-00101.jpg

     

 

 

We spend a lot of time with Jong-sam’s allies this hour as we start to uncover some secrets surrounding the night Jin-young’s father died. There’s certainly more than meets the eye and everyone seems to hold a different piece to the puzzle. Searching for the truth will require a dive down the rabbit hole, and we’ve barely scratched the surface.

 

 

 

EPISODE 17 RECAP

 

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Jong-sam jots down a note inside Il-seung’s apartment and slips it into his pocket. He then takes out one his personal effects bags Ddakji had collected from the prison. Outside, Jong-sam notices a car parked on the curb. He peeks inside and finds it empty but is startled when Jin-young appears beside him. He guesses she’s come to question him some more about the night her father died. Jin-young denies this but avoids Jong-sam’s eyes. He ignores her odd behavior and holds out a small pouch with the initials “C.K†stitched across it.

 

He tells Jin-young he’d picked it up at Jinsung Group that night and a flashback reveals that while he’d opened the door to her father’s office, a noise caused him to turn around without going in. Following the source into the stairwell, he’d just managed to catch sight of a man’s back scurrying away. Turning to go, he’d spotted the pouch on the steps. In the present, Jong-sam says he doesn’t think her father committed suicide. Jin-young reasons that since those stairs led to the rooftop, it was likely the man Jong-sam had seen was the killer. Jong-sam admits he wasn’t able to see the man’s face but Jin-young thanks him anyway. She says she’ll have forensics analyze the pouch but Jong-sam worries that it’s already been compromised by countless people touching it after he was arrested.

 

Jin-young brightly points out that it’s still something. She motions for him to get into the car so they can head to work but Jong-sa says he has something to do. He tells her to go ahead and rushes off to the park where he usually meets Detective Kang. He takes out the note which tells the detective to contact him at the police station, and tucks it into the slide.

 

Jin-young orders a coffee at the small café kiosk in the station, however Cha-kyung refuses to let her pay. She chides Jin-young that it’s her bribe to the team to keep husband, Detective Park, safe.

 

 

 

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“Il-seung†is in the headlines thanks to the press conference and Chief Jang storms into the basement office, looking for Jong-sam. His fury is only exacerbated when he discovers Jong-sam has yet to arrive and launches into a tirade about how he’d created this unit to calm the public, but it only caused more problems. Jong-sam arrives in the middle and when Chief Jang turns around, the two men lock eyes.

 

Jong-sam immediately recognizes his arresting officer and Chief Jang leans in, curiously noting that Jong-sam looks very familiar. Jong-sam denies it and while Chief Jang hardly looks convinced, he simply warns the younger man to avoid further trouble. Before leaving, he adds the Prosecutor Kim is also in hot water.

 

 

 

====Read more: http://www.dramabeans.com/2017/12/mysterious-il-seung-episodes-17-18/

 

 

 

 

 

COMMENTS

 

Noooo! Stop making Detective Kang into such a bad guy, Show! I don’t think that Detective Kang killed Jin-young’s father, but you have to question what he was doing at Jinsung Group that night. Was he maybe following one of his leads on Director Lee? Whatever happened that night, it’s likely the reason he was so eager to skip town the next day. What is Jin-young’s father’s connection with Director Lee? Is there even a connection? Surely there must be or else Detective Kang wouldn’t have a reason to be there.

 

 

 

In some ways, Detective Kang’s story is even more tragic than Jong-sam’s. Where Jong-sam at least had his most precious person for company during his decade of imprisonment, Detective Kang was all alone while his loved ones were left behind to assume the worst. What’s more, he’s missed out on Kang’s life and will likely not be apart of his son’s future unless the current trajectory shifts. I can understand Cha-kyung’s desire to push him away since she’s built a new life in his absence and his reappearance muddles everything. I do hope they find a solution, although no matter what, someone is going to be hurt.

 

Speaking of Jin-young, I like her so much more when she’s not angry. It was always a bit off-putting when she’d start berating Jong-sam, because I couldn’t understand why. I know he’s an escaped convict, but her reaction to him was too volatile for that reason alone—especially when they had a budding attraction as teens. I’m not really happy with the reason the show gave her, since it seemed a bit silly to think he killed her father. Regardless of how sketchy his presence outside the office may be, he had zero motive for murder. Thankfully, that’s been cleared up and they can start to build a positive relationship—at least as partners, if nothing else.

 

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I think Baek Kyung might be dead. He may not have been a nice guy, but I do think it’s a shame after that speech he made to Jong-sam. He did their dirty work and kept their secrets but, in the end, he was still dispensable. I’m not sure who they sent in to take care of business, but Chairwoman Gook is pretty trigger-happy when it comes to killing off people she doesn’t like. You know it’s bad when Director Lee has to tell her “no.†It makes me anxious for the Men in Black because they’ve been messing up left and right. Sure, they’re on the wrong side of the battle, but they have a certain quirky charm that I’d miss if they were to fall victim to Chairwoman Gook’s rath.

 

I’m not a fan of Prosecutor Kim anymore. I was really rooting for him until he started threatening Jong-sam. I understand his desire to take Director Lee down, but the whole thing felt so unnecessary. Jong-sam has spent his entire youth as a victim of the system, and it’s so disheartening when even the “good†guys use the law in order to manipulate him. After Ddakji’s death, Jong-sam has been out for Director Lee’s blood so he’s not a hard sell. The fact that Prosecutor Kim didn’t try to be supportive and instead chose to resort to the same tactics as his enemy just rubs me the wrong way. Especially after Detective Kang pointed out Prosecutor Kim knew Jong-sam was innocent in Il-seung’s murder, but still threatened to convict him for it. I had hoped that would open his eyes to his bullying but apparently he just doesn’t care.

 

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  • Mysterious Il-seung: Episodes 19-20 doubtfulvictory1920-00093.jpg

 

Jong-sam and Jin-young have some new leads in the 10-year-old case of Jin-young’s father’s murder. But the league of corruption won’t take things lying down, and they’ve still got some cards to play to disrupt the investigation, mostly because they own someone in every department. Even without their meddling, both Jin-young and Jong-sam struggle to remain unbiased as they investigate a case they are both thoroughly personally involved.

 

 

 

EPISODE 19 RECAP

As Detective Park’s wife Cha-kyung loads her son into the car, his backpack spills open and Jin-young stoops to help. But amidst the items is a keychain identical to the one Jong-sam found in the stairwell the night of Jin-young’s father’s murder.

Cha-kyung’s son Kang claims the keychain is his father’s, and Cha-kyung confirms that one is hers and the other Jin-young holds up in an evidence bag is Detective Kang’s. Jin-young darts inside the station to share her new information with Jong-sam.

 

While she heads inside, Detective Park meets up with his wife to head home together. Kang tells the detective about the keychain discovery, and Detective Park scurries to get in the car to avoid his wife’s explanation.

Back in the station, Jong-sam doesn’t think that Detective Kang was the man he saw in the stairwell, since he would have recognized him then. Jin-young is fixated on her new target though, and points out that he conveniently disappeared the very same day as her father’s death. Jong-sam recalls Agent Kwak’s tale of sending Detective Kang off on a ship as punishment, so he defends his former mentor again.

 

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Jin-young takes note of his insistences, and asks what relationship he has with Detective Kang. Jong-sam’s answer is a familiar one; he says he knows him because of Jin-young. Jin-young asks where Detective Kang is, and in the next scene we see that the missing detective is aimlessly wandering the streets alone.

The next morning, Jong-sam is surprised to see Jin-young’s car outside his apartment again. She offers to carpool with him, if he pays her monthly, but Jong-sam is worried others will assume they’re living together. Jin-young whispers in response that technically they are living together…

And to clear things up, Jin-young’s mother leans over the balcony of Jong-sam’s apartment building just then. It seems that Jin-young and her mom have moved in for the cheap rent, into the apartment right under Jong-sam’s rooftop apartment.

 

====Read more: http://www.dramabeans.com/2017/12/mysterious-il-seung-episodes-19-20/

 

 

COMMENTS

Things are starting to catch up to Jin-young, and I have a feeling this injury will be the final moment before she finally cracks. And for good reason. She’s been terrifying stoic about the whole thing, when this is the case for her. Some bed rest in the hospital with Jong-sam at her side sounds like an excellent time to let her unleash her emotions and get some support.

The truth is that neither Jin-young nor Jong-sam are unbiased in this case. They’re way too wrapped around this ever-connected web, and I like the idea that they might butt heads a lot before they get to the end of this.

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Sure, cooperation will get the best results, but haven’t we waited long enough to get a second dose of the fire between these two people? Jin-young is still in this space where everything is either right or wrong, guilty or innocent, while if Jong-sam has learned nothing from the last 20 episodes, it’s that there’s a lot of gray, and sometimes you have to trust those who have betrayed you in the past.

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The show has been really great at keeping me guessing about our grayest character, Detective Kang. The guy has been back and forth from the sides of good and evil so many times that I had no clue just how involved in Jin-young’s father’s death he would actually be. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be the killer, but the extent to which he allowed or assisted in it, I really couldn’t guess, especially given Chairwoman Gook and Lawyer Ahn’s reactions.

Prosecutor Kim seems to really love his big reveals, but it also seems to be his biggest weakness. He’s a guy that loves to pull everything together on paper, but he misses things as he relishes the reveal to his opponent. He needs to get better at closing all the holes before he lets the bad guys know what’s up. I wouldn’t mind it if he were the one to get to smile smugly while laying down lots of paper at Chairman Lee’s feet right before he’s escorted to jail. He just needs to be more patient and less smug.

And okay, what is this whole thing with Young-min and the election? We already have the chief of police and his lawyer fighting to give us some drama, why do we need this character that has been hiding in the shadows of Chairman Lee’s house for the last couple weeks? They really can’t expect me to care about this at all. This whole thing just seems like we’re giving the evil league something to occupy themselves until Jong-sam can catch up.

Which is why the scam Chairwoman Gook and Agent Kwak pulled on the police to get Mr. Choi out was so great in comparison to all the elections prep. This was something relevant to Jin-young’s father’s case, it directly impacted Jong-sam and Jin-young, and it frustrated their progress in a really satisfactory way. This is the kind of antagonism that they need. More this, less following the political funding scandals, please.

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  • love changed the title to SBS Drama "Doubtful Victory" Yoon Kyun Sang & Jung Hye-Sung. *~The END~*

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