Bad Guy: Episode 2

by javabeans

I thought Episode 2 was mostly better than Episode 1… except for one particular aspect of it that almost lost me. I was all ready to dive headfirst into Bad Guy until that scene gave me pause. I’m still interested because everything else is so intriguing, but it pinged my earlier misgivings about story contrivances. Will discuss more later. But also:

Hot damn, when did Kim Jae-wook learn to act?? Oh, he always had tons of charisma — and a ridiculously beautiful face — and by all reports he was pretty good in Antique Bakery. But he’s just never shown this kind of depth.

SONG OF THE DAY

Dynamic Duo – “죽일 놈” (Guilty) [ Download ]

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EPISODE 2 RECAP

After the skydive goes awry, actress Hye-joo is taken to the hospital (though not for serious injuries) while Gun-wook, who’s more used to physical traumas, is fine. The action director asks what went wrong, since Gun-wook was responsible for checking the gear. Gun-wook casts a look back at Da-rim but merely says that the string must have frayed.

Da-rim apologizes for her sabotage, but when he asks if she feels better at having gotten back at the hateful Hye-joo, she admits that she did. However, she adds that she felt like crying when she saw them falling, and thanks him for being understanding.

Da-rim’s teary bashfulness turns indignant when he gives her a box to give to Hye-joo — so he’s still going to pursue her? She’d felt like they were on the same page, and this makes her peevish (plus, it seems Da-rim is harboring a crush on him). She peeks inside the box to see a folded paper crane.

Here’s what I’m confused about, though it’s a minor point — why did Gun-wook go up in the air with faulty parachutes? Even if he didn’t directly see Da-rim cutting the cord, he knew she was messing around, and maintaining safety was his duty. Was he testing Da-rim to see if she’d go through with it? Was he trying to see if she’d rise above it? Did he want to give Hye-joo a scare? It seems careless of him, regardless. Gun-wook may exude a reckless air, but he’s quite calculated about his risks, and he isn’t actually self-destructive — he’s got too much vengeance to wreak to treat his life so lightly.

Meanwhile, the Hong family gathers for Mo-nae’s birthday party, except the guest of honor hasn’t arrived yet. She drives to the hotel from the yacht, but takes a time-out before joining the party, feeling bitter about her cheating fiancé and people in general.

Gun-wook comes upon Mo-nae sitting outside and joins her. At any other time she’d be thrilled to see him, but today she can barely muster a small smile. She asks if he went skydiving today and with whom, and he — not betraying that he knows why she’s asking — answers that he went with the actress. Mo-nae sighs that she hates “the adults” who have spoiled her birthday — her disillusionment with her fiancé has spilled over into other aspects her life. (It’s not like she was forced kicking and screaming into the engagement, but she was never given a choice, either.)

Gun-wook gets up and plucks a couple of flower stems from the foliage and presents them to Mo-nae. A little bashfully, he says he doesn’t know how old she is — will two “candles” do? Mo-nae smiles at his silly gesture and pretends to blow out the candles.

And then, a brash intruder: It’s her older brother, prodigal son Hong Tae-sung (Kim Jae-wook). He treats Gun-wook with suspicion, addresses him rudely, and leads his sister away.

Gun-wook, understanding who this is, stares intensely at Tae-sung and crumples the forgotten flower stem, then drops it.

He watches the family gathering from outside their banquet hall, staring through the glass. From the outside, it looks much more pleasant than it is on the inside, where tensions mount with the increasing churlishness of Tae-sung, who clearly has issues with his family.

The event starts off civil enough, though Mo-nae is subdued. President Hong gently chides his son for showing up unannounced, to which his wife says that she called him here — why she shouldn’t she? Everyone knows Tae-sung is the bastard half-brother, but Madam Shin is the one who tries to pretend that it makes no difference.

When fiancé Se-joong introduces himself, Tae-sung mocks his father’s choice in engaging Mo-nae to such an ajusshi. His voice is right on that cutting edge between a laugh and a sneer, like a rebellious teenager who can’t resist stirring up fights to get out his misplaced aggressions. Tae-ra mutters for him to stop it; his father tells him to eat or leave, to which Tae-sung gets up and stalks out. Mo-nae, also upset with her family, follows him out.

His identity has obviously been a huge factor in the way Tae-sung has seen the world. Although his childhood wasn’t as traumatic as Gun-wook’s, it’s no surprise that Tae-sung, who came to the Hong family when he was old enough to understand that he was the black sheep, would have grown up slightly less than perfectly adjusted. His family chooses to think of Tae-sung as a reckless troublemaker, but it seems more likely that he’s acting out against them.

As for the murder/suicide case: It seems we were supposed to suspect Gun-wook as the dead girl’s boyfriend, although hawk-eyed viewers may have picked up on the fact that the crane left at her point of impact was a folded photograph of Tae-sung, who turns out to be the real boyfriend. The two investigators intercept him at the airport and take him in for questioning.

Gun-wook, not one to miss out on this small triumph, is there to witness the encounter.

After all, he has been working for quite some time to orchestrate his Grand Revenge. A back room of his apartment houses sprawling research on the Hong clan like the bunker of a serial killer mastermind, which I admit takes a bit off the luster from the whole Sexy Bastard Kim Nam-gil appeal. Not entirely, but just a bit.

This pretty much confirms that every encounter Gun-wook has had with the Hongs has been premeditated, including the yacht landing and the gradual romancing of Mo-nae. He’d pretended not to know her age, but it’s likely he knows not only her age but every detail of her life since birth.

This deal with birthdays spins Gun-wook off into another painful flashback, which features his first birthday celebrated with the Hongs. First and last — it was on that day that his father received word that they’d gotten the wrong Tae-sung. How were they fooled? Did that deaf-mute swindle them? Without bothering to work out the details, all that matters is that this Tae-sung is not their Tae-sung, and the family kicks him out calling him an impostor. As though the boy could have schemed this all up on his own.

He’d cried and begged for them to let him in, but they had left him outside in the rain, and he, not knowing what else to do, had huddled out in the cold outside their gate.

Tae-sung is interrogated about his dead ex Sun-young, joined at the station by his current girlfriend. He remains silent throughout, mentally elsewhere. New Cop shows amusement at the girlfriend’s alibi for Tae-sung on the night in question; she retorts, “Do you thing we were in there studying?” She recognizes the woman in the photo as the girl who had once stormed in on them angrily and pleaded with Tae-sung — he had broken things off suddenly and she hadn’t accepted it.

This leads us into another flashback, which is the memory upon which Tae-sung has fixated his thoughts. He recalls the time he had brought Sun-young to a lunch with his parents, presenting her as the woman he would marry.

As we have already seen, his relationship with his family is complicated and tense, and he can’t get through a simple conversation without making snarky digs — at his family, yes, but also at his girlfriend. His derision is directed at his parents, but Sun-young is a casualty — he knew before bringing her here that she would not meet with their approval, but he highlights her situation in the worst possible way. She’s older than him, she has no family. Tae-ra warns him to cut it out and apologizes to Sun-young, but he says flippantly that it’s okay because his girlfriend has no pride.

Everyone mutters for him to stop it, but Madam Shin smiles and invites him to continue, like she’s challenging him to do his worst. So he gets back at her by bringing up that sore topic: “She resembles Mother.” But, “Not you, the mother who gave birth to me.” Madam Shin taunts back, “Where is she? Does she even exist?” He counters, “Then did I fall from the sky?”

The parents leave the table early, and the sisters leave to give the couple some space. Tae-sung says that this is how he’s treated in his family, but when Sun-young talks to him sympathetically, he turns his scorn to her. How can she still want to marry him? Her kindness just makes him angry and he yells at her, saying she should have gotten his point. He orders her never to show herself in front of him again.

I’m sensing that underneath the spoiled brat facade is a self-destructive, angry man, and underneath that layer is a lonely boy who just wants some love and acceptance. Sun-young probably sees that in him and I suspect that he connects with her on one level, but that rich-boy shell is so strong that it also makes him act out against her, which is why he so easily cut her off.

Now Tae-sung finds the spot where she fell from the roof and stares blankly down at it. The security guard assumes that he finds the chalk outline unseemly and starts to erase it, but Tae-sung tells him not to. He falls to his knees, wracked with sobs, reaching out to touch the space within the outline. His hand shakes as it hovers above the space as though wanting to touch the person to whom it belongs, but unable to. He cries, “This isn’t how it was supposed to be.”

Watching nearby with utterly no sympathy — no reaction, even — is Gun-wook, playing with his flame again.

We’ve been given plenty of reason for his vendetta against the Haeshin Group family, but another flashback shows us even more. We resume where we left off, and young Tae-sung/Gun-wook is waiting in the rain when the Hongs return home with the current Tae-sung. They’re startled to see the boy still here — his other parents were supposed to come to pick him up.

They’re on their way, infuriated with this treatment — didn’t those rich people promise to take good care of Tae-sung? If they were just going to send him back, they should never have taken him away in the first place! Overcome with righteous anger, Mom urges Deaf Dad to hurry.

All the while, the dog has been wandering around pathetically in the rain and finally runs off, his leash slipping from the boy’s hand. It races into traffic, right as the parents’ truck comes along… and swerves… into oncoming traffic… and skids in the rain…

…and OH GOOD LORD you have gotta fucking be kidding me. The truck overturns and kill the parents, but Gun-wook doesn’t realize this — he’s fixated on the dog, which lies in a soggy mess beside him. He urges the dog to get up, asking why it won’t respond, and then — TO KILL YOU MORE — he takes out his hearing aid, meant for now-dead Dad, and holds it up to the dog’s ear. All while bleeding from the huge gash in his back.

Arrrrghhhhh#@#$asdfjkl;%^&*(^@$%^&*()(*&.

Sorry, but this makes me lose my mind just a little. This scene almost made me give up entirely on this drama — not because I can’t stand to see an animal die (although there is that), but the fact that they could go for such a cheap sob story with his childhood. I actually think this detracts from Adult Gun-wook’s vendetta, but I’ll get more into that in the comments section. And after that we will speak of this no more.

Sisters Jae-in and Won-in go out for a snack, and watch a TV report of the lady who committed suicide after being dumped by her rich boyfriend. Won-in jokingly warns Jae-in not to pursue her Catch A Chaebol scheme, because she could wind up like that woman. If she knew that she was Tae-sung’s ex, perhaps she’d actually reconsider.

Jae-in realizes that the suicide occurred near the intersection where she hit that guy with her car, but she dismisses Little Sis’s musings that he might be connected with the dead woman. Jae-in fiddles with the paper crane and ponders, “That guy had a scar on his back. But for some strange reason, it wasn’t scary.”

In the wee morning hours, Won-in walks up to the bus stop only to realize she has left her wallet at home. She turns to the other person on the bench — Gun-wook — to ask to borrow a dollar (1,000 won), but his gaze is firmly fixed on something in the distance and he doesn’t register her at all. Won-in starts searching his pockets for some cash, even reaching into his pants — bold girl! — and retrieves a bill, promising to pay him back. He remains unresponsive.

When she gets on the bus, she looks up curiously, wondering what the heck he’s so fixated on. All she can see is a plain ol’ office building marked Haeshin.

Hye-joo thinks that Gun-wook’s gift of the paper crane is an overture and flirtatiously calls him romantic. He indicates that there was actually more of a meaning to his gesture, leaving her confused — the vain movie star hasn’t bothered to actually look at it.

Upon opening the paper, she angrily confronts Da-rim, accusing her of swapping out his message. Then she figures that’s unlikely of her poor, stupid assistant and storms into the action school in high dudgeon, not caring that it’s the men’s locker room.

Hye-joo finds Gun-wook in the shower and shuts off his water, demanding to know what he means by this. (And I’m sure I’m not the only one who was just waiting for her to look down, lol. She doesn’t, which just confirms that she’s an idiot.) The crane was folded from the check that her date gave him to shut up about the accident. Gun-wook drawls that she should know what he meant by it, which pisses her off even more.

Mightily miffed, she rips up the check and drops it on the ground. Unperturbed, Gun-wook turns on the shower, washing the pieces toward the drain.

Another stuntman witnesses the exchange and later sneaks in to grab the pieces of the check. The action director finds the last crucial piece and argues for a cut of the total.

Tae-sung dozes on the couch, and wakes up to the voice of his dead girlfriend calling him to eat. He sees Sun-young standing there in the kitchen, just like normal, and stares in disbelief. But it’s all in his head, and he has imagined it all.

I wondered if this was a sign that he was losing a hold on reality due to guilt, but the next day he walks into the Haeshin building looking as assured as ever. He strides in full of purpose, but is stopped by the guards, who don’t recognize him and laugh when he insists he’s President Hong’s son. Everyone “in the know” is aware of Tae-sung’s identity, but the outside world only knows of one son (his elder brother, who also works for the company).

Tae-sung pretends to give up, then dashes past security and races inside, locking himself in the announcement booth. His voice booms in on the PA system throughout the entire building:

Tae-sung: “Father, are you listening? You know who I am, right? Your son Hong Tae-sung. But all these damned employees don’t know who I am, so I’m here to tell them, I’M THE SON OF THIS COMPANY!”

He adds that he’s going to Japan for good, so “have a nice life.” Jae-in looks up in interest when the announcement comes on, while President Hong chuckles in amusement, saying, “That’s my son!”

Mo-nae drives along, and while she’s paused at a stop light, a stranger opens the passenger door and surprises the bejeezus out of her — until she sees that it’s Gun-wook and is excited to see him.

Jae-in pulls up to the light by their car and recognizes Mo-nae, but stops from calling out a greeting when she registers Mo-nae’s unfamiliar companion. He’s not her fiancé, so who could it be?

Jae-in delivers a new art acquisition to Madam Shin, who is thrilled at the find. Tae-ra asks about Jae-in’s friendship with Mo-nae, and it turns out that Jae-in was hired to teach Mo-nae about art. Madam Shin had sent the two on a six-week trip through Europe the past year, with Jae-in acting as governess-companion.

Tae-ra finds Jae-in’s polite and respectful demeanor pleasing, and after Jae-in leaves she asks her mother to whose family she belongs. That’s rich people code for “Is she someone important?” and Madam Shin says her family is nobody to speak of — but she likes her too, because Jae-in is smart and “knows her place.” This means that Madam Shin (and therefore all rich people) can rest easy that she will never overreach and press her inferior presence upon them. Or at least that’s her gist.

Hearing that Mo-nae is at her music/dance studio, Jae-in drops by, curious to know who her companion was. Her excuse for the visit is to present her with a more appropriate birthday present, and then she asks about the guy in the car. Mo-nae is taken aback and fumbles for an excuse, not ready to share about her relationship with Gun-wook, and says that it was just her oppa. As she is keen to learn more about Tae-sung, Jae-in interprets this to mean that the guy was Tae-sung, and Mo-nae doesn’t correct her.

While Jae-in muses lightly that she envies Mo-nae — she’s rich, she has so many opportunities — Mon-ae responds that she’s actually envious of Jae-in. That idea is so surprising that Jae-in laughs — nobody’s ever envied the poor girl who worked her way up, but Mo-nae probably wishes she had Jae-in’s freedom as an independent adult.

Mo-nae is expecting a visitor so Jae-in leaves, but notices upon her exit that Gun-wook is arriving. Since she believes him to be Tae-sung, she watches with particular interest.

Gun-wook comes upon Mo-nae as she’s rehearsing, and she eagerly draws him into the studio, engaging him in a silly dance with her.

However, the doorbell marks the arrival of two unexpected visitors, and Mo-nae looks around nervously. She pushes Gun-wook into another room and shuts the door just as Tae-ra enters with Se-joong in tow.

Mo-nae tries to act (very unsuccessfully) like nothing’s the matter. She’s distracted and jittery, and spills juice all over the table. Just as she bursts out that they should go outside, a noise sounds from the other room. Mo-nae can’t even think of a way to explain, and stands in shock as Tae-ra goes to check on the sound. In her nervousness she drops a glass, which shatters on the ground, and a shard cuts her finger.

Tae-ra looks around for the source of the sound — and comes face to face with Gun-wook, who slides open the door and steps out.

He’s hardly one to sit in the dark hiding from someone, and now Gun-wook looks at a stunned Tae-ra and says smoothly, “We meet again.” He tells Mo-nae that she doesn’t have a harmonica, so they’ll have to put off their “lesson.” It’s a lame excuse, but Se-joong accepts the explanation that he’s one of her music teachers easily enough.

Tae-ra excuses herself to talk to the “teacher,” and catches up to Gun-wook at the elevators. She demands to know why he is here and why he keeps showing up around Mo-nae.

This next exchange is rife with double meanings, which add a nervous tension to the air and keep Tae-ra on edge. For instance, he starts by saying, “I wanted to see you.” (He means it literally and casually, but the phrase can also be interpreted to mean “I missed you,” which is the effect it has on Tae-ra.) Gun-wook adds, “Because it’s not easy to forget the person who hurt you.” Again he’s being literal — he’s referring to the injury she inflicted upon his face — but this also has a more ominous undertone given his revenge plot.

Tae-ra is generally a bit high-strung, but in conjunction with her shock at seeing Gun-wook, she’s particularly jumpy now. She hears his words in their more poetic light, until he clarifies himself, laughing that she didn’t “misunderstand” his meaning, did she? His comment mocks her for thinking exactly what he was misleading her to think. Tae-ra lashes out to slap him, but he grabs her wrist, noting idly, “It’s warm.”

Mo-nae comes running up and tells her sister not to misunderstand. Flinging off Tae-ra’s grasp, she runs into the elevator to join Gun-wook, doors sliding shut on her sister’s face. Anxiously, Tae-ra looks up at the lit panel, waiting to see where the elevator stops.

Mo-nae starts to apologize for her sister, while Gun-wook asks about Se-joong — he’s an exec director for a large company, right? Mo-nae says she’s sorry, as though she hurt him by being with another man. He replies that it doesn’t matter, since it’s not like they’re dating.

And here he makes his exit; instead of waiting for the elevator to hit the ground floor, he gets off on the 10th. He pauses to tell her in a gentle voice, “Mo-nae, meet a good man. Someone who only looks at you.” The implication is that Se-joong is not that guy, and that Gun-wook wants better for her.

The affection in his voice makes Mo-nae step toward him, and he looks at her bleeding finger, lifting it up as though he wants to suck the blood like you do when you’ve cut yourself. But then he stops, remembering, “I shouldn’t do this. Sorry. Ask that man to bandage it for you.”

Ah, so crafty of him — this is all a calculated move designed to win over Mo-nae’s heart, and Gun-wook is playing the part of the concerned, unworthy oppa to the hilt. Everything he does is to give off the impression that he’d take better care of her than her cheating fiancé, except that he’s not worthy of such a refined girl and therefore won’t press his suit on her.

But for Mo-nae, being young and inexperienced and fast falling in love, this is the encouragement she needs to convince her that he reciprocates her feelings. Growing bold, she steps forward and turns into his chest for an embrace.

Just then, Tae-ra emerges to see her sister holding on to Gun-wook. And as she takes in the sight, upset, Gun-wook stares straight at her as he raises his arm to cradle Mo-nae, as though in challenge.

Angrily, Tae-ra grabs her sister and takes her back up.

Meanwhile, Jae-in waits in a nearby cafe for sign of Gun-wook. When he emerges, she gets her own scheme into motion — she orders a cup of coffee to go, then hurries around the corner so that she’ll run into Gun-wook from the opposite direction.

And run into him she does — literally, so that the contents of the cup and its deliberately loosened lid spill all over his shirt.

Apologizing profusely, she uses this as an opening to pretend she recognizes him — he’s Hong Tae-sung, right? That is so out of left field that he stares back at her in confusion, and she explains that she saw him in the car with Mo-nae, who had identified him as her brother Tae-sung.

Jae-in gives them her card and introduces herself, trying for that lightly flirting air. But Gun-wook dismisses her and walks away.

 
COMMENTS

First off, this drama has a fabulous soundtrack and score. We’ll see if I still think that at the end — dramas have a tendency to overuse their music selections — but for now, everything is used wonderfully and draws out the emotions of the scenes, without being overpowering.

The reason I hated — haaaated — the backstory reveal is because it (in my opinion) cheapens Gun-wook’s basis for revenge. Yeah it’s tragic, but it’s also so overwrought and obvious. His dog is the cause for his parents’ death, and he loses them all as well as his identity in one night? Oh, sob. This drama was doing so well, but you know how someone can be telling a lie and it’s all very interesting and believable until they push it one step too far, and then you feel like a dupe for falling for it? They pushed it about a mile too far with this. As a story point I can make myself swallow this and move on — but this does make me worry that we’ll see more of this kind of overdone melodrama resurface later in the series, which worries me. (Also: If there were TWO accidents, I hate it even more. Seriously? Two accidents, coincidentally on the same night, coincidentally at the same time when Gun-wook is waiting for his parents? Arghaksjdf;laksjd;faj;dkajf; going a little crazy again.)

Plus, I feel like this tragic turn lightens the misdeeds of the Hongs — it makes the situation sad, but sorta not their fault anymore. You know what I would have loved? If the Hongs had let Gun-wook go back to his old parents, but then accused Deaf Dad of fraud (President Hong tosses out that comment in his initial outburst), and sued the family. Or he could have sent Dad off to prison. Or both. The lawsuit would have ruined them financially and Mom would have worked her ass off to make money to pay for their legal debts, and maybe died in an accident. Dad dies in prison, or some other way. Even if the Hongs didn’t kill them directly, that scenario makes them a lot more culpable, in my mind, because they’d be doing it purely to be punitive assholes. And then when Gun-wook sheds his identity as Tae-sung (which was the name he was born with), we would know exactly what the Hongs deserved.

I’m not saying that SHOULD be the way the drama did it. I’m just giving an example of a scenario that would keep the Hongs on the hook, that wouldn’t feel so cheesy with the dead dog and the rain and the car wreck and the hearing aid. Something that makes the Hongs more than just the first link in a tragic chain of events. With this reveal, I feel like the Hongs are snooty, but not murderers. What’s so wrong about wanting to claim their real son over one that is proven to be unrelated?

Maybe this is a lot of virtual ink on a relatively minor point (though I’d argue it’s not so minor), especially since aspects of this drama are so well-done. But I feel like Bad Guy has such potential to be awesome that I want everything about it to be awesome.

Kim Jae-wook is a welcome surprise, isn’t he? Like I said, he’s never been bad — but for a guy who got his start modeling and was cast in Coffee Prince because he fit the image of a pretty boy, he’s shown a lot of growth in the acting department.

One thing I like about this drama is that Gun-wook is the bad guy of the title, and his adult character is unapologetic about all the stuff he’s pulling. Which is why I think there’s a limited effectiveness to the tragic childhood, which needs to avoid being overworked. If you overdo the backstory in an attempt to humanize him, what’s the point of making him a vengeful bad guy in the first place, right?

I also like that this drama makes the chaebol feel real. We’ve seen so many dramas feature the chaebol character but he’s really just shorthand for Prince Charming. A lot of those guys don’t need to be chaebols, but they are made chaebols because it’s an appealing stock character. Here, however, the chaebols are ruthless, snooty, condescending, and realistic. Even when they can be nice, that’s just one bad day away from being utterly hateful (see: Tae-ra). And while Mo-nae is sweet and kind (and I actually really love the character, which is helped by Jung So-min’s naturalistic portrayal), she’s also ridiculously privileged. There’s an undercurrent in the story that makes me think that the drama is an indictment of the rich, which is a thread I’m interested in following.

 
SPECULATION AND THEORIES

First off, I just love the fact that I can even have a “Speculation and Theories” subsection. As I was writing my comments I realized I would prefer to keep my personal theories apart from the rest of the commentary, since they are merely speculation and will likely change as the drama continues.

Random thought: Is every single woman in this drama going to fall for Gun-wook? Because as sexy as I find Kim Nam-gil, I think that’s going to get mighty old.

I’m not sure if some might find discussion of the relationship charts on the website to be spoilery, so I’ll put up a [POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT]. The site identifies the relationship between Jae-in and Tae-sung to be romantic interest on his part, while her line indicates she’s using him. Jae-in and Gun-wook are set up as mutual love interests. This is pretty classic stuff — two people using one family for their own reasons, who end up falling for each other. I worry a bit for Han Ga-in, though, because as much as I think she’s improved, she’s not yet operating at full intensity levels, and I fear that she won’t be able to adequately portray Jae-in’s angsty love with Gun-wook. He’ll knock it out of the ballpark, I’m certain, but unless they’re on equal footing the romance won’t ring true. It doesn’t help that I find Jae-in to be the least interesting character, regardless of acting ability. [/END POTENTIAL SPOILER]

As for Gun-wook: He’s being pretty free and loose with the paper cranes, which puzzles me. You could argue that he WANTS his victims to know, like a serial killer marking his victims, but now that he has linked a crane to a murder scene, it just seems foolish.

There was a brief moment where I wondered if Gun-wook actually felt warmth for Mo-nae, since she’s much nicer than the rest of her family. But the Serial Killer Lair in his apartment — and the way he manipulates her in the elevator scene — are proof that he’s gunning for them all. Take no prisoners. Or maybe scorched earth is a better analogy. So he’s going to infiltrate Haeshin on multiple levels and destroy it from the inside out, right? And somewhere along the way he’ll fall for Jae-in, which will add complications, since she’s trying to seduce Tae-sung.

At first, I thought the drama was laying it on a little thick with Tae-ra’s reaction to Gun-wook — yeah, she can sense he’s a bad boy who’s not good for her innocent sister, but her immediate, extreme agitation seemed a little much. Then I thought, but what if she already knows him? And then things started to get more interesting. What if they already had an affair — or at least a flirtation — that she’d desperately like to forget? That makes his reach-into-her-shirt-to-extract-a-hair move much more intriguing — like she was afraid he would give away their prior acquaintance — and his challenging smirk as he courts Mo-nae takes on added meaning. Just a theory in progress…

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