kdrama: Wanted
Wanted is a recent SBS series about an actress, Jung Hye In (Kim Ah Joong), whose son is kidnapped the same day she announces her intention to retire from acting. The kidnapper's demand is that she create and star in a reality tv show called Wanted, which has to maintain 20% ratings throughout its run, with the kidnapper providing a "mission" for each episode. The director she recruits is Shin Dong Wook (Uhm Tae Woong), who is famous for being difficult to work with. They dislike each other for reasons the show never bothers to explain (I think the writers forgot they put that in for early conflict) and he initially refuses but then decides that maybe it'll be a fun challenge. It takes a few episodes for him to get his priorities in order. Choi Joon Goo (Lee Moon Shik) is a producer close to Hye In who joins them, and Dong Wook pulls in Yun Woo Shin (Park Hyo Joo) who REALLY dislikes him, but has her priorities a little more in order Rounding out the production team is Park Bo Yun (Jun Hyo Sung) who did not realize Dong Wook hired her to be his personal hacker. MEANWHILE, Detective Cha Seung In (Ji Hyun Woo) is investigating the case of a kidnapped girl and does not really have time for this high profile case every other detective is paying attention to that might just be a publicity stunt, until it turns out that his kidnapped girl might be related to the same case.
The villain is rather A-like initially, seemingly omnipotent with spy gear and a network of associates, except that not-A decided to target grownups instead of scared teenaged girls, and grownups are more likely to to successfully chase down your messenger and find the hidden camera and catch your flunkies and remember to bring along the strapping detective who knows martial arts when going into the creepy building. It quickly becomes apparent that not-A is using Hye In and the show to expose a network of conspiracies and corruption and is arguably doing things for the ultimate greater good, but the show never forgets that not-A abducted a small child and terrorized his mother, so we shouldn't find them TOO sympathetic. Like other shows with A-like villains, the plot quickly becomes labyrinthine when it comes to the mystery and previously-unknown character connections, but since it's a limited series and not meant to go on forever, they're able to actually tie everything together and resolve it before it becomes too convoluted, and none of the many, many cliffhangers and plot twists are left hanging. Even if they did forget to ever tell us why Hye In and Dong Wook disliked each other at the beginning. (Fandom jumped to the most obvious theory that they used to be lovers and he's actually the abducted child's biological father, but canon discarded any possibility of that rather quickly.)
There's lots of women mentoring/protecting other women, and Hye In is one of the few kdrama heroines I've seen who owns and drives her own car, though whether she's driving herself or being driven around by someone else largely depends on what the plot needs at the time. this may sound minor, but it's actually a pretty big deal for a woman to actually rive herself around in a kdrama. Usually they take buses, or are always passenger being driven around by one of the male characters, even successful businesswomen don't drive themselves around.
Like Liar Game there is absolutely no romance whatsoever to speak of, though the show has a clear preference if you want something to ship. I spent a lot of the series thinking about how, if this was a US series where they wanted renewals and to drag the show out as long as possible, there would be a romantic triangle between Dong Wook, Hye In and Seung In since romantic triangles always bring in the drama and often ratings. But since it's a limited series marketed as a thriller, they don't have to worry about having people come back for more next year, just in having enough ratings to not get cancelled. (And, I mean, the way Korean drama programming is set up, your ratings have to be really, REALLY bad to be cancelled, and then you still get to have an ending, just earlier than expected.) Mind you, Wanted DID have low ratings, just not low enough to be in danger. They did push the final week's episodes back because of the Olympics, though, which didn't make any of us happy.
It may not have been popular, but I thought this was a good thriller series that ended up more female centric than it initially seemed (at first I worried that Hye In would be the central character, but that any other women would have minor roles. The former was true, but not the latter) and managed to deliver a satisfying resolution too the A-like villain plot, which I always start off liking in the US shows but then they lose me because it gets too convoluted without resolving it.
The villain is rather A-like initially, seemingly omnipotent with spy gear and a network of associates, except that not-A decided to target grownups instead of scared teenaged girls, and grownups are more likely to to successfully chase down your messenger and find the hidden camera and catch your flunkies and remember to bring along the strapping detective who knows martial arts when going into the creepy building. It quickly becomes apparent that not-A is using Hye In and the show to expose a network of conspiracies and corruption and is arguably doing things for the ultimate greater good, but the show never forgets that not-A abducted a small child and terrorized his mother, so we shouldn't find them TOO sympathetic. Like other shows with A-like villains, the plot quickly becomes labyrinthine when it comes to the mystery and previously-unknown character connections, but since it's a limited series and not meant to go on forever, they're able to actually tie everything together and resolve it before it becomes too convoluted, and none of the many, many cliffhangers and plot twists are left hanging. Even if they did forget to ever tell us why Hye In and Dong Wook disliked each other at the beginning. (Fandom jumped to the most obvious theory that they used to be lovers and he's actually the abducted child's biological father, but canon discarded any possibility of that rather quickly.)
There's lots of women mentoring/protecting other women, and Hye In is one of the few kdrama heroines I've seen who owns and drives her own car, though whether she's driving herself or being driven around by someone else largely depends on what the plot needs at the time. this may sound minor, but it's actually a pretty big deal for a woman to actually rive herself around in a kdrama. Usually they take buses, or are always passenger being driven around by one of the male characters, even successful businesswomen don't drive themselves around.
Like Liar Game there is absolutely no romance whatsoever to speak of, though the show has a clear preference if you want something to ship. I spent a lot of the series thinking about how, if this was a US series where they wanted renewals and to drag the show out as long as possible, there would be a romantic triangle between Dong Wook, Hye In and Seung In since romantic triangles always bring in the drama and often ratings. But since it's a limited series marketed as a thriller, they don't have to worry about having people come back for more next year, just in having enough ratings to not get cancelled. (And, I mean, the way Korean drama programming is set up, your ratings have to be really, REALLY bad to be cancelled, and then you still get to have an ending, just earlier than expected.) Mind you, Wanted DID have low ratings, just not low enough to be in danger. They did push the final week's episodes back because of the Olympics, though, which didn't make any of us happy.
It may not have been popular, but I thought this was a good thriller series that ended up more female centric than it initially seemed (at first I worried that Hye In would be the central character, but that any other women would have minor roles. The former was true, but not the latter) and managed to deliver a satisfying resolution too the A-like villain plot, which I always start off liking in the US shows but then they lose me because it gets too convoluted without resolving it.