Im Si-wan's Duality

Reviews of "Misaeng," "Unlocked" & "Summer Strike,"

Raise your hands if you’re an Im Si-wan fan. Even if you’ve never heard of the former ZE:A K-pop idol-turned-actor, I would encourage you to check out this nuanced actor’s work. To get you started, I’m highlighting two of his K-dramas (“Misaeng,” “Summer Strike”) and a film (“Unlocked”).

This post is a little longer than usual, so if you only want to read a particular review, you may do so by clicking on the specific title and it’ll take you directly to the section you’re interested in:

Misaeng ☆☆☆

Summer Strike ☆☆☆

Unlocked ☆☆☆

But before I get to the reviews, I wanted to point out that Im’s character in “Summer Strike” is a runner, just as he was in 2020’s “Run On.” And in the upcoming film “Road to Boston” (보스턴), Im will portray a Korean athlete competing in the 1947 Boston International Marathon — the first since World War II. (It’s set to release in South Korea during the Chuseok holiday this September.) Coincidence? Maybe? But I’m curious to see if running becomes a theme in his other future work as well.

And a reminder about my reviews: As always, the ratings are based on a ☆☆☆☆ system and are based on my own personal tastes.

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“Misaeng” ☆☆☆

Pay attention to the first episode of “Misaeng,” because when you watch the finale, you will see how the two episodes are tied together for an extremely satisfying ending.

Jang Geu-rae (played by Im Si-wan) is an exceptionally smart young man and former baduk player, who couldn’t pursue his dreams. His father’s death meant he had to work from a young age to help support his mother. He didn’t have the luxury of attending university. While a diligent worker doing odd jobs to make ends meet, it’s clear he gave up on attempting to rise up any higher than where he is.

A different kind of K-Drama would’ve shown Geu-rae working full-time and attending college at night to earn his diploma, get a job at a conglomerate and rise up to have a seat with all the big wigs. Oh, and marry the chaebol’s daughter as a bonus. And that could’ve been very entertaining.

What “Misaeng” does so very well is that it depicts how difficult life can be when everything is stacked against you, and you begin to believe that you don’t deserve more than the scraps people are willing to throw at you.

In that first episode, we see Geu-rae in Jordan, looking for an international colleague. He speaks confidently in English. When push comes to shove, he refuses to take no for an answer. He gets things done.

The following 18 and one-half episodes will show a less confident Geu-rae: an intern who the other interns dismiss as having been hired through connections, rather than any ability. Never mind that he works harder than the majority of them. And that even though he has no college degree and can’t speak a foreign language like his colleagues, he is bright, analytical and not afraid of getting his hands dirty (literally) when the job calls for it.

In some ways, I viewed this series as a parable for not putting all your eggs in one basket. Yes, if he had become a pro baduk player, he surely would have done well and would’ve had the money to attend college, even if his degree wasn’t a necessity for his career. But without that degree (and baduk career), he is viewed as a contemptible leech.

The office politics is insane at times and made me feel as if I’d get an ulcer viewing all the workplace inequities. The interns were treated as lesser beings — almost as a sick fraternity hazing. What the male interns encountered was bad enough. But Young-mi — the lone female intern — was treated like dirt by everyone except her fellow interns and the lone woman in upper management. I wish Kang So-ra had a meatier part. She spent most of her time asking, “네”? In this context, it meant, “Excuse me?” I realize this series wasn’t based around her, but as one of two female characters, it would’ve been nice if the writers had given her more to do.

Anyhow, Young-mi’s manager, Ha Sung-jun (played by Jeon Seok-Ho), was particularly despicable to her. The writers at times tried to inject a bit of humanity into the character, but it was too little, too late. I wanted to shove him off a cliff. Pronto.

In the above gif, you can see Seok-yool (played by Byun Yo-han, who was superb in “Mr. Sunshine”) adding some comic relief. I loved his busybody character, but felt that the writers dropped the ball on a plot point with him. Initially, Seok-yool was presented as a pervert. He was shown touching a woman inappropriately at the workplace under the guise of wanting to feel the fabric of her clothing. Then his character morphed into the intern who knew everything that was going on and showed up whenever there was anything interesting happening, which was great. But were we to excuse his behavior because he was charming?

Kang Ha-neul played the impatient Baek-gi to perfection, showing his jealousy of Geu-rae’s abilities while also internally acknowledging his colleague’s work. But as he said to Geu-rae, the latter shouldn’t think their friendship meant they were in the same league. His academic pedigree put him several rungs higher, in his (and society’s) opinion.

As for Lee Sung-min, who played Geu-rae’s manager with a conscience, he was a scene stealer, regardless of what he was doing. His (often red) eyes told an entire story without words needing to be said. Riddled with guilt because he couldn’t prevent a previous temporary worker from dying by suicide, his goal is to hire Geu-rae full-time, even though company policy says that is impossible (again, because he doesn’t have a college degree).

And as the lead character, Im Si-wan beautifully portrayed the conflicted feelings of a young man who knows he has more in him than people are giving him credit for, but is also fearful that he will be proven wrong.

The scene that really drove home the office politics was a short vignette. All the employees are leaving work with their Christmas packages from their bosses. The full-timers received big boxes of SPAM, while the temporary workers took home a large container of vegetable oil. I can’t be the only person who’d much prefer the latter, amirite?

Airdates: Twenty episodes — most about an hour each — aired from October 17 to December 20, 2014 on tvN.

Spoiler Alert: There is a glorious scene in the finale where one of the particularly repugnant employees gets his comeuppance. Caught having an affair with a CEO’s wife, he is beaten senseless. The CEO is played by Oh Jung-Se, who was so good in “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” and “When the Camellia Blooms,”

Also, this is one of the few K-Dramas where there is no romance. While both Geu-rae and Baek-gi had mild crushes on Young-mi, it never progressed to more than friends who truly cared about each other.

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“Unlocked” ☆☆☆

"Unlocked" came out a few months after the Korean series "Somebody." Both revolve around cunning, good-looking serial killers who utilize technology to hack their way into their victims' lives. In this 2022 film, the cell phone is the device of choice.

After a night out drinking with her friends, Na-mi (Chun Woo-hee) falls asleep on the bus ride home. Still drunk, she hastily gathers her belongings and leaves behind her phone. Jun-yeong (Im Si-wan) picks it up and takes it home. When one of her friends calls asking for the phone to be returned, Jun-yeong utilizes a prerecorded woman's voice to mask his own identity. Of course Na-mi will feel safe retrieving the phone from another woman.

The pickup place is a dingy "phone repair shop" that looks like the kind of place where customers enter, but never leave. At least not alive. But our spunky protagonist is so happy to get her phone back that it doesn't occur to her that Jun-yeong might be a scammer. When he asks for her password to fix something on her phone, she readily tells him. And that's all he needs to infect her phone with malware so that he can monitor her daily doings.

With easy access to her conversations, contacts, photos, and bank account, he is able to take over her life. There is no rhyme or reason for his actions, other than to make her miserable. Using her own information as ammunition, he makes inflammatory social media posts (as her) that get her fired and alienates her friends so that she has no one to turn to.

Except her father, who earns Jun-yeong's wrath when he warns his daughter that the man is off and she should stay away from him.

The first time I saw Im Si-wan act, it was in "Moon that Embraces the Sun." He played a character who was so handsome and angelic that his first entrance included what may as well have been a special effects halo.

With this film and "Emergency Declaration" — another 2022 film where he played the maniacal villain — Im has proven himself as a talented actor who can convincingly portray either a hero and a villain.

Release date: The 117-minute film premiered on February 17, 2023 on Netflix.

SPOILER ALERT: He killed the real Jun-yeong — the son of a police officer — and took over his identity. His goal? To have everyone believe that the cop's son was a serial killer. There was no reason for this, other than his enjoying the ability to control other people’s lives.

At one point, two police officers could've checked into Jun-yeong's identity. But when the latter threatened to sue them for harassment, they just...let him go. WHY???

When he realizes that Na-mi's father doesn't trust him, he kidnaps and tortures him. By this point, Na-mi knows she's being monitored. She writes a brief message on the back of a business card that tells the police officers that she will check in with them verbally every day. When Jun-yeong forces her to send a text telling them she's fine, they realize she's in danger and go to rescue her.

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“Summer Strike” ☆☆☆

"Summer Strike" is one of those K-dramas that I started, was meh about, and then returned to a few months later and binged the heck out of the rest of the show. The premiere episode was strong, focusing on a young office worker whose good nature is taken advantage of both at work and in her long-term relationship with a man who doesn't want her anymore.

But after that, the next few episodes falter, as Yeo-reun decides to sell her belongings, relocates from Seoul to a small town, and moves into a former billiard parlor — which resembles a filthy crack house more than anything else. But since a murder had occurred there years ago, the rent is dirt cheap. So she signs the lease and acclimates herself to life in the small town, where her biggest concern is what book she'll read at the local library (where she is one of a handful of patrons).

There, she meets Dae-beom, one of the two librarians. It soon becomes clear that he is a math genius who should be working in Seoul, rather than this small village where everyone knows each other and is in each other's business. Dae-beom has his own inner demons to deal with, but he is a gentle soul who goes out of his way to help anyone who needs it.

Through the course of a dozen episodes, Yeo-run will be harassed and threatened, there will be a murder committed by someone trying to hide a previous homicide, and Yeon-reun and Dae-beom will enjoy one of the most slow burning and sweet flirtations that's built on trust more than any romantic overtures.

The subplot I could've done (or wish had been handled differently) revolves around an abusive father who beats his daughter so badly she's hospitalized. And yet, everyone tells her to forgive him because, after all, he's her father. They lay the onus on a high school student to be the bigger person, when she's literally just an underage child. When the creatives began to spin a narrative about how he became an alcoholic after he lost his job and ... and ... Just. No. There is no excuse ever for beating your child.

Airdates: Twelve 50-minute episodes aired from November 21 to December 27, 2022 on Genie TV in South Korea. I watched this on Viki.

Spoiler alert: As a teenager, Moo-chul (Park Ji-hoon) was a bully who accidentally killed Dae-beom's sister. The only witness was Geun-ho (Kim Yo-han), who has the mental capability of a 10 year-old child. But because he is big and sometimes aggressive when he gets excited, he is accused by the locals of being the murderer. In present day, Moo-chul is a police officer and his father (Kim Hak-sun) is the town's realtor. Together, they covered up his crime and also kill one of the town's beloved residents to hide their secret. I usually am pretty good at guessing who the murderer is, but these two seemingly kind characters had me fooled.

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