Two guys face each other. Younger: "I'm going to move here." They get even closer. Older: "What about me interests you so much?" They get even closer, their faces inches apart. Younger: "What about me interests you so much?"
Whoa, palpable sexual tension! The hottest scene I've seen in months. Is this a gay love story?
No, it's Beyond Evil, a Korean drama about two cops, a serial killer, yadda yadda yadda. 0% of the action-adventure movies released during the last 20 years have had gay leads. Each must think that the other is the killer, so their closeness represents not attraction but threat.
But what about this shot? Standard Korean gesture of gratitude?
I'm going in.
Scene 1: Night, in the marshes. A young cop finds something terrifying. Panicking, he yells for middle-aged cop Dong-Sik, who comes running. Close-up of what he found (I can't tell what it is).
Scene 2: Daytime, the year 2000. A florist drives through the city and delivers flowers to a church. A choir is practicing. Yu-yeon, a teenage girl, is playing the piano. Two women discuss how wonderful she is -- intelligent, a good Catholic -- while her twin brother Dong-Sik is a lazy bum.
Cut to the young Dong-Sik playing the guitar and singing in an empty cafe. The teenage girl in charge tells him to get out: he just bought one cup of coffee, which doesn't give him the right to sing for two hours. They argue; he threatens to hit her, then leaves.
Scene 3: The over-accomplished Yu-Yeon gets a text from her brother Dong-Sik, sneaks out of the house, and walks through the dark, scary marshes. The street lights go out; there's someone behind her! Cut to her body lying in the marsh, her hands tied so it looks like she is praying.
In the morning, Mom goes outside to get the newspaper, and sees all of Yu-Yeon's fingertips lined up!
Scene 4: 2020. Top-of-his-class hotshot cop Ju-Won drive through town, passing a lot of posters about the missing girl (never taken down, even after 20 years?). Meanwhile, middle-aged cop Dong-Sik (left) is investigating an altercation at a beauty parlor. Suddenly one of the women grabs his hair, and he goes ballistic and arrests everyone. "Him and his temper!" the guys at the station complain.
At the station, the chief yells at Dong-Sik for wasting everyone's time. "They were gambling!" "But only 10 or 20 won!" "So what? Many a mickle makes a muckle!" Where the heck did the translators find that obscure Scottish phrase?
Hotshot Ju-Won arrives. He doesn't even start today, but he's so dedicated that he came early.
While Hotshot is being processed, the other cops gossip. He was top of his class at police academy, scored 100% on his fitness test, and he's handsome! Plus his Dad is the deputy commissioner, the #2 Cop in all of Korea! Dong-Sik fumes with jealousy. As a teen, he lived in his sister's shadow, and now this!
Scene 5: A man comes into the station complaining that his son didn't come home last night. Maybe he was murdered, like that girl 20 years ago! Dong-Sik tells him that in Korea, you can only report someone missing if they are a juvenile or mentally disabled. They will have to classify his son as a runaway.
Later, Dong-Sik is crossing the street when his hip injury acts up. He takes his pain pills. Hotshot Ju-Won, driving past, sees him hobbling along, but doesn't offer him a ride. Jerk!
Scene 6: Manyang Butcher Shop. Dong-Sik and his friends having dinner. All men, including his "best friend," the rather feminine Jeong-je....hmm. Jeong-je's sister Ji-Hwa joins them. They discuss who the Hotshot Ju-Won will be paired with. Jeong-je doesn't want him: "Not my type." Does that mean the same thing in Korean as in English?
Dong-Sik doesn't want him either, because his father, Deputy Commissioner Han Gi-Hwan, stopped the investigation into his sister's disappearance, back when he was a local police inspector 20 years ago. Grr!
Flashback to the Deputy Commissioner having dinner with his hotshot son. Every graduate of the police academy has to spend six months in a boring hick town. After that, it's on to glamour and excitement -- if he doesn't screw up. Apparently Hotshot is not so hot after all.
Scene 7: Morning. Dong-Sik introduces himself to Hotshot, who refuses to shake hands. Jerk!
Inside the police station, everyone except Dong-Sik volunteers to partner with the handsome Hotshot (wouldn't you?). Hotshot says he'll take anybody except Dong-Sik the "nutjob." The Chief thinks that guys who don't like each other are more professional on the job, so he partners them.
Scene 8: In the squad car, while the germophobic Hotshot (left) wipes everything down, Dong-Sik brings up the snub at the crosswalk. He denies it until Dong-Sik remembers every detail, including his license plate number. "Be careful," he says threateningly. "There are no secrets in this town. You are always being watched."
They get a report of Mr. Bang, an elderly man with dementia, wandering in the marshes, and set out to look for him. Hotshot doesn't like swatting through six-foot tall reeds, or getting his brand-new spiffy shoes all muddy. Eventually they find Mr. Bang -- someone Dong-Sik knew as a teenager! He gets combative, and they have to roll around in the mud to subdue him.
Scene 9: They bring Mr. Bang home. A middle-aged woman tells them that every October he goes berserk and tries to break into an old shed. "Aren't you sick of this?" she asks Dong-Sik. "Don't you think he should go into a nursing home?" What does Dong-Sik have to do with an elderly man with dementia?
Scene 10: After they clean up, the other cops warn Hotshot about marsh duty. "Didn't your friends tell you about it?" Hotshot says that he has no friends, just people who try to cozy up to him because of his family connections. Awww, a poor little rich boy. Dong-Sik thinks he has no friends for another reason, being a stuck-up jerk.
The Chief says he was thinking of inviting Hotshot out to dinner, but he wouldn't want him to think he was cozying up because of his family connections.
Scene 10: Hotshot hesitates, but finally decides to go to the dinner. Dong-Sik and some other cops are there. The Chief introduces Jeon-je, the feminine guy from Scene 6, and makes sure they sit together. Matchmaking? Jeon-je's sister arrives and makes the faux-pas of mentioning Hotshot's famous father. Hotshot tells them that he doesn't like hearing his father's name. They make fun of him.
Scene 11: Leaving the dinner, Hotshot sees Dong-Sik working at the butcher shop. He must not make enough money as a cop. He asks what the woman in Scene 8 has on Dong-Sik, that she can call him with family problems, and he comes running. "I killed Mr. Bang's daughter," Dong-Sik replies. When Hotshot gapes in shock, he says he was only joking. Or was he....
Dong-Sik: You're so gullible. I like you.
Hotshot: I don't want you to like me.
Dong-Sik: It's not up to you, is it? I'll like you if I want to.
Scene 12: Hotshot having dinner with his former tutor Kwan Hyuk (that same night?). Hyuk mentions a girl, and Hotshot says "I'm not interested." "I know -- I meant for me. I want to become the Deputy Commissioner's son, one who never lets him down." Ok, that does it, Hotshot is gay.
Kyuk gives him the file on Dong-Sik's sister's disappearance 20 years ago, and he takes it to his elegant apartment to read. Dad texts: "Keep a low profile until things calm down. Do not disgrace me." That does it, Hotshot is gay.
Scene 13: Nine months ago. Hotshot lecturing to some assembled cops: 20 years ago, Dong-Sik's sister disappeared, and Mr. Bang's daughter was murdered, on the same day. The cases we are working on now have the same MO. It must be the same killer. I believe that it's Dong-Sik!
Scene 14: Dong-Sik supervises as they install a new poster about his missing sister. Then he gets a call that Mr. Bang is wandering the marshes again, and sets out -- with his former partner, Ji-Hun! The Captain sends Hotshot out anyway.
By the time he gets there, it's night. We replay Scene 1: Ji-Hun finds the scary thing. I still can't tell what it is, but Dong-Sik recognizes the remains of his sister. The end.
Beefcake: None during the show, but fortunately every Korean actor has some shirtless shots posted online.
Gay Characters: I think both Dong-Sik and Hotshot are gay.
Mystery: Who is the serial killer? Obviously not Dong-Sik, and Hotshot is too young. I'm betting on his father, the Deputy Commissioner who called off the search for the missing sister.
My Grade: A if they stay gay. C+ if Hotshot gets a girlfriend,
(He doesn't.)
Good show and yes there is a sexual tension between Dong-Sik and Hotshot. But all the cops seem to secretly lusting after Hotshot- he is pretty so you can't blame them.
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