Longing for You: Episode 1 (First Impressions)

by missvictrix

ENA’s latest crime-mystery drama Longing for You is here, and I’d be hard-pressed to say I found it interesting. Still, the premiere episode is a busy one, with a lot of character setups, introductions, and the rise of yet another dramaland serial killer.

Editor’s note: This is an Episode 1 review only. For a place to chat about the entire drama, visit the Drama Hangout.
 
EPISODE 1

I went in wanting to like this show — just like I want to like Na In-woo and Kim Ji-eun — but overall Longing for You is off to a predictable start. It’s not that I’m against the “ragtag cop and prosecutor against the system” dynamic, but to freshen up this kind of story requires more than a little work, and I’m not sure Longing for You has quite done the legwork. At least not yet.

It’s shocking, I know, but the drama opens with a murder. It’s a gross and showy one as murders go, and an assembly’s son (Jung Sang-hoon, who always gets stuck playing a sleaze bag) is suspected. But, he’s being insulated by money and power, and when we dive in medias res into the prosecution’s case, we find a fed-up lead prosecutor, and a whiz called into help: PROSECUTOR GO YOUNG-JOO (Kim Ji-eun). Young-joo is immediately painted as a bit of a wild card, with equally wild hair (so pretty on her!), attitude, and methods. But even she can’t seem to get anywhere.

Meanwhile, outside of Seoul, we visit a seaside town wherein our hero DETECTIVE OH JIN-SUNG (Na In-woo) resides. Jin-sung is, well, pretty annoying. While I’m predisposed to like any K-drama hero right off the bat, there’s something about Jin-sung’s fly-off-the-handle personality that’s a bit off-putting. I suspect he’s meant to be endearing, but alas, he did not endear himself to me.

Jin-sung seems like a pretty carefree bachelor — his biggest issue is his troublesome and gambling mother (Jang Hye-jin), whom he catches in the act when his unit blows into a local gambling den. To give you a sense of his personality, he saves his mother from knifepoint, twice, with some fearless reckless moves, but then he beats one of the baddies up so bad he gets charged with assault.

By far the most interesting character we’ve got on deck is actually Jin-sung’s little brother OH JIN-WOO (played by Ren of NU’EST, who’s positively unrecognizable out of the Lord of the Rings elf-like idol look he became known for). Jin-woo might be the baby of the family with a wild mother and a reckless hyung, but he’s the one who takes care of both of them. He catches fresh fish by the seashore, makes enviable dishes for his mother, and also delivers them to the precinct for his hung-over hyung. After devouring the food, Jin-sung calls him a wife-like brother, and then burps in his face in gratitude. It’s clear there’s a lot of affection between them… but that doesn’t stop Jin-sung from later pinning Jin-woo against the wall in anger when he learn Jin-woo has paid the settlement for the aforementioned injury claim.

Over the course of the first episode we’re getting to know Jin-sung and Young-joo separately in their respective professional roles, but toward the end of the episode, we learn that they’re good friends. Young-joo returns to the village on a “vacation,” and we see the easy and teasing relationship between the two. But, then things start to go sideways.

Little brother Jin-woo — who in addition to cooking also likes to take photographs — heads to Seoul to attend a photo exhibition. But, his trip to the city is painted with question marks. We don’t know what he’s been up to, and the next thing we do know, there’s a murder in the gallery. And, it’s the exact same method of murder that Young-joo and co. are investigating. So, a serial killing it becomes.

It’s here that we get to meet yet another character — PROSECUTOR CHA YOUNG-WOON (the wonderful Kwon Yul). He’s a sunbae of Young-joo’s and he’s been crushing on her since their law school days (thanks for that cute flashback, Show!). Young-joo doesn’t seem to be interested in anything but tormenting him, though, but when the murder case balloons and things get serious, everyone puts their game faces on.

Young-woon is not only super good at what he does, but he’s wealthy and well-connected. His mother (Bae Jong-ok) is the chairwoman of the Jinjin hospital conglomerate, and when we meet her, she’s currently fielding the furious assemblyman whose son is (still) suspected of the first murder.

While the chaebol setup is nothing new, it’s interesting in that we’ll be getting both sides of the coin here. And Young-woon, who lives very much in his mother’s world, simultaneously seems like a hard-working and non-corrupt prosecutor. And thanks to him, before we have a chance to get more bored than we already are, Young-woon nails the murder weapon in both murders: a sashimi knife. The mistress of the assemblyman’s son has such a knife. But so does our little Jin-woo. Uh oh.

The premiere episode ends, unfortunately, with a third murder, which is just a little too much, but I suppose we need the serial killer action to come to our village in order to ramp things up. And ramp up they shall! The drama’s premise already told us that Jin-woo meets a sad and early end, so not only does that turn me off completely (Ren, nooo!), but it means the camera will shift entirely from Jin-woo to his hyung, and I don’t know quite how I feel about that. Still, there is enough mystery surrounding Jin-woo (like someone mysteriously photographing him when he’s checking his fishing nets) to make me think there might be some interesting secrets around his character.

In the meantime, though the show has the potential to become convoluted (in the best sense) and full of good twists, I’m not really expecting it to impress very much. The characters, despite being K-drama cookie cutters, are not very likable — or maybe I’m just inured to the character archetypes of the genre. Kwon Yul is definitely the most interesting actor/character here, and going based on the fact that he’s the strongest link, I’m wondering if he’ll wind up being the killer in the end. You know, just some wishful thinking — because that’s the only thought that makes this premise exciting enough to get me to continue watching.

 
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