LTNS: Episodes 1-2

by Dramaddictally

Esom and Ahn Jae-hong are spicing up our screens with the new short-form drama, LTNS — part sex comedy, part long, hard look at marriage. Oh, right, and part crime caper as our leads blackmail cheating spouses into forking over some cash. Our central couple may not be having sex with each other, but at least they’re not out having sex with anyone else, right?

 
EPISODES 1-2

We start with our leads’ frisky sex life as they get it on in the hallway of a residential building. Sure, sure, it’s all fun and games until they’re married, bored, broke, and paying a mortgage. Cut to seven years later in a post-covid housing crisis and our leads are suffering long-term indigestion from the life they’ve settled into. (“You went out for coffee again?! We have coffee in the house!”) Needless to say, the sex life they used to enjoy together is now carried out individually in separate rooms.

Our down-and-dirty couple consists of WOO JIN (Esom) and RIM PARK SAMUEL (Ahn Jae-hong), who might not be interested in each other physically anymore, but still make a doozy of a team. Samuel works as a cabbie, while Jin mans the front desk of a fancy schmancy hotel. However, as upscale as it looks, that doesn’t stop adulterers from waltzing in and asking about the hourly rates. Uh, no, Jin tells them, you have to pay for the whole night — and then she notes their names in her little blacklist book for later.

The book will come in handy once our couple decides to become small-time crooks, but to get there, we have to take a deep dive into their financial troubles. Aside from the apartment they’re paying off with an impossibly high interest rate, there’s also Samuel’s taxi, which has just been submerged in water. The taxi is totaled and he’ll need a new one, but the insurance won’t pay since it was his fault (no parking zone, rainy night in the countryside, sinking into a bottomless puddle — you know, the usual).

Rather than tell his wife about this misfortune, he lies that everything is under control and then attempts to borrow the money for a new car from his wealthy friend, JUNG-SOO (Lee Hak-joo). Before that can happen, we learn a few things about Jung-soo and his wife, SE-YEON (Kim Sae-byuk), when Jin and Samuel stop over to visit them at their ginormous house.

First, Jung-soo has a girlfriend on the side and his biggest concern is if the girlfriend is “cheating on him” with someone else. Samuel points out that Jung-soo is also cheating, but Jung-soo counters that you can love up to two people at once (three is too many, though, FYI). And anyway, it’s only betrayal if you get caught. (Okay, Jung-soo, okay.)

Second, Se-yeon suspects something is awry with her husband because they’re not having regular sex anymore, and to deal with her feelings, she’s taken to day drinking. She’s of the opinion that if you’re not having sex in your marriage, you must be having sex outside it. This weighs on Jin since she can’t remember the last time she and Samuel hit the sheets.

When Samuel finally gets the nerve to ask Jung-soo for the needed money, he’s rebuffed. Apparently these two had a startup together that failed, but Jung-soo is still living the high life because his in-laws are rich. Meanwhile, Samuel (with a degree from SNU) is driving a cab. But Jung-soo is not a good friend (or grateful or humble), and so, Samuel leaves empty-handed.

All these factors smack together the next day when Jin approaches Samuel, wanting to end their sexless marriage status, and he rejects her, saying he’s uncomfortable. (Him: “Do you even feel love for me right now?” Her: “What’s love got to do with it?”). Jin is worried that if he’s not sleeping with her, he must be sleeping with someone else. Tired and stressed about his predicament, Samuel blurts outs, “Affairs are for people who can afford it, like Jung-soo.” Uh boy.

Once the details come out, Jin is set to tell Se-yeon straight away. But when she makes the phone call, Se-yeon surprises her by asking what she’s going to do about the totaled taxi now that insurance won’t cover it and Jung-soo refused to give Samuel a loan. Jin is cool, acting like she already knew (as she fumes), but there’s a change of plans on telling Se-yeon about her cheating husband.

At the same time, Samuel tips off Jung-soo that he’s about to be found out. And so, Jung-soo goes to the hotel to beg Jin not to say anything. Jin tells him it’s against her principles so it’s just too bad. There’s nothing he can do. Really? What if he pays her to keep quiet? Like, something to the tune of 30 million? (Since he knows its 20 million to get a new car.)

After a little back and forth, Jin finally agrees and he transfers her the money immediately. Afterward, Jung-soo asks Samuel if he planned this all along. Was this a threat since he wouldn’t loan him money? Samuel denies it, but Jung-soo never wants to see him again anyway. (Good riddance.)

Samuel asks Jin why she would compromise her life philosophy for money and she tells him it’s for the new taxi. The exchange that follows has to be the least complicated discussion between a married couple I’ve ever heard. He’s like, “How did you find out?” And she’s like, “Why did you keep it a secret?” And then he says he’s sorry and she’s over it. Conflict resolved (mind blown).

Jin buys Samuel a more expensive car than the one he had and then rides around in the backseat as his passenger. She starts thinking about how they both live so diligently and work so hard and yet can’t seem to get ahead. She whips out her blacklist and says, “Let’s not live like this anymore.” And with that, they’re on their way to their blackmailing business, where they’ll collect money in the same way they got it from Jung-soo, one cheater at a time.

The system works like this: Jin selects targets from the cheaters that book rooms at the hotel, and Samuel picks them up in his cab, follows them, and takes incriminating photos. Their first successful target is a man who works at a bank and is dating one of his co-workers — while his wife is home pregnant. Once they’ve gathered the evidence, they send him the videos they’ve captured (with some very damning and explicit audio), along with a message requesting cash. Their first heist goes off without a hitch, and they wind up with 7 million in their pockets.

It looks like we’re being set up for episodic targets with new cheaters each week, but the much more interesting thing is what’s beginning to happen between our leads. Since they took up this endeavor together, we’re getting to know them better, and I get the sense they’re getting to know each other better too.

When they go to spy on the bank employee, they’re staked out at his house, and Samuel asks Jin if she’s ever dated a married man. She says no and changes the subject. Then, when she tells him he needs to get more conclusive evidence of cheating — like for example, the couple walking into a motel together — he says that’s not conclusive. He’s gone to a motel with a friend just to rest. She wants to know who. He says it was a long time ago. And they let it drop.

When Samuel gets tired during the stakeout, Jin drives him to a motel. They get a room and lie in bed with their backs to one another, as they reminisce about when they used to frequent hourly motels together. Samuel muses that it’s the first time they’ve slept under the same blanket in a long time and then rolls over to hug her. She wonders if he’s trying to put the moves on, but he says he just wanted to hug.

But, does she want to have sex? No. She just feels like they should since they’re married and they never do. He suggests they say nice things to each other and see if they can get in the mood. They sit up, look each other in the face, and then try to muster some compliments. She keeps complimenting his appearance and he keeps complimenting her character. But anyway, they’re both bored and so they give up and go to sleep.

Back at the stakeout, Samuel says he’s happy about how much time they’re spending together, and I feel like these kinds of remarks are starting to pile up. It seems to me that he might want a different kind of connection with her than the one she keeps trying to initiate.

The final bit of sweet talk from him comes when they’re going to pick up the cash from the bank employee. They’ve instructed the target to leave it in a public place, which he does, but Samuel is scared to death that he’ll be nabbed by the cops when he walks over to retrieve it. He speaks to Jin on the phone just beforehand and tells her that if he gets caught, he did this alone. Also, at home, there’s a book on the top shelf where he’s left a nest egg. She doesn’t really hear him, but I find his character more and more endearing.

Well, I’m intrigued. I think the story is on shaky legs but the leads are epic and together they’re dynamite. They’re comedic, for sure, but it’s not laugh-out-loud funny — it’s more the vibe they construct together that’s fun, relaxed, and making me wonder what will happen next. I’ve seen them together before (in the movie Microhabitat — which shares a director with this drama) and have been looking forward to their reunion.

The sex is lewd, the morals are questionable, and the side characters are mostly throw away, but the drama has me very invested in the central relationship. How will breaking down other people’s marriages help them build up their own? What secrets will be divulged about their pasts while they’re digging up everyone else’s? There’s fodder here for a smart, sweet rekindled romance at the center of the smut. Or, at the very least, we’ll get to see two characters that make a good team, as they expose jerks, crack jokes, and ride around looking cool with sunglasses at night.

 
RELATED POSTS

• Premiere Watch: LTNS
• Undercover missions with Esom and Ahn Jae-hong in LTNS
• Esom and Ahn Jae-hong become blackmailing spies in LTNS
• News bites: December 27, 2023
• News bites: December 14, 2023
• News bites: March 22, 2023
• [K-Movie Night] Microhabitat
• Esom
• Ahn Jae-hong