Wanted

Wanted

7.5/10

Wanted

Genre:                                   Episodes: 16                      Year: 2016

Mystery

Thriller

Synopsis:

On the verge of her retirement, top actress Jung Hye In’s son is kidnapped. The kidnapper demands that she carry out a live TV show, completing various missions. He gives her 10 episodes to air if she wants her son returned safely.

Cast:

Kim Ah Joong (Jung Hye In)

Ji Hyun Woo (Cha Seung In)

Uhm Tae Woong (Shin Dong Wook)

Lee Moon Shik (Choi Joon Goo)

Park Hyo Joo (Yeon Woo Shin)

Jun Hyo Seong (Park Bo Yeon)

Shin Jae Ha (Lee Young Gwan)

Lee Jae Kyoon (Na Soo Hyun)

Kim Sun Young (Oh Mi Ok)

Park Min Soo (Song Hyun Woo)

General Thoughts:

I enjoyed this show far more than I initially thought I would. It’s one of those rare dramas where the plot is more developed than it’s characters. You’d think that would make for a boring drama (I certainly did), but surprisingly I found myself drawn in more and more, curious about the end result.

Waahhh! Ji Hyun Woo, you're so cool!

There were a few characters that were given depth and that were likeable enough that I was invested in the outcome of the kidnapping. Sadly, our heroine was not one of these characters. But Cha Seung In, the most loveable policeman ever, certainly was.

Best characters in the show

I don’t know what it is about Ji Hyun Woo, but he has this ability that makes his characters so insanely loveable. He flies pretty low under the radar, but when he’s in a drama he commands the screen and has so much charisma. His adamant endeavour for justice made Seung In admirable and his blatant disregard for rules in order to get the job done gave him a nice edge of badass-ness. His heart was in all the right places- not just for the kidnapped Hyun Woo, but for all the kids and adults who ended up being hurt by SG. It was impossible not to root for him and his little rag-tag team of cops, out to fight the underdog battle against the Chaebols. The team behind the show-in-the-show were interesting in their own way, as each had a different reason for wanting to take part in the kidnapper’s demands. However, I do feel as though a lot of characterisation opportunities were passed by in order to keep us wondering if anyone on the team was involved in Hyun Woo’s kidnapping. The writers chose not to show us too much about these characters in order to keep the mystery element high, but this also meant that as a viewer, I was confused about the motivations of these characters and had difficulty connecting with them.

You people confuse me

Writer Yeon and Bo Yeon got some development before the others and became likeable enough, but the two men always came across a bit murky and unclear, as was Hye In herself. The villains of the story were set up wonderfully- both the kidnappers and the chaebols. The gradual unveiling of how everyone was connected played out well, and it was a plot line that was hard to predict- which is always welcome in K-Dramaland were things often tend to follow a predictable, set progression.

PLEASE DON'T KILL OFF THE PUPPY POLICE

The writing kept me on my toes, particularly as our loveable policemen started to become more and more personally involved. As the show clearly didn’t mind killing off characters, I did worry abut the lives of our characters- particularly the police. I honestly thought that puppy Young Gwan had a pretty big risk of getting killed off part-way through, and even our hero Seung In didn’t come across as 100% safe. I always enjoy a drama that can actually get you concerned about the lives of their characters, because so often a lot of dramatic tension is sucked out of a scene purely because you know the drama won’t kill of such a likeable character. But in ‘Wanted’, none of our characters felt safe (except weirdly Hyun Woo), so even though all our ‘hero’ characters made it out in the end,  it would have been understandable and fit into the story well even if one or two had been killed off in the big final show-down. I also enjoyed how the drama showed the power of the media. Our police always felt more in danger than our TV crew, purely because of the lack of cameras. The thugs and paid-off-policemen always backed down in front of a camera, because no one wants to be outed on television- wether the footage is manipulated or not.

And people say TV is useless...

It was interesting (and a little unsettling) to consider how easily the truth could be distorted by those in power, and how solid facts can become ‘simple speculation’ in front of a man who controls the media and the police. The writers did an excellent job at showing just how much of an underdog fight this was. The innocent regular people who were impacted could do nothing against this great power, and only had a voice once someone famous like Hye In gave them one. It was an excellent portrayal of the brutality of the world and how truly untouchable the rich and powerful really are.

They always manage to weasel their way out somehow

I wonder if this drama was inspired by, or even written to point fingers at, Reckitt Benckiser- a company that sold dangerous humidifier disinfectant in South Korea for around 10 years. Many pregnant women and children died (just like in our drama), and it’s only this year, five years after the discovery, that victims and family members received an apology. I’d like to think that the drama was written as a bit of a f*ck you to Reckitt Benckiser, but you never know.

What Was Great:

Ji Hyun Woo Of Course:

Obviously Seung In was my favourite character and obviously Ji Hyun Woo smashed the role. He’s just such a brilliant actor and now I want to go and watch every drama he’s ever been in. Particularly if it’s one where he gets some romance- because his adorable, justice-driven characters always seem to lack the lady-love.

How can he be so cute and so badass all at once?

Mystery:

For the longest time I didn’t know the direction the drama was going. Which is awesome. I love not being able to predict the story. It’s rare that my emotions get swayed the exact way the writer wants them to, but I was taking every path the writer was leading me to.

Unlike some characters, the plot was confusing in a good way

There were a few things I figured out before they were revealed- Hyun Woo being a son from the first marriage, brother-in-law being a bad dude- but these were relatively small discoveries in light of the big-picture, and the large mysteries always remained hidden until the writer chose to unveil them. We were right there with the police team, trying to build a whole story with only tiny scraps of information, and with each new piece, the story could change into something completely different. It was wonderful how by the end of the drama everything fit nicely into place. There was nothing shown in any episode that was unnecessary to the story’s development- it all had some connection to the SG mystery being unravelled. Sad as it was, I really enjoyed the way the show wrapped up it’s story. While the big-bad was exposed for what it was and our mystery was all solved, it still seemed unlikely that any form of justice would result. The general public would gradually forget once ‘Wanted’ was no longer airing, and only the victims and their families would be left to remember. While it’s not exactly a happy ending, it’s still satisfying, and much more realistic than a huge company being brought down by a single actress and her policeman friend. So while not being a happy conclusion, it’s still a satisfying and deeply thought-provoking conclusion. 

Because we all know he won't stay arrested

Victimisation of Villains:

One of the best, and most conflicting, aspects of tis drama was the way the kidnappers were victimised. Because as the story continues, we see their struggles and the injustice in their lives, and to be honest- was there really any other way?

How can he be so loveable when he kidnapped a kid?

Na Soo Hyun was a delightful antagonist because his methods were just so wrong. You’d surely think that nothing could justify the kidnapping of a young child, but even so you can’t help but pity this kid who’s had his life torn apart by men living in comfort and luxury who don’t even care about their wrong-doings. The reveal of Soo Hyun’s truth is handled so delicately, that it doesn’t feel like we’re being hit in the face with the pity card (the way it felt a bit with Joon Goo). He gradually goes from despicable kidnapper to heart-wrenching victim, so much so that his death was actually quite saddening. Soo Hyun’s death made sense in the plot, and was probably the best outcome for his character as his life was completely over anyway after he kidnapped Hyun Woo, but it really drove home the senselessness of the whole conflict. So many innocent people were getting hurt by one corporation’s cover-up and unwillingness to admit fault. It just seems even more nonsensical come the end of the series when it’s apparent that even after their crimes are exposed, the large company and those that run it will be able to make it away mostly unscathed. 

What Wasn’t:

Heroine:

Jung Hye In was just a boring character. I knew the facts about her life, but got no real sense of her as a person. Sure, I knew that she was deeply distressed about the disappearance of her son- but what mother wouldn’t be?

I like the three dead kids in the photo waaaay more than I like her

Not only did she seem super boring, but she didn’t come across as particularly likeable either. She was civil to some of the policemen working on her son’s case- but that was it. She had a rather sour relationship with her husband (who admittedly she’d only married as a business deal), and was snappy and uncommunicative with those on the ‘Wanted’ TV team.

She was weirdly disconnected from every other character

Even though she was well aware that the program was one of the kidnapper’s demands and that Hyun Woo would be hurt if it was stopped or scored low ratings, she seemed to get angry at anyone who put effort into the show. While I understand the crew themselves having moral dilemmas and internal conflicts, this shouldn't have been something Hye In was a part of. She even stated several times that she would do anything to save Hyun Woo- so I was confused when she got angry at Director Shin for focusing on ratings. Sure, his primary goal may not appear to be rescuing Hyun Woo, but when one of the conditions is that if the show scores below 20% ratings Hyun Woo would be hurt you’d think she’d be pretty darn pleased that someone’s worrying about the ratings. Because she also didn’t seem to care what kind of show she was airing until the last two episodes. Kim Ah Joong didn’t really sell the character for me, and while she did an acceptable job, her character never really jumped out, and it didn’t seem like Kim Ah Joong was taking a deep look into her character past what was written in the script.

And any sort of action scene involving Hye In...it wasn't good...

I also don’t know why they kept the face of Hye In’s first husband a mystery for so long. Axing out this huge portion of her life (where she actually seemed like a likeable person no less) made me feel like there was a huge chunk of this character that was purposely being hidden from me- and at the end of the day it really made no difference whether Husband No. 1’s face was revealed in episode 15 or episode 2.

Oops, totally forgot that one time I made my husband choose between me and an investigation

I also wasn’t keen how they spun Hye In’s involvement in the cover-up of SG Chemical’s wrongdoings. I loved it when they seemed to be going for the indifference approach- these two young men both tried reaching out to Hye In, but oblivious to the situation she shut them down and kept her distance. Logically this direction would have made the most sense- it gave Hye In a very, very tiny role in contributing to the cover-up, but also allowed for her ignorance of the situation as a whole. As it was, Hye In knew something was wrong, and purposely intervened to prevent her husband from participating. While this does place more responsibility on Hye In and made it more understandable as to how Joon Goo thought she deserved punishment, it doesn’t logically make sense in the present story-line. If Hye In felt as though her husband was in danger, so much so that she would give him the ultimatum of choosing her and the baby or investigating the case, it makes no sense that she would have thought her husband’s accident was actually an accident.

These flashbacks were withheld because of...what reasons?

It also didn’t make sense at how clueless Hye In was to her involvement all through the kidnapping. She is constantly wondering what it was she could have done to deserve such a punishment- yet she somehow fails to remember the huge argument she had with her husband before he died, the young kid she tried to prevent him from meeting, and the soldier who crashed her husband's funeral screaming that it wasn’t an accident? Yeah, I dunno about everyone else, but those memories would probably stand out in my mind just a bit. 

Characterisation in General:

The writers were just not good at characters. The only characters that were written to a satisfactory level were Seung In and Soo Hyun.

All our mastermind's story came in the last 3 episodes

While the other cops were likeable, we knew absolutely nothing about them, and the same could be said of the TV crew. Hye In was pretty flat and lifeless, and even Hyun Woo was reduced to simply being the kidnapped kid that was the catalyst for the discovery of SG’s corruption. Frankly, I’m a little disappointed that they didn’t focus a bit more on Hyun Woo as a character. As more was unveiled about Soo Hyun, there was no real sense of danger for Hyun Woo- because I honesty didn't believe Soo Hyun would have hurt him. It was interesting to see the after-effects of the kidnapping, and seeing how Hyun Woo was the only innocent that the kidnappers were hurting, it would have made an interesting plot-point. As it is, the mystery and development of the plot definitely took precedence over character development.

Re-watch?

Probably not. The mystery is what kept me really engaged in this series, and now I know how that plays out. It’s wonderfully endearing characters that leave you wanting more of a series, and this drama just didn’t nail that aspect.

Great plot, average characters