Smart Prison Living

Smart Prison Living

9.5/10

Smart Prison Living

Genre:                                                Episodes: 16                                     Year: 2018

Comedy

Melodrama

Synopsis:

Star baseball pitcher, Kim Je Hyuk, is sentenced to one year in prison after assaulting a sexual assailant. He must adapt to living in jail with other inmates and the prison guards.

Cast:

Park Hae Soo (Kim Je Hyuk)

Jung Kyung Ho (Lee Joon Ho)

Krystal (Kim Ji Ho)

Lim Hwa Young (Kim Je Hee)

Choi Moo Sung (Kim Min Chul)

Jung Woong In (Officer Paeng)

Lee Kyu Hyung (Yoo Han Yang)

Jung Hae In (Yoo Jung Woo)

Park Ho San (Kaist)

Jung Min Sung (Dr Ko)

Ahn Chang Hwan (Crony)

Kang Ki Doong (Officer Song)

Kang Seung Yoon (Jean Valjean)

Park Hyung Soo (Officer Na)

Kim Sung Cheol (Jailbird)

Kim Kyung Nam (Lee Joon Dol)

General Thoughts:

I love this drama, and there’s not a single thing I’d change about it. And I’m bloody picky, so you know that’s a big compliment right there. It’s the magic director-writer combo from ‘Reply 1997’ (and ’94 and ’88), and at this point I really think they can do no wrong.

I love this writer-PD combo and I love their dramas

The writer is an amazing and rare talent, and her dramas make me want to meet her in real life. To come up with such beautifully crafted stories with such real and raw emotion, Lee Woo Jung must be one interesting and intelligent lady. The director at her side is Shin Won Ho and boy have these two just learned how to work in sync.

From high school kids to men in prison

Shin Won Ho takes the story and fills it with life and flavour. He knows the exact emotional beats that the writer is aiming for and manipulates all aspects of filmmaking in order to bring that emotion to the audience. While I do admit that I’ve been waiting excitedly for the next ‘Reply’ instalment from these two, now that I’ve watched ‘Smart Prison Living’ I’m glad they deviated away from their hit franchise for a time. It’s not that the followup ‘Reply’ series weren’t good (because they were), but as they all worked around the same genre and the same type of characters (eg. hilarious, spunky female youth for a heroine), we all knew a little bit about what to expect. It’s not that we didn’t enjoy it simply because it was what we expected, but it is nice to be wowed every now and then. ‘Smart Prison Living’ proves that this writer-director combo aren’t a one-trick pony, and can work different characters in different settings into a compelling story about love, life and hardship. Backing up the fantastic writing and directing was an absolutely stellar cast. ‘Smart Prison Living’ differentiates itself from the ‘Reply’ series, and most other K-Dramas, but not exactly having one cast the entire way through.

There were so many characters to love 

The whole show is a revolving door of characters who come and go as we walk with Je Hyuk through his prison journey. Our one constant is Park Hae Soo as our leading man. I’ve only seen him in ‘Legend of the Blue Sea’, and I won’t lie, I don’t even remember him in it. This is another thing I love about this writer-director combo- they take actors who fit the role regardless of if they don’t have a lot of working credits or a wide fanbase.

How can that pudding haircut suit your character so perfectly?

While Park Hae Soo was unremarkable in ‘LOTBS’, I found him completely unforgettable here. He showed how Je Hyuk’s humility and calm nature mostly resulted due to him not exactly being the smartest prisoner in the cell. His naivety and vagueness often made for some hilarious moments, and Park Hae Soo was able to deliver these aspects of his character perfectly, without ever making Je Hyuk seem plain dumb. Sure, he was a little slow, but he’d get there eventually. However, on the other side of the coin, Park Hae Soo could really turn cold when Je Hyuk snapped. It was a subtle difference in facial expression and a whole change in body language that easily alerted us as to when Je Hyuk was riled and likely to do something impulsive. While his slow side tended to make the humour, Je Hyuk’s anger is where a lot of the emotion in the series came from. Je Hyuk had two extremes- completely calm or completely furious. Rarely did Je Hyuk get furious, but it was always interesting and compelling when he did, because so often it was for someone other than himself, which is ultimately what made him such a loveable and endearing character. He would listen all day to people insult him or push him around, but when that contemptuous attention was turned on someone Je Hyuk cared about, such as his cellmates, he was likely to snap completely.

I kinda loved when Je Hyuk got angry

Park Hae Soo could shift between these two sides of his character wonderfully, and did so believably. It always felt like Je Hyuk snapping was the stick that broke the camel’s back rather than Je Hyuk being schizophrenic. Jung Kyung Ho played our hero’s best friend and constant supporter. I’ve seen him in some of his previous works and loved him. He brings a wonderful energy to his characters and just has that charming charisma that makes you like him, and whatever character he’s playing.

Jung Kyung Ho is always delightful

Joon Ho was an interesting character as while he was nice and morally upstanding, he didn’t exactly radiate compassion for the inmates. While he never took advantage of his role as a guard or treated the inmates disrespectfully, he always gave off the vibe that he didn’t trust any of the prisoners, and avoided investing in them emotionally, unlike our other main guard Officer Paeng.

Nothing beats a bromance

Joon Ho was the halfway point between the authorities and the disciplined. He went by the rules, and didn’t take anyone’s side. Except for Je Hyuk. Which is where we start to really love Joon Ho. Despite being a rather strict guard and going by the book at work, Joon Ho does whatever he can to make Je Hyuk’s prison life that little bit smoother. He goes out of his way to ensure his friend’s safety- both physically and emotionally. Jung Kyung Ho brought a sweetly playful side out of his character when he was alone with Je Hyuk and gave him just enough empathy while maintaining his character’s rather minimal-investment personality. Jung Woong In was insanely dynamic as Officer Paeng. His character was one that was introduced and explored slowly in the early stages of the drama, but the more we got to know him, the more endearing he became. Officer Paeng was the depiction of rough-around-the-edges, but no one could deny that he wanted the best for the inmates in his care. Officer Paeng didn’t assume the inmates were bad people the way the rest of the world did, and saw them for who they were rather than their crimes.

Talk about a character with layers

He might have been lazy in some aspects of his job, but that carefree attitude is what made him so approachable to the inmates, and was a great facade for his caring nature, as he would often help the inmates out under the guise of not caring, when in actuality he cared more than almost anyone. He was one of the characters that gave the most emotional punches, as each time another snippet of his story was told it served to reveal what a kind-hearted man he was-

Sweet and fun and so, so sad

such as his extreme guilt and grief after following procedure and losing some inmates in a fire. Jung Woong In is a mighty fine actor, and I loved the gruff charm he brought to his character. As he’s an actor that’s played a range of characters in the past, I wasn’t sure if he was going to be a likeable character or not. But boy did he know how to reveal his character’s squishy marshmallow heart in the sweetest ways. There’s so many side characters that it really would be impossible (well not really, just super long and hard) to mention them all so I’ll try to restrain myself. I thought a particular standout was Lee Kyu Hyung, who gave 100% to his druggie character, and managed to make him fun without being ridiculous. A lot of the humour in our main cell came from Han Yang’s antics, and Lee Kyu Hyung gave him such a wonderful air of rich-boy superiority paired with just the right amount of vagueness from his withdrawal. His goofy character kind of made you let your guard down, so that when he actually came to deliver an emotional scene it was like a punch in the gut. Han Yang definitely had one of the sadder stories, with his desperation to have strong self-control, but always tending to fall at the last hurdle.

Poor Han Yang came so close to kicking his habit

I think Lee Kyu Hyung hit a perfect balance of showing just how much Han Yang wanted to break free from his addiction, but also how hard the struggle really was. For people who’ve never been addicted to anything it’s so easy to criticise his relapses and his choices, but Lee Kyu Hyung clearly and brilliantly expressed Han Yang’s disgust at his own inability to beat his addiction. His love-line was handled delicately and was awfully bitter sweet.

My poor broken heart

It was sad to see the relationship that had been so tentatively built fall to ruin. Knowing that homosexuality isn’t exactly widely accepted in South Korea, I did appreciate the addition. It didn’t feel like Han Yang was just gay for gay’s sake, but it felt like a genuine part of his character and played a large hand in shaping his story. It was also an interesting point to see how other characters reacted to discovering that Han Yang’s lover was actually a man, and not a girl as they thought. Some didn’t care at all, others were totally disgusted by it, and some were uncomfortable with it but learned to live with it because they cared about Han Yang and his happiness. The show did a good job at balancing the fun make-believe drama world with bites of reality, and Han Yang’s final decision to turn to drugs again, essentially throwing away his lover’s faith and trust, was definitely one of the darker moments in the drama. You just felt this awful drop of disappointment watching Han Yang’s boyfriend waiting in a cafe for Han Yang who would never come. It was in these quieter, sadder moments where the drama really grabbed your emotions, and the director knew exactly how much to show to create the biggest impact.

Your heart was either super warm super broken or racing super fast

Take the scene I mentioned above for example. We see Han Yang succumb to his temptation and get arrested again, but we never see him back inside a prison. We see his lover and his parents expecting his return, and are left with the lonely image of them waiting as we never see the moment they give up and go home. We were given just enough to know what was happening, but we were never over saturated with information.

Everyone's favourite hyung

The show never felt like it was looking for tears- it was just focused on telling its story complete with all its darker moments. It was the same for Min Chul- his repentance and regret paired with his life sentence made him such a lonely figure, particularly once he revealed that the young boys he mentored and looked out for in prison never came back to visit. And yet he continued looking out for these young kids and encouraged them to live honest lives. His relationship with Jean Valjean killed me, and my heart really dropped when Valjean didn’t come back to visit. However, Valjean’s rather late visitation plus parole plus Min Chul’s discovery of his delightful and very accepting daughter felt like a final glimmer of happiness after Min Chul’s long and lonesome stint in prison watching other inmates come and go. Despite the show’s very present bite of realism, it was these moments of happiness that made the drama feel extremely rewarding.

You will laugh and you will cry

Despite having rather miricle-like situations sprinkled throughout the show’s run (eg. such as Je Hyuk learning to pitch with his other arm, Min Chul’s daughter finding him, soldiers deciding to testify for Jung Woo’s retrial), the equally bleak moments

Yoo-Han combo was always fun

(eg. Han Yang falling back into drugs, Kaist’s son not wanting to see him again), meant the show was able to maintain a very realistic feel without becoming too dark. All the cast members seemed to be having a really good time on set, and they all seemed to get along with each other really well. The brilliant acting from them all definitely made the series better, but what made it really stand out is the comradery between all the actors. I think it must be much easier to give a heartfelt, convincing performance when you really enjoy working with the people around you, and the humorous scenes felt that much more hilarious because all the actors were obviously having so much fun filming. I know we hear a lot about how hard it is working on K-Dramas, and I could be totally wrong here, but it felt like everyone involved (staff and actors) were really invested in making a wonderful production and tried their best to help each other out, and that really carried across into the viewing experience.     

What Was Great:

Basically Everything:

There’s no one aspect of this drama that stands out as being amazing, but rather the combination of all its parts that make it such a wonderful experience. Admittedly, at the heart of this drama there was Je Hyuk, and this drama definitely wouldn’t have been what is was without him.

Definition of handsome idiot

He was the perfect character to centre this show around, as his celebrity status was something that worked both for and against him. It would have been hard to get into this drama if the main character hadn’t been instantly likeable- and with him being in prison he obviously needed to break the law, which makes you wonder how you would get the audience to like this man who is a criminal. 

You can't blame him

By using Je Hyuk’s fame and having authorities want to make a show of treating celebrities ‘fairly’ (by rather unfairly convicting him of aggravated assault), it ensured that he remained a character we could root for. His unfortunate conviction became a hurdle for him to overcome, and we could cheer him on through it. A part of Je Hyuk’s character I really enjoyed is that he wasn’t just a dedicated sportsman ready to beat the odds and get his career back. In a lot of uplifting movies and shows, the main character has an unfaltering determination and that unwavering faith and steadfast determination are what make them succeed in unfavourable circumstances. As strange as it sounds, I loved that Je Hyuk gave up. When things got hard and one thing after another went wrong, I appreciated that Je Hyuk got angry, cursed the world and threw in the towel. After a shoulder-injuring accident in his youth, stomach cancer, getting sent to prison, and getting stabbed in the shoulder, it just felt painfully and endearingly humane for Je Hyuk to give up.

I mean really- dude's had a tough run

And I loved that he people around him supported that choice. We’re doused with so much ‘if you fall, get back up’ and ‘hardship is the road to success’ that it felt wonderfully refreshing to have a drama say that it’s okay to quit. Because the truth is, while trying as much as you can for as long as you can is a good way to live, the fact is that sometimes things don’t work out, and it’s okay to quit.

We just want our hero to be happy

Sure, Je Hyuk picked himself back up with the support of his friends and family and inmates and worked hard to play baseball again, but I liked that he was furious with the unjustness of it all (and not just a saint of forgiveness and perseverance), and took time to walk away, explore other options, and figure out what he really wanted. He really was the perfect character to star in this uniquely charming show.

What Wasn’t:

Nothing?:

A drama has to be pretty darn good for me to not find fault with it (finding shortcomings is something I’m particularly good at), but there wasn’t anything glaringly obvious in ‘Smart Prison Living’ that hindered the show.

Admittedly, this face does increase my attention span

I stand by my opinion that no drama really needs to have episodes that go over an hour (my attention span is only so long), but I found that the 90 minute episodes weren’t really that much of a problem here. The plot didn’t really have an episodic format, so the story just flowed smoothly from start to finish, breaking where it did because we can’t (or shouldn’t) just sit down and watch the whole thing straight. Because I watch shows after they air, and because of the nature of this drama’s story, I really watched it at my leisure pausing whenever, and watching as much as I could whenever I could. I suppose the length of the episodes would have bothered me more if I had to take a huge chunk of time out of my day and watch a whole episode, rather than watching hours and hours on the weekend with intermittent 30 minutes here and there during the week. I also thought the transition of Je Hyuk from the initial detention centre to the prison was super weird. At the end of one episode Je Hyuk’s getting stabbed and at the beginning of the next he’s in a new facility with new cellmates and I had no clue what was going on, and actually wondered if I’d somehow missed an episode. Pretty small complaints overall. 

Recommend?

Yes, yes, yes. This drama is a beautiful and heartfelt show, and I guarantee that you won’t regret watching it.

This drama was hard to say goodbye to