Hello, Monster! - Episode 3 of The Equator Man

[dangermousie]

Die, monster!



Take your crocodile tears with you!

Ep 3 of The Equator Man was one of the darkest things out there and I loved it. (K2H may get my fangirl heart going more, but TEM is the best airing drama right now).



It's all the more interesting because I love Sun Woo and like Ji Won but hate hate HATE the rest of the characters - every time I see Jang Il, I feel visceral hate I haven't felt since Bali. But all those monstrous people are complex and fascinating and I want Sun Woo to grind (most of) them into dirt but, until then, I cannot take my eyes away from them.



Unlike in Mawang, where both the avenger and the target were victims, who in another reality could have been good friends, this is going the Resurrection route by having the antagonist be a monster. I use the word 'moster' advisedly - Jung Il commits a brutal murder of his only friend, a friend he knows risked his life and future to protect him (even without knowing the stunt with the gangsters, he knows the rest) in order to preserve his own cushy life and future in Seoul. And you can't even chalk that one to a homicidal impulse, regretted as soon as committed - no, as Sun Woo is falling, reeling, you see Jang Il pause, dart his eyes back and forth and hit him again. And then drag and dump him in the ocean. The fact that JI is crying during this makes him complex but even more loathsome - if he had no sense of right/wrong, if this was a random stranger, not a person he owes to so much, this would be much more tolerable.


















Jung Il is quick enough to be friendly when there is nothing at stake:



But his own interests always come first no matter the cost to others. When he learns his father is a murderer, his horror doesn't lead to anything but eventually attempting a murder of his own.





Yeah - here is Sun Woo, forced to stab a gangster, beaten within an inch of his life, barely escaping - all to better and protect the future of the man who will, at the end of the ep, do his level best to kill him to save his richie-rich prospects. It makes me sick to think of Jung Il enjoying a decade of the good life!











I love that brittle, vengeful Soo Mi who is obsessed with JI knows the secret of the murder (not of SW but of SW's father) because I want her to make his life a living hell, and you know she will.



Btw, the actor playing his father's friend is very familiar but I can't place him. I hope he turns out to be Sun Woo's father and not the horrid Chairman Jin (who I loathe less than Jung Il - he did not profess friendship to his victim).



The drama's cinematography continues to be gorgeous and the music has finally toned down.





This is pretty much perfect, so far.

Comments

[att123.livejournal.com]

I really hope that SM goes the revenge route but I'm not sure she will. Why did she ask her father to not tell SW about JI's father being the murderer? And all those drawings of JI on her wall? Yikes.

JI needs to pay. It doesn't matter that he is sad that he "killed" his friend. He still committed the act! And for such selfish reasons at that too!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Have you seen ep 4? I hate JI even more now.

The synopsis said something about SM using her knowledge to control JI which - yesss! I don't care if she uses it to fulfill her stalker fantasies and make him hers, because I know that will make him miserable and thus me happy.

[clairiere.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that mirror scene in ep. 4 was... something else.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Hello there, future serial killer! It freaked me out like nothing else.

And when he's all "I am going to have everything I want and feel guilty for your death. is that enough?' Are you kidding me? Ugh. That's a new level of sociopath.

[att123.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid that I'm probably gonna end up hating him even more by the time the drama is over. I am already getting pissed off by just seeing him happy at this point.

Oh well, I wish she wasn't so hung up on such a weak and selfish guy but as long as JI is miserable then I can deal with it. I guess I'm just sick of secondary girls getting all obsessive over guys who really don't deserve it.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I know, every time I see him, I want to punch him in the face.

In her defense he's hot? Umm...I got nothing.

[att123.livejournal.com]

Same here especially when he is sucking up to the rich girl. I just want to vomit!

I don't even know. It just makes me frustrated because I would prefer her to be in love with JI but on SW's side and trying to get justice for SW. But it looks like she's just going to hide the truth.

[hipployta.livejournal.com]

He is crazy...preparing his surprised face *smh*

And she is a SERIOUS stalker. Her Dad was like...at least I have scruples

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yup, they deserve each other.

[clairiere.livejournal.com]

Btw, the actor playing his father's friend is very familiar but I can't place him.

Hard to miss him for anyone watching k-dramas. Currently pulling double duty, his role on TEM + one of Jung Bo-Seok's generals in God of War. Best known for his role as Bidam's teacher in Queen Seondeok, but you watched most of his dramas so it could be any one of them. He also does cameos, eg. he's the guy who interrogated Hyun-Joon in IRIS after he neutralized the terrorists' attack.

The drama's cinematography continues to be gorgeous and the music has finally toned down.

To the point of disappearing :) but no complaint there.

Having seen ep. 4, I miss the alluring quality that the child Soo-Mi was able to convey, Im Joo-Eun feels a little too ordinary. But we'll see.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It's interesting to me - I had a very easy time transitioning with the two male leads - LJW looks a lot like his child version, so that helps, and has the same ticks. And while I am a fan of UTW so I am sure it helped, I think he's got the certain wildness child SW had down. I was never particularly invested in SM so I wasn't paying as much attention to her.

Yup, I've seen this actor in a ton of stuff, thanks!

[clairiere.livejournal.com]

Oh I loved it when UTW was muttering to himself, his 'f*ck the diagnosis' moment. That was so very much the kid Sun-Woo, it really helped me make the connection. Soo-Mi is supposedly a femme fatale character who could not only bring down Jang-Il but also gets him like nobody else, and I'm not getting that vibe from the adult actress. Doesn't help that I keep picturing Park Si-Yeon instead (she turned down the role).

[sanaenam.livejournal.com]

Had they had Park Si Yeon in this role, I would have continued to think of A Man's Story (The Story of Man aka Slingshot - drats the English titling snafus). She'd have been in love twice with a sociopath. Or rather once with a psychopath and this time with a sociopath.

I've seen Im Joo Eun bring it before (Joseon X-Files), so I'm hoping she will bring her own intensity to Soo Mi sooner than later. But for now, I am sort of happy to see her seemingly better adjusted and a bit more contented. When the teen Soo Mi finally got her head on somewhat straight and started looking for the missing Sun Woo, I felt as if things could go ok for her. I actually don't want her to be still stuck on Jang Il obsessively. Have her terrorize him, yes. Be consumed by her own obsessive fixation on him, no. I want her to deal him some comeuppance.

I was mighty pleased with Lee Hyun Woo, the child actor who played Sun Woo. I'd seen him before in God of Study and the Return of Iljimae, but I'd not have suspected him capable of such subtlety and richness. I really liked that he had such a little kid face and a teenager's voice yet peered out of his little kid eyes with the wisdom of a very old soul. It was a lovely juxtaposition.

The brutality of episodes 3 and 4. I wouldn't be surprised if the message boards in Korea were all agog about the show's decision to air such graphic images of a young actor's face. My stomach still turns thinking about those images. I want to bring him home and feed him lots of food. (And I can't even cook very well). I love Um Tae Woong, but I found Lee Hyun Woo's Sun Woo so compelling that I'm sad to see him go.

As for the actor playing Moon Tae Joo, Jung Ho Bin. I like him. What I like about him is that - like Lee Sun Woo - he has a face that's on the gentle side yet capable of such sharpness. Beside Queen Seon Deok, I've seen him in Swallow the Sun and All In. He seems typecast playing the second baddie, so I was happy he had a significant and positive role back in Queen Seon Deok. I hope they do more with him here.

[sanaenam.livejournal.com]

OMG, I just realized that Lee Hyun Woo's played the little Uhm Tae Woong once before in Queen Seon Deok! How awesome!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, cool!