Robbers is charming and Hyang-Dan is pretty...

[dangermousie]

Take One Spunky Widow. Add One Desperate Conman. Toss in some cool secondary characters, and neat art designs. Stir. What do you get? Robber.

A couple of eps in, and I find this drama quite awesome for a variety of reasons:

Robber has a very very cool heroine. Lee Da Hae's heroine, Dal Rae is a widow who is neither beaten-down, weepy, nor childishly cute. She is charming yet not demure, but is someone who is outspoken and someone who knows her own mind and is quite happy with her life the way it is now: living with her five-year-old daughter and her mother-in-law. She is actually a rare heroine I could see happy without a man.

I also find myself very interested in Oh Joon (the titular character, played by Jang Hyuk, who seems to be carving out a small niche playing men who fall in love with women with moppets). He is not an admirable person in the least, seeing that he is a man who seduces women out of their money. But not only is he rather fun to watch regardless, there is something more to him. In part, it's his sheer desperation (he owes money to some pretty nasty people who will off him if he doesn't pay off), but it's something else too, maybe the fact that he is a bit dorky.

In fact, I can pinpoint the exact moment Robber went from 'enjoyable' to 'oooh, must see more' for me: when it is hinted that the reason for his choice of job and running after money was to take care of his Noona (which means older sister, but I am not sure if in this case it's a courtesy title and they are not blood related). I suppose it's like Rain in Sang-Do. Just as in a Bollywood movie, no heroine is allowed to be a whore unless she has a sick mother to support, in a kdrama, no male lead can be a gigolo unless he has some pressing, altruistic reason for such an activity.

Heh.

I also like all the secondaries, and all relationships between characters, especially one between Dal Rae and her mother-in-law.

Most importantly, I can smell potential for angst the way shark can smell blood in the water, and I can tell this is going to pay off, big time. But then, it makes sense. No matter how light it started, a drama whose protagonist is a male prostitute who scams his victims, is unlikely to be Sweet-18-light.

Bring it on, say I.



Saying bye to one of his marks:





Most pleased with himself:



Dal Rae with her mom in law:



Dal Rae is adorable:



As I said, dorky:



Working:



Mom in law and gangster who is sweet on her:







They are awesome together:





Having worst day ever:





But still trying to ply his trade:



Hiding from his Noona, not sure why:





With kid:



Desperate:



These characters (older guy who wants to marry his son to DR) are hilarious:



She is decidedly not interested in him:



With kid:



And because I had them, some shots from the beginning of Hyang Dan