dangermousie | Just like in the Bible. If Abel came back from the dead and kicked Cain's ass...

Since this is Friday, the drama of the day for me was Cain and Abel, the revenge/love story starring So Ji Sub and Han Ji Min. I started it a long time ago and now I've picked it up again with ep 4.

If you are familiar with kdramas, you know what to expect from anything starring So Ji Sub - an angst pie with a number of angst toppings (Sorry I Love You is arguably the most depressing kdrama ever). The shock of C&A is not all the torture So Ji Sub's sweetie of a surgeon goes through, but the fact that he's alive to enjoy his OTP at the end.

Here is the set-up for ep 4:

Cho In (So Ji Sub) is a Korean surgeon who goes to China on a holiday. Sweet and well-adjusted (yeah, it's a SJS drama, he won't stay this way for long), he wants to spend some time attending a conference and treating some village kids. It's all very rewarding, especially since he manages to also save the life of his awesome tour-guide, a North Korean refugee trying to earn enough to smuggle the rest of her family out, but he can't wait to get home to his loving fiancee and his idolized older brother. WELL. That might happen if it wasn't for the fact that his Stepmother makes Domyouji Mama seem like Mother Teresa - horrified by the prospect that this adopted kid might inherit everything in the family instead of her own biological son, she arranges to have Cho In kidnapped and disposed of -the thugs drag terrified Cho In into the desert and shoot him, leaving him to slowly die...

Cho In is shot. I have to say I felt horrible here even though I knew he survived of course, because he was so terrified- he is not an action tough guy, he is a random physician, who has probably never even been punched in the face before.

After he's disappeared, his brother and fiancee go looking for him in China. My first red flag was raised when the 'loving' older brother seems more concerned that Choi In's fiancee (childhood friend of both brothers, and someone who fell for Cho In when the older brother went away for years and dumped her) is really upset than by the fact that his little brother is probably dead. ~~die in a fire you horrible pig person you, I know what you are up to!~~

Fiancee (who I really like) remembering herself and Choi In:

Meanwhile, Cho In has been found and 'taken in' by a bunch of North Korean refugee drug smugglers who find him useful as a fellow mule. Because of his head wound (and probably mental trauma), he has amnesia - he does not remember anything about himself. This angst and anger has also given him sexy stubble and really cool hair. He's also gone mute from shock. All in all, a routine day for So Ji Sub.

There is a gun battle and he is completely lost and dazed, but tries to save a shot enemy on instinct. Also is busy looking hot.

Make it really hot.

One of the North Korean guys is fed up with the creepy shell-shocked mute and decides to shoot him. Which finally forces Cho In to talk - he doesn't have his memory back but he does demonstrate a death wish the size of Canada.

Fiancee and evil Brother have a confrontation:

And then he falls on the ground twitching because he has some kind of degenerative disease. Being heartless, I laughed and laughed and laughed. Especially since she didn't notice and walked away. LOLOL

People have a tendency to collapse in this drama, don't they?

Despite his evilness, Older Brother has mastered the art of angsting prettily. Still note total unconcern about his missing, supposedly loved, brother:

Note to drug smugglers - always rescue almost corpsicles, they might turn out to be brilliant surgeons who can save your gang members.

Gang leader dude agrees:

This scene is so full of prettiness, it's ridiculous.

Madam Satan, otherwise known as Cho In's Stepmom.

Gang bonding:

Plucky Refugee Girl sees the new and unimproved Choi In on the street but she is not sure it's him - he looks different and what would the gone-back-home doctor be doing here in China, hanging out with lowlives?

Flashback to when he was found. I bet this drama got a huge ketchup discount - they use it by the gallon.

We end this ep with yet another instance of Cho In having a gun pointed at his head - it's becoming a regrettable habit.

From previews, we have this to look forward to. Also, Evil Brother coming to inspect and denying that this is his brother, thus leaving his sibling to rot in a comfy cell in Torturestan. ~~I hope the money you inherit chokes you.~~