Drama name: Big Issue
Country: South Korea
Year: Mar- May 2019
It's been awhile since I last wrote a drama review, a lot of things happened in my life... :( I am currently having a drama hiatus as some would say... However, I did manage to watch one 2019 drama so far as it was airing 24 hours from South Korea. I stumbled across this drama on my local cable TV, it was already on Ep.4... It was intense and caught my attention so I back-tracked it online.
So, what's this drama about?
Han Seok Joo is a senior photojournalist for a top newspaper, Nara News. He is a married man with a daughter who has some heart problems. He needed money for her surgery so he worked hard at his job. One day, he thought he had a big scoop when he managed to photograph a renowned doctor drug raping an actress. He wanted to expose the scandal in hopes to secure himself a better position and pay in the company.
Alas, those photographs became the nightmare of his life. Instead of exposing the doctor, Han Seok Joo became the "bad guy" with no ethics of being a photographer taking private photos. Matters became worse when the doctor ended up dead by suicide. The actress came out with a press conference saying that she and the doctor were secret lovers.
Han Seok Joo lost his job, his family and was even thrown in jail. Basically he fell down to rock bottom... He ended up being a hobo living on the streets many years later.
Meanwhile, Ji Soo Hyun was a rookie reporter for a really small online news company. She was looked down upon other journalists and news agencies. Her main job was to just get advertisers to place ads so that the company wouldn't go under.
One day, her big break came. It was the very same doctor that Han Seok Joo photographed contacted her. He handed her a tablet filled with his patients information in exchange for access to the actress. It worked, the actress came out with the fake confession of being lovers with him. Unfortunately, that didn't save his life. The irony.
Armed with the tablet, Ji Soo Hyun's life transformed from rock bottom to the top of the news agencies scene. She became the chief editor of Sunday Syndicate, a top paparazzi agency with high salary and powerful connections.
As fate happens, Ji Soo Hyun crosses path with Han Seok Joo one day. Her photographer got into an accident and couldn't execute the task. She recognised Seok Joo despite his hobo appearance and asked a favour from him. He managed to take the photos she needed and got paid.
Instead of being a one-off job, Soo Hyun decided to keep him. She hired him as a paparazzo for Sunday Syndicate. She even used Seok Joo's daughter as the trump card saying that she could help him get the heart transplant for her.
The story goes on with Seok Joo working for Soo Hyun unravelling cases after cases with his photography skills. He will eventually discover the truth behind the original case of the doctor and actress.
Overall thoughts
The first few episodes were quite action packed, somewhat reminiscent of Mission Impossible... Haha, and the cinematography was interesting as well. I found that this drama also seem to have an underlying message that somehow coincidentally coincides with the 10 year anniversary death of a South Korean actress. I don't know if the writer was trying to bring up the issue through a drama or not. Strangely enough, this drama was airing at the same time the Burning sun scandal happened in South Korea. Too many coincidences I think! :D
If you are not familiar with both of the scandals, basically it is about how some entertainment agencies use their talents, i.e. young female actresses or kpop singers to "entertain" rich and powerful men against their will. One of the end result was the actress committing suicide. At least officially it is suicide. There are some who say she was murdered but nobody knows the truth really.
Best parts of the drama
Back to the drama! Well, like I have mentioned the cinematography is pretty neat. They had many nice buildings with cool architecture in the show. The Sunday Syndicate building itself:
The camera equipment room is awesome with those motorised doors...even his camera bag is cool too... XD
Ji Soo Hyun's house by the lake... really nice...
Han Seok Joo's house, which is supposedly Sunday Syndicate's accommodation for the chief photographer...
Cars! Of course, how could I not mention some... ;D This taxi... really now you must be saying... what?! Well, it's really cool... it is modified with the bottom red light too... You should see the driving skills of the guy!
The Sunday Syndicate's main news team... This scene where they all drive up with their flashy cars and all...
Notable scenes:
The highlight of many kdrama fans would be this intense kissing scene... Hahaha... Seriously, I was laughing man, but it was indeed refreshing from the usual cliche kdrama kind of kisses... I like this one. They just got down to it. Bam, one night stand. XD
For comedic scene, this part where the prosecutors meet the local gangsters on Sunday Syndicate's building... too funny.. they remind me of Hong Kong dramas where the gangs fight and all...
Conclusion
As with most kdramas, the last few episodes just seem to be in a hurry, trying to tie up all the loose ends with some logic left behind. Overnight, Han Seok Joo became the CEO of Sunday Syndicate and with his new found power he went back for his old enemies. Those people from Nara News who brought down his life... It feels good to get revenge... Well, in real life this is the truth.... only those with money and power people will bow down and be nice to them...
Han Seok Joo finds out the mastermind of everything is the CEO of Nara News... (pretty cliche here) and tries to bring him down... only to be used as a pawn. Yeah, if not for Soo Hyun, he would prolly be a hobo again... smh. I'm serious.. behind every successful man is woman... haha!
The Nara News CEO has all the photos of powerful people and used that to his advantage. This part is where I was quite disappointed... it seemed that it had to be a more powerful person behind everything... but I guess the writers got scared or maybe threatened so the script was changed...
It's a happy ending, Soo Hyun manages to outwit the bad guy and got him arrested... with the help of the Sunday Syndicate team. The story ends with Seok Joo finally being called "Appa" by his daughter and he continuing Sunday Syndicate business with Soo Hyun.
I read up some reviews of this drama, I also agree with some comments that there wasn't actually any explanation between Seok Joo and Soo Hyun. After all, she was part of the reason his life went to rock bottom and he found out about it... But I guess he forgave her because he fell in love with her hahahaa... and she also tried to help him fix his life again.
It's an alright drama. It touched on the darker side of the entertainment industry with the paparazzi and news portals. However, it paled when it came down to the end... perhaps it was really too sensitive to be aired or it could have cost someone their lives... :O The rating for this drama in South Korea was not good I think, I saw it written on some comments. It came out at the wrong time I guess, because of the Burning sun issue many were outraged and the last thing anyone wants is another drama to talk about it. Just my thoughts.
Hope to see you around soon. What dramas are you watching right now? Let me know. Thanks for reading!
*Image credits: Google and screenshots*
