Kill Heel: Episode 1 (First Impressions)

by quirkycase

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of home shopping channels? I can’t say I had, but if Kill Heel is any indication, it’s a dog-eat-dog world full of drama with hints of intrigue. With a slick style and vaguely mysterious tone, the premiere episode introduces us to the current dynamics at a cutthroat home shopping network where one host is struggling to stay afloat.

Editor’s note: If there is sufficient interest, drama coverage will continue with weekly Drama Hangouts.

 
EPISODE 1 FIRST IMPRESSIONS

We open on two ominous car rides in the rain to the same hotel. WOO HYUN (Kim Haneul), soaking wet and curiously barefoot, looks visibly nervous as she enters the hotel with a man whose face we don’t fully see. Based on the ring he leaves on the table, he’s married and they’re about to do some cheating.

Following them into the hotel is SEO JOON-BUM (Jung Eui-jae), a producer at Hyun’s workplace UNI Home Shopping. It’s hard to tell if it’s a coincidence or if he deliberately followed them into the hotel. It’s all mysterious in a stylistic way, which seems to be the goal.

We then jump to what I’m assuming is the recent past, and we’re introduced to UNI and the dynamics of the company – catty, gossipy, and full of passive aggression masked with a smile. This goes for the employees and the higherups, making for quite the stressful environment.

Hyun has worked there for ten years as a home shopping host, but she’s not doing so hot lately. Everyone gossips about her fall from grace in recent times, and some colleagues like fellow host GO EUNNARA (Shin Joo-ha) are taking obvious glee in Hyun’s waning popularity.

In contrast, fashion host BAE OK-SUN (Kim Sung-ryung) is the star of the station, drawing in great viewership numbers. To top it off, she’s beloved as an “angel” for her pleasant demeanor and seems to be on good terms with just about everyone at UNI.

Something about her comes off calculated, though. Despite appearances of a successful, happy work and family life, she gets this hollow, sad look occasionally. One obvious source of frustration for her is that her politician husband and his father keep pressuring her to quit her job as if her career is some hobby.

Hyun is clearly jealous of Ok-sun’s rise, particularly when she’s tasked with shooting a toilet paper segment while Ok-sun models clothes that instantly sell out. According to the rumor Joon-bum shares with enthusiastic producer newbie NO SUNG-WOO (Moon Ji-in), Hyun is more standoffish than she used to be in her heyday.

Seeing a glimpse of her family life might explain that. When she gets home from work, Hyun finds her mother-in-law there asking for money for her older son. It’s not the first time, and Hyun is over it – somehow it resulted in her husband KIM DO-IL (Kim Jin-woo) having to quit his good job and having to now work as a part-timer at a restaurant.

Do-il stays mostly quiet while they fight, although he does drag his mother out after she slaps Hyun for refusing to give her money and calling out her selfishness. Hyun collapses in tears afterward, which her young daughter sees.

At UNI, we learn more about the higher-ups who are embroiled in just as much drama as the sniping employees. Most everyone fawns over CEO LEE HYUN-WOOK (Kim Jae-chul), but he seems like the type who prefers competence over flattery. He appears to particularly respect Senior Vice President KI MO-RAN (Lee Hye-young) who is direct with a no-nonsense attitude.

She’s intense and takes care of business, even if that means chasing off another VP who is trying to flirt her way into success with Hyun-wook. Mo-ran uses evidence of the VP’s embezzling to blackmail her into leaving, tossing her an envelope of money like a meddling mother getting rid of her son’s girlfriend.

We later see that Hyun-wook’s wife has claimed Mo-ran as her person whether Mo-ran likes it or not. She berates Mo-ran for not reporting to her ahead of time about firing the flirty VP, although she admits it was a good call. She says they should be “friends,” but she makes it clear where Mo-ran’s place in life and their relationship is. Mo-ran acquiesces but scoffs at her arrogance once alone.

Meanwhile, Hyun is reaching a breaking point, especially after she approaches a rival network and is rejected outright on the basis that she’s no longer in demand. (Ironically, Hyun scoffed at Eunnara earlier for doing the same thing.) The representative flatly says that UNI will likely let Hyun go once her current contract is up.

After so much belittling, Hyun loses it and publicly slaps an arrogant director who tries to humiliate her by comparing her to Ok-sun and calling her a mediocre host. The whole office watches in silence as Hyun collapses to the ground afterward, but no one helps her.

Mo-ran sees her and approaches, wondering to herself why she didn’t notice the resemblance earlier. We flash back to a man screaming, “Hye-soo!” as a covered body is taken away in an ambulance. A photo of a woman who looks like Hyun flashes on the screen.

The episode ends with Mo-ran offering Hyun her hand. Something tells me that if Hyun accepts, things are going to get messy and maybe a little sinister. I’m guessing the man in the hotel with Hyun at the beginning was Hyun-wook (the ring and watch on the table seem to match). Hyun didn’t look like she was having fun there, so my guess is there’s a scheme afoot.

I feel like we got more style than substance in the first episode, at least in an emotional sense – there’s not much heart here. It was enjoyable enough, moving pretty quickly with a tone that hints at something darker under the surface, but I didn’t come out feeling invested. While it didn’t wow me, it’s clear things are just getting started, so I’m not counting the drama out yet.

 
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