Evilive: Episodes 1-2

by quirkycase

Who’s ready for villain curious Shin Ha-kyun, villain extraordinaire Kim Young-kwang, and spunky in-over-his-head Shin Jae-ha? When a down on his luck lawyer meets a ruthless gangster offering a large sum of money for a shady job, it leads him down a darker path than he’d bargained for. But it might just save his family. All he has to do is leave his conscience at the door.

 
EPISODES 1-2

While I was excited by the cast and promises of noir, I wasn’t sure if this would be another run-of-the-mill crime drama, so my hopes weren’t too high. However, I ended up pleasantly surprised with a drama that might just bring something unique to the table. It’s part crime thriller and part character study, as a desperate man’s descent into darkness is facilitated by someone already in the depths. This first week gives us a good sense of our characters and their motivations, making it much easier to feel invested in where the story is headed. The pace felt just right, letting us get acquainted without rushing but still maintaining a steady sense of tension. Given the short episode count, I’m crossing my fingers it will maintain quality all the way through.

The premiere episode drops us right into the action. HAN DONG-SOO (Shin Ha-kyun) and HAN BEOM-JAE (Shin Jae-ha) sneak around a house and slip through a door, narrowing avoiding being spotted. A woman enters the hallway and isn’t so lucky. A man walks up and shoots her multiple times. She dies on the floor near where Dong-soo and Beom-jae lie hiding under the bed.

After that intense opening, we jump back to see how they got themselves in that little predicament. Dong-soo is a disgraced lawyer with a lot on his plate. He’s just started working again after a three-year probation he got for having a conscience; rich, powerful bosses don’t like when you confront them about bad behavior, apparently. Now Dong-soo is so desperate for clients, he goes traveling around to prisons pitching his services to inmates like a salesman. Even so he’s barely getting by, and as the main breadwinner for his family, that’s bad news for everyone.

His mother (Gil Hae-yeon) has Alzheimer’s and can no longer recognize him, although she still remembers Beom-jae, her husband’s mistress’s son whom she raised. Despite their struggles, the family seems happy and loving. Dong-joo and his wife JUNG HYE-YOUNG (Choi Jung-in) adore Beom-jae’s daughter MIN-HEE and pitch in to help take care of her.

The brothers are close, and Beom-jae even helps Dong-soo source new clients, although his information isn’t always reliable. But this time, he swears, he’s got a good one. A rich gangster high up in the Yoosung gang got wind of Dong-soo through prison gossip and has requested his services. Dong-soo is hesitant since the gangster already has a powerful law firm (his old employer) representing him, and he’s only weeks away from finishing out his drunk driving sentence. Still, Dong-soo can’t pass up work.

From their first meeting, SEO DO-YOUNG (Kim Young-kwang) makes quite the impression. He has a dangerous, unsettling air and vacillates between eerie calm and calculated violence. He watches Dong-soo eagerly, more interested in seeing what makes him tick than anything else. He does eventually get to the point: he wants Dong-soo to spy on his girlfriend PARK JE-YI (Choi Yu-ha) who he suspects is cheating.

This whole thing sits wrong with Dong-soo, especially when he finds a box of cash waiting for him at home, and he’s ready to turn Do-young down. Then, he finds out that Hye-young borrowed money from her boss to pay for damage Dong-soo’s mom caused at the nursing home. Making matters way worse, her boss then tried to assault her.

Dong-soo is out of options, so he uses the money from Do-young to pay off the loan. And when the disgusting boss belittles him and then starts accusing Hye-young of “flirting,” Dong-soo sees red. He grabs a golf club and advances on the man, hearing Do-young’s words from their meeting that crossing the line is easy – in fact, it feels like power and superiority. Dong-soo stops short of hurting the man, but he does smash up his office and terrify him into quitting.

This is the first taste we get of Do-young being the devil on Dong-soo’s shoulder, urging him to lose control. From the start, calling Dong-soo in has felt like a game for Do-young. He could have gotten one of his lawyers to help with the spying, but he’d rather see how low he can bring Dong-soo. He seems like the type who enjoys pushing or maybe even breaking people. If he pushes Dong-soo, what will he do for money or safety for his family? Who will he become? It’s like a twisted experiment, and I’m into it.

Dong-soo has already gone against his conscience by taking the case, even though he fears Do-young will hurt Je-yi if he finds evidence that she is cheating. He pushes those concerns aside and begins investigating with Beom-jae. They tail her for weeks, but they find no evidence of a lover. Rather than being pleased by this, Do-young turns livid. He uses the table to push Dong-soo against the wall, screaming into his face that he’d better not take his money for free. He gives Dong-soo until his release three days later to find the evidence, threatening his family if he fails.

Do-young’s odd reaction makes it clear that something is amiss. The more Dong-soo learns, the clearer it becomes that there’s an internal power struggle going on in the gang, and some members are using this opportunity to try to get rid of Do-young. The situation is much more dangerous than Dong-soo bargained for, and he even has rival members of the Yoosung Gang tailing him for info on Do-young.

Dong-soo is down to the wire, but he manages to get that evidence. He and Beom-jae plant cameras in Je-yi’s house and capture Je-yi with one of the gang traitors talking about how they drugged and now plan to murder Do-young. Dong-soo takes this intel to Do-young, so he’s prepared when his attackers strike that night. Do-young takes them down, but he gets stabbed in the process.

Meanwhile, Dong-soo panics because he can’t reach Beom-jae. When he realizes he must be retrieving the other cameras from Je-yi’s – they ran out of time to get them all out of the house – he rushes to her place. And now we’ve arrived full circle at the opening scene. The intruder with the gun is Do-young, which means he must not have been too hurt from that stab wound. After he kills Je-yi, he hears the labored breathing of Dong-soo and Beom-jae under the bed. We end as Do-young leans down and comes face-to-face with Dong-soo, both surprised to see each other.

I’m intrigued to see where we’re going now that the initial case Do-young hired Dong-soo for is already over. Somehow, I don’t think Do-young is going to let Dong-soo go that easily. While I do think he’s playing with Dong-soo to amuse himself, he’s also in a position where he can’t trust those around him. Dong-soo is a neutral party he can threaten and possibly bribe into subservience, so I have a feeling he’ll have more jobs going forward. Dong-soo is already sliding down a slippery ethical slope, but he’s far from a villain. Yet. I’m morbidly curious how far he’ll go, and I have confidence this capable cast can sell whatever dark journey we’re embarking on.

 
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