LTNS: Episodes 3-4

by Dramaddictally

LTNS continues its adults-only black comedy, pushing the limits of what we call a K-drama into new and graphic territory. Our leading couple is on to bigger targets this week as they persist in blackmailing adulterers for cold hard cash. But with some serious moral quandaries to contend with, the drama doesn’t make it easy to decide who exactly are the heroes.

 
EPISODES 3-4

Well, if anybody felt shocked at what the drama delivered last week, that was only the beginning, my friends. The thing I’m liking about this material, though, is that it’s pushing boundaries in ways that fit the story it’s telling and, as we see this week, its pushing social boundaries as well. I liked these episodes better than last week’s, even if they made me far more uncomfortable.

We begin with two things: a new extramarital affair to peek in on and a glimpse of our leads trying yet again to put some fire back into their marriage. This time, they’re having a meal at home together while dressed up as each other’s fantasies (him in a military uniform and her in glasses — I don’t know why that makes me laugh).

But as before, their efforts don’t get far, and then they have a huge fight. Jin doesn’t feel like Samuel is really trying, but he’s confused because the costumes were her idea (“I’m doing everything you asked!”). Well, she wants him to participate, not just follow orders.

She picks up to leave and he accuses her of always running away when they argue. She yells back that this is why they stopped trying to work on their marriage, because they always trip over the same problems. (Excellent writing in this scene. These two are so believable.) She storms out and spends the night at the hotel where she works — only to stumble on the new cheater they’ll be following around in this episode.

Now that she’s landed them a new target, Jin goes home before either she or her husband is ready to apologize. So, they decide to act like business partners and keep their personal life separate. The new plan is to go after bigger fish so they can get out of the blackmail business altogether. Once they earn enough to replace the money they lost on buying their apartment, they’ll call it quits.

The new adulterers they’re tailing are in their 60s and both married to other people. The first stakeout has our newbie criminals on a floating guesthouse, where their targets are across the water in the guesthouse next door. Samuel swims over to catch the couple in coitus and then swims back to Jin half frozen to death, but with firm photo evidence.

Jin softens her tone and dries Samuel’s hair, and then switches back to speaking banmal (indicating they’re a couple again and not just business partners). They both apologize for how they’ve been acting, and then decide to sip soju and work on their marriage through fake phone sex (that is, sitting beside each other and talking dirty while pretending to be on the phone).

The fake turns physical when they kiss — and realize it’s been so long they’ve forgotten how. Welp, another swig of soju and they’re trying to remember. It’s not clear how far they go past kissing, but in the next scene they’re sleeping in separate beds.

With their new plan to collect bigger sums of money, our leads decide to send threatening letters to both parties in the cheating couple this time, rather than just one. They figure since both are married, they’ll both be willing to fork over the cash. But it doesn’t work out as planned — at all.

On the part of the woman, rather than leaving cash in the pickup spot, she leaves a heart-wrenching letter, detailing the years she endured in an awful marriage. She says that the man she’s having an affair with makes her feel happy and seen. She won’t give them any money, but hopes they won’t get in the way of her happiness.

And on the man’s side, he refuses to give up any money until Samuel agrees to meet him in person. So, Samuel goes, and gets the living daylights knocked out of him, spitting teeth before he collapses on the ground. But the crazy thing is that afterward, the guy wants to give him the money! He was moved by the blackmail photos of him and his mistress (lol) and makes Samuel sign a contract as a photographer. Then he deposits the cash immediately — minus the taxes. Haha. This is the essence of the show’s dark sense of humor.

With another case under their belts, our crime-committing duo moves on to their next adulterous couple — and this time it’s two women, one of whom is married to a man. Now, I’ve gotta pause here and point out how groundbreaking this is. We see these two women getting down to business, the same way we saw the 60-year-olds. Say what you want about how graphic it is, but even in shows that only allude to sexual behavior, we don’t usually see either of these pairs of people represented.

So anyway, this goes on to be a pretty serious episode, dealing with issues of gender, class, sexuality, and tradition. Plus, the two women in the affair are having a hard enough time on their own without Jin and Samuel coming along to make things worse. If I had any inkling of doubt about whether or not we should be rooting for our leads, it becomes a glaring question from here on out.

The situation is that the married woman has a rich mother-in-law that treats her like an abused maid, and after a lot fretting around and breaking her girlfriend’s heart, the woman finally realizes just how little she’s valued in her marriage and decides to leave.

But this is only after our meddling twosome sends her incriminating photos asking for a large chunk of cash. At first, she’s upset and blames her girlfriend for the photos. The girlfriend — a stuntwoman by trade — vows to track down the blackmailers and kill them. On the night of the cash pickup, Jin and Samuel ride off on a motorcycle with their goods, and Ms. Stuntwoman chases them down on her own motorcycle.

Jin and Samuel split up when they can’t outrun her and Samuel ends up crashing into a car and getting knocked out with a concussion. And then Jin gets caught and beat up in a gruesome scene where she loses teeth and is punched in the nose way too many times. But in the end, Jin is spared thanks to the married woman she’s just ripped off. The woman says she’s leaving her marriage and wants to be with her girlfriend for real, so there’s no reason to waste any more time on these two crooks.

We end with a twist. Samuel is in his hospital bed after the concussion and makes a call to a woman. He says it’s been a while since they talked. Then he tells her he was in a big accident and when he woke up she’s the person he thought of. Does she want to meet?

And there goes my idea that our central couple is rekindling their romance! Still, I like how morally complicated this is getting. I can’t dislike our leads, but am I on their side? Who is worse here? The cheaters? Or the blackmailers? The drama definitely aimed to give us reasons to have empathy for the cheaters this week. And what about Samuel? Is he about to join their ranks? We’re more than halfway through and our characters are changing — which is what I want, but not necessarily in this direction.

The drama is getting darker as it goes on. And I was struck (in a good way) by how many serious social issues these episodes packed in. One of the writers behind the script also penned the movie Moonlit Winter — about two women in love who can’t be together — and here we see a continuation of the theme, but with different outcomes. I’m impressed by the writing, and even more so by the direction, which makes this feel like an indie film rather than a drama.

Apart from the questionable ethics of their chosen profession, our leads are also pretty bad at what they do. Every time they deliver a blackmail note it leads to violence. Either the adulterous couple fights and breaks up or one (or both) of our leads gets bloodied to a pulp. And worse, they always receive way less money than they ask for! Alas, even if they couldn’t make it as criminals, I was hoping they’d make it as a couple. Now, I’m not so sure. As we head into the finale next week, I have no idea what to expect — but I can’t help but be excited about it.

 
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