Mr. Plankton: Episode 1 (First Impressions)

by lovepark

Surprisingly thoughtful and engaging, the first episode of Mr. Plankton introduces its two flawed protagonists and their struggles. The present promises no solutions, the past offers no solace, and the future remains dim for this couple of loners who only wanted to love and be loved. However, as their paths cross again, our hero hopes for a different ending to their tale, and so, their adventure begins.

Editor’s note: This is an opening review only. For a place to chat about the entire drama, visit the Drama Hangout.
 
EPISODE 1

On top of a snow-covered mountain lays a man staring up into the sky. Drops of red stand starkly against the white, and the man utters his final words — a curse for this forsaken life. From afar, a woman runs towards him, and the man turns his head. As the edges of his vision turn black, the woman becomes his entire world, and he whispers, “I want to live.”

The dying man is HAE JO (Woo Do-hwan), a “fixer” who lives by his namesake and runs an errand house where all requests are accepted based on fun. The office is rundown, the landlady hounds him to vacate, and his third-to-last pet fish just died. Aimless and detached, Hae Jo is unbound to people, places, or things; not because of a dearth of options (his good looks are appreciated by every woman he comes across) but from his lack of desire.

His latest case is a request from a soon-to-be bride: she wishes to be kidnapped on her wedding day. The risky proposition intrigues Hae Jo who accepts the job against his lackey’s advice, and in his borrowed suit, our fixer interrupts the ceremony of a gang boss. The entire thing was a honey trap with Hae Jo as the bride’s getaway, but rather than accept this humiliating reality, the gang boss assumes the love of his life was stolen and vows to get revenge.

Getting on the hit list of a notorious gang leader turns out to be the least of Hae Jo’s worries as he crashes his motorcycle mid-escape. At the hospital, he wakes up with a few scratches — his client already long gone with the gang’s money — but otherwise, all seems fine. That is until his doctor takes him aside and informs him of his rare hereditary condition that could cause him to die any day. Hae Jo scoffs at the irony of the news since the family he never knew left him with an inheritance that would claim his life.

While Hae Jo was unconscious, his nightmare was of his younger self chasing after a couple. He cried for his parents to come back, but the man stopped only to tell Hae Jo to stop calling after them because they were not his parents. They did not know him, and little Hae Jo screamed, “Then who am I?” This haunting question becomes the crux of our hero’s journey as he learns of his diagnosis and the lasting effect of parentage (or in his case, the absence of it).

Elsewhere in that same hospital, the woman from the beginning receives devastating news as well. This is JO JAE-MI (Lee Yumi), an expecting mother with an upcoming wedding in three days, except she isn’t pregnant. In fact, the doctor tells her that she has premature menopause and will likely be unable to conceive. While this news would break many hearts, it is especially life-altering for Jae-mi whose fiancé is the first son of a longstanding clan. In other words, he has a duty to produce an heir, which would disqualify the already “unqualified” Jae-mi from marrying into the family.

As she trudges through the halls and into the funeral parlor to weep in peace, Hae Jo spots her and follows. From a distance he watches Jae-mi help another mother with her fussy toddler while she berates her husband for not getting a vasectomy before she got pregnant with twins — numbers eight and nine, to be exact. In an act of desperation, Jae-mi offers to take one of the children and wails as the mother pries her son from her hands.

Reflecting their unfair fates, the sky cries for our heroes, and Hae Jo silently covers Jae-mi with an umbrella before walking away. A sudden headache halts him, though, and his mind is flooded with memories of the past. These two were once in love, and their world was filled with laughter and the soft glow of the sun, tender hugs and passionate kisses. She wished one day to become a mother, to shower her child with love that she never received, and Hae Jo told her that she would make a wonderful wife… but not a good mom. Their love is replaced with fights and harsh words, then ends one cold winter day as Hae Jo tells Jae-mi that she is no longer fun like her name.

Though Hae Jo tries to find physical comfort to dull the pain, he has no one who can fill the loneliness that plagues him. He muses on the inherent inequality of life where the impoverished endure more hardships, and he recalls the parting words he shared with Jae-mi. As if their curses came true, he will die all alone as she said, and she will never become a mom as he claimed.

While watching TV, Hae Jo sees a commercial for “I’m Your Father” and bursts into laughs. A brief flash of a business card given to Hae Jo shows the name of the same company, and our directionless hero finds one last purpose in life: find the Darth Vader who left him with these bombs in his head.

Meanwhile, Jae-mi continues her bridal duties without informing anyone of the news, but everywhere she goes, she is reminded of the truth. Despite having no family, money, or skills to prosper the clan, she brought them the best dowry, and future mother-in-law BEOM HO-JA (Kim Hae-sook) is as protective of her unborn grandchild as she is of her son. Unfortunately, every congratulation adds to Jae-mi’s guilt, and after a frightful nightmare where Ho-ja catches Jae-mi in her lie, she decides that no amount of riches is worth her life.

With her suitcase in hand, Jae-mi sneaks out of the compound, but the moment she opens the door, someone reaches out to her. Their identity is kept a secret, and the next morning, Jae-mi smiles at her reflection adorned in the fine nuptial hanbok. As she waits for her groom to come pick her up, a different man enters: her ex-boyfriend.

Hae Jo offers to help her escape — or kidnap if she prefers — and reveals that he knows her secret. He reminds her that this is a scam, and Jae-mi asks if he is threatening her. He says that this is a cooperation and extends his hand for her to take. As she decides what to do, the doors open, and the real groom EO HEUNG (Oh Jung-se) enters with a confused face. Thus begins the strange adventure of Mr. Plankton, his ex-girlfriend, and her fiancé.

While advertised as a romantic comedy, the first episode was a far cry from humorous. Instead, the show was contemplative and heart-wrenching. Our heroes are met with terrible circumstances out of their control, but in that moment when all agency is stripped from them, Hae Jo whisks it back. It’s still unclear what he hopes to gain from this journey, but regardless of the destination, I expect our unpredictable hero will continue moving forward, unwilling to stop for even death.

Initially, the show’s title Mr. Plankton seemed odd, but now I understand why it fits so well with the story. Hae Jo’s name means “marine algae” in Korean, an all-encompassing term for the thousands of species living in the ocean washed up by the waves. He is Mr. Plankton, a single unnamed speck amidst so many, but even in this vast ocean, loneliness emanates from our hero. He is not only abandoned but forgotten, yet even then, he cannot untangle himself from the past, like seaweed clinging to the rocky shore. As Hae Jo said, bad things seem to happen to the vulnerable more frequently because they lack the proper safety nets, so once they fall, there’s nothing to stop their descent or help them back up. It feels like a vicious cycle, or like our hero’s name, a small insignificant plankton caught in the vast tides of the sea.

Despite the doom and gloom that followed our couple throughout the first episode, there was a sense of whimsy as well — an exhilaration that stemmed from Hae Jo’s recklessness and a glimmer of liberation that radiated from Jae-mi’s smile. I doubt the road ahead will be smooth for either of them as they wrestle with their own demons, but something about the hues the director washes his scenes with or the undercurrent of suspense that our characters create that makes me believe something other than death will greet them at the end. Perhaps it’s foolish naivety that comes from a desire for escapism, but I really hope Mr. Plankton learns that he isn’t alone and everyone is allowed to want to live.

 
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