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Monday, July 17, 2023

"My Perfect Stranger" drama: Episode nine of sixteen recap

 


 Air Dates: May 1st until June 20, 2023 on KBS 2, Monday and Tuesdays nights at 9:45 pm
Director: Kang Soo-Yeon, episodes are 65 minutes in length and subs done by iTs
Rating for this episode: 4.6%, not high ratings as KBS2 is a cable network which means the numbers are actually very respectable. 


Main Cast: This drama was originally scheduled to air in the Autumn of 2022 but got pushed back twice. Have been looking forward to this series as it stars my second favorite Korean actress who is Jin Ki-Joo and hasn't seen her in any show for two years. Writing much of this up after viewing the first episode, there will be a lot of editing to the characters and more of them will be added in. This is a time travel drama, it began off in 2021 when the main male star Hae-Jun found a car that can travel in time either forwards or backwards! But think most of the drama will be set in 1987 and it could be nostalgic for any older K-drama fans who may visit here. 

**** When Yoon-Young was transported back to 1987 it was the evening of May 9th, dates will be important as a serial killer murders his first victim on May 14th.... or will he be stopped????


Kim Dong-Wook as Yoon Hae-Jun.... 32 year old KSBC anchor who one night happened to find this time travel car at the entrance to a tunnel! He believed in only facts but thought why not read the user manual to see if this car could travel in time... it could as Hae-Jun went to the year 3089! Shortly after returning to the year 2021 Hae-Jun took another trip and this time to 2037, what he found out is one of the main stories to this series. Hae-Jun discovered he was murdered in 2022 by a serial killer and went to visit this killer in prison upon returning to 2021. This man Go wasn't the true killer of many people way back in the year of 1987 but had been framed for the killings, Hae-Jun believed this man and to clear his name and also to save his own life Hae-Jun went back to the year 1987 to find out who the killer really was and to possibly stop the murders. The location will be the smallish country city of Woojung.


 Jin Ki-Joo as Baek Yoon-Young.... Editor in chief for a very popular woman author of murder novels though Yoon-Young seems to do most of the work. In the first episode she was fired by this author who was named Mi-Sook and it had to be a relief to be fired! Right around the time of Yoon-Young being fired her mother killed herself and she blames herself for the death, also her alcoholic father. A few days after her mother's death Yoon-Young was wandering near a tunnel when the time travel car driven by Hae-Jun came close to hitting her, at the time the machine was set to travel to 1987 which is where the pair ended up at. Of course Yoon-Young thought it was a dream but when she realized she had travelled back in time she was thrilled! The second main story will be of  Yoon-Young stopping her parents from meeting each other and getting married, if so what will happen to her???? Like Hae-Jun's story it will be set in the smallish city of Woojung. In the third episode Yoon-Young began to impersonate as a high school student to get closer to her mother. Yoon-Young is around thirty in age but claimed to Hae-Jun she could pass for being 22, she told everyone she had to stay back a few years because of family problems.


**** The above two are from the year 2021 but most of the action will take place in 1987, here are the main characters from that year. The location is a smallish city named Woojung-ri.

Seo Ji-Hye as Lee Soon-Ae.... In 1987 she was 18 in age and the top girl in her senior high school class. However she had no true friends and spent her time writing stories as she was such a fan of novels. Soon-Ae is actually Yoon-Young's mother and now that she somehow ended up in the year 1987 she's trying to prevent Soon-Ae getting married to Baek. So you have to wonder if Yoon-Young is successful would that mean she never existed?


 Lee Won-Jung as Baek Hee-Sub.... Yoon-Young's father though he too was only eighteen in 1987. He was a bit of an innocent lad and actually was quite nice back in 1987, Hee-Sub loved music but never began a band. He eventually became such an alcoholic and that was one of the reasons for Soon-Ae committing suicide in 2021. Hee-Sop is also a new transfer student at Woojung high school, he began on the same day Yoon-Young did.


Hong Seung-An as Baek Yu-Sub.... Hee-Sub's older brother who attends college in Seoul where he lies in a boarding house and also works PT at a leather factory. He does visit Woojung on the weekends to see his brother and is another suspect in the killings, the pair of brothers have quite a colorful past.


Park Soo-Hyung as Hyung-Man.... Soon-Ae's father who owns a combination tea shop, general store and bus stop for travelling to and from Seoul.

Kim Jun-Young as Ok-Ja.... Soon-Ae's mother and has two other children.

Hong Na-Hyun as Lee Kyung-Ae.... Soon-Ae's 22 year old sister who works at a hair salon. She loves to party and for so long had dreams of being in the Miss Korea pageant! In the seventh episode Kyung-Ae was supposed to be the second victim of the still unknown killer but that was thwarted by Hae-Jun, besides that show she may not have much screen time.



Kim Ye-Ji as Kim Hae-Kyung.... Friend of Soon-Ae's, like Hae-Kyung the other girls Soon-Ae hangs out with none of them are 'true friends' and all love to party which at times has gotten Soon-Ae into trouble. On the left below is Hae-Kyung, the other two are her cronies Eun-Ha in glasses and Yu-Ri, all bully Soon-Ae.


Ji Hye-Won as Ko Mi-Sook.... Another 'friend' of Soon-Ae's who we met near the end of the second episode. She's the same woman who became a popular writer many years later and of all things Yoon-Young was her editor in chief! Mi-Sook's first novel was a huge hit but she had actually stolen the story from Soon-Ae who never said a word. Mi-Sook was such a creep back in 1987 and was even worse in 2021! Mi-Soon does come from a very wealthy family so her snobbery began on the day she was born!


Kim Yeon-Woo as Ko Min-Soo.... Mi-Sook's older brother and the same man Hae-Jun met in 2021. In that year Ko had just been released from prison after serving 34 years for murders he never committed. Though innocent for those crimes Ko is still such a creep who may have raped some girls back in 1987 and almost did so to Yoon-Young!


Choi Young-Woo as Dong-Sik.... Hee-Seop's tough uncle who is a detective. We learned in the third show Hee-Sop's parents are dead and he's now moved in with his uncle. Baek is married with two young children.


Joo Yeon-Woo as Yoo Bum-Ryong.... High school student who became Hee-Sub's first friend in Woojung and we didn't meet him until the third episode. Bit of an oddball who is on the suspect list of some upcoming murders!


Jung Ga-Hee as Lee Joo-Young.... We met her in the fourth episode, she's attending school at Seoul University. Joo-Yung arrived in Woojung on May 12th, that's her below on the right. She's going to be a student teacher at the high school working with Hae-Jun. He knows that on May 14th she'll be the first victim of the killer, can he possibly prevent it? That happened and on May 15th Lee returned to Seoul.


Kim Jong-Soo as Yoon Byung-Gu.... Principal of the Woojung high school, on the left above and his son was attending school in America but returned to Korea in episode eight.

**** The below group of characters we met in the first episode who are from the year 2021, unsure if we'll be seeing much more of them as most of the drama takes place in 1987.

Lee Ji-Hyun as Lee Soon-Ae.... Yoon-Young's mother and the pair didn't get along so well, it was a reason for Soon-Ae committing suicide in the first episode.

Lee Kyu-Hoe as Baek Hee-Sop.... Yoon-Young's father who is such a waste as all he does is drink, him and his wife lived off what their daughter sent them in cash and he's the other main reason Soon-Ae killed herself.

Kim Hye-Eun as Go Mi-Sook.... Popular writer of murder mysteries, Yoon-Young was her editor who seemed to do most of the work until she was fired in the first show. Mi-Sook also lived back in Woojung in 1987 and had known Yoon-Young's mother, actually she stole the story for her first novel from her!

Im Jong-Yun as Ko Min-Soo.... Man who was accused of killing many people in the small city of Woojung back in 1987. However Go was innocent and after 34 years is about to be released from prison. No one had listened to Ko's pleas for all those years until Jae-Hun visited him the day before his release and has vowed to discover who the real killer was. 

 Whew, big cast and sure more characters will be introduced so that section above will be increasing for the first few shows and of course will also be updated.

Links to the previous recaps, may help to read a few of them and especially the first.



Short promo video for the ninth episode.


 



 That's Jin Ki-Joo above and any superlatives I use for her are always an understatement!!!! 😍 Can only think of 2-3 women who I have ever liked more though most viewers wouldn't know that because of the lack of posts for her. Not just her but so many other Korean actresses as they're so difficult to post about. But if you are a fan will have a regular post or two of Ki-Joo coming up somewhat soon, before this series the last thing I had seen her in was the 2021 horror flick "Midnight". That was one terrific film and did review it, she does have another drama coming out later this year. The next two screenshots are from an scene that took place at the end of the seventh episode but we didn't see it until this show and it did prove to be a bit important or was so at first.



 At the end of the seventh episode Hae-Jun had prevented Kyung-Ae from being murdered, that's her in the red hair above. When he dropped Kyung-Ae off at her house Hae-Jun presumed she was going inside, instead she told her sister Soon-Ae she had to leave and it was the last anyone saw her alive. Soon-Ae told this story finally to Hae-Jun in this show, Kyung-Ae was off to meet someone who helped her immensely that day. To Hae-Jun that could only be Baek Yu-Sub and that incident was in the seventh episode. So Yu-Sub is back at the top of the suspect list though not for long though he may have played a part in another killing that took place in Seoul, everything will be explained in this recap. Speaking of Yu-Sub didn't realize until this post his name had never been added to the above character list, fixed that with this post and now on to the action. 









**** In that last recap said a positive of this drama is that it had never been confusing. Of course spoke too soon as the events in this episode weren't always so clear and that was because of the time. For a while it was 1987, then that year but two, then three days before this show was set. Then it seemed to switch to 2010 or so on occasion but think I was able to keep everything straight.

 But as far as time goes it is very important. For there were three murders that were going to take place in 1987 on May 14th, 16th and 20th. Hae-Jun was able to prevent the first two murders but in the end the two young females were killed at a different time and place. So far zero has been said about the murder/disappearance that will take place on May 20th. The two murders took place late night, early morning of May 16th and 17th, the last episode's events took place on the 18th. So am figuring the date for this episode is May 19th and that means only one day until the next killing unless history has been changed again. The last show ended off with Hee-Sub confessing to the pair of murders and was arrested by his uncle Baek who is a detective on the Woojung police force. However Hae-Jun doesn't believe his confession in the least and has told Yoon-Young that, don't think Baek believed his nephew either but Hee-Sub did confess. Not enough time to discuss what took place so it's wise to read the last recap. As you can see above Baek was dragging Hee-Sub to the station and tried to get him to come clean with the truth, Hae-Jun wisely thinks he's sticking up for his older brother Yu-Sub. One damaging piece of evidence is that shirt above which was stained with blood, it will be very key to the story.

 In that second screenshot above the man being held back is Kyung-Ae's father Hyung-Man, he heard of Hee-Sub's arrest and wants to go to the station to teach him a lesson! During that fracas Hae-Jun and Yoon-Young came from their house across the street, also coming out of her own house was Soon-Ae. She told her father Hee-Sub couldn't have committed either of the murders and soon explained the details to everyone, she also told of the event that was in the intro. After Kyung-Ae left Hee-Sub was still there as he, along with Yoon-Young, had brought Soon-Ae safely after she was almost sexually abused by Bum-Ryong! Hee-Sub was hurt from the battle and Soon-Ae suggested going to the house roof where she could patch him up. Hee-Sub was a bit leery of that but also wanted to stay with Soon-Ae until her sister came back safe and sound. Of course Kyung-Ae never returned that night for she had been murdered(!) so Hee-Sub stayed with Soon-Ae on the roof all night. So he's got an airtight alibi for when the murders took place however that has to remain a secret! Her father Hyung-Man is forbidding Soon-Ae from going to the police to clear Hee-Sub, the father is more concerned about the family's reputation than seeing an innocent man possibly getting charged for two murders! Hae-Jun was there for the entire story and for now will go along with keeping the secret to himself but of course how long can a secret like that last?









 We also learned a few things about Hee-Sub's older brother Yu-Sub after that scene and Hae-Jun did change his mind about him... or did he? Yu-Sub is a third year student in the Literature Department at Seoul National University which meant he may have known the murdered student teacher Lee. Yu-Sub lived in a boarding house in Seoul and worked part time in a leather factory so he was one busy young man. He also tried to visit Hee-Sub as often as possible and it seems he was in Woojung when the killings took place. So there's little doubt to Hae-Jun that Hee-Sub is covering up certain things for Yu-Sub but was it because he murdered two young women? Mentioned that the bloody shirt found in Hee-Sub's room was a key piece of evidence and Hae-Jun knew something about it from the future. Which is that the shirt was damaged when an officer spilled coffee on it while he was driving. To prevent that from happening again Hae-Jun told the officer Baek said to put the shirt in a plastic bag which happened and more on the shirt later. Meanwhile at the station Baek wasn't allowed to question Hee-Sub as he's family, his mates took control of the case and did they give Hee-Sub one beating which won't be his last!  At the abandoned house where Kyung-Ae was slain a necklace with a lock was found. It was a keepsake from when the brother's parents were killed, Hee-Sub has a necklace with the key.

 Baek knew who the lock belonged to and that was Yu-Sub, he ran into Hee-Sub's cell demanding to know why he's protecting his brother but got no answer. This is taking place on the night of May 18th, of course Hee-Sub remained locked up because Soon-Ae couldn't go to the police to tell them where Hee-Sub was during the killings. As a matter of fact she had been locked in her room by her father, it's Sunday so she wasn't missed at school  but Soon-Ae did manage to slip out her window. Soon-Ae quickly saw Yoon-Young on the street and told her the mission was to report to the police the true story of what happened the night of the two killings and that Hee-Sub was innocent. Not so fast said Yoon-Young who does not want Soon-Ae doing that and why not???? Of course Yoon-Young despises her future father Hee-Sub but why would she want an man innocent beaten so badly and possibly go to prison? That's what Soon-Ae wants to know but of course Yoon-Young couldn't tell her how she knows these things as she would have to tell the unbelievable story of coming from 2021! Soon-Ae had tears in her eyes as she told Yoon-Young how disappointed she was with her, soon Soon-Ae's father came along to drag her home and that was the last we saw of her. Mi-Sook and Bum-Ryong are two important characters in this drama and both have been on the suspect list for the killings but bet between them they didn't have two minutes of screen time.









 Things are about to become slightly complicated and these events came out of the blue! Right now Hae-Jun's main mission is to find Hee-Sub's older brother Yu-Sub who could clear his younger brother and to Hae-Jun hopefully isn't a murderer. Yu-Sub was nowhere to be found in Woojung so Hae-Jun traveled to Seoul and questioned every possible person who knew Yu-Sub. But he couldn't get any answers from his classmates or co-workers, bringing Yu-Sub's name up seemed to scare them! So Hae-Jun returned to Woojung not obtaining one piece of evidence to help them with the case but a stroke of good fortune did happen for Hee-Sub. The blood on the shirt found in his room was analyzed and the blood type was A. As you can see above that didn't match either of the victims plus Hee-Sub's blood type is O, so where did this blood come from? By now think all know that the shirt belongs to Yu-Sub though Hee-Sub still says it's his, now the case has come to a standstill and the force is wondering where to go next. Right at that moment a pair of men entered the Woojung police station saying they were detectives from Seoul, didn't their chief tell them they would be coming? No he didn't because that was a lie by these men who said they're investigating a crime in Seoul where Yu-Sub and possibly Hee-Sub was involved and told the Woojung police they were taking him to Seoul.

 Think Baek knew something was fishy with this but was held back by his colleagues as Hee-Sub was taken away. As you can see above he was thrown in a van, tied up and blindfolded, not acts the police would do. Noticing Hee-Sub being taken away was Hae-Jun who was at the entrance of the station, he gave chase but couldn't catch the van. However he did notice it circling around town and were these men really from Seoul? Yes they were but the men were no detectives but possibly from the Mafia or whatever they're called in Korea, the two posing as detectives had a third cohort driving the van. Which eventually ended up at the slightly seedy Woojung Inn where they gave Hee-Sub the beating of his life! Even more than the beating the real detectives gave him earlier, you can see that above and the only thing the men said they wanted was where his brother Yu-Sub was hiding out. That Hee-Sub wouldn't reveal and think after a while this trio of goons began to believe him, if Hee-Sub was telling the truth what should they do with him? Hee-Sub did know where Yu-Sub was hiding out at and of all people figuring it out was Yoon-Young. She recalled growing up that her future uncle Yu-Sub was a bit deranged and at times would paw at the ceiling tiling in their small apartment, why? That the teen Yoon-Young never knew but the one transported back to 1987 thought about it a bit and dashed to Hee-Sub's room at his uncle Baek's place. She checked the ceiling tiles and to her surprise above the room was a small attic space, there was a very injured Yu-Sub!!!!










 Am going to merge two stories together which will explain how things got to this point. One was from Yu-Sub telling Yoon-Young a bit of the story, the other part was from Hee-Sub and he was having a flashback to his youth while he was lying on the floor after being beaten so badly by those three thugs. Ten years ago is when their parents had been killed or should I say murdered! At the time Hee-Sub was eight, Yu-Sub was thirteen and they had an older brother named Jin-Sub who was twenty and in college. The year would have been 1977 and seems like there was a lot of unrest on the streets of Seoul. Quite a few young students were protestors but protesting about what(?), whatever it was there were gangs of thugs roaming the streets and killing them! These gangs couldn't have been from the government but then again who knows, the bottom line was protestors and their families were marked people. Jin-Sub was one of those protestors and one day had been slain on the streets of Seoul, next to be targeted was his family and why would that be? So the parents of Hee-Sub and Yu-Sub locked them in their small house and shortly after the parents were killed too, not sure what happened with the brothers over the next decade but they did become so close. So those stories were a brief recap of what their past was like but many details were left out and perhaps they weren't important to the storyline.

 Lot of this may be explained better in the next episode which I haven't viewed yet. Since the day his parents were killed Yu-Sub has silently vowed to avenge their deaths and think that's what took place on or about May 17th, the date for this show is May 19th. Yu-Sub had gotten into a skirmish with a thug, part of that old gang(?), and appears he may have killed him. That took place in Seoul and somehow a very injured Yu-Sub was able to make it to Woojung where he was staying in the attic. Yu-Sub was badly injured so how he made it to Woojung is a mystery, that bloody shirt mentioned a few times before belonged to Yu-Sub. Once he heard from Yoon-Young what took place with Hee-Sub it was action time even though he was badly hurt, stabbed? On the way to the police station to see Yu-Sub's uncle Baek the pair ran into Hae-Jun who knew where Hee-Sub had been taken. The Woojung Inn which was where the trio now headed but what could they do against three very tough goons? Hae-Jun said he had a plan and soon entered the seedy hotel with Yu-Sub while Yoon-Young waited outside. Shortly after a very beaten Hee-Sub stumbled out of the building and you can see that above. By now there's only two minutes to go in the show and it was sort of a 'moment of truth' for Yoon-Young. She's always despised her future father Hee-Sub and for good reasons so she wasn't wrong with those thoughts. However she never knew how he had put his life on the line twice for his brother Yu-Sub and now she's learned how his leg has become damaged. But the more pressing matter as this episode ended was what was happening with Hae-Jun and Yu-Sub???? That is unknown but do know both came out of it alive, now off to view episode ten and that recap is the next post.























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