"My Perfect Stranger" drama: Episode ten 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.

Episode one .... Episode two .... Episode three .... Episode four

Episode five .... Episode six .... Episode seven .... Episode eight

Short promo video for the tenth episode.

 

 

 Ten down and six to go with this very superb series or it's been that way up until now. When you get to the tenth episode at times it seems you've been watching it forever(!) but it's only been 22 days since I started this so it really hasn't been that long. Above are two of the cast who I had never seen until this show, Kim Ye-Ji is in the left and plays the character of Hae-Kyung. Hard to tell but on the right is Ji Hye-Won who plays the mysterious character of Mi-Sook who is also important in the year 2021. Both are in their twenties and both also look oki doki to me, wouldn't mind doing some regular posts for them but it's probably impossible. Was going to bring up something which I was curious about which was the time travel between 1987 and 2021, mainly about what happens in the future. Let me wait one or two more shows for my thoughts as perhaps a few puzzling things will be answered. 

 For this show the main focus will be on who the third victim was in 1987, we didn't know who it would be until this episode. But it wasn't a confirmed murder as the young female had disappeared and all of the citizens of the small city of Woojung thought it was the work of the killer as no one had ever heard about this woman after her disappearance. Which was on May 20, 1987 and once again Hae-Jun did change history but will this time be a success as his first two stabs still resulted in deaths. This show opened on the night of May 19th and sure you read the above recap as it ended on an intense note.

 Hee-Sub, in the top screenshot, had been dragged away to the Woojung Inn by a trio of thugs who beat him senseless. All they wanted from him was the location of his brother Yu-Sub who appeared to either kill or beat up badly one of their gang members, in the process Yu-Sub was stabbed. But Hee-Sub wouldn't say a word though luckily Hae-Jun had viewed the thugs dragging in Hee-Sub to the inn. Soon the brother Yu-Sub and Yoon-Young arrived on the scene, Hae-Jun had a plan and entered the building with Yu-Sub. Shortly after Hee-Sub left and was he beaten badly(!), he wanted to stay though until he learned about the fate of Yu-Sub. However he's Yoon-Young's future father and he had walked with a limp ever since this night due to not getting medical treatment quick enough. She wouldn't listen to Hee-Sub's pleas and practically carried him to the hospital! Yoon-Young still despises her father though not as much after what took place in the last recap and will he have a limp in 2021? In 2013 Hae-Jun began work as an reporter and weekend announcer for KSBC, that's 26 years from then. He knew many of the veterans at the station worked in 1987 and called them with a terrific scoop about a trio of Mafia thugs from Seoul beating up two men in Woojung!

 So those reporters are zooming down but it will take thirty minutes from Seoul. That was Hae-Jun's main plan, if Yu-Sub could go to the thug's room, get Hee-Sub released and stall for some time the KSBC news team should be there. And everything worked out perfectly and when the news team arrived the gangsters were torn on what to do next. They called their boss in Seoul who told them to retreat and that scene is right above. Yu-Sub too was brought to the Woojung Hospital where he has a bed next to his brother, both are hurt badly but will live. Will history change for the brothers whose injuries left them disabled but now that they got immediate medical attention will they be normal for the rest of their lives? In the second to last screenshot is the high school principal Yoon who really tore into the police staff for blowing these murder cases. Yoon is also a very important city councilor and he has a lot of pull with the citizens, he ordered the police to leave his students alone!!!! In the screenshot right after that is his son Yeon-Woo who has just moved back to Korea, he had been attending an American university and is just so intelligent. Hae-Jun knew that and has asked him to fix his Time Machine car though of course he couldn't tell him what kind of special car it was. Yeon-Woo had never seen an engine like that before, of course as it was from 2021 and agreed to fix it. More on him at the end and if his role becomes larger will add him onto the cast list.

 The rest of the episode takes place on Wednesday, May20, 1987 which is the day of the final killing. But as mentioned no body had ever been found so exactly what happened with this third female? The victim is in the top screenshot above, her name is Kim Hae-Kyung who seems like she could be a decent person but with her two mates bullies Soon-Ae and others endlessly. For some reason Mi-Sook, whose father is very wealthy and is the director of the hospital, is friends with Hae-Kyung and wonder why? We did learn that Hae-Kyung has a secret crush on Mi-Sook and that was revealed in one of Mi-Sook's later murder/mystery novels. Hae-Kyung, with her two cohorts, had met up with Mi-Sook at the Bong-Bong Teahouse and that's a happening place in this drama! One of those bullies had stolen three hair ribbons from her mother, she gave one to Hae-Kyung and the other to Mi-Sook. The other went to the teahouse owner Chung-A who we haven't seen much of until now but at the end of this episode could she become a very key character? Hae-Kyung later went outside with Mi-Sook where they talked about Hee-Sub's arrest and release, Mi-Sook has some sort of connection with Hee-Sub though don't know the exact details. As Mi-Sook says above 'He bought us some time' and what did that mean, Hae-Jun feels as though Mi-Sook is still a suspect in the two killings and he could be correct.

 Hae-Kyung's mother owns a small bar/restaurant which seems to do good business. One regular customer is the man dressed in white right above, he's also in another above screenshot. His name is Park and is the boy's teacher at the high school and is also Hae-Kyung's homeroom teacher. He really adores her mother and the feeling is mutual, her first name was never mentioned so will call her Kim. On the evening of May 19th there was an incident at her restaurant where a customer became a bit fresh with Kim and Park ended up in a minor scuffle with this creep. The following day Park came to school dressed in that semi-tux above, he also had a bouquet of roses and was going to propose to Kim later on that day! He told all of that to Hae-Jun who realized Park will unknowingly play a part in the final crime. Hae-Kyung feels her mother is paying too much attention to Park and not her as Kim would make special food for Park that was not on the restaurant's menu. Hae-Kyung gave her mother an ultimatum, don't make Kimchi soup for Park that night but Seaweed soup for her, if not there will be Hell to pay! Hae-Kyung doesn't know about Park proposing to her mother later on that day and don't think she ever did hear of it but it may not matter as Park's dream may have gone up in smoke!!!!

 In class the next day, May 20th, some girl was saying some cruel things about Hae-Kyung's mother and about the incident that previous night. That was a mistake by this girl as walking into the classroom at the time was Hae-Kyung who wasted no time in punching this oaf in the face and bloodying her nose! But within seconds entering the room was Park who separated the pair and had some harsh words for Hae-Kyung who also had some for him. Park was so incensed that he slapped Hae-Kyung in the face, she then ran off and did Park end all chances of him marrying her mother Kim? It appears so and that incident was the one that broke the camel's back for Hae-Kyung who dashed from the school back home. Her mother wasn't there but did notice she was baking another pot of Kimchi soup for Park which infuriated her to no end. Think she had this semi-planned out for a while as Hae-Kyung quickly packed a bag, left a note for her mother saying she was leaving(!) and left the restaurant where she ran into someone outside the door. That was Hae-Jun who knew of the events that were to take place from the police reports he read in 2021, Hae-Kyung leaving was the last anyone had ever heard of her. So while this wasn't a killing like the other two this May 20th incident was the third one that Hae-Jun had come back in time to solve, Hae-Kyung did run away but whatever happened to her? 

 Hae-Jun brought the 18 year old to a park were he tried to knock some sense into Hae-Kyung who isn't as tough as she appears on the outside. Hae-Jun related her a 'scenario' of what may happen if Hae-Kyung ran away and the scenario was a true story as Hae-Jun had seen the mother Kim many times in the future. This woman broke down badly after Hae-Kyung fled home and for years would stand in the streets of Seoul handing out flyers with Hae-Kyung's photo on it, there's two screenshots above of it. Often Kim would stand in front of Hae-Jun's TV station and after a few years got to know her and heard the entire story, that took place between 2013-21. There's more to the story but Hae-Jun did impress on Hae-Kyung what may happen with her mother if she flees and never returns. However Hae-Kyung did confess she wasn't running away for good, perhaps a week or so to make her mother 'love' her more and she truly was jealous of her relationship with Park. So there was a happy ending as Hae-Kyung did return home and reunited with her mother who said she was breaking things off with Park so did Hae-Jun save the day? Unsure of that for now but we do know that when Hae-Kyung originally ran away from home in 1987 she was never heard from again which is hard to do for an 18 year old, could she truly have been the third victim of the killer? The bottom two screenshots above are of Soon-Ae visiting Hee-Sub in the hospital and while not a long scene it was the moment both knew they were meant for each other. Watching secretly was their future daughter Yoon-Young and have the impression she no longer has the goal of keeping them from ever getting married.

 So just about every bad situation has been cleared up, not everything is wine and roses in Woojung as the killer hasn't been nabbed but no impending tragedies are scheduled.... I think! Zipped through this as there's only about seven minutes to go, it was a long day for Hae-Jun who didn't return home to almost 10:00 pm and it's still May 20th. In his garage Yeon-Woo was still working on the Time Machine car and it's more than a one day project. When he heard it was 10:00 pm he dashed away and told Hae-Jun he was late to taking a date to the movies, it was his first date with this female. Hae-Jun then thought about the future and those are two above screenshots. The name of the film was "Our Sweet Days of Youth" and the woman Yeon-Woo brought was Hae-Jun's future mother!!!! That was a bombshell dropped on us and as mentioned in the eighth recap Yeon-Woo is Hae-Jun's future father. Which means Hae-Jun's future grandfather is the high school principal Yoon who above was telling a four year old Hae-Jun never to mention his mother again as she ran off after giving birth to him! So Hae-Jun for 32 years has never known who his mother was and if he wants to find out the answer is who Yeon-Woo brought to the cinema that night! So Hae-Jun dashed off there and grabbed a seat some rows behind his future father but was unable to figure out who the woman was.

 Hae-Jun did nod off and awoke as the movie was ending, by that time Yeon-Woo and his date had left the theater. In the third paragraph of the recap mentioned a pink hair ribbon or something along those lines, whoever Yeon-Woo was with was wearing one which Hae-Jun had noticed. So Hae-Jun ran outside where he couldn't find his future father or the woman. But soon coning out of the cinema was a woman wearing that pink ribbon who is in the third to last screenshot, she's the owner of the Bong-Bong Teahouse and her name is Chung-A. So of course Hae-Jun wondered to himself this is my future mother?. Only for a few seconds as another female left the cinema and she too was wearing a pink hair ribbon, it was none other than Mi-Sook and she's in the second to last screenshot. This is one woman who Hae-Jun does not want for a mother as he's still a suspect in his mind for the two killings. The episode ended on that note and if I had to make a guess on who Hae-Jun's future mother is I would go with.... Mi-Sook!!!! Let's see if that's correct and if so that would make things very interesting for the final six shows. That ends this recap, have been doing these a bit quicker and hope to have the next pair in 3-4 days, as usual plenty of screenshots to help you follow what took place in this episode.