Misty, the 2018 drama that marked the comeback of lead actress Kim
Nam Joo, is a polished Korean gem that has the viewer hanging by a
thread, unsure of the real murderer even after the 14th out of 16th
episode is aired.
Streaming in Netflix, Misty is well cast, well plotted and well
edited. It resonates with this writer because the central setting is
the newsroom complete with recognizable characters from the
established and credible anchorwoman Go
Hye Ran (played by Kim) to the young, upstart reporter
Han Ji Won (Jin Ki Joo) to their news director Jang Gyu Seok (Lee
Kyung Young), who is the epitome of an executive caught between the
need to relay the news and the pressures from higher executives who
want to please advertisers, unscrupulous businessmen and corrupt
politicians.
Go Hye Ran almost has everything going for her from looks to smarts.
However, she continues to endure a seemingly loveless marriage (from
her end) to the stoic public prosecutor Kang
Tae Wook (Ji Jin Hee). Even their house is as sterile
as their relationship—there is hardly any decoration except for a
blown-up picture of their wedding. They maintain separate bedrooms
and hardly share a meal together.
Through a series of flashbacks, it is clarified that the lawyer, who
comes from a rich and prominent family, is the one besotted with the
ambitious woman who wants it all. He accepts her as she is, hoping
she will reciprocate his feelings in the course of their years
together.
But she comes with a past, with secrets. This is what haunts her and
later, the seemingly self-sacrificing but inwardly jealous husband.
Hoping to out-scoop the competition despite her age, Go Hye Ran
decides not to go to her dying mother’s side but instead heads for
the airport to score an exclusive interview with a golfer, the winner
of the Professional Golfers’ Association trophy in the US.
She literally bumps into Kevin Lee, the alias of Lee Jae Young
(played by a muscular
Go Joon), who turns out to be her former
lover, practically her first husband, except in legal papers. They
had a passionate relationship, but she abandons him in pursuit of her
career goals.
Go Hye Ran is torn between professional duties and personal feelings.
Kevin is aware of his hold on her and teases her with intense looks
and masculine preening. What follows is a murder mystery complicated
by a sub-plot about an investigative report that Go Hye Ran and Han
Ji Won collaborate on even if they run against the wishes of their
company executives.
Director Jang Gyu Seok offers the senior anchorwoman his
position, but she declines it and goes on a peroration about how
women journalists have difficulty getting their breaks, then reach a
glass ceiling in terms of how high up they can go.
Another sub-plot is the winning political party’s vetting of Go Hye
Ran as possible spokesperson. She is tempted to aspire for that
position so that, among others, she will be accepted by her
parents-in-law who consider her a shame to the family because she
doesn’t have an illustrious background.
The actress Kim Nam Joo, who went on a hiatus for six years, is right
to be missed by her admirers. She delineates her character’s
conflicted self, determination, almost cold-blooded pursuit of the
truth. She is always elegantly attired, a contrast to the golfer’s
simple wife portrayed by Seo Eun Joo who turns out to be her high
school chum and knows a bit of her dark past.
The supporting cast is just as good. Ahn
Nae Sang, who plays the police detective Kang Ki Joon, is singled
out for his persistence in trying to pin down the killer and his/her
motive. He tells one of the main characters, as he finally figures
out what happened, how a person who has committed a crime can sleep
peacefully night after night.
Misty is not just about newsroom goings-on but also about a marriage
that is practically saved as the lawyer husband takes the cudgels up
for his wife, the primary murder suspect. But we are not about to
give away the misty or ambiguous ending.
This is a rare Korean drama because it deals with a dark subject. You
don’t have a rainbow bright ending in the Swiss Alps a la Crash
Landing on You. This one gets into the nitty-gritty of news
gathering, editing and broadcasting and/or censorship and into the
bolts and nails of a marriage that looks beyond reparable.
The drama may have been originally aired two years ago, but it still
speaks to viewers who want a more realistic fare than cheesy
romances. Belated kudos, too, to director Mo Wan Il and scriptwriter
Je In.