Only after watching the second episode, does the prologue from the first episode that Boo Jong narrates start to make sense, and it's hard to breathe at times watching the events slowly unfold. Her saying since the last time we met, I've been thinking about the right to be human. Not as a family member, friend, or colleague, but as a human being. The right given to the people who abide by society's rules and proudly set forth their names. The right to judge the world, criticize, be enraged, and despair. The right you say you have, and I don't. I've been thinking about that. But what is that world you speak of; and what is it to be human, does that even exist?. Those words cut me like a knife.
There's nothing worse in this world than to be treated like one's existence doesn't matter. To deny people their human rights is to challenge their humanity, as they say. The quick glimpse into Boo Jung and Jung Ah Ran (Park Ji Young), once amiable working relationship, now broken beyond repair, and the aftermath effects which seem to directly tie into Boo Jung's despair of life, has me quite curious. I cannot wait to get a better understanding of how things turned so sour that Boo Jung contemplates suicide. Added to everything is Boo Jong's mother-in-law; her overbearingness, insensitivity, and the total lack of respect for another human being, let alone a family member, overwhelms. But worse is Boo Jong's husband's compliance with his mother's actions and words. The more I see of her, the more I feel the rage building up in me. And the more I see of Kang Jae, the more I realize that despite seeming cold and aloof, he too is simply trying to live his life as a human being, diligently working to be someone, but the more he tries, the harder it becomes, the despair of it all. I guess that's what he recognizes in Boo Jong, a kindred spirit in pain, two people with totally different goals and lifestyles meet completely by fate. As they say, only the broken will offer a piece of their soul, for they know what it feels like being shattered to pieces. There's something captivating and engaging about how this drama flows from the insightful script, careful dialogues and tones to the issues it addresses, and the unique perspective on the lives of the different characters from Jin Jung Soo (Park Byung Eun) Boo Jung's husband to Kyung Eun (Kim Hyo Jin) his first love to Chang Sook (Park-In Hwan) Boo Jung's father to Kang Jae's friends Sun Joo (Yoo Soo Bin) and Min Jung (Son Na-Eun), and even Jung Soo's mother Min Ja (Shin Shin Ae), each desperate in the lives they live -- the complexity of human nature. Watch episode 2 here.