You're All Surrounded !!! - Review

You have Cha Seung Won and Lee Seung Gi running behind a suspect. It’s sunny, the weather’s nice and even if we’re dealing with a suspect and police agents, you know the drama will be funny. You just know it. You can guess that those two and probably the rest of the cast will make you laugh. And that’s exactly what I needed when I started You’re All Surrounded. The thing is I wasn’t precisely certain of what the drama was about. I knew there were rookies and Cha Seung Won and that was basically all. The last trailer I watched right before starting, finished to convince me: light, fun, full of possibilities and with a potential appealing cast, You’re All Surrounded was literally calling me. I was ready to laugh and I laughed for about three minutes before the drama went to the total opposite direction I had in mind. The first episode took me by surprise with its dark turn but that’s not a bad thing because it quickly put in place the basis of the 2014’s story of the drama. Indeed we’ve been taken eleven years ago when everything started. And it all started with a murder. 

Kim Ji Yong (Lee Seung-Gi) lives with her mother, a single nurse in a seaside city. (Their accent is really cute! I had to say it). No father around. His childhood is a happy one with a mother scarifying herself for her only child. But no matter what you say or you actually don’t say, kids stay kids. They talk, it’s inevitably. So when, Uh Soo Sun (Go Ara), 
her schoolmate, spread the rumour that Kim Ji Yong is an illegitimate child, the kid can only rely on his mother’s word. And of course he’s not! Honestly even if he was, which decent and self-conscious mother would go and say the contrary? Funnily that incident create a strange though cute link between Kim Ji Yong and Uh Soo Sun. Life goes back to normal for everyone until Seo Pan Suk (Cha Seung-Won), a detective from Seoul comes to beg Kim Ji Yong’s mother to testify in a case where she’s the unique witness. Kim Ji Yong will eventually convince his reluctant mother to testify. Few times later, when she’s killed, Kim Ji Yong is left alone and scared, with nothing but questions. With no one to trust, not even the detective Seo Pan Suk, he disappears in the nature. That’s where the actual story of You’re All Surrounded starts in 2014: we have one missing child and four rookies on their first day at the Gangnam police station, in The Violent Crimes Unit, Team 3 with Seo Pan Suk as their leader. 

I like those dramas that give us the promise of making theirs character growing up. As I always say, if there’s a room to make your character evolve, don’t waste it dramas. Hell no! That being said, what we have in the beginning of You’re All Surrounded is that promise to see four twenty something characters growing right before our eyes. They are in quest of who they really are, what defines them and what they want to become. For them achieving that goal is an accomplishment but for us it’s a total satisfaction! I mean it’s like being rewarded for having love and care for our characters. Yeah I really like growing characters. With You’re All Surrounded, we have a foursome rookies detectives who are about to change, to fall, to suffer but most of all to learn. That seriously got me excited and thank God my excitement on that side didn’t got stamped as they actually matured all through the drama. The contrary would have forced me to curse at my laptop a million times and it’s never a good thing for me to curse. Nope, not a healthy thing! Anyway as said, we saw our rookies becoming mature, changing but mostly learning to count and rely on each other. That’s a basis if you want to be a good detective. They slowly understood the importance of sometimes going off the beaten track and not to see things from their perspectives only, they’re dealing with lives, with people and sensibilities. And as Seo Pan Suk wisely said “Rookies can make a mistake, but detectives can’t. There’s no ‘newbie’ for a detective. You can’t bring back a dead person.”
Beside becoming real detectives, our rookies also developed a strong brotherhood and romantic feelings along the way. That’s never a bad thing, at least in my books. Those evolving characters were the biggest force of the drama. Those four young adults spent most of their time together, learning the job and somehow learning life, how can I not root for them? Go my rookies kick some asses!

I enjoyed You’re All Surrounded more than expected even if I’m incapable to say exactly what I was expecting for. I cared so quickly for our rookies that it surprised me. That’s certainly where the drama got me. The intrigue and suspense were both there but the chemistry between the characters won me over. The drama managed to bring some life and warm to his characters and that something that counts for a lot if you ask me! The screenwriter has that sensibility to make her characters somehow really appealing. Ojaggkyo Brothers from the same screenwriter is so far my favourite family drama. I haven’t watch a lot (50 episodes? I need some time to prepare myself for that and I can’t even manage to find that preparation time!), but that one is marked on my heart. Its characters were so human in many ways and the whole brought together simply worked nicely. I cried once or twice. Okaaaaay maybe three or four times but God knows that those times count in my dramas’ personal history. Far from the makjang style (some would say that the genre has his own charms), simplicity is sometimes or maybe most of the time the best option.

You’re All Surrounded wasn’t simple in many ways, but it managed to serve warm and endearing characters.

Our four rookies have their personal stories and matters they have to deal with while learning to become good detectives. None of them choose the job like as a vocation, they all had specific and smart reasons: Eun Dae Gu became a detective because of certain good reasons (we guess it’s somehow related to what happened eleven years ago); Uh Soo Sun became a detective because of the good pay! Park Tae-Il (Ahn Jae-Hyun) choose to be a detective because he thought it could be fun! And finally Ji Gook (Park Jung-Min) became a detective at the criminal brigade because there was no more available places at the traffic brigade! No wonder Seo Pan Suk’s only wish was to get rid of the new recruits bluntly! 

 

Eun Dae Gu: Impulsive, hot-blooded, short-tempered, Eun Dae gu has one goal: to take Seo Pan Suk down. It’s a given that the lost Kim Ji Young is Eun Dae Gu. We left him lost and alone, convinced that Seo Pan Suk was the source of all this mess his life went through. Of course things are a little (what a euphemism!) more complicate than that. If Seo Pan Suk was his enemy in the theory, he will become a precious alley thereafter. They both indeed have the same purpose. But going beyond preconceive ideas for those two  was like waiting for a drama not to have any chaebol. Complicate. Pride and honour were on their ways. The two learned, well with difficulty, to push they pride, anger and feelings aside to work together.

Eun Dae Gu and Seo Pan Suk first met when the latter came to convince Eun Dae Gu’s mother to testify in a murder trial eleven years ago. After his mother’s death, with the elements the young Eun Dae Gu (technically he was back then Kim Ji Young), logically came to the conclusion that Seo Pan Suk was involved in the murder.

I’m not sure Eun Dae Gu grew up only wanting to get revenge. He was satisfy to be alive even if I guess he always had a wish of justice. His encounter with the chief Kang (Seo Yi-Sook ) must have woken up his a latent dark desire. Detective Seo Pan Suk was working under chief Kang, Eun Dae Gu must have that as a sign from heaven. He knew his vengeance was not only supported (by the chief Kang as she’s the one who battled to have new recruits in the Gangnam police station) but also completely possible. No surprise then that he was among the rookies. The first couple of episodes were so intense (physically and mentally) between Eun Dae Gu and Seo Pan Suk that I thought 20 episodes wouldn’t be enough to make them getting along.

Before getting to a real cohesion and a tangible work them, Eun Dae Gu and Seo Pan Suk  had that fatidic but truly emotional exchange. They were both on the rooftop of the building, Seo Pan Suk had just found out the truth about Eun Dae Gu’s identity. **Spoilers** He confronted him asking him if he was really Kim Ji Young? Eun Dae Gu’s denied several times before sadly answering: “No I’m not him! I’m not him, so be tortured by that for the rest of your life!” How sad must Eun Dae Gu had been for the last eleven years for him to basically wish Seo Puk to die with his doubts? I suppose that at this precise instant all his vengeance’s plans just came tumbling down like a house of cards. His identity been revealed, what else did he had? Somehow everything became worthless and I guess he must have found himself quite pathetic. But proudly he refused to let go that easily. That’s the crude reality of revenges. That keeps you alive until the minute you realize that it’s either not worth it or it’s pointless. Until you find the right reason to fight, your battle is pointless. The moment Eun Dae Gu and Seo Pan Suk realized that they had and always had a common enemy their fight took another sense. They had a mutual goal and put everything on the line for justice. 

Eun Dae Gu’s character, arrogant and full of himself, is the worst in my opinion but also the most inclined to change, which is just perfect. I like those rude, big-headed male lead that end up melting like ice in summer because of feelings they couldn’t even dare to imagine. Yeah I grew up liking those bastards’ leads that progressively change!

The romance between Eun Dae Gu and Uh Soo Sun came quite late in the drama even if we saw significant signs along the way. The drama took the time to install the basis of the plot and complicate connexions in place. 

But actually I think I like those subtle beginnings. Those unsaid feelings, gestures, looks that say much than any big phrases. We’re left with our imagination (and even if it’s evident the leads will end up together it never hurts to call for our imagination sometimes). While we could have suppose Eun Dae Gu would have been the last one in love, he ended up being the first one to feel romantically attracted to Uh So Sun. Well he had one purpose in life at that time: to get his revenge on those who killed his mother. He wasn’t certainly there to be stuck with his old school mate and to fall for her. But things don’t always go as planned. Their romance was nice and enjoyable but not only. Uh Soo Sun brought more than mere love to Eun Dae Gu. She brought him nuances to his job and his life in general. ‘All right Eun Dae Gu you’re smart, you’re have an incredible photogenic memory but if there’s not humanity in your judgment you better look for another job.’ She made him realize that his life was more than his revenge. He had the chance to be alive and had the right to be happy. ‘Eun Dae Gu you’re loved, you have people who cared for you so let everything go for a minute cause I won’t let go of your hand.’ He learned to cry and to let go when he had to. 

**Spoilers** An epic moment I had to share: After a night full of beers and laughs for our rookies, Eun Dae Gu was up first and once back from the bathroom, a drunk Uh Soo Sun kissed his naked chest because he was smelling fruits from his shower. Haha how memorable is that? Cute and epic! 

Uh Soo Sun: Cheerful and motivate, she’s certainly the most up to go for the job among the new recruits. She doesn’t want to be put aside and once she’s up to something it has to be done correctly. What I really liked about Uh Soo Sun, she was not the usual fragile female lead type. She fought, endured a lot, took punches and even when she was scared, she just did what still has to be done. She was not the complaining type girl. When many could just have given up or chosen the easiest way, she was still the first one to go. She was tough but also human. When she had to cry, she cried and then move on.

What was remarkable about her was this determination to get along with her partner, Eun Dae Gu. He was so freaking detestable in the beginning that I wouldn’t have mind to knock his head on the wall! But Uh Soo Sun held on because she realized quite early (earlier compare to her fellow rookies at least) the importance of working together. She’s took conscience that every tiny little decision they take as detectives can have the most tragic impact in people’s life. I think the case that made her and certainly Eun Dae later is the stalker case, the first one that was assigned to them. **Spoilers** This was the case of a girl who was stalked by an ex-boyfriend (can we even call him a boyfriend as they met once or two before she decided not to see him again). The simple stalking case ended up tragically and forced the pair to reflect on what they did wrong and what their responsibility was. I appreciated that idea of self-reflection. I mean nothing in life is always nice. They had to go through this painful events to understand the true sense of being good detectives. 

Uh Soo Sun is someone who can endure difficulties. She managed to understand people ‘cause she was desperately seeking for justice where Eun Dae Gu was only looking for revenge (in the first times at least). The way she remained silent when she unmasked Eun Da Gu proves it. She stayed faithful to the promise of not spilling the bean. She put the same human feelings into her job. Uh Soo Sun and Eun Dae Gu balanced and completed each other well. They had a sweet but nevertheless predictable relationship. Predictable in the outcome but still cute in the development.

**Spoilers** They were ridiculously cute when they had this conversation about the ‘dead’ Kim Ji Young after Uh Soo Sun uncovered the real identity of Eun Dae Gu. 

-          Eu Dae Gu: I know Kim Ji Young personally.

-          Uh Soo Sun: Well, tell him, I’m happy he’s alive and I’m proud of him 

(Aaaaarghhh I melted!)

It was my first drama with Go Ara (Answer Me 1994 is on my urgent watch list!) I was a bit scared for no good reason I have to admit. I honestly don’t know why I had those apprehensions about her. Thankfully they disappeared when she first appeared on the screen. She’s fun, has the right expressions and interacts with her co-stars naturally. Can’t wait to see her in her next project. She became someone I look up to.   

Park Tae-Il: Stylish, attractive, it looked like Park Tae-Il had everything: the look, the background, the popularity. It’s like he couldn’t have had any kind of difficulties in life but as anyone else in this Gangnam police station, he had secrets and wounds from the past.

You can tell he experienced something tragic but was certainly not ready to share it with anyone. He hide everything but a first creaking in the shield appeared when Kim Sa-Kyung made her entrance. We don’t know for sure the relationship between those two and even my guess about them was wrong. (Not that that all my guesses are correct.) Their relationship was ambiguous and purposely maintained like that. Park Tae-Il was a character I especially liked. Warm and always there for those his heart rooted for. He seemed cold in the first place but revealed himself as someone who truly care for people. From the get go he had this strong brotherhood with his assigned partner, Ji Gook. Those two were so freaking cute together, it was lovely to watch. But sincerely it’s not really hard to root for Ji Gook ‘cause he’s really endearing! Bromance can sometimes be stronger than romantic feelings when you have a perfect chemistry between your characters. And those two were awesome together (the rumour of Park Tae-Il being gay, anyone? Amazingly funny.)

Those Park Tae-Il and Ji Gook couldn’t have been more different (the look, the attraction they had on people) but then those differences made they a unique duo. They were definitely one of my favourite couples in the drama! I wish they could have more on screen time together though.

I really really liked Ahn Jae-Hyun in You’re From Another Star so it was a pleasure to see him again playing a nice and loveable character. He’s definitely someone who can create a good alchemy with his co-stars which isn’t negligible.

 

Ji Gook: He was generous and always full of good intensions but a damn chicken at first. Criminal division wasn’t his first choice, then why would he have put himself in danger? I got you Ji Gook, completely. Even if he’s full of enthusiasm and energy, he’s not ready to take a punch for anyone. That’s said.

But Ji Gook was adorkable. A sweet character you can only care for. He’s the one (mostly with Uh Soo Sun), who’s up to the most efforts.

He wanted the four of them to feel like real friends and was always the first one to Eun Dae Gu to feel at ease and at home. The three guys were living together so the sooner they were like a family, the better. 

Even if he always seemed joyful, like all his rookie’s mates, he went through a ‘crisis’ (like everyone in the drama I want to say). He called into question who he is, what he worth and what he mostly wants to do with his life. Thankfully for us, he did the right choice and stayed stick to his job and his friends. There’s no foursome with three anyway.

**Spoilers** The fact that he kind of developed feelings for Uh Soo Sun cracked me up. You cannot really say he was deeply and recklessly in love with her. And that was a freaking wise decision from the screenwriter. I mean a love triangle would have been the stupidest thing to do for the drama! 

Seo Pan Suk: The legendary detective Seo...His life was tragically entangled with Eun Dae Gu. And we had no idea how sad they were connected. If we know for sure that Seo Pan Suk still feel deeply guilty for what happened eleven years ago and even guiltier for having loose the young Kim Ji Young (Eun Dae Gu), we don’t know how much this day marked him in the flesh as well.

It’s with a new case of a report missing child that slowly the heart-breaking truth will arise. Seo Pan Suk’s son died the nigh Eun Dae Gu’s mother died. I was talking about a sad connection…This tragic night took a lot away from both Eun Dae Gu and Seo Pan Suk. That case was certainly the first one where Seo Pan Suk and the rookies worked together as one. Indeed Seo Pan Suk is the last person on earth who’s ready to give those rookies a chance to be good detectives. He’s strongly against the idea of having them at Gangnam station and tried had for a couple of episode to put the newbies off.

He’s a good cop (he’s the legendary detective Seo after all) but was ready to do anything to get rid of the rookies. Things will luckily change along the way and even if he was terrible, misogynistic and haughty at first, he will end up care for his four protégés. 

**Spoilers** The end that was chosen for his character bothered me at first then I realize that it was logic somehow. Him scarifying his career to put the fucking bad ones behind bars was certainly the only solution but I couldn’t help finding that a bit extreme. I promise Korean people really have something with sacrifice. It’s not mandatory but if they can placed it somewhere best believe that it will be used! But beyond my momentary ambient frustration I think that Seo Pan Suk’s revocation from Gangnam police department wasn’t a bad thing in the maths. He even seemed happy in the countryside where he was transferred, with a sense of accomplishment, like neither his son nor Eun Dae Gu’s mother die in vain since the brain behind all this was finally punished. It took him eleven years but he managed to find the truth and to be at peace. He ended up in the countryside, taking care of stolen chicken’s cases but he was finally at peace. 

Seo Pan Suk as well as Eun Dae Gu needed that new start in life, a chance to leave the past behind. The first find it by scarifying himself while the other found it when he decided to give himself a chance to be happy.  

Kim Sa-kyung (Oh Yoon-Ah): Can I honestly say that her character left a mark on me? Nope. But she was strong and determinate which is never bad in my books. She’s Seo Pan Suk’ ex-wife and let’s say the fact that she slapped him in front of everyone at their first encounter left no doubts about the ‘ex’ part. They both went separate ways when their son died eleven years ago. She’s resentful and full of anger for that ex-husband who destroyed her family by making the wrong choice. In her mind, when Seo Pan Suk decided to look for Eun Dae Gu instead of picking up their son at the child-care center that night, he became the unique responsible of his death. It was nice and cute to see the two of them dating like teens and rediscovering the feelings they thoughts was dead. They will give their couple a second chance. Seo Pan Suk as a pretended jealous? Awesome. A childish and playful Cha Seung-won is always welcome! (Oh yeah The Greatest Love effect’s still working badly on me!!) 

Lee Eung-do (Sung Ji-roo): Seo Pan Suk’s colleague and his friend of the first hour. He was always the one who was hardly trying to temporize him when it’s needed. He liked and cared for the rookies before anyone else. He did his best to guide them well.

 

Kang Suk Soon (Seo Yi-Sook): She’s the chief of the police station. She met with Eun Dae Gu for the first time when she revealed herself to him: she was his secret donator for years. I think her being a donator is part of her profound guilt feelings towards Eun Dae Gu. She knows what happened eleven years ago and the important role she played that night. Despite hiding that heavy secret to him, she became a replacing mother to that orphan she ended up loving like a son.

Slowly Chief Kang appeared to be more mysterious than she looked. We guessed that there was something behind the mere facts we were seeing. The truth was somehow more complicate that it sounded. She was the first one to support the rookies and to believe in them. 

Yoo Moon Bae (Jeon Dong-Hwa): Is it possible for this grandpa to actually play a nice grandpa? Well I don’t know all his filmography but the two time I’ve seen him in a drama, he played a psychopath and murderer grandpa. So what about playing a nice grandpa next time? You  know one of those you want to spend many afternoons with and learn a lot from? In few words in You’re All Surrounded he was a freaking evil and hateful grandpa obsessed with money, power and recognition. Machiavellian and devious, he had two gods he profoundly adored and served all through the drama: money and power. Once you decided your mind to serve those two things there’s no turning back. You go beyond ethics and morals so many time that you better not think twice. You better put all your energy in it and be prepare for all the eventualities.  

Yoo Moon Bae took chances whenever he meet ones along the way. He was a mere opportunist that smartly turned those chances into real strategic opportunities for his career. **Spoilers** His first chance was to have the chief Kang on his side for more than twenty years. She took care of many shits along the way (the necklace eleven years ago, someone?!). Their common purpose was the independence of the police. A police freed from the intrusion of the justice and the politics. She had a helpful support in the politics and he had an ally inside the police forces. A win-win deal. At least that what it was in the beginning but things aren’t always that easy.

His second and unexpected chance, I would say, was the murder of Eun Dae Gu’s mother. He ingeniously took advantage of the situation. When Yoo Moon Bae’s wife died (she was the rich one, Yoo Moon Bae was poor), she made their daughter Yoo Ae-Yeon (a.k.a the crazy ajhumma) the only legatee. So when Yoo Ae-Yeon called her father in tears that night he had two choices: reveal everything and say goodbye to his politic career and his chances to be a deputy or to save his daughter and then neatly take advantage of her. Yoo Moon Bae didn’t think twice and jumped on the bandwagon. **Spoilers** He needed money for his campaign. Her daughter had more money than he needed. I let you do the math. He covered everything and stay assured to have enough funds to do his campaign. It’s more than killing two birds with one stone. He killed all the birds that were flying high in the sky that day. Respect grandpa. I’m not sure he would have lift a finger for his daughter if he wasn’t for his urgent need of money. I mean he’s the kind of man that disregard of people and that includes his family. It’s all about him and it’s always been about him. If he has to sacrifice people along the way, well there’s always collateral damages right.

Emotionless and selfish, Yoo Moon Bae only sees himself and his own interests. Those are the worst villains, the most hateful ones. Those you barely forget and you can’t forgive no matter what. They have an self-assurance equal to their ambition and mostly equal their madness. Born poor or at least modest, they dream big (which is honourable) but then along the way they transform themselves into evil bastards only because they feel like reaching the top is only justice (for all the suffering).

If Jeon Dong-Hwa continues like that (I mean choosing roles of freaking psychopath grandpas) I’m not sure I would be able to dissociate his characters from the real him. He walked on my nerves really hard Nine: Nine times traveller, but in You’re All Surrounded he won the Oscar of the worst grandpa of the universe (at least for the time being because dramas can always surprise you in ways you can’t imagine). For sure I don’t want to see him playing the villain again. So hara buji be nice next time. Please.

Yoo Ae-Yeon (Moon Hee-Kyung). I mentioned her in a previous post. She’s the archetype of those spoiled children who grew up being bitchty teens, selfish young woman and crazy and jaded ajhumma. Their end is predictable: alone, angry and probably still spoiled! Emotionless just like her father (blood is thicker), Yoo father and daughter were both so ridiculously evil that it was sometimes painful to watch. I sincerely think the screenwriter exaggerated the evil in them. I do think that at some moments of her life, Yoo Ae-Yeon felt something that was close to emotions: when she imposed that poor (literally and not figuratively) husband to her parents and when he had their son. I suppose that she strongly believed that she could be able to change him with time but Shin Ji-Il (Lee Ki-Young), that husband of hers never really loved her. Just like his father-in-law, born poor, he choose to let go of his real love to enter a rich family. I’m not sure though it was possible to resist a tornado like Yoo Ae-Yeon. No one ever told her no, so would she have been able to stand to be turn down by that poor man she was determinate to marry? Not sure. She’s been so spoiled that she can’t basically endure anything. Firstly thanks to that mother who surely taught her to never let go of anything if she really want it. Secondly thanks to that father who never went against her ‘cause he needed her precious inheritance. M.O.N.E.Y. It’s what makes the world go around people! She always knew it. And she certainly couldn’t grew up thinking differently with a father and husband like hers.    

From the first minute I saw Yoo Ae-Yeon in the drama till the last episode, I just wanted to slap her! You know just to bring some human sense into her. Gosh it’s depressing to think that some people are not conscious enough to consider their human fellow. Watching Yoo Ae-Yeon made me wonder if rich people were so freaking hateful. I couldn’t managed to come to a decent conclusion so I won’t debate anymore. For someone like Yoo Ae-Yoon who couldn’t stand any contradiction, she had to endure the supposed betrayal of her husband. It was more than she could handle. That leaded her to extremes actions but also leaded to her downfall. Fighting for Yoo Moon Bae was a question of getting was he thought was legitimate. Yoo Ae-Yoon has always been concerned by one person only: herself. Detestable, violent and without any sense of culpability, that was Yoo Ae-Yeon. Just a hateful character.

Overal feeling 

I can’t really say that my expectations were super high when I started You’re All Surrounded since I wasn't sure what to actually expect. I was wishing to spend a good time and not to watch every episode like a torture. I was also hoping to enjoy the ride in the process which isn’t too much to ask I believe. Well at the end of that ride, my overall feeling over the drama is good. Good enough to make me regretting another tiny little, fun episode with my favourite’s rookies and the legendary Seo Puk San. I miss the chemistry, I miss the laugh at loud moments. It would be a lie to say the drama was perfect because it had his own flaws. Some that can easily be forgivable and therefore forgettable and some more memorable that can’t be passed over. Indeed the biggest flaw of the drama is the length. The drama was long, four episodes too long if you ask me. The plot was good enough not to suffer extra useless episodes. The story could have been easily packed in 16 episodes. That even would have brought more tension and take the climax to the top around episode 10 and not 14. We had to wait too long to get the willies. Of course we had a lot of details in the four last episodes, they were there to tell us something after all. And when you compare with those dramas that leave you with more questions than answers it’s not negligible. But still I feel like those episodes were just there to feel the space.

But why complain too much. The drama got me with the evident and not faked chemistry between the characters. The rookies grew up as one and naturally learned to trust and to really on each other. Oh gosh how I love growing characters. But I think I’ve already said that!! Thanks my new favourites rookies, I miss you already!