You Are First Surrounded was released in May 2014 and I wanted to kick myself for not watching it earlier. Bad villains, police procedural and a sweet romance... yes, these about sum up the drama and now that I'd finished watching I found myself having a hangover.
Young Kim Ji-yong (starring Lee Seung-Gi) witnessed her mother being murdered at their own house when she attempted to testify as a witness to a crime. Although there wasn't any clue of the murderer, he did leave behind an important evidence - a unique designer necklace. Named as the Masan School Nurse Murder, this case was closed after there wasn't any lead following that incident.
Eleven years have passed and Ji-yong became a detective in Gangnam Police Station under the Violent Crimes Unit. To protect his identity, he has since changed his name to Eun Dae-Koo and is placed under the guardianship of the Police Chief after his mother passed. She raises him like her own son, although she is single. No one knew about their relationship.
The team he is in consists of six staff. Four rookies, including himself, are placed under Seo Pan-Seok (starring Cha Seung-Won), the Team Leader of Team 3. Seo is a legend at the precinct as he is known for solving the toughest cases except the Masan case eleven years ago which still haunts him.
These four rookies have no intention of becoming detectives in the first place, but of course Eun Dae-Koo's goal is to investigate the murder case of his mother. And his primary suspect is Chief Investigator Seo, ever since he'd heard his name being mentioned after the murderer took a call after finishing his "mission".
What follows next is a series of investigations and some twisty turns but halfway through the drama, the mastermind is revealed and the staff of Team 3 has to gather evidence so that he could be put to justice. It is these scenes (gathering of evidences) that makes this drama entertaining; there are definitely some intense moments but there are also comedies as some of the characters could make you giggle.
Aside from the characters and the sweet romance between Dae-Koo and fellow rookie, Soo-Sun (starring Go Ara), what I liked about this drama is the dreams of these four rookies never waver even though they are young and inexperienced. They show their team spirit despite of their differences, and they never back down even if their leads led them to a dead end. Cliché or not, I still enjoyed the drama and of course, there are some moments that moved me, too. I also liked it that Dae-Koo and Soo-Sun are schoolmates during their teenage years and they've liked each other then but they were too proud to admit it. Soo-Sun didn't know Dae-Koo is the "reincarnation" of Ji-yong initially until much later.
You know what left me cold about this story? Not the runners who are paid to murder people but the extent of a person's doings just to be more powerful and wealthy at the expense of his loved ones. But of course this bad feeling is replaced by characters such as Team Leader Seo and Dae-Koo, not only of their righteousness but also they are good to look at, ha.
(Soundtrack: What's Wrong With Me, featuring Dae-Koo and Soo-Sun)
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This sounds really good, Melody. Like my kind of movie. :-) It's insane the lengths people will go to for power and money. It's like a game to them.
:) They are good to look at, and I am always going to watch anything with Lee Seung-Gi! I really enjoyed this one, but like in a lot of Kdramas, I'm appalled by the villainy of the powerful.
Wendy - I hope you'll be able to watch this drama, Wendy. Yes, it's insane and horrific to see some people will resort to anything to get the things they want.
Jenclair - This is the second drama I watched featuring Lee Seung-Gi and I'm gonna watch anything of him the next time. :)