A couple of weeks ago I talked about a drama called Lee Min Ki’s New Show. Some people might call this The Lies Within, but some people also like olives on their pizza …ie some people can be wrong. At the end of a post where I got more and more excited about the show and swore to watch it as soon as I signed off. From there I’m sure you rolled your eyes and said, “Sure Stephanie, pull the other one, you big fat liar.” To which I nod and have to, sadly, agree with you.
This time though? I signed off on the post, parked my butt on the couch, cursed as I tried to get the Roku to work with my wireless headphones, and then proceeded to watch the first two episodes! Take that, I’m a liar no more!
….this time.
Not only did I watch the first two episodes, but I actually kept watching, downloading the next few for the plane ride to Chicago. Since I had an unexpected layover in Nebraska of all places, I had plenty of time…sorry old lady who kept looking over my shoulder to see what I was gasping over, yes, that was a dismembered foot.
Then, not only did I watch on the plane (admittedly between fanfic chapters…can’t expect me to break all my habits at once) when I went to the gym earlier this week before Snowpocalypse happened, I actually caught some on the treadmill. Yep, I gave up dedicated Kpop content time for this.
In summation, I mean business.
I’m still a few episodes behind, again, baby steps, but I have no intention of dropping the show. I want to say it wasn’t what I thought it would be, but I didn’t really go into the show with any expectations except for it being a thriller and Lee Min Ki being hot af.
Actually. Now that I think about it, this show is completely keeping up with expectations. 
The drama starts out centering around a woman who is going through the worst time possible. Her father dies in an accident, her husband who was previously giving her the cold shoulder fights with said dad, then disappears, the same night of dad’s death. Was he cheating on her? Is he a good guy? Is he part of what happened to her dad? She was one of those quiet, sheltered women, who isn’t really sure what to do with herself now that the loves of her life are gone. Though others have a good idea. Almost immediately after the death of her father, which has now been ruled a homicide, she’s pressured into running for the political seat her father held by everyone around her — including the local political party, her mother (who for some reason is a big B to her saying the best thing she’d done in her life was marrying her husband) and her father-in-law who is big business, fairly villainous, and has a hard time remembering that his son is missing, presumed dead, or presumed guilty.
And may or may not be missing some serious body parts.
While through the episodes I’ve seen part of me wants to shout at Kim Seo Hee to stand up for herself, to be more proactive and not a victim, she’s still actively a victim. And when I say this, I mean, she’s literally being blackmailed, do this if you want to see your husband again, you accomplished this? Cool, do this now or that husband you love so much is going to catch it. She’s being swept along the story, each step forward is a step away from her father’s goals a step closer to the bad politician’s plans, but what can she do? She loves her husband so much, of course, she’s going to do whatever she can to keep him or the idea of him alive.
Oh, she could tell the cops and by cops, I mean Lee Min Ki who is, actually a really good detective and now that we’re a few episodes in, we’re finally starting to see some of what makes him tick — his own tragedies. From the start, all we knew was that he was a good, smart ass detective, who was leaving the big city force to go to a station in the country. Yep, he’ s going there on his own, not being demoted or as some sort of payback for some real imagined slight that is so popular in dramas. No, though everyone around him wants him to stay, he’s determined to go, that this last case is his last case. Of course, immediately after that, he’s called in to investigate the apparent traffic accident death of a local politician. Dun DUn DUUUUN!
As expected, he’s really good in this role, parts funny, serious, and as of the last episode I saw, tragic. He’s good at his job by hard work, he’s not some Dr. House of detecting. (Or I guess in Kdrama form that would be Dr. Han of God’s Quiz smart.) No, he just gets hunches, asks questions, and doesn’t let go.
I’m not certain I can tell you where this drama is going and isn’t that a great thing? We have the mystery of who is killing everyone, who is blackmailing Kim Seo Hee, her husband, and exactly what’s going on with our loveable detective? Did he vow to stay a detective until he found his sister? And now that he has he doesn’t need to anymore? There was the question in the earlier post, a question held by all drama watchers, is there going to be a romance? I think I can pretty clearly say no. She is almost obsessively in love with her missing husband. It’s episode 5 and I don’t even know if he’s alive or dead. And frankly, Detective Jo Tae Shik is too busy trying to solve crimes to think about romance.
I’m okay with that.
If you’re not watching The Lies Within, I suggest you do or at least add it to your list. I don’t think you’ll regret it. Though you should probably warn anyone you live with about imminent gasping for whenever it is you first find out what’s in the box….
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