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Rec: Healer (2014, KBS2)
I have been absent from DW while I'm living in the post-Christmas pre-New Year liminal space of my parents' house, but I will be back soon to catch up with y'all.
In the meantime, I'm going to use the last day of 2022 to beg you to watch old media!
In a post from a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the Korean drama Healer and how I was certain that certain friends of mine would enjoy it. Actually, I'm pretty sure that all of you will enjoy it, so let me sell you.
It's one of those double-timeline stories, but thankfully both of the timelines are so engaging. In 1992, we've got a group of idealistic young people running a PRO-DEMOCRACY MOBILE PIRATE RADIO PROGRAM. (I would commit murder for a show that delves more deeply into this, but I don't think it's ever going to happen.)
In 2014, we're following a group of INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS SEARCHING FOR THE TRUTH AT ALL COSTS!
In typical kdrama fashion, these two timelines are way, way more intertwined than anyone knows at the beginning. Secrets will be revealed! Identities will be shattered and put back together again! And truth in journalism will prevail!
I like to say that if City Hunter is Korean-Batman-without-superpowers, then Healer is absolutely Korean-Superman-without-superpowers.
Young-shin is one of the Lois Lane-est Lois Lanes to ever Lois Lane--intrepid young reporter just brimming over with integrity! Raised by gay dads who are a defense lawyer and an ex-con! With a smile that can outshine the sun! And mental health stuff she's learning to deal with! She's absolutely fearless and weird and adorable and I love her so much!
Jung-hoo has a double life--a bumbling, socially awkward aspiring journalist by day, a total badass "night courier" bringing you the competence porn by night. Basically, he's a freelance spy-for-hire who just wants to save up enough money to buy his own island and get away from people...until he meets Young-shin and all of his priorities are upended.
Young-shin is mentored by Munho, a star reporter with ~secrets~. Jung-hoo also has a team helping him in his courier business made up of Min-ja (played by Kim Mi-kyung, one of my absolute fave character actors), an middle-aged lady hacker!!! Who likes to call Jung-hoo oppa*! And Dae-young, a teenage girl who's kind of his apprentice who likes to call him hyung*!
(There are some other characters I won't get into, including another middle aged woman who I adore with all my heart and would happily die on a battlefield for.)
Young-shin and Jung-hoo's worlds collide and they have one of my favorite TV romances. They are so wonderful and adorable and they work so well together and Young-shin makes Jung-hu a better person just by existing and inspiring him with her integrity.
They discover corruption all around them and drag it into the light! Jung-hoo learns to care about people and devotes himself to Young-shin's mission to make the world better! They discover that the past has unbelievable repercussions for them in the present! The truth is uncovered! The corrupt are destroyed! Through the power of journalism and hacking and Jung-hoo's ability to kick ass!
Listen, I just love this show so much. It's easily one of my top 5 kdramas and I would love for more of y'all to discover it.
The last episode is kiiiind of anticlimactic but everything else about it is so wonderful. It's 20 episodes of an hour each, so it is a commitment, but not a crazy intense one. And listen--if some of y'all want to watch it, I am VERY open to rewatching in community!
It is also hard to hunt down at the moment. But you can stream it here or, if you'd rather download it, tell me in the comments, and I will send you a link to a Google drive folder for you to download.
*"Oppa" is what you call your big brother (or a big brother-like figure in your life or, sometimes, if you're wanting to be flirty--this word does a lot of heavy-lifting) if you are a girl. "Hyung" is what you call your big brother (ditto) if you are a guy. Gender!
In the meantime, I'm going to use the last day of 2022 to beg you to watch old media!
In a post from a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the Korean drama Healer and how I was certain that certain friends of mine would enjoy it. Actually, I'm pretty sure that all of you will enjoy it, so let me sell you.
A decades-old incident involving a group of five friends who ran an illegal pro-democracy broadcasting station during the Fifth Republic in South Korea brings together three different people—an illegal "night courier" with the codename "Healer" (Ji Chang-wook) who possesses top-notch fighting skills, a reporter from a second-rate tabloid news website (Park Min-young), and a famous journalist at a major broadcast station (Yoo Ji-tae).[9][10][11] While trying to uncover the truth from that 1992 incident and a series of present day murders, they grow into honest reporters who try to blur the lines of conflict between truth and reality, even if that means fighting media honchos.
It's one of those double-timeline stories, but thankfully both of the timelines are so engaging. In 1992, we've got a group of idealistic young people running a PRO-DEMOCRACY MOBILE PIRATE RADIO PROGRAM. (I would commit murder for a show that delves more deeply into this, but I don't think it's ever going to happen.)
In 2014, we're following a group of INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS SEARCHING FOR THE TRUTH AT ALL COSTS!
In typical kdrama fashion, these two timelines are way, way more intertwined than anyone knows at the beginning. Secrets will be revealed! Identities will be shattered and put back together again! And truth in journalism will prevail!
I like to say that if City Hunter is Korean-Batman-without-superpowers, then Healer is absolutely Korean-Superman-without-superpowers.
Young-shin is one of the Lois Lane-est Lois Lanes to ever Lois Lane--intrepid young reporter just brimming over with integrity! Raised by gay dads who are a defense lawyer and an ex-con! With a smile that can outshine the sun! And mental health stuff she's learning to deal with! She's absolutely fearless and weird and adorable and I love her so much!
Jung-hoo has a double life--a bumbling, socially awkward aspiring journalist by day, a total badass "night courier" bringing you the competence porn by night. Basically, he's a freelance spy-for-hire who just wants to save up enough money to buy his own island and get away from people...until he meets Young-shin and all of his priorities are upended.
Young-shin is mentored by Munho, a star reporter with ~secrets~. Jung-hoo also has a team helping him in his courier business made up of Min-ja (played by Kim Mi-kyung, one of my absolute fave character actors), an middle-aged lady hacker!!! Who likes to call Jung-hoo oppa*! And Dae-young, a teenage girl who's kind of his apprentice who likes to call him hyung*!
(There are some other characters I won't get into, including another middle aged woman who I adore with all my heart and would happily die on a battlefield for.)
Young-shin and Jung-hoo's worlds collide and they have one of my favorite TV romances. They are so wonderful and adorable and they work so well together and Young-shin makes Jung-hu a better person just by existing and inspiring him with her integrity.
They discover corruption all around them and drag it into the light! Jung-hoo learns to care about people and devotes himself to Young-shin's mission to make the world better! They discover that the past has unbelievable repercussions for them in the present! The truth is uncovered! The corrupt are destroyed! Through the power of journalism and hacking and Jung-hoo's ability to kick ass!
Listen, I just love this show so much. It's easily one of my top 5 kdramas and I would love for more of y'all to discover it.
The last episode is kiiiind of anticlimactic but everything else about it is so wonderful. It's 20 episodes of an hour each, so it is a commitment, but not a crazy intense one. And listen--if some of y'all want to watch it, I am VERY open to rewatching in community!
It is also hard to hunt down at the moment. But you can stream it here or, if you'd rather download it, tell me in the comments, and I will send you a link to a Google drive folder for you to download.
*"Oppa" is what you call your big brother (or a big brother-like figure in your life or, sometimes, if you're wanting to be flirty--this word does a lot of heavy-lifting) if you are a girl. "Hyung" is what you call your big brother (ditto) if you are a guy. Gender!
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Also: Happy New Year!
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Happy New Year to you too!
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But I am absolutely thrilled I sold it well--it's one of my all-time happy shows! Do you want the link or are you going to stream (if you do indeed end up watching it)?
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I will happily take the link, please!