This review may contain spoilers
It is about the basic conflict between political ideals & dirty practice. Emotional complex.
Black meets white and every shade in between.Devious meets sincere.
Truth comes into conflict with truthfulness.
Justice wrestles with just behavior.
Even though the KDrama “Undercover” was produced as a remake of a British series, it still tells a very specifically South Korean story. In recent decades, the South Korean intelligence service has changed its name several times in the wake of turbulent political changes. Heads were exchanged here and there, but ultimately numerous agents and executives carried out their jobs both during the last years of the dictatorship, the first years of the increasingly democratic liberal government of the Sixth Republic and up to the present day. This means that those who had to be bitterly persecuted as enemies of the state at some point, became, at a different time, those who potentially needed to be protected at all cost… “Undercover” is set in that context.
Embedded in this is the emotional dynamic of a former undercover agent and his wife. She is now a committed human rights lawyer and the designated director of the newly established political office for corruption investigation. In principle, her agenda is to uncover those machinations in which her husband's employer was involved or even in charge at the time and to this day...
The dramatic dynamite is hidden underneath the fact that the husband missed the right timing of confessing to his wife what he actually had done before and who he was... for good reason. This secret apparently didn't stop the couple from leading a very happy family life to date. But fatally, his past comes knocking at his door, confronting him with an almost insoluble conflict.
Should he confess to his wife today what he did back then? However, she might never be able to forgive him. That would most likely be the end of the relationship.
On the other hand, if he continues to hide his past, his former colleagues will make sure she finds out. They would do anything to prevent an upright, honest and incorruptible person from taking this groundbreaking new political position, simply because transparency and secret service don´t get along so well…
Therefore:
If he wants to preserve the marriage and his family, his wife must never find out about his past. In order to prevent this, with a heavy heart he has to once again face the parallel world of secret service agents...
If he wants to protect his wife, considering the challenges of her new career, with a heavy heart he has to once again face the parallel world of secret service agents...
Either way, with a heavy heart he has to go back to the parallel world of secret service agents... There, it seems, not much has changed in the past 30 years. It is all about: unscrupulous in the service of the cause. By all means. Failure is not up for debate, whatsoever.
Accordingly, “Undercover” is full of emotional suspense, rather complex, and at times quite nerve-wracking. It is about the inner conflict within in this particular, rather mature marriage. It is about the basic conflict between political ideals and dirty practice. And then, it is also sobering when it comes to the question of whether power can ever really belong to the people...
I liked the emotional complexity and how the area of conflict – personal and political each – was developed. Plus the fact, that it was more about relationship dynamics than action. Therefore, I enjoyed watching it.
Was this review helpful to you?
A little stretched but fine.
As you're already aware of, Undercover is a remake of the popular UK series of the same name, the makers have also done immense changes in many plots giving extra essence to the major characters. This is rather a political thriller that feels like a tragedy throughout the entire thing and makes you feel sad. Absuse of power, authoritative ruling, corruption, dirty politics, etc. without the consideration of how it affects a common man's life and people's emotions are parts of this drama.Undercover is set up in a premise where a familyman tries to save his lovale family from getting ruined by his own tragic past that he has been hiding all his life out of insecurity that the revelation can break his dear ones apart. To save your time here I suggest you read the plot in the synopsis so that I can jump to my review, haha.
Have you watched the Lee Joon Gi starrer tragic thriller drama Flower of Evil: FoE (2020) which even got multiple nominations at the 57th Baeksang? Well then, Undercover is established on somewhat similar (I would say 30%) premise. Only difference is that the given situations in both the dramas are different but also lead to a tragic result where there seems no door to get out of.
Undercover is emotionally stirring and the brewing conflict between the leads even when they're unware of eacg other's flaws, is what you call the main attraction of the drama. The emotions and beliefs of the leads will leave you worried about the fate to befall on them and their happy family. The greatest message it gives is, even in a regular and perfectly normal relationshp, situation of discovering inadvertent lies, is something hard to overcome and reconcile.
Talking about acting and cast, the cast felt so good though I personally think it could have been better; the children of the lead couple and some people at the NIS as well as in the police force and the Blue House could be better actors. But the lead duo Ji Jin Hee and Kim Hyun Joo were so powerful throughout the series and their chemistry was remarkable though it's the second time playing a couple but it was different given that the characters were intense. Ji Jin Hee has always proved his versatility by playing a number of challenging characters but in my opinion this role is the most difficult. I felt the same when he played the same character in "Move to Heaven" even though he was there in a guest role.
The core concept of this drama is the same as Flower of Evil, sometimes it felt a bit slow but manageable. Back to back tragedies are a bit triggering which might make you angry; at a point everything goes wrong back to back things happening lose the way back to their places that makes one suffocating.
There was a huge character development for both the lead characters and the way it was presented by intertwining and connecting the present time with their individual as well as united pasts. That is one job that intrigued me tbh. The story has been well written and the direction and screenplay has been done nice but let me tell you that you shouldn't expect a lot from it for we have seen similar plots before and all the political tragedies are not new to us either. It's just a story with different elements and a different way of execution that makes it interesting and kept me going.
Overally, it's not a bad show but worth a one time watch. Please give it a watch before you judge. Scoring a gravitating pitch, UNDERCOVER vaunted a solid narrative right off the bat. Coupled with a good cast, it invites you to brace yourselves for the parade of confrontations, betrayals, and conspiracies spicing up its initial displayed story.
Was this review helpful to you?
Underwhelming.
Midway through the series, one of the characters remarks, "...going around like a headless chicken," and that single expression seems to fit the whole show. If the drama had really been a thriller, the description might have been excusable, but Undercover neither has any "thrilling" elements to it nor does it attempt to build any during the course of its run. It's a shame because the story was overflowing with the potential to be a tightly packed game of wits. Instead, it ends up being a chase between two mice, both of which fall drastically short of their own apparently spectacular credentials. There is almost nothing that works for the story and it is only in part because the makers had to stretch the 6 part British original into a 16 episode drama.I won't be exaggerating if I said this show was made for Kim Hyun Joo. Ironically, her character and her portrayal of it are the primary of the show's many downfalls. It's debatable if she was a bad actor here, or if the writing itself was dumb. Or both. Several times during "each" episode I nearly pulled my hair out in frustration because, "Mr./Ms. Writer, that is not how the "Director of CIO" behaves!" There is always a lot of talk going around about how Choi Yeon Soo is amazing, how she's best suited for the job, how she's the only one who could be trusted, how she has an impeccable record and how righteous she is. She's faultless enough to be appointed and complimented by the President himself and formidable enough to intimidate the evil guys before she even steps into the CIO. Then she goes on to make some of the silliest mistakes of dramaland, and not just once. Which begs the question: Who is the reassurance for? Us or Choi Yeon Soo or Kim Hyun Joo? It also makes us wonder how she won her cases for 20 years. She doesn't seem to realise the magnitude of the task before her even after being repeatedly hurt/duped. Each time she said "How did this happen?", my inner Baek Beom screamed that it was the wrong question. Also, and this detail was never mentioned anywhere, she can't recognise faces. Yep!
Adding to the story's woes is its pacing. In plain words, it's slow- not the methodical kind of slow where the plot doesn't move forward due to some reasonable doubt, but the sluggish kind where it is just trying to fill the allotted time frame, 60-90 min here. Perhaps it was necessary when they had very little material to go on and yet fit the show to the Korean standard length. Or maybe, they could have used the ridiculous amount of time they had on some actual investigations and confrontations. The glaring blunders not withstanding, Choi Yeon Soo is dull and tired most of the time. The sluggish air around her is more pronounced than in other characters and by so much that at one point, I felt myself imbibing her laziness. It's endlessly painful if you, like me, watch this in the hopes of some racy and nail biting stuff. This unhurried pace wouldn't have been nearly as frustrating if we were either given something to chew and ponder on or if it wasn't illogical in the sequence of events but even with a deadline approaching, Choi Yeon Soo and the story go at their own languid pace. It's unending and frustrating.
The story itself is dull and rather simple. The good guys and the bad guys are revealed pretty early on and there are no deceptions monumental enough to sit up and take notice. One can just lounge around on a couch, eat some chips and say, "Yes, I thought so," when the reveals happen. It's not a new concept by any means and the handling was also poor. I expected some absurd rationale in this like Stranger or Designated Survivor 60 days, but that was all wishful thinking. There's no bad guy here whom we haven't seen as a baddie in some or the other drama, and it kind of kills the whole dark vibe the story aims to give. We've seen how bad they can be, so we'd like it to amount to something here. The good guys are incompetent and keep making the same erroneous moves time and again and they win only because the baddies fail to capitalise on these errors. There's a sequence in episode 12 or 13 where it looked like the show would probably get on the track finally and save itself, but it doesn't last. There are more sighs and pursed lips than there is any action in the story and I was about ready to smack Choi Yeon Soo if she had smacked her lips one more time.
All the loopholes are glossed over as being a part of a well thought out plan and I wonder if the makers sat after each episode's preview and took notes of what all needs to be patched up in the next one. Some are not even explained and left to rot. There's a lot of unnecessary and illogical physical abuse which was the second biggest turn off for me.
The actors did a good job, though. If Ji Jin Hee's character was supposed to be alternately confused and struggling, then he did well. Kim Hyun Joo's emotional scenes were the best part of her role. The villains were bad enough for me to want to strangle them. Yoo Sun Ho and Lee Jae In ace their roles like seasoned actors. Yeon Woo Jin and Han Sun Hwa are excellent too, both in terms of how much they resemble the older cast and in understanding the characters as well. Yeon Soo's teammates are wasted in every sense of the word, but none more so than the fifth person, whose name and face remain unknown and who was only there to fill the chair next to Mr.Bae. They are given their quirks, however, and the actors all give decent performances. The characterisation was overall a big failure and that's all there is to say about it. And here I feel sorry for both Choi Yeon Soo/Kim Hyun Joo because they suffer the most.
The only shining moments are those involving the family dynamics and the sibling duo of Seung goo and Seung mi. The father-son relationship is a treat to viewers, much like the brother-sister bond. Music is another thing the drama gets right and thank God for it. I can't imagine how the show would have turned out otherwise. I will not be watching this again because once was already frustrating enough. Truthfully, Seung goo, Seung Mi, Choo Dong Woo and Song Mi Seon would have solved this case faster. These 4 need a drama of their own.
A pro tip: when you are face to face with someone you want to catch and they are trying to make a run for it, please respectfully move aside and make way. Also, where did Bo Ri and the chief prosecutor disappear to? And why was Go Yoon Joo even there?
Was this review helpful to you?
Not bad
Why should you watch Undercover?1. Well, the plot is not that complex and easy to follow.
2. Has a strong villain who has power, money AND the brains. When you start to watch the drama I'm sure you'll watch it till the end just to see the villain get defeated because you'll get frustrated throughout the drama because of him.
3. They have done an excellent job in casting. The younger selves (Yoen Woo Jin and Han Sun Hwa) resembled the older selves ( Ji Jin Hee and Kim Hyun Joo) a lot! And their acting was good too. Yoo Sun Ho ( the actor who plays Ji Jin Hee and Kim Hyun Joo's autistic older son) does an amazing job portraying his character!
And this whole father-son relationship between Ji Jin Hee and Yoo Sun Ho's characters kinda reminded me of Move To Heaven's father-son relationship between Ji Jin Hee and Tang Jun Sang.
4. Ji Jin Hee's action scenes were daebak!
So yeah, Undercover is not THE best drama of the genre I have watched but still it was good, not boring and worth the watch. Anyone who's into political-crime dramas do give it a shot. You'll like it!
Was this review helpful to you?
Underrated action drama in 2021
I dropped "The Veil" with the same genre, simply because it is reusing the same plot and character of spy genre, most annoying part however to reuse the same scene over and over again (scene of the ML partner died). it is worst-lazy-possible-way to make a filler.I compared to The Veil because this drama deserve better rating.
Story is solid; since it is an adaption from BBC series so I kind of expect that.
Acting is overall good. Oscar go to the main villain; the guy is genius potraying the character with more expression but lesser line. Silver medal goes to female lead, I watched few of her works. I don't really like all of them but impressed with her role in "Miracle that we met", sit her nice on role of a-hot-mother-in-her-prime.
Character. For series character development is more important than the story it self, and female lead fit the bill.
It is enough characters of pure evil, butt licking, betrayer, change of side, is a must-twist-ingredient for this genre;
Was this review helpful to you?
Interesting story with poorly written characters
This had some good potential. Even though, technically speaking, it deals with the same old story of corruption in politics, adding the Agency for National Security Planning and (basically) deserted agent made it a bit fresh.Sadly, the writers were incapable of writing intelligent main characters and villains. At the end, it was not about who outsmarts whom, but who will make more dumb mistakes. There were no winners, rather - bigger losers.
Han Jung Hyun was probably one of the least consistent characters in the history of dramas. Presented as outstanding agent in the past, the future version of him made too many dumb mistakes for me to ever take him seriously. At some point I assumed that the Agency for National Security Planning only teaches and cares about fighting skills, because he barely ever used his brain.
Then we have Im Hyeong Rak, another case of random nerve impulses - turning on and off his brain depending on what the plot needs. Mastermind that was able to cover up all his evil deeds for years… and yet, he cannot predict the most predictable decisions Jung Hyun makes. He overlooks the most obvious course of action. True disappointment.
That said, not all the characters were as bad. Choi Yeon Soo, even if boringly good, was fierce and smart, trying to work, limited by the rules set by corrupted people, to uncover the corruption. Then we have Do Young Geol, who was my favorite character - one of the most entertaining to watch. I wished the writers and director gave a little bit more attention and depth to his slowly growing internal conflict. Big props to the younger cast playing Jung Hyun’s kids - solid performance.
The plot itself could be better. It feels like there weren’t enough hints or clues leading to a “plot twist” to make it interesting, the bad guys were bad, the good guys were good. The guys that were at first good, without solid reasoning turned bad… and I was just sitting in front of my laptop questioning everyone’s motives. There was not enough payoff from any of the plot lines.
Overall, I think the burning frustration I felt while watching was the most entertaining part. The drama could be renamed “Why y’all like that?”. When all the involved parties became aware of each other, and you would have thought the cat and mouse chase would start… The drama ended. The last episode? Anticlimactic would be an understatement.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Could've been better
Drama had fine pace and a decent balance between present and the past. However it only speed up both in plot and thrill from ep10 upward. Between boring and unlikable main leads and bland supporting ones, villains Im Hying Rak and Do Young Gul were the shining stars of "Undercover". One dissapointment for me was Go Yoon Jo, she seemed promising at first but in the end she wasn't that important and her love triangle was unnecessary. Plot twists in later episodes were surprising and kind of sad but well played, even though with all that tention being build from the first episode, ending seemed anticlimactic and unsatisfying. Music wasn't bad but awfully overused. If the main theme wasn't played several times in an episode, it would be better.Was this review helpful to you?
A good drama to spend some time on
As others said, story is a little streched out ..For most of the story Choi Yeon Soo lacked character.
Ji Jin Hee was amazing.
Also the Father-sibling relationship in the Lee family nice ..
All in all, a great drama with a brilliant OST.
Lead Role chemistry was quite amazing during the first 10 episodes.
Suk-Gyu and his father's scenes were quite emotional.
Also a nice potrayal of a understanding family were the female lead is the main earner and Male lead takes care of the household.
Actors playing Do young chol and Im Ryung hak characters were pretty good.
Was this review helpful to you?
A well-made story of deceit and betrayal
Without diving into words of beauty, I am gonna put it in a simple word - this is your typical well made story of political-thriller.Based on 2016 UK series of same name, it does well, in terms of emotional weightage, which is like Asian series trademark. Undercover uncovers the political corruption, power and greed in name of patriotism that has ruined so many lives. A life that could have lived freely was forced to live under fake identity in order to save a love that came in a way of that very "patriotism".
Imagin, denying your only family member, your own father you meet on a street, that they have mistook them for others, how painful and cruel it is for both parties. While watching this series, the elements that are infused with this story of deceit and betrayal, I can't help but anticipate the next moment and the grand revelation of this series is going to break hearts.
Ji Jin Hee almost always plays miserable character entangled in family and his work life. Based on his previous work, this series premise and setting is not unfamiliar for him and he transformed into his character very naturally. I have not seen anything but "Designated Survivor" from his profile and he does it so well playing roles with unidentified emotions. And as for Kim Hyun Joo, she was absolute brilliant in Watcher. As it is their second project together, in same husband-wife role, their chemistry is beaming, however it is not very lovey-dovey, like how it was in Flower of Evil. The FL here has much more things on her plate then to be concerned with romance, and her this obliviousness, gonna brought doom on her.
The children are adorable, Yoo Sun Ho who plays an autistic child has tried his best to stay true to its character, however it seems he is overworking on his character. As autistic child is not very talkative but the spectrum is different from individual to individual.
For those who are going to watch this or plan to watch this, expect nothing sort of great fro this as it is a very very basic story with all the elements that can keep you hook, - a good old recipe that works every time.
Despite a JTBC show, this show failed to garner any special attention even though it has average ratings per episodes. But watchers, should give this series a try, as it is definitely worth it, and not a waste of time.
Thank you to all the subbers for subbing it, as this series gets subbed three days after the episode release. We understand, but what is the reason behind this?
Was this review helpful to you?
Be honest,
The story is about a man who has 2 identities which is one for undercover and the other for normal life. But there is an incident where it leads to his family and He must protect both identities and that's where the story becomes more interesting since his family didn't know his undercover identity. Not only that, but He must fight the blue collar that has big authority to use their power for bad things such as corruption in the nation itself.There is a lot of blood and action in this series so it will be enjoyed by those who like it.
Overall it's a good series.
Was this review helpful to you?
Could've been better....
It took forever before the story started progressing. It could've been easily condensed down to 7-8 episodes without sacrificing anything. The amount of plot convinces was unbelievable. A common example is whenever a piece of information is about to be revealed, it magically get sabotaged in the most blatant way there is. Throughout the entire drama it felt it was building towards something big but it never got there and the resolution of the culprits was underwhelming anyway. The drama in general was riddled with all kind of problems but the big cast was pulling it up so damn hard.Was this review helpful to you?
Great chemistry
This was actually one of my most anticipated series, being a fan of Kim Hyun Joo and Ji Jin Hee. As a couple, they have one of the best on screen chemistry I have ever seen. Really great and believable acting.Casting Yeon Woo Jin and Han Sun Hwa was also a good choice. Both of them could pass off as the younger versions of the lead because their looks bear some similarities. These two also work well together and it would be nice to see them in a new project, taking on lead roles.
Storywise, the drama was a bit slow in its development and only started to pick up by the 10th episode. Nevertheless, it has a good cast of characters who make the story worth watching.
Was this review helpful to you?
