Can you tell what's bunny and what's leaf?
On episode 7 of 'Missing 9', the producers have introduced a new character, one whose purpose is to drive the momentum of the plot forward. This also means that the drama has almost completely moved on from exploring it's characters, to focussing directly on the murder mystery plot, revolving around singer-turned actor Choi Tae Ho (played by Choi Tae Joon).
This new character goes by the name reporter Kim. He is critical in providing us with the information, that Choi Tae Ho is likely behind the death of composer Shin Jae Hyun, as well as that Shin Jae Hyun and Yoon So Hee had been involved in a secret relationship before the composer's death. Up until now, we had reason to believe that Seo Jun Oh (played by Jung Kyung Ho) was indirectly responsible for Jae Hyun's death, albeit without any real evidence to support it. But with this new development, it becomes clearer that from the beginning, Choi Tae Ho's character was meant to be a central antagonist in this story. We also learn that Choi Tae Ho, despite my previous assumption, had the workings of a murderer, even before becoming stranded on the island. While I still don't believe that his sorrow and guilt toward Lee Yeol (EXO's Chanyeol) was fake, it's now become even more difficult to read into Choi Tae Ho's character like you would read into a normal human character, due to his abnormal inner workings as a murderer.
Could he be thinking, 'Can she please do something about her boring hair?'
Tae Ho has now been completely exposed as the murderer responsible for Lee Yeol and Yoon So Hee's death, after the whole crew of survivors barged in on him trying to strangle reporter Kim to death. Secretary Tae Hang Ho finally comes forward by confessing that he witnessed Tae Ho faking So Hee's suicide, and now, the survivors on the island have a real killer on their hands. Even after finding all these things out, I found it rather heart-wrenching and very human of CEO Hwang Jae Kook to still treat him as his own, refer to him as one of his own, even as he landed slap after slap on Tae Ho's face. This also may hint at the rest of the crew's, especially Jun Oh's, internal conflicts toward Tae Ho in later episodes.
The inherent, good nature of the crew of survivors on the island makes watching the new CEO, Jang Do Pal, and his plotting in the present with Tae Ho, even more excruciating to endure. It's not easy for us to understand why Tae Ho keeps claiming that it's not his fault he killed everyone he killed. It's easier to understand Jang Do Pal. He wants to take over Legend Entertainment; he wants power and money. Investigator Jo Hee Kyung's objective is also something we can understand. She would rather report Tae Ho's side of the story as the truth, than Ra Bong Hee (played by Baek Jin Hee)'s, because it makes life easier for her and her higher ups. But as for Tae Ho continuously arguing that "everyone is always blaming me", we're still missing critical information about how Tae Ho was involved in Jae Hyun's sucide.
It was an interesting technique for the production to physically create the scenes within Tae Ho's fake story, or rather, his fake memory of what occurred on the island. This technique puts us viewers on the edges of our seats, because while we know that it is far from the truth, it is an indicator that "truth" is, and has always been to many of the characters in this series thus far, a mutable substance.
The plot has been racing through each of the episodes so far, with new developments making us think harder and deeper day by day. But as fast as the story is progressing, the drama makes sure to add in it's comical elements, odd island survival antics, and of of course, a sprinkling of romance here and there. Because we are at episode 7 of a series consisting of 16 episodes, and we've yet to complain about the plot being slow or draggy, I might suspect that there's more we can expect from this story as we go further in, then we've been let in on. Just like the introduction of the new character in the beginning of the episode, we can't let our guard down, because who knows what'll happen next?
Someone please give this guy an award for being so good at making everything he does look lame and uncool.
Plot................7
Performance......7
Pacing...........10
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