Summary:

A bombing kills the President of South Korea along with all the high ranking officials which left Park Mu Jin as acting president for 60 days until the next presidential election. He is a “good man” with no political ambition but he does his best to perform his duties.

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This political thriller have exciting plot twists and interesting characters. The cast was amazing and played their characters well. Ji Jin Hee was definitely the perfect actor for the role of Park Mu Jin but he’s not my favorite in this ensemble. Son Seok Koo took all my attention with his awesome portrayal of Cha Young Jin. He’s the cold yet compassionate, awkwardly romantic, and intense Presidential Secretary. I’m not going to mention everyone on this blog but one of the reasons why I enjoyed this show is because of the chemistry of all the characters – bromance (Park Mu Jin & Cha Young Jin, Cha Young Jin & Kim Nam Wook), office love triangle (Cha Young Jin – Jung Soo Jung – Kim Nam Wook), and one sided love (Seo Ji Won to Han Na Kyung).

Some of the plot are predictable (I haven’t seen the original version but I was able to guess some parts of the story.) I truly believed that Park Mu Jin is a good man but they were not able to convince me that he is the best presidential candidate (He seemed weak to me.) There were a lot of subplots that were interesting though such as the romance between Cha Young Jin and Jung Soo Jung and Yoon Chan Kyung’s gay son. Most of the characters in this drama have their own stories and each complete the whole.

I will not end this review without mentioning Lee Joon Hyuk who played Oh Young Seok – daebak! He embodies the character of a good looking politician that young people will totes vote for. It was so obvious that this character was set to fail but I found myself rooting for him at times (Maybe because he’s hot? LOL.) I think that for me to be able to understand this character’s motivation, they should have shown what happened at the Battle of Baengnyeong in a flashback. Without it, to me, he was just an ambitious man who made a deal with the devil.

Oh, well. These are my thoughts. What do you think? I give this drama a 6.5 / 10. I definitely enjoyed it but it fell short of my expectations. I recommend this drama to those who love political thrillers because if you watch it looking for romance you will be very disappointed. Enjoy watching!

Episode 16 – The Last Choice

Pres. Park is once again the leading candidate for the presidential race.

Mr. Kim tells Pres. Park that someone in the BH knew the attack was about to happen but didn’t do anything to stop it. That person completed the attack through Pres. Park. When Pres. Park asks him who that person is, Mr. Kim asks for a pardon.

Pres. Park meets with Yoon Chan Kyung and Kang Sang Goo to convince them to sign an agreement that whoever wins the presidential race will give Mr. Kim the pardon.

Mr. Kim escapes NIS with the help of an associate however Agent Kang and Jung Han Mo traps him at a rooftop where Tae-Ik assassinated him.

Kang Dae Han’s investigation and Agent’s Seo’s research led them to Secretary Han. Kang Dae Han shows Pres. Park a video of the Pres. Yang’s security team member reporting the attack to Sec. Han. Before the press conference, Pres. Park confronts Sec. Han about his involvement. Sec. Han did not deny and tells Pres. Park that the citizens did not deserve to have a president like Yang Jin Man.

On the press conference, Pres. Park announces that he will not be joining the presidential race. He reveals that a member of the Presidential Secretariat was an accomplice in the bombing and that he intends to take responsibility. He promises to do his best and finish his term.

Pres. Park orders Sec. Han to be arrested. The secretaries were all surprised especially Sec. Cha who trusted him(They had a mentor-mentee relationship). Sec. Cha asks Pres. Park why he did things alone. Pres. Park apologizes and said he would understand if they leave. Sec. Cha then tells him that he is there to protect his person even his views and beliefs.

Tae-Ik leaves South Korea. The new president has been elected. (They didn’t reveal who won.) Pres. Park leaves the Blue House (for now).

Three years later, Park Mu Jin goes camping with his family. He went back to academia but he declines an offer from Stanford.

An aspiring presidential candidate invites Cha Young Jin to his campaign but he declines. He instead went looking for his team. (This part was so satisfying.) He finds Kim Nam Wook distributing fliers to support the enactment of Discrimination Act. Park Soo Kyo was being abused by some chaebol (i think, not sure) but resigns after seeing Cha and Kim – he joins them. The three went to Jung Soo Jung who also quit her job to join them. Cha and Jung reveals that they’re dating. (Yaaas!)

The four reunites with Park Mu Jin. Cha Young Jin once again asks him to run for the next presidential election. The other three offered their support as well. Park Mu Jin smiles at them. THE END!!!

Sigh! The ending was satisfying regardless. Hope you watch all the episodes too!

Episode 14 – The Outcome

Agent Han & Agent Seo finds out that Mr. Kim is the VIP’s liaison by tapping Gen. Eun’s mobile phone.

Pres. Park decides to let go of the Discrimination Act. He gains political advantage but loses one vote (the movie director)

Agent Han decides to infiltrate Mr. Kim’s office to access the safe in an effort to stop Oh Yeong-Seok from announcing his candidacy. She successfully accessed the safe but Tae-Ik knocked her out and abducted her. Agent Han wakes up locked inside a car with a bomb in a shopping mall parking lot but was able to escape.

Agent Han delivers evidence to Pres Park against Oh Yeong-Seok. And Oh Yeong-Seok did not announce his candidacy. He decides to join Gen. Eun’s coup d’etat.

To quell the rebel forces, Pres. Park’s reaches out to Gen Lee Gwan-Mook and offers to reinstate him as Joint Chief of Staff. Gen Lee did not want to help Pres Park because he humiliated him twice – for relieving him of his post and putting him on house arrest as a person of interest on the bombing. Pres. Park tells him that if he declines, he will use the navy and airforce against the army taking advantage of the rift between the three forces. That didn’t work.

Agent Han stops Oh Yeong-Seok on the road and tries to apprehend him. As he was about to surrender, his bodyguard, comrade and friend Kim Chang-min shoots him in the head and commits suicide.

Episode 13 – Presidential Candidate

The aftershock

Pres. Park joining the presidential race is the talk of town. Mayor Kang Sang-Goo was teased by his secretary for dyeing his hair because she thinks he felt threatened. Pres. Park doesn’t want to join a political party to avoid compromising the investigation of the bombing. Sec. Han declines to join Pres. Park’s campaign.

Pres. Park attends a public event as part of his campaign but was put in a tough spot when the movie director admitted that she was gay. The discrimination act was thrown at him and the secretaries stops him from setting a bill in motion. Kim Nam-Wook tries to stop media from speculating about Pres. Park’s opinion about LGBT.

The investigation continues…

Jung Han-Mo declined to give information to Agent Han about his situation even though she already knows his son was kidnapped.

Tae-Ik had no choice but the bring Jae-Min to the hospital when he suffers from allergic reaction. A hospital staff recognizes Jae-Min from the picture provided by Agent Han and reports it. Tae-Ik tries to run away with the child but gives up and decides to leave him. Agent Han was surprised to find out that Tae-Ik is still alive.

Agent Han’s investigation leads them to Gen Eun Hee-Jung as a person of interest. He got spooked when Kang Dae Han asked him about it. Pres. Park cannot request an open investigation on Oh Yeong-Seok because people might think he’s doing it to damage his political rival.

Cha Young-Jin vs Kim Nam-Wook

Sec. Cha is against the discrimination act while Sec. Kim supports it. They have a heated argument about it and only stopped when Pres. Park mediated. Agreeing words won’t cut it, they decide to take it outside. What other way to settle the differences between men than a basketball one-on-one? (This is the most memorable scene ever! This shows they respect each other as colleagues and like each other to be considered friends. Friendly competition makes their relationship interesting and one of a kind. Plus, these dudes are fit! Handsome older men sweating while shooting hoops. Their chiseled bodies can be seen through their shirts wet from sweat. Sigh.) Kim Nam-Wook wins by the way. (LOL.)

Now that he’s exposed, Gen. Eun tries to convince Oh Yeong-Seok to join him and turn their back on the VIP. Pres. Park decides to go through with enacting the discrimination bill.

Episode 12 – Answer

Pres. Park wakes up

Kim Nam-Wook brags to Oh Yeong-Seok that Pres. Park is awake. The First Lady and Sec. Park fusses over the President so he kicks them out. Finally alone, Sec. Jung reports to Pres. Park that Oh Yeong-Seok authorized to kill the sniper. She finally tells him that Sec Cha was the one who ordered to remove Gen. Lee’s access to OP 5015-18.

Agent Han finally briefs the President

In the previous episode, Kang Dae Han was able to find Seo Ji-Won and all the intel they’ve gathered so far had been shared. In the pretense that she was being transferred to the prosecution, Kang Dae Han releases Agent Han and brings her to Pres. Park to report what she has found so far. Even though they’ve lost all the evidence, she tells Pres. Park that she will start all over again. Pres. Park tells her to start investigating the accomplicfe inside BH.

Sec. Han finds out that Sec. Jung investigated him in secret and realized that’s the reason why she’s been acting strange. He asks her why and if she was ordered by the president or if she did it on her own. She did not respond and left. Kang Dae Han invites him for questioning and he was surprised to find out that he’s being investigated as an accomplice to the bombing. Agent Han plays his phone call recording and showed him the OP 5015-18 file which he claims to have no access to. He says that he’s only passing orders from higher-ups, specifically from Sec. Han Ju-Seong. He points out that Sec. Han was overseas at the time and when he came back the file was gone because the previous president ordered them to be destroyed. Sec. Cha was cleared from all suspicions.

Before leaving. Sec. Cha asks Agent Han if the President suspects him to be the mole. (He sounded hurt and apprehensive of the response. It shows how much he values Pres. Park’s opinion of him.) Agent Han says that if the President suspected him, he would have been relieved of his duties first. (He looked relieved.) He meets Sec. Jung in the hospital and she awkwardly tells him that Agent Han already gave her an update. He tells her that he would have acted the same if he was put in the same situation. Sec. Jung responded that, even so, they wouldn’t be sharing that beer after all.

The Battle of Baengnyeong

Oh Yeong-Seok calls the NSC while keeping the BH staff out of the meeting. Afterwards, Gen. Eun tries to be friendly with him and acting like his superior he asks Oh Yeong-Seok to report to him. Oh Yeong-Seok brings up the Battle of Baengnyeong and tells him not to order him again. (The Battle of Baengnyeong seems to be Oh Yeong-Seok’s last assignment before leaving the navy. Rep. Yoon was also involved in it and this was the reason why he declined to join her party in previous episode.)

Sec. Cha finds out that the purpose of the NSC meeting was the expansion of Naval base so he went to confront Oh Yeong-Seok who turned it around by asking him where he was yesterday. (He was being questioned by Agent Han.)

“It’s the reason why I can trust him.”

Rep. Yoon meets with Oh Yeong-Seok to question his decisions. After their conversation, she tells Sec. Cha to be careful of him because he’s a dangerous man. Sec. Cha talks to Oh Yeong-Seok to tell him about the negative results of his decisions and that he’s abusing his power. Sec. Cha says that Pres. Park knew how to fear this position (president) and that’s the reason why he can trust him.

Agent Han follows a lead and went to BH with Kang Dae Han and Seo Ji Won. They overheard Oh Yeong-Seok talking to the US army about the naval base expansion and Agent Han realized that the reason behind the bombing was to start a war with South Korea at the center of it.

It’s been released to the public that Sec. Cha was investigated as an accomplice in the bombing so he decides to resign from his position to avoid tarnishing Pres. Park’s campaign. Pres. Park attends the press briefing and publicly declines Sec. Cha’s resignation.

President Park announces that he will be running for President…

Episode 11 – The Acting President, Oh Yeong-seok

Two shots fired.

Pres. Park needs to undergo surgery due to the gunshot wound and will be unable to perform his duties for the next 12 hours. The second shot was to the Minister of Strategy and Finance who was supposed to be next in line as acting President.

Everyone’s on edge and emotional in the hospital while preparing for the President to go on surgery. The First Lady frets after seeing her husband still working with his secretaries even though he can be replaced temporarily. She tells him that as for their family, he’s irreplaceable.

Sec. Cha notifies Oh Yeong-Seok that he’s now acting president as per South Korean Constitution. Pres. Park and Rep. Yoon discusses how to keep Acting President Oh in check. Rep Yoon tells Pres. Park that she didn’t want to recruit him on their party because he’s not marketable in politics. However she tells him that she can trust to fight if he’s the referee. (Basically asking him not to run as president and moderate the election instead.)

Interrogating Agent Han

Agent Han keeps a tight lip and asks to brief the President directly. Kang Dae-Han tells her that Pres. Park is in surgery and Oh Yeong-Seok is acting president. Since Director Ji Yoon Bae is watching, he secretly tells her that he met Kim Jun-o which surprises her. She pretends to attack Kang Dae Han so she can tell him to look for Seo Ji Won.

President Oh Yeong-Seok

Completely comfortable in his (temporary) role, Oh Yeong-Seok made it his first order of business to allow the stock market to crash to the benefit of a businessman that the VIP favors. He also orders the NSC to kill Tae-Ik in order to cover up their involvement.

Lover’s spat

Even though the surgery was a success, Pres. Park is still unconscious and the doctor is worried about possible brain damage. BH is moving forward smoothly without Pres. Park. Sec. Jung tries to go to the hospital but Sec. Cha stops her which makes her angry. She confronts Sec. Cha asking him why he remains unfazed by everything that’s going on. She accuses him of not caring about who becomes a president and calls him a kingmaker.

Sec. Cha is upset and tries to explain himself. He says that he doesn’t want this period to be remembered as Pres. Park’s failure and he thought that she of all people would understand. Sec. Jung tells him that she doesn’t know what kind of person he is anymore. (Sec. Jung doesn’t seem to believe the saying – Innocent until proven guilty. She let her emotions get in the way.)

Oh Yeong-Seok’s warning

Oh Yeong-Seok personally attends the media briefing and tells the public that the sniper was killed to avoid more casualties. He also warns the attackers “We will no longer condone any threat to the safety or lives of our people. We will make sure to punish you.” (Such strong words. Since he’s one of the perpetrators, this is really him doing a campaign in advance.) He successfully earns the public’s favor.

Episode 10 – Accomplice

How Kim Jun-O survived.

He finds out about the plan to bomb the National Assembly building so he makes his way there to stop it. He was attacked by Tae-Ik on the train but was able to get away, however, the bomb exploded just before he was about to enter the building. He pretended to be dead so that he can report what happened.

OP 5015-18

Kim Jun-O shows the bombing simulation the Pres. Park and reveals that this made before the bombing not after. All the people who knew it existed died in the bombing except one – General Lee Gwan Muk.

Pres Park continues to investigate the bombing in secret with the help of the Head of Security Kang Dae-Han. Suspicions grew when every person they find connected to the bombing are dead.

Pres. Park talks to Gen Lee and finds out that his access to the OP 5015-18 was revoked that’s why he never saw what’s inside. Pres Park ordered Sec. Jung to find out who revoked Gen Lee’s access. She later finds out that the call came from the Secretaries’ office – but the line was shared by Sec. Cha and Sec. Han.

Kim Jun-O dies, for real this time.

Suspecting that Agent Han’s life might be in danger, he calls her and tells her to leave the house before it explodes. Agent Han and Kim Jun-O meets again but their reunion was cut short when he got shot by the assassin sent to kill her. Pres. Park felt frustrated that he couldn’t give Kim Jun-O a proper funeral.

The Investiture

No way to stop it, Pres. Park proceeds with the appointment of non-party cabinet. During the ceremony, Sec Jung received the recording that proves that Sec. Cha was the one who revoked General Lee’s access to OP 5015-18. Agent Han finds out where Tae-Ik is and that he is about to assassinate someone in the appointment ceremony. Unfortunately, she failed to stop him.