Title: 펀치 | Peonchi | Punch
Genre: Legal Thriller | Drama
Episodes: 19
Broadcast Network: SBS
Broadcast Period: December 15, 2014 – February 17, 2015
Synopsis:
Park Jung-Hwan grew up in an underprivileged family and yet he worked his way up to become an great prosecutor, a father and a husband to Shin Ha-Kyung. But, along the way, he got disillusioned with the political corruption within the system and ends up craving to have that power himself. He, then, became the loyal lackey of Lee Tae-Joon. In doing so, he ended up compromising so many of his principles as a prosecutor and sacrificed so many things that matters including his marriage, so, he can put Lee Tae-Joon in power. He indeed succeeded putting Lee Tae-Joon to become the General Prosecutor of Korea. He thought he finally got all he wanted leading to the road where he can reach his ambition but it all came to a halt when not only he had to fight the legal investigation filed against him by his ex-wife, Shin Ha-Kyung, a highly principled and honest prosecutor, but, he literally needs to fight to live and survive. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor and has a few months to live, so, now, every choices he makes will have dire consequences that will define him not only who he is as a man but as a father to his daughter, Park Ye-Rin.
Characters:
- Kim Rae-Won as Park Jung-Hwan
- Kim Ah-Joong as Shin Ha-Kyung
- Cho Jae-Hyun as Lee Tae-Joon
- Seo Ji-Hye as Choi Yeon-Jin
- On Joo-Wan as Lee Ho-Sung
- Choi Myung-Gil as Yoon Ji-Sook
- Kim Eung-Soo as Jung Gook-Hyun
- Lee Han-Wi as Oh Dong-Choon
- Park Hyuk-Kwon as Jo Kang-Jae
- Song Ok-Sook as Jung-Hwan’s Mother
- Kim Ji-Young as Park Ye-Rin
- Lee Young-Eun as Park Hyun-Sun
- Lee Ki-Young as Lee Tae-Sub
- Jang Hyun-Sung as Jang Min-Seok
- Ryu Seung-Soo in Cameo Role
- Kang Ha-Neul in Cameo Role
My Review:
So, What do I Like About this K-Drama?
A year ago, I had spent several worthy hours watching an excellent office drama, Misaeng. It was about a genre that I never thought I would ever like let alone enjoy unless the show was a good comedy. This week I got another treat, this time in a purely political type of a K-Drama that surprisingly gave me so much pleasure. I really thought like my first misconceptions with Misaeng, I will hate the first episode of this political drama. I thought I will yawn in boredom or watch the typical Korean legal scenes that makes me wonder if the Korean legal system is that stupid or just done for cinematic purposes or, even worst, the director considers the audience that stupid. Whichever it maybe I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Kim Rae-Won fall in my eyes in choosing a K-Drama that’s beneath him as an actor just like what my beloved Kwon Sang-Woo did in doing Temptation. Kim Rae-Won is the only reason I checked this out because I do love him as an actor especially in Atticat and My Little Bride. I was kinda in trepidation that this is something I will totally hate and end up fast forwarding it. But, alas, I am totally glad it wasn’t. Like Misaeng, that gave brilliance to an otherwise boring topic about office politics, Punch was a very apt title to a K-Drama that punches you in the gut with delight in an otherwise may have been a tedious political drama in a foreign language nonetheless. Punch is a rare political K-Drama that may not be totally perfect, but, the best no nonsense political drama I’ve ever seen in all K-Dramas I’ve ever watched, and, believe me, that’s not an easy feat for any K-Drama to get a comment like that from me, considering it is also a serious drama. There’s not even a relief of a feel good and light romantic story that a typical romcom gal like me would like to see in almost all of my K-Drama’s wanted list. More so, for me to say that after catching the DOTS (Descendants of the Sun) bug, wherein almost all K-Dramas I watched afterwards pale in comparison especially in its entertainment value, where I base my ratings in all the K-Dramas I review on this site, do says a lot on how good I find Punch is. Although, this K-Drama truly dealt with serious drama stuff wherein almost all of the 7 capital sins are depicted in all various forms and faces, unexpectedly, the treatment of the story never felt too much of a burden for it to eradicate out of me or probably, generally speaking, to the audience at large, the enjoyment of watching it as the events unfolds. In fact, it was quite suspenseful and delivered in what I can say the best definition of what a legal or political thriller is. The story and the characters are tight, consistent and indeed a showcase of exceptional talents of the director, actors, the entire staff, and, most particularly, the writer who made this collaboration. No wonder it was critically acclaimed and recognized by many of the award giving bodies in Korea.
(1) Although, Kim Rae-Won was quite great as an actor here and didn’t disappoint me, I must give a well deserved applause to the brilliance of the acting chops to the 3 actors on this K-Drama: Cho Jae-Hyun as Lee Tae-Joon, Seo Ji-Hye as Choi Yeon-Jin and Kim Ji-Young as Park Ye-Rin. They made this K-Drama interesting, lighter and truly a delight to watch. I love Cho Jae-Hyun as Lee Tae-Joon especially the manner where he converse in a double-edge sword. He is the villain that’s really atypical of all villains. His character can rise a feeling of disgust in you but, at the same time, can amuse and feel a certain level of empathy within you. His character also has this weird sense of loyalty and definition of honor among thieves which is something very lacking to the character that’s supposedly will clean up the political situation, Yoon Ji-Sook. While, Kim Ji-Young as Park Ye-Rin, is the second child character in any K-Drama I’ve seen that made a true valuable contribution in the story. Kim Ji-Young made me appreciate her character and how one can be lucky as a parent to have a child like that. And, last but certainly not the least, Seo Ji-Hye as Choi Yeon-Jin, this character is quite an enigma of who she really is. In the end, beyond ambition, it was love that drives her albeit unrequited. They are the characters that gave both depth and lightness to the story, if I may call it as such, and stand out from the pack. This K-Drama could have been such a heavy drama with no entertainment value to me whatsoever if not for them, in my book.
(2) I love that the characters were all well written and consistent as to who they really are. They are all multi-faceted and nothing can be boxed as just the “good” or the “bad” guy. Like life nothing is really that black or white. To think otherwise, then, you are just like the character, Yoon Ji-Sook’s holier than thou syndrome.
(3) There’s no boring moments from start to finish. Even the usual “brain” tumor thingy that I always felt one of the most favorite element in almost all K-Dramas besides making us bear to watch another karaoke scene.
(4) The story is heavy but it was delivered fantastically in a manner that it didn’t choke me to death with “heavy feelings” like what “The Secret Love Affair” did to me.
(5) I loved that it touched certain realities in life especially that, most of the time, the people who are judgemental and loudly speaking supposedly for truth and justice against others are the very kind of people who are actually worse than those they are accusing of evil and injustice.
(6) I appreciate that this K-Drama makes you think about who we are as people. Are we basically good? Or, simply born selfish as a race? It has provided a lot of musings to the audience that are effectively delivered.
What I do Not Like About this K-Drama?
As I’ve said, this K-Drama is not that perfect. It did have flaws but they are flaws you can ignore and still be happy in continually ignoring them. They don’t lessen the quality of this K-Drama, however, these are the things that I really do not like to see:
(1) One thing, I always wonder in any conflicts per se in any K-Drama is the depiction of Koreans can be easily swayed by gossips, is it really true in real life? After all, dramas are reflections of our reality.
(2) I actually find it stupid sometimes that characters tend to say what they are planning to do against their opponents. I can understand when certain situations warrants it but sometimes I wonder if the director thinks that the audience may not be smart enough to understand what’s going on. It is sometimes quite insulting to the level of our intelligence.
(3) I don’t know exactly how Korean law is dispense for real in Korea but there are some really weird legal procedures that keep on being depicted in almost all K-Dramas that don’t really make sense to me. Maybe I am just too influenced by western culture or maybe because my father is a lawyer. I have no idea if it got lost in translation, but, I just find it really frustrating. Is it really as corrupt and embecil as my country’s legal system? Or, is it just who we are as humans, no matter what country you reside in?
Would I recommend this K-Drama? A Resounding YES.
My Rating to this Drama
( See My Rating System: ) 5/5 Stars
OST:
01. That is My World – Jun In Kwon (전인권) and Dok2 (도끼)
02. Far Away – Kim Feel
03. Days Without You – Kang Kyoon Sung
04. 그대로의 사랑 – Jo Sung Mo