In this news:
Lead cast: Kim Hye-soo, Jung Ji-sung, Joo Jong-hyuk
Back on the small screen for the first time since Juvenile Justice and Under the Queen’s Umbrella in 2022, Kim Hye-soo picks up a microphone and sharpens her eyes to ask probing questions in the investigative-news journalism drama Unmasked on Disney+.
Given the intense news cycle that has dominated South Korean headlines over the past few months – including the stalled enactment of martial law, millions of protesters on the streets, two presidential impeachments, a deadly plane crash and a sitting president barricading himself in his home to keep law enforcers out – this may be an opportune time for a media-focused K-drama series to air.
The recent events in Korea have been bewildering, but adding to the confusion has been the wild circulation of unverified news on social media.
Citizens need a reliable news source that they can trust, and the dogged investigative news reporter Oh So-ryong, played by beloved screen icon Kim, appears to fit the bill.
So-ryong’s first challenge in the series aligns eerily with the recent chaos surrounding the arrest of Korea’s impeached president Yoon Suk-yul. She is the face of “Trigger”, a famous investigative news programme with a loyal following but very skittish sponsors.
Trigger’s latest investigation involves the death of a young man connected with a secretive religious sect. So-ryong and her team are denied access to the church’s compound and come face to face with a pastor’s shotgun barrel.
Despite its clearly suspicious behaviour, the church is allowed to operate by crooked local police, who shoo away the Trigger team.
Just as Yoon and his presidential security team refused to follow the rule of law for several weeks while holed up behind barricades, this church belligerently continues its activities.
And just like the many protesters and reporters who kept up pressure on the impeached president, staying outside his door in the dead of winter, morning and night, So-ryong also doesn’t take no for an answer.
She paraglides her way into the church compound and discovers drugs and a crypto coin mining operation, which she records and reveals to the world.
Beyond this opening case, the parallels remain familiar, although in a more general way. Each time they investigate something, So-ryong and her team are confronted by stubborn and hard-headed characters – after all, people with something to hide are the hardest ones to pry information out of.
They also have to deal with internal challenges which threaten the future of their programme. Among them is the presence of network brass who give the Trigger team a hard time, constantly threatening to cancel their broadcasts.
Early in episode one, we are treated to the familiar but always effective trope – from Ghostbusters to The Wire – of the Trigger team being relegated to an out-of-the-way, shabby basement office.
Also giving them headaches is the anonymous message board whistle-blower known as “Dr Trigger”, who keeps leaking gossip with the express purpose of tearing down So-ryong’s image.
This includes gossip about her having an affair with a colleague, and later a sex video to back it up.
In truth, So-ryong is carrying on a secret, but perfectly innocent relationship with a colleague. What she doesn’t know is that this colleague is the man in the video, although the woman is not her.
When one of So-ryong’s long-time producers quits after experiencing one too many panic attacks, a spot on her team needs to be filled, and the person who very reluctantly takes it is the disgraced TV drama producer Han Do (Jung Sung-il, The Glory).
Han Do has very little interest in getting sucked into So-ryong’s investigations, and goes so far as to file a police complaint against her after being forced to raid the church compound with her against his will.
However, he does have a soft spot for animals, and when he discovers that local stray cats are being abused he is inspired to pitch an episode.
The trouble is, the same idea has also been pitched by a junior member of So-ryong’s staff, Kang Gi-ho (Joo Jong-hyuk, Extraordinary Attorney Woo), who has been struggling to get his shot at producing because he lacks a prestigious educational background.
Despite the media background and the heavy themes of the investigations, the tone of Unmasked is largely light. The heavy focus on comedy occasionally upsets the balance of the show, making it seem either lacking in confidence or uninterested in fully engaging with its journalistic themes.
Always a compelling screen presence, Kim mostly keeps the ship steady; perhaps a better balance will be struck in the coming episodes.
Unmasked is streaming on Disney+.
