The new K-drama Low Life marks almost a comeback for actor Yang Se-Jong. I suppose he’s always been a little bit picky with his roles and doesn’t show up as often as the other actors of his generation. Anyway, Low Life tells the story of a gang of men put together to find a precious treasure on the ocean bed lost in 1323, after a merchant ship sank off the coast of Sinan with a crew of 100, 20,000 pieces of pottery, and 8 million coins from the Song and Yuan Dynasties. In 1977, a crew is put together to retrieve as much pottery as they can from this wreck. Episodes 1-3 are just about the team coming together, the reasons for it, and how there’s competition to get to the treasure. Essentially, whoever gets to it first, wins. With that said, let’s jump into the recap of episodes 1, 2 and 3.
Spoiler Alert
Who Is Yang Jung-Sook?
Low Life episode 1 begins with the details of the ship sinking. We then cut to the year 1962, where a mother and kid are struggling to prove to police officers that they haven’t done anything wrong. The man who shows up to help them, though, isn’t the boy’s dad. He is his uncle, twin brother to his father. Soon after he sorts out the police stuff, a new team of sorts is formed between Gwan-Seok, the uncle, and Hee-Dong, the nephew. Gwan-Seok is a petty thief who steals anything under the sun that can help him and notes all his endeavors down in a notebook. Suddenly, a few years have passed, and Hee-Dong is all grown up, but the duo are arrested for all their thieving, with Gwan-Seok’s notebook being a key piece of the evidence. In prison, Hee-Dong, who is now a brooding man who seems not to care about anything, stops some thugs from beating up an old man. This man is Song Ki-Taek, and he’s a friend of Gwan-Seok.
Hee-Dong dreams of marrying his girlfriend after prison, but his misfortune is that she’s already moved on and is engaged to someone else. She tells him to get his act together, but instead he chooses to join his uncle in the new big heist that Song wants to put them on. Song offers the boys 400,000 won (big money at the time, I’d imagine) to retrieve some pottery from the bottom of the ocean. I suppose the one good thing is that Gwan-Seok wants his kids to do well in life, but his screaming and shouting aren’t really helping anyone, and Hee-Dong knows it. Gwan-Seok makes a new plan with Hee-Dong. If Song is offering so much money, it’s got to be some precious stuff they’re meant to get their hands on, so he suggests they take some of the merchandise for themselves, and nobody will be any the wiser. Then, Hee-Dong travels to Mokpo to find out if there’s word on the street about this treasure. It appears this treasure is no secret, and even the government has tried looking for it.
Already, there’s a love interest for Hee-Dong, who seems to have fallen at first sight for a girl named Seon-Ja. She is the daughter of the woman who runs a coffee shop, Gwan-Seok’s distant relative, Madam Jang. Now, Gwan-Seok secretly goes after Song to find out what the real deal is and learns that he’s meeting with a big shot called Chairman Cheon. This is his ticket to making so much money that he’ll be set for life. He renegotiates the deal with Song. Song himself is planning on conning Cheon; that’s just how this game works. Everyone is trying to get the biggest haul, so he’s creating imitation pottery to sell to Cheon as a lie. After receiving a million won from Song, Gwan-Seok and Hee-Dong’s team expands because Song sends his own man, Dae-Sik, with them. He’s a lanky kid who doesn’t seem to be a good fit, but they just have to take him on.
Cheon is married to a woman named Jung-Sook. She’s a genius woman who is great with numbers, and she’s his second wife. The chairman himself built a massive legacy despite being illiterate. He built everything from hotels to schools, and now he plans on putting together a museum with the pots, like an extra feather in his cap. Finally, at the end of the first episode, Jung-Sook’s right-hand man, Jeon-Chul, is sent along with the group too because of Cheon. However, Jung-Sook complains about losing her best man. The men are instructed not to fight, but already you can see the zeal in their eyes. They make a huge mess on the train at the end of episode 1.
Are Jung-Sook and Jeon-Chul Related?
Low Life episode 2 begins with the shocking revelation that Jung-Sook was, at one time, married to Jeon-Chul before he reportedly drowned at sea in 1964 while she was working. Many years later, she’s already married to the chairman and gets a random phone call at night. Jeon-Chul suddenly shows up in front of her, and he’s alive and well, but she’s already remarried and moved on. So the best thing she can do as the wife of a chairman is to make her ex-husband work for her. Wow.
In the present day, the next person the gang is meeting is a tiny man with a big bark named Yeong-Su. Now, while Jeon-Chul is on the same team as Gwan-Seok, I think he’s quite skeptical of him, and it looks like Cheon wants him to keep an eye on the gang. Probably so he doesn’t get scammed. On the other hand, Hee-Dong has promised Seon-Ja that he’s going to take her to Seoul. While they’re both infatuated with each other at least, I’m not sure if the man has an actual plan. Gwan-Seok wants to make sure that the boys don’t attract attention while they’re there, because already so many people are after the pottery. They need to be the only ones to find it so they can make the most of what they find. But the gang that bothered Seon-Ja and Hee-Dong the previous time he visited shows up again. This time, they want to start a fight, but Hee-Dong really holds back.
Tae-San is the guy with the boat, and he’s who Gwan-Seok is talking to. Gwan-Seok offers the guy 2 million won because he explains how this mission is complicated, and I suppose Gwan-Seok believes he’s got the boat. Tae-San also takes care of the Mokpo loafers by calling a close friend who happens to be a police officer named Hong-Gi. The man shoos the guys away, but he also wants to know what’s going on with so many Seoul people in town. I’m not going to lie, the scene at the restaurant reminded me a lot of Jurassic World Rebirth. With the mission cost up by 2 million won because of one guy, Gwan-Seok tells Song that it’ll take him 5 million more, so it’s 6 altogether after the one million in advance. Turns out Cheon wants Jeon-Chul dead, which makes complete sense because how would he not know about the secret affair? But this is becoming a very expensive affair.
Both Gwan-Seok and Jeon-Chul have one thing in common. They believe the gang needs to stick together, especially when they have to get on a boat and things can get very difficult (think Life of Pi vibes, I guess). At first, Hee-Dong gets lectured by his uncle, and later, Jeon-Chul talks to him as a friend, asking him to call it even and end their petty fights because the same thing on a boat can turn vile real quick. Now, it turns out Jung-Sook isn’t hiding her affairs with the people at a boutique she visits often. It’s like her confidential boutique, and she makes calls to both her husband and her ex-husband from there to talk freely. She’s making money from a side hustle and stashing it there. Later, the boys fail to get any information on where the wreckage is from a diver in jail. This man is supposed to be the only person who knows where it is. Episode 2 ends with another con man named Professor Kim showing up. This screams trouble because he might be after the same thing they are.
Has the gang found the wreckage spot?
In episode 3, a new member is added to the team: Seok-Bae, a diver replacing the one in prison, Bok-Geun. The boat is yet another problem, because Tae-San’s boat will alert the coastguards. This would draw too much attention to them, but he has a plan for this, too. However, of course, this means an added cost. In the meantime, we see the kind of con Professor Kim can pull. He sells some pots to a Japanese man who gives him a gold-plated gun and sword in return. He then tries to buy out a woman’s pottery store. She refuses to give the pots to him at the cost he’s offering. The person with him ends up offering her the sword and gun and essentially taking the pot away.
While Gwan-Seok keeps asking for more money, Cheon refuses to give Song any more than 5 million won. Worried about the whole thing, Song goes to his old friend for help. The man suggests they don’t give Cheon any of the real pots. Meanwhile, at the coffee shop, Hee-Dong tells Seon-Ja to follow Professor Kim around for information. Seon-Ja is desperate to move to Seoul, so she’ll do what she can, I guess. But Kim might as well be aware of what’s going on because he’s at the same cafe.
The strangest part of this episode is that Gwan-Seok decides to use Hee-Dong as a honeypot to get Jung-Sook to change Cheon’s mind. Hee-Dong goes back to Seoul with a pot for Jung-Sook, but the pot’s just a diversion. Jung-Sook breaks the pot and then goes and finds Hee-Dong at her boutique later. The duo sleep together after getting acquainted. She then spoils him with a new outfit and also agrees to talk to her husband about the money. So if she’s not still in love with Jeon-Chul, why keep him around? I’m a bit confused about this part. On the other hand, Professor Kim makes a team with the bully, Beol-Gu’s gang. Beol-Gu and Kim manage to bag Bok-Geun and get him out of prison. The man certainly seems to be a little out of it… I mean psychopath vibes. The diving condition of this mission is hard, and neither team really has the talent for it, but Tae-San ends up revealing that Gwan-Seok’s side is suffering a little bit.
At the end of Low Life episode 3, Gwan-Seok and his team head out to the sea at night, and before we know it, Professor Kim and his team are at the same spot. Now, while the most obvious outcome is for the two gangs to fight it out, why do I feel like they’re going to team up and work together? Obviously, I’m not sure about anything, but it may become one big mission.
