“Tomorrow” is a Korean drama series directed by Kim Tae-Yoon and Sung Chi-Wook, based on the webcomic “Naeil,” created by Ra Ma is a series that deals with the topics of suicide, depression, and anxiety. The series was released on April 1st, 2022, on Netflix and has already secured a vast audience.
The series follows the journey of an unemployed Korean, Choi Jun-Woong, who is looking for a job but couldn’t crack through the interviews for one reason or another. He accidentally stumbles upon the grim reapers while returning home from a recent job interview. He then winds up in Jumadeung, the underworld, due to a frightening accident and finds himself working in the Crisis Management Team. While being a part of this team, he works with the other members, Koo Ryeon, the team leader, and Lim Ryung-Gu, another member. The main objective of this team is to help out and save suicidal people and prevent them from killing themselves.
Trigger Warning
Episode 1: Recap
The first episode of “Tomorrow” establishes the plot. The first glimpses of the episode introduce Koo Ryeon and Lim Ryung-Gu. They seem to be on a mission where they meet four people in a car, set to commit suicide by breathing in the exhaust fumes of the car. Ryeon and Ryung-Gu converse on the phone while they seem to check the percentage of negative energy of a person through a mobile app. Through this application, they lock on to the four individuals set on killing themselves. Koo Ryeon takes hold of the car and drives them to a dilapidated flyover, where he rests the car on edge, giving them a choice of either losing their lives or living. The four people, not wanting to lose their lives after getting a shock and understanding the consequence of the action they were going to commit, pleaded for their lives. That is how Koo Ryeon leaves them safe in the car, parked on the side of the bridge to let them mull over their decisions, effectively dissolving their resolution to kill themselves.
After reducing the negative energy, the series then changes the scene and introduces us to our protagonist, Choi Jun-Woong. Jun-Woong was unemployed and was always unsuccessful in securing a job. He attends the interview round and is sure to secure the job. Yet, because his opponent is related to the director of the company, which he got to know later, he was rejected again. On his way home, he contemplates his life’s decisions with his friend, who had successfully secured a job. After a few drinks, he walks home when he stumbles upon a man trying to commit suicide. He meets Ryeon and Ryung-Gu here, and while trying to save the man, he too accidentally falls into the water. He then wakes up in the hospital to see his body lying in a comatose state and finds Ryeon waiting. She conjures a body for his wandering soul and escorts him to Jumadeung to meet the King of the underworld.
In Jumadeung, due to the bizarre accident, he faces two choices: either he could work here and wake up in six months, or he doesn’t have to work and wake up in three years. After waking up, however, he’ll be provided a free pass to secure any job in any company he wants to work for. Jun-Woong at first thinks it is a dream, but when he realizes it is not, he ultimately chooses to wake up in six months. He finds himself observing different departments in Jumadeung. After the observation period, he has the opportunity to choose any department he wants to work in. After some time, he finds himself on his way to saving a suicidal author with the Crisis Management team during the observation period.
In this episode of “Tomorrow,” the television author, Noh Eun-Bi, has to give an interview, yet she seems uncomfortable, and her negative energy seems to be on the rise. Our crisis management team meets with her in lieu of the camera crew. Noh Eun-Bi is supposedly their last mission if they are unsuccessful in changing her mind. They were given a warning because they were involved in the bizarre accident that caused Jun-Woong to end up in a coma. A meeting between the Jade Emperor and all the other departments decided their fate would be dissolved if they were unsuccessful. Ryeon and Ryung-Gu come up with a key that helps them unlock memories to understand Noh Eun-Bi better.
However, before they can travel into her memories, Ryung-Gu has to leave. He seems to be finding something mysterious, so he leaves whenever his alarm rings. This leaves Jun-Woong and Ryeon to travel together. “Tomorrow” episode 1 ends with them almost getting stuck in Noh Eun-Bi’s memories.
Episode 2: Recap
“Tomorrow” Episode 2 begins with Ryeon and Jun-Woong bickering and preparing themselves to enter the realm of Noh Eun-Bi’s memories. Ryeon opens the door with the key, and Jun-Woong follows her in. They end up in a memory where Noh Eun-Bi is still in school and is seen laughing with her friend. In the same class is Kim Hye Won, the award-winning Webtoon writer, whose interview made Noh Eun-Bi nervous and uncomfortable. One fine morning, Kim Hye Won seems bored with her life, and she decides, one fine morning, that she wants to be a bully as she cannot tolerate Noh Eun-Bi having fun. The series of bullying begins, making Eun-Bi’s life miserable and traumatic. In her memories, she’s tormented by Kim Hye Won and her friends, with no respite in sight. It was so bad that Eun-Bi had to repeatedly tell herself to get over it, as she would kill herself if she couldn’t.
While watching her memories, Jun-Woong was warned by Ryeon to not interact with any of the other characters. If he were to make them interact and make them aware of their presence, then they would be stuck forever in her memories. However, when Jun-Woong saw that the girls were kicking Noh Eun-Bi, he rushed to save her from them. But, the harm was already done. The realm of memories started collapsing, and Ryeon took hold of Jun-Woong and started running. They unlocked different doors to get out of the world. Yet they seemed stuck until they reached the metro, where Noh Eun-Bi seemed to be laughing while watching her favorite series. She seems to be a fan of Jung Joon-Ha, who is an actor in the series she is a fan of. Before the world collapsed, they found a door in the metro and used it to open a door back to the realm of the living. They escaped right before the entire realm collapsed on them.
After escaping, Ryeon finds out that while unlocking the door, Choi seems to have broken the key, and Ryung-Gu returns back to the team. Noh Eun-Bi then goes towards the terrace after getting tormented by Kim Hye Won in the studio. Kim Hye Won, recognizing Eun-Bi after meeting her when they were taking her interview, reverted back to tormenting her. She used her favorite weapon of continuously clicking the pen to get her to laugh on command. Eun-Bi, not being able to overcome her trauma, asked her producer to not air the TV show. After she got snubbed by her producer, Hye Won returned to torment her even more. She had reached her limit and rushed to the terrace.
Choi tried to reason with her, but he couldn’t reach her. Ryeon asked Ryung-Gu to remove Choi from the season and went to reason with Eun-Bi instead. Eun-Bi, coming to her senses, loses her footing and falls, only to be saved by Ryeon. Choi then saves the day by bringing Jung Joon-Ha to cheer Eun-Bi up. After this, her negative energy turns to positive, and she regains her spirit to fight back. Ryeon, upon completing her tasks, sets forth to dish out punishment to Kim Hye Won and her friends. After she is done with them, she also ensures that her truth comes out in front of the world. The news portals started to air news that award-winning Webtoon writer Kim Hye Won was a bully, and she started receiving hate from all of her fans instead of the love she was getting. The irony of it all was that her book was based on a victim’s way of getting revenge against her bullies. The fans were shocked that she, Kim Hye Won, was actually the bully and not the victim.
Here, Ryeon is shown to have a secret of her own. She walked endlessly through hell and did not give up before the King herself came to take her away and asked her to save a person who needed to be saved the most. Ryeon still does not know the identity of the person, and if this mission was not a success, she would have to return back to hell and resume her wandering.
“Tomorrow” Episode 2 ends with Eun-Bi finding courage and reporting Kim Hye Won to authorities. Also, our protagonist chose a job in the editing department of Jumadeung. However, he didn’t last there for very long because they had started badmouthing the Crisis Management Department. Eventually, he ended up back on the Crisis Management Team.
‘Tomorrow’ Episodes 1 And 2: Ending
Both the episodes after the end credits shared a glimpse into how the characters really are. Ryeon gets duped while buying a Gucci t-shirt for Choi. Fumed, she eventually gets her revenge by kicking the seller in “Tomorrow” Episode 1. And in the second episode, Choi manipulated Jung Joon-Ha into following him to cheer up Eun-Bi by hiding toilet paper when Joon-Ha needed it the most. Both the endings of the “Tomorrow” episodes put a smile on their faces after the emotional rollercoaster they put the audience through.
A Note For The Viewers
This world is full of suffering. It isn’t kind to those who are weak-willed or kind. It is like a scavenger waiting to pick on somebody left alone in the race that is life. Humankind is best known for surviving and adapting to its surroundings. But, sometimes, due to the overwhelming pressure, somebody is always left behind, somebody who is not able to cope, adapt, or overcome the absolute distress they are in. This distress could be due to physical pain or mental pain. Sometimes that pain overwhelms the other senses, and at that time, the only way out for that person is through death. To them, death is the end of such an endless agony. Sometimes, there are well-wishers who notice the hints that are calling out for help, but most do not know how to ask for help. People don’t always want to choose the path of death unless there is no other choice. Suicide is usually the last option people take when they have no way out of the circumstances they find themselves in. Recently, people have begun to notice, and they help out when they stumble across a cry for help. More and more helplines are being set up, and many psychiatrists are offering their services to those in need.
See More: ‘Tomorrow’ Episode 3 & 4: Recap And Ending, Explained – Does Choi Jung-Woon Save Namgung Jae-Soo?
“Tomorrow” is a 2022 Drama Fantasy South Korean Series directed by Kim Tae-Yoon and Sung Chi-Wook.
