Wonderful World may be the most boring K-drama I have watched in a really long time. It’s a shame, because Cha Eun-Woo has never looked better. Unfortunately, the tedious pacing of this show and the need to repeat everything that’s happened five minutes prior just for impact are awfully dull. I believe I’m quite patient, especially when it comes to the visual medium, because slow burns can be fantastically rewarding; however, it seems like I’m drawing the line at revenge shows. Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of watching My Happy Ending. At least that show is committed to the drama that comes with revenge. Anyway, in the first two episodes of Wonderful World, Soo-Hyun is introduced as a doting mother and a loving wife while also being the perfect combination of professor and author. Soo-Hyun’s life derails when her 4-year-old son is run over by a car and left to die in the middle of nowhere. Seeking an apology, Soo-Hyun looks for the man who admitted he killed her son. However, when, instead of apologizing, he tries to bribe her and completely disregards the loss of her child, Soo-Hyun can’t contain her anger and rams a car into him, killing him instantly. Wonderful World Episode 3 begins when Soo-Hyun finishes her prison sentence.
Spoiler Alert
Does Soo-Hyun find Sun-Yool?
Soo-Hyun doesn’t realize that the young man she’s looking for is closer than she’d imagined. After exiting prison, she goes to find her son’s grave, where a stranger hands her an umbrella. This stranger is the same guy she’s meant to deliver an apology to, but we’ll get back to that in a little while. Soo-Hyun makes it back home, and her mother and stepsister are very happy. Yoo-Ri has become a successful businesswoman over the six years of Soo-Hyun’s imprisonment. Between being stuck in the past and trying to accept her son’s death, Soo-Hyun tries to find her footing in the world and also looks for Sun-Yool. She spends some time in her old house, reminiscing about the good old days. In the meantime, Sun-Yool is on a mission to expose some dirty politicians by photographing their shady parties. It’s still not clear why he’s doing this. It could be a part-time job, or it could be a personal vendetta. After searching high and low and getting the help of a fellow professor who is willing to give Soo-Hyun a hand, she finds Sun-Yool. This is after he’s had a physical altercation with some men who caught him taking the pictures. Somehow, he managed to escape, but now he has to listen to Soo-Hyun explain how the woman who killed his parents deserves a chance to apologize to him. Sun-Yool is immediately flabbergasted by the proposition and tells her that she’s completely messed him up.
After visiting him for two days in a row to apologize for not being empathetic enough and thinking his pain and her pain would be the same, Soo-Hyun finds Sun-Yool in a road accident. It seems that, in the process of saving a child, he accidentally hurt a bicyclist. However, the only thing of concern to Sun-Yool at that moment is that he’s lost his mother’s necklace. Soo-Hyun notices this, and when Sun-Yool is asked to go to the police station to give a statement, Soo-Hyun finds the necklace. When Sun-Yool returns, she presents him with the necklace and makes her apology.
Is Soo-Ho a good man?
Soo-Hyun’s husband, Soo-Ho, has become a world-famous journalist and won a special journalism award. He’s finally making his return to Korea and still holds a grudge against the Hankuk United Party representative, Kim Joon. It seems he’s been watching his every move. When Soo-Ho meets Soo-Hyun in front of her house by accident, he tells her that he’s been waiting for her, and despite trying to move on in desperation, he realizes there is no way he can do so. Immediately, they go back to being husband and wife as usual, and a meal with Soo-Ho’s family ensues. While at lunch, Soo-Ho’s mother makes it seem like she really appreciates Soo-Hyun’s return and has accepted her even as a murderer. However, when they’re alone, she admits that she’s terrified of Soo-Hyun, but she’s pretending to accept her for the sake of her son, who claims he can’t live without Soo-Hyun. There’s a chance that Soo-Ho is pretending to be kind-hearted to use Soo-Hyun for something big, but we can’t tell just yet. However, from events later in the episode, it’s safe to say that he may not be as good as he makes himself out to be.
Who is taking pictures of Soo-Hyun and Soo-Ho?
Amidst all the reunions, there’s a special appearance of a young man in fancy shoes (we get it, there was no need to shoot whole sequences aimed at his gray and white shoes, sheesh) who takes pictures of Soo-Hyun secretly. It almost seems like it’s Sun-Yool at first, but a face reveal shows that it is, in fact, not him. The man has a darkroom where he develops his pictures and has a board of all things related to Soo-Hyun. Stalker? Or revenge seeker? Well, this one was a little bit obvious, but I’ll come to the revelation a little bit later.
At the end of episode 3 of Wonderful World, Soo-Hyun is invited to do a TV interview with her husband. Soo-Ho strictly says no to his boss; however, Soo-Hyun gets a call anyway and then ends up agreeing to do it. She feels the need to do something for her husband; however, it’s not quite clear how this kind of public appearance would help them at this stage. Maybe Soo-Ho wants a political career, and this would help boost that. Nothing is clear just yet. Later, the sneaker, sorry sneaky photo guy delivers a package to Soo-Hyun at the ABS office (the place where Soo-Ho works). When she gets a break from the interview and returns to her room, the envelope is lying on her table. She first sees a message from Sun-Yool, who has agreed to see her regarding the apology. She sets up a meeting with him and then opens the envelope to find a scandalous picture of her husband with another woman. I suppose if these pictures were taken when Soo-Hyun was in prison, it would mean her husband was trying to move on, no? However, if it’s from now, then there’s something really fishy going on. Of course, there’s no such thing as a dedicated husband in Dramaland, but we’ll find out more about this later. On the other hand, the young man taking these pictures happens to be Kwon Ji-Woong’s son, which means he’s out for revenge, too. Will Soo-Hyun be able to figure it out? Was Soo-Ho simply trying to move on? Or is he hiding something massive? We’ll find out later on Wonderful World. On a side note, I find the neighbor woman a little bit suspicious, and I don’t know how long it will take to figure out that she has a video of the terrible day to learn if Soo-Hyun really left the gate open or not.
