Juniper
For a Korean drama that is only 8 episodes long, there’s a lot going on in ‘One Ordinary’ Day which came to a conclusion last weekend.The protagonist, Kim Hyun-Soo was arrested in episode 1 for the brutal murder by 13 stab wounds of Hong Gook-Hwa. Self-confessed third-rate lawyer, Cha Seung-Won has worked tirelessly to defend him, even going to the extent of doing police work such as looking for alternative suspects.
There’s the boyfriend of the victim’s ex-housemate who had a one night stand with the victim, a neighbour who was stalking the ex-housemate, a delivery guy who was stalking the victim and a doctor who was supplying the victim with Fentanyl, used for pain medication. One of these is the actual murderer.
In between attending court, Kim Hyun-Soo has to survive in prison and he has turned to one of the gang leaders for protection. Another prisoner has targeted Hyun-Soo and he gets beaten up. Hyun-Soo has to toughen up and in the penultimate episode titled ‘Transformation’, he does just that. He takes boxing lessons from his protector and is finally able to confront the bully in the boiler room with victory.
After enduring a grueling trial by jury, Hyun-Soo is found not guilty by 5 of the jury members while the other 4 find him guilty. In Korea, it’s up to the judges to decide in such a situation and the judges find him guilty. He is handed life imprisonment. The biggest problem is that Hyun-Soo himself declared that he could not remember if he stabbed the victim.
Seung-Won then uncovers new evidence from the ex-housemate’s stalker’s photos and the victim’s call log. He finds out that the victim was dating the doctor who supplied her with Fentanyl until she found out that he was married and it was he who committed the murder.
Hyun-Soo is set free but he is now a broken and changed man. In the last scene of him, he is seen smoking on a roof top and seems to be stepping towards the precipice. It would have been nice if he had had a happier ending but how is anyone not scarred for life after such an incident.
