Special Affairs Team TEN

Mad Soul Child - "숨결"


So, starting on Thursday, I've been actively watching the drama, "Special Affairs Team TEN," or 특수 사건전담반 TEN. It's just my cup of coffee, or it nicely suits my tastes. After watching "Ghost," I knew I was attracted to crime-thriller dramas, but I've fully realized my love for them through this drama. Although some parts are really gory and scary, the psychological effect this drama has on me is what I love best. In honor of this spectacular drama, I'm writing a post dedicated to its 6th episode, or the team's fifth case.

This particular case was a really sad one, I think the episode where I sympathized (and cried) the most for the criminal/offender. It opens up a wide range of discussions, questions about the ways of people. In this case, the offender turns out to be Park Jong Suk (played by Go In Bum, the only celebrity I met in Korea), the father of Min Ji, the victim of a stabbing incident five years ago, in 2006. The story of Min Ji and her dad is a really heartbreaking one, where she was the troublemaker daughter who he put at a distance and therefore, didn't have many memories with, and upon Min Ji's pregnancy, he denounced her as his daughter, and that was the last thing he said to her before she died so cruelly. Soon after their last encounter, a random (I think) guy drags Min Ji around in the streets, her begging for help from the bystanders who do nothing but watch as she is stabbed multiple times right out in public. What's particularly heartbreaking is that minutes before her death, she was setting up a bank account dedicated to her dad (although I'm not sure exactly why, maybe to show him that she is going to be more responsible, especially for the baby). [I just checked Dramabeans, and it seems that this was the bank account that Soo Young, the main victim of the case, added a 0 to, which made her end up transferring to another bank branch.] This is the part where the tears just couldn't stop.

However, the main thing that got me to write this post is the justice of it all. I fully understand why Park Jong Suk had to (or wanted to, at least) kill the bystanders that refused to help Min Ji, not only was this a part of the so-called "bystander effect," the people that were nearby turned a blind eye to the whole situation. What really frustrates (and saddens) me is that not one person called the police, or at least, in the video, no one was shown doing that. Even though I would probably not have the courage to go right up and try to pull Min Ji away from the attacker's hands, I would at least try to do something, something to prevent or stop "it" from happening. They didn't even looked like they were terrified for Min Ji, they were too busy being scared for themselves, and some people even thought the incident to be a thrilling sight for filming. Yes, I'm looking at you, the final victim of Jong Suk, who I kind of wanted to be put out of his trembling misery, or at least, I wouldn't have cared if he'd been killed.

I actually felt sad for Jo Soo Young, where, even though she was the main person who refused to help Min Ji, she felt terribly guilty about it afterwards, and tried to change her way of life. At least she tried to become a better person, she even threw herself before a robber to prevent him from hurting a child, thereby winning the Brave Citizens' Award. She also had the heart to try to give him back the bank account book. From my point of view, she is what represents the innocent victim in this particular case, where, despite the offender's understandable motive (and the injustice and wrongs that he faced), killing is still wrong. I think that there could've been a few ways Jong Suk achieved justice for himself and Min Ji, such as uploading the video and exposing the bystanders' identities on the Internet, for all the world to see, in a shaming sort of way. Sure, he wouldn't be able to show each and every one of the bystanders the kind of fear and terror Min Ji felt before she died, but they would suffer the pressure of the public's eye and judgment (hopefully, in the right direction,  of pure disgust). He could've even done his whole hunting thing, but not kill them at the last moment. Would that be legal, at least?

I was kind of troubled by Ye Ri's comment that it was pure coincidence, that those people just happened to be the bystanders that did nothing. It brings up the question of whether things would've been different if another group of people were there at the scene of the crime. With different people, would they have reacted differently to the situation at hand? Would at least one person try to help Min Ji this time? Such thoughts pop in mind after watching this particular episode of TEN.