TVN’s 2013 drama Who Are You is a little bit Ghost Whisperer, a little bit Jerry Zucker’s 1990 flick Ghost, and every bit one of the best Korean dramas I’ve seen this year.
Police officer Yang Si On (So E-Hyun) wakes from a six-year coma after witnessing the murder of another officer and being injured at the scene. She returns to work in the Seoul Police lost and found centre with no memory of the murder or the attack that nearly killed her, but her brush with death leaves Si On with the ability to see the ghosts attached to unclaimed items in the lost and found centre – including that of Lee Hyung Joon (Kim Jae Wook), the man she saw murdered six years prior. Together with her goofy and overprotective partner Gun Woo (played by Taecyeon, member of K-pop boy band 2PM), Si On’s ghosts lead her to clues that help her to solve cases nobody else has been able to crack. Together Si On and Gun Woo unearth much more darkness and corruption in the Seoul police force than they’d ever imagined possible.
Like most K-dramas, Who Are You takes a few episodes to draw you in – at first it seems to have a one-ghost-per-episode format with most of the loose ends tied up each time, but once the ghost of dead policeman Lee Hyung Joon is introduced a greater story arc starts to emerge. It wouldn't be a K-drama without a love triangle of some sort, but to have the lead character torn between a living man and a dead one was a nice twist on the standard. It was far from the only twist too – Who Are You is full of them, leaving you trusting no-one and watching episodes back-to-back because you just have to know what happens next.
It was refreshing to see a Korean drama focussed on a kickass female character. Yang Si On can fight with the big boys, and solves more cases in her first few weeks back on the job after coming out of a coma than her male colleagues are comfortable with. It would have been even more refreshing had the writers let her be so self-sufficient throughout, but she was regularly saved by Gun Woo and spared from having to defend herself. Surely a police woman doesn’t always need a man to save her, regardless of how attracted to her he may be, but it was only when both Si On and Gun Woo were cornered that Si On’s combat skills were displayed – and it was apparent she could have held her own the many times Gun Woo stepped in.
As is often the case with Korean dramas, Who Are You's 16 episode format doesn’t allow much room to explore the limitations of being a ghost walking with the living. Yang Si On’s ghostly visitors manipulate the physical world several times over the course of the series – making lights flicker, typing messages on computer keyboards and locking car doors – but they don’t seem to be able to touch anything (or anyone). I would have liked to know why they were able to speak to Kim Ye Won’s character Jang Hee Bin, a sly fortune-teller, but not to Si On.
Taecyeon was endearing as Inspector Cha Gun Woo, a happy-go-lucky joker with a very serious side when it comes to his job. Likewise, Kim Jae Wook made a convincing ghost as Lee Hyung Joon – gaunt and tortured in his spirit state, charismatic and charming in flashbacks to his living days. So E-Hyun, while not in any way bad for the role if Yang Si On, spent much of the drama wearing the same shocked expression (Oh no! A ghost! Oh no! Another ghost! Oh no! More ghosts! Apparently they never become less shocking!), which did get a little monotonous and even distracting as the series went on.
Who Are You is definitely a great pick from the slew of 2013 Korean dramas, and one that stands out from the rest. With action, romance, supernatural elements, a bunch of surprises and some very pretty men, it will definitely appeal to any drama fan.
Review Score: FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)