[Drama Review] 'While You Were Sleeping' � Episode 6

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING � EPISODE 6

The second 'While You Were Sleeping' episode airing Chuseok week sees things really pick up, as decisions are made and battle lines are drawn. And Jae Chan grows a pair.

Hong Joo gets more supplies to treat Jae Chan's burns. She tells him he shouldn't worry about being fired for standing up for what he believes in. She gives him winning lottery numbers to alleviate his financial fears. So he uses the numbers as a mantra, tells off his boss, and re-opens the domestic violence case. Of course, he finds out Hong Joo was lying about the lottery, and this deflates him somewhat. He hides in colleague Hee Min's darkened office.� She discovers him and offers him some advice: it might be worse for the family if the breadwinner goes to jail. All three of our dreaming psychics meet up in front of the restaurant owned by Hong Joo's mom, and they head inside. Woo Tak suggests they call themselves the three dragons, since they were all born in 1988 (the Year of the Dragon). Woo Tak's ability seems oddly precise -- he is able to predict down to the last second when Yoo Bum would saunter in and announce that he is Park Jun Mo's attorney...

Trying to save Dad

So now we have three precogs:
Hong Joo, who's had the ability likely since childhood.
Jae Chan, who's had the ability since adolescence (at the latest).
Woo Tak, who's had the ability since childhood.

The connection between them is interesting. I wonder if it is fate, as Woo Tak suggests. I mean, the same killer murdered both his dad and Jae Chan's. They all met that fateful Valentine's Day. And they were all born in the same year. Not a�coincidence, certainly. Not only that, but Yoo Bum is inextricably linked to Jae Chan, too,�influencing his life in the past, and is doing so again.

But what is the terrible event that Woo Tak hints at just before the end credits?� I'd love to know, but I have to wait like everyone else. Obviously, nothing good happens where Yoo Bum is involved. They ought to play the Imperial March (Vader's theme from Star Wars) every time we see him. But I wonder what occurs, and whether Woo Tak's "small change" will affect the outcome?

Witness to tragedy

Finally, we get the back-story on the bus scene. I was saying: but that's not his father, who's the other guy? What was the point of this? Who's the kid, then? At least now we know, though I think that scene could have been comfortably swapped with Jae Chan's and maybe made more sense when we saw it.

I like this episode�because now we have the answer to the question "now what?" Because I kept thinking, okay, this is all very interesting, but where are they going with this? It turns out that everything so far has been back-story, everything has brought us to this point. Normally I'm snoozing through introductions, but they handled it extremely well.

"What did I just do?"

A note on Hong Joo's appearance: has anyone else noticed her transformation? I have. She starts out, messy, disheveled. Glasses, baggy, rumpled clothes, hair with its own agenda. Now she is more neatly coiffed�and wears contacts instead of glasses. She still needs some fashion sense, but I find it interesting. Why are they changing her? Suzy is a lovely lady, true, but I find it odd that her character would magically turn into the proverbial swan.

I have to say I really like the dramatic devices here. They're simple�but effective. A rolling, scorched baseball, a dropped umbrella, and the rising music that denotes tragedy. Not to mention the kiss scene with the falling cherry blossoms. They really know how to punctuate their scenes with emotional impact, and have borrowed some devices from some of the better action dramas. It works well here, even among some of the more comedic elements.

The Three Dragons.

And I love the comedy in this drama, too. All too often comedies get a little over the top with things, and I've seen some rather embarrassing and unfunny slapstick. This is nice, cute, subtle, and they don't linger on it too long. And the banter is nice, too. Even when they're being snooty they're all still cute, so you don't have the unlikable character syndrome. Well, except for Yoo Beom, but you can't help but enjoy how comfortably evil he is.

So yeah, once again this drama gets some top marks. And I'm relying on the next episode to be even better.