Longing for You (2023) Episode 1

Longing for You episode 1 starts with a murder happening at a gallery exhibition. According to the news, the victim was the wife of Bae Min-gyu, and it’s a public fact that he’s not on good terms with his wife. He is therefore the main suspect in the case but four months later, Min-gyu is yet to be arrested. The media suspect that this is because Min-gyu happens to be the son of an assemblyman. 

Due to public pressure, prosecutors summon Min-gyu again and the Inspector General, Ho-chul, adds another prosecutor to the case team. Hee-Joo (Ho-chul’s daughter who is one of the prosecutors in the case) vehemently objects to the addition but the decision has been made to bring Young-joo to the team. It seems like Hee-joo and Young-joo have a history and don’t get along. However, Young-joo plays it cool and says she hopes they can work well.

Elsewhere, someone secretly takes a photo of a young man while he fishes. The young man carries on with his day and delivers food to his elder brother, Jin-sung at the police station.  Jin-sung is one of the detectives at Woojin, a little idyllic village by the ocean. Jin-sung is grateful for his little brother, Jin-woo. By the looks of it, they have a good sibling relationship. 

After Woo-jin leaves, Jin-sung is called to settle a case between two locals. An old man drunk alcohol and refuses to pay cash but offers two bags of pepper. In the end, Jin-sung handles the case diligently and the two parties come to an agreement. Through the case, Jin-sung learns about a gambling den and mobilizes the local police to bust the place.

Jin-sung is shocked to get there and see his mom, Young-hee as one of the avid gamblers. One of the gamblers takes advantage of Jin-sung’s momentarily lack of focus and grabs Young-hee. He threatens to slice her throat using his knife but Jin-sung handles him. Another gambler tries to go after Young-hee and Jin-sung loses his patience and goes ham on the two men, threatening his mom. It takes his fellow police officers to pull him off the men. 

They proceed to take the men to the hospital and the doctor says one has a broken nose and the other is also hurt. Jin-sung grows more frustrated as he is now looking at a lawsuit. He heads to the station where his mom and her friends are locked up. He questions why she’s gambling when she is not lacking basic needs. Young-hee reveals she needs the money to get facial treatment like other moms. As they talk, his boss interrupts and informs him that he is being sued for ten million won and puts him in a cell too.

Back in Seoul, Min-gyu’s interrogation continues with Hee-joo taking the lead. However, Min-guy refuses to cooperate and keeps making demeaning statements towards her. Hee-joo loses her cool and Young-joo is forced to drag her out of the room. Young-joo takes over and Min-gyu realizes she is different from Hee-joo; she doesn’t let her temper get to her.  

Min-gyu insists he has an alibi on the night of the murder. He apparently went to a karaoke club with one of his lady friends. According to the CCTV, he was at the karaoke bar but there is a secret door he could have left, committed the crime and then returned. There is also the issue that the lady in question, Eun-byul, is an actress who has been out of the country since she last gave her statement.

Luckily, she is back and the police are holding her to see if her statement matches Min-gyu’s. She offers the prosecution team a video of her taken that night and claims that Min-gyu was the one who recorded it. She insists that Min-gyu never left the karaoke bar. The video doesn’t exactly cement Min-gyu’s innocence since he is not seen in the video. Given the flimsy evidence they have against Min-gyu, they have no choice but to let him go and hold back when he mocks them. Hee-joo gets so angry and takes herself off the case.

At the offices, Young-joo runs into Young-woon ( a fellow prosecutor ) who suggest she looks into the possibility of other suspects. Young-joo asks him why he is showing so much interest in her case and thanks him for his advice before leaving. She doesn’t feel inclined to take up his suggestion and is only mildly polite. 

After Young-woon leaves, Detective Yook suggests that it won’t hurt to listen to Young-woon. Young-woon runs into the persistent reporter, Park, and refuses to give him anything for his story. Reporter Park tries to approach Young-joo too but she tells him off. 

Elsewhere, we meet Jung-sook (Youn-woon’s mom). She is having a meeting with Jin-Cheol and Ho-chul to discuss how the case is going. Their meeting is interrupted by Assemblyman Tae-Ook, who wants the police to back off his son. He tries to threaten Ho-chul but it backfires and he is put in his place. Tae-ook takes offense to Ho-chul’s incorruptible stance but Jung-sook and Jin-cheol calm him down after Ho-chul leaves. They insist he has nothing to worry about as there is no evidence against his son.

Meanwhile, in Woojin, the gamblers are released but Jin-sung remains in custody. Young-hee heads home and is welcomed warmly by Jin-woo. Jin-woo prepared her a lovely meal and they get a visit from a nosy neighbour. The mom ends up getting into a fight with the neighbour and Young-Choon (another neighbour) and Jin-woo are forced to intervene. 

Later, Jin-sung is released after the complaint was dropped because someone paid the settlement money.  Jin-sung is angry about this and visits the two men at the hospital.  He tells them he won’t let them have the money. He has a video of how they used a knife to threaten his mom and is planning to use it as evidence and have them jailed for at least 7 years. The men decide it is not a risk they are willing to take and return the money. 

Jin-sung takes the money back to Jin-woo and harshly scolds him for always being thoughtful. He feels like Jin-woo keeps getting the short end of the stick and wants him to think of himself first. He also scolds his mom for always taking advantage of Jin-woo and neglecting him. He says some harsh words to his mom and angrily leaves. After the incident, Jin-woo asks to be excused as he has plans to visit Seoul to see a photo exhibition. His mom gives him permission since she knows he loves taking pictures. 

Jin-woo attends the exhibition and later visits a cafe. It looks like he is waiting for someone but after a while, he leaves. The next morning, a woman is found dead at the cafe. 

Young-woon gets a call about the murder while having breakfast and quickly rushes to the scene. The killer used the same technique, he cut the tendon on the victim’s leg and then hung her like laundry. He also used ketamine to subdue the victims. Young-woon believes it is not a coincidence and asks his boss to allow him to take over both cases. 

The boss is hesitant but is convinced that Young-woon is on to something. He agrees to Young-woon’s request and even allows him to choose his own team. Young-woon believes there is a serial killer lurking.

Young-joo is not happy to hear this news and confronts Young-woon about stealing his case. He tries to tell her that it was not his intention and explains his point of view.  We learn that Young-woon has never lost a case and carefully selects his cases. He shows Young-joo why he thinks there is a serial killer on the loose. 

She, on the other hand, thinks that the killer is still Min-gyu. They are unable to agree if they should work together and who should be the team leader. Young-joo takes herself off the case. Young-woon’s team takes over the case and hit the ground running. They start by looking at the evidence in the two cases. 

Detective Yook finds a YouTube video of Eun-byul showing off a new knife collection she got from Min-gyu. Min-gyu is also in the video.  Young-woon asks Detective Yook to buy the same knife brand and have it analysed. He is hoping one of the knives is the murder weapon and they will give them probable cause to arrest Eun-byul. The analysis report proves that one of the knives is the presumed murder weapon. They get a warrant to search Eun-byul’s house. 

After dropping the case, Young-joo goes back to Woojin and calls Jin-sung to hang out. She also asks him to take down the congratulatory posters across the streets that her mom put up. It turns out she is the first person to be appointed a prosecutor in Woojin. They head out and have food and drinks. Young-joo vents to Jin-woo and Jin-sung about Young-woon and they side with her. 

In the meantime, Young-woon is on his way to Woojin to tell Young-joo that she was right. He believes the new evidence proves that Min-gyu might be the killer. Through a flashback, we learn that he always had a crush on Young-joo even back when they were university students. 

He takes his time to enjoy Woojin’s aesthetic landscape and runs into Woo-jin. Woo-jin takes him to their restaurant and helps him since he got injured while taking a photo of the ocean. Young-woon is grateful especially when Jin-woo also helps him track Young-joo, who has been unreachable. Jin-sung and Young-woon also finally meet.

Once he apologizes, Young-joo accepts to go back with him and join his team. On the way to Seoul, Detective Yook calls Young-woon and informs him that Eun-Byul had reported a robbery in her house a few months ago. The robber took the knife presumed to be the murder weapon. This throws off the case they were building against Min-gyu but Young-joo encourages Young-woon not to give up. She motivates him by telling him how skilled and talented he is and buys him his favourite sweet drink.

Back in Woojin, Jin-woo can’t stop thinking about the praises Young-joo gave Young-woon. It seems like he is scared of Yong-woon’s competence but we don’t know why.

Later that night, two high school girls in Woojin discover a body late at night while Jin-sung has dinner at a local restaurant. The owner of the restaurant complains that her daughter Hye-soo is not back and Jin-sung promises to look out for her. He then gets a call about a murder in town. He arrives at the crime scene and finds the lifeless body of Hye-soo hanging like laundry on a pavilion.

The Episode Review

We started with laughter and easy camaraderie among the people of Woojin but things took a dark turn quickly. It was still an exhilarating first episode as we learnt more about each character. We must say that we are most curious about Jin-woo, he is acting too suspicious and something is off with him. Why was he scared when he learnt that Young-woon is taking over the case? Who was he waiting for at the cafe?

Young-woon is a breath of fresh air though. He is not the normal corruptible rich chaebol who lets injustice slide. Ho-chul is also the same so it looks like we will be in for some interesting struggles between the bad guys and the good guys. 

Na In-woo keeps getting better with each project and we look forward to seeing the new side he will show us in this series. He is so good, that anyone who watches 2 Days 1 Night, will be stunned to see his new character.