Wow! It's really true that the best gifts come in small packages! I decided to watch this intense, psychologically deep short Korean drama (currently it's available to watch streaming on Viki) Here's My Plan (2021) because of two cast members I especially love, whom I've watched for two decades in various roles: adult actor Ryu Soo Young (My Princess, Rebirth: Next, Two Weeks, Neighborhood Lawyer Jo, The Good Witch) and up and coming star actress Kim Hwan Hee (Robber, Angel Eyes, On The Way To The Airport, Revenge Note, I'll Go To You When The Weather Is Nice) whom I've watched grow up on screen as an adorable child actress turned into a incredibly talented young adult. She's truly impressive in every role she plays, and can display a wide range of emotions. That's no doubt why they keep hiring her!

Kim Hwan Hee Over The Years
with Jang Hyuk, Shin Sung Rok, Kim Hyang Gi

She had great chemistry with all her cast members here, including young actor Kim Do Hoon and veteran actresses Rie Young Zin, playing her mother, and hilarious Park Seung Tae, playing Do Hoon's going-senile grandmother who loves to watch K-dramas and call every leading lady character the B word: she was a riot! Another supporting cast member who impressed me, playing Hwan Hee's best friend in the story, was the spirited Kim Yi Kyeong. Then there was the admirable woman taking care of the grandma, played by Lee Jin Hee. She had some great scenes, too.

Ryu Soo Young and Kim Hwan Hee
Playing Father And Daughter -- Or Are They?

The Story:

Nineteen year old Lee So Hyun (Kim Hwan Hee) is the unhappy daughter of an alcoholic single mother named Kim Yoo Mi (Rie Young Zin) who had served prison time for hosting gamblers in her home in order to earn money. So Hyun had also suffered a huge trauma when her mother had tried to kill them both when So Hyun was little, and as a result of this attempted violent act So Hyun had lost a large part of her childhood memories. She doesn't remember any father in her "home", or what he could have looked like; and as she grows up she thinks he got tired of her mother's drinking and took off, or had an affair and took off! Her mother never talks about him and hides away any family pictures. (In fast forward scenes interspersed into the drama as it progresses we see So Hyun visiting a psychologist to try and come to terms with her sad life, but it takes a long time).

While her mother was in jail So Hyun was left at an orphanage for several years; it's the only "normalcy" she ever had. When her mother emerges from prison So Hyun comes back to live with her but their relationship is terrible, with Yoo Mi drinking all the time and ignoring her daughter. Not surprisingly, So Hyun does not do well in high school, coming from such a troubled family situation, and she eventually drops out of school and becomes a pick pocket to survive; cell phones are one of her favorite items to rob. Her best and only friend is her co-hort in petty crimes, Choi Hee Jin (Kim Yi Kyeong). Eventually So Hyun, finding it impossible to live with her mother anymore, moves in with Hee Jin, but their time together is short.

One day So Hyun sees a pack of high school bullies attacking a young man about her age on the street. She doesn't get involved to help the boy being attacked, knowing that if she did that pack of boys might rape or kill her. She walks away after giving some snide remarks to the ring leader, Do Joon Sik (Lee Si Woo), but not until the young man being beaten, Jo Yoon Ho (Kim Do Hoon), sees So Hyun and commits her face to memory. Why didn't she at least call the police? He resents her mightily!

 

Wanting to be more independent, So Hyun considers renting her own apartment. Her decision is finalized when she happens to see her mother meet with a man, and they appear to know each other pretty darn well. A memory of childhood she had long ago forgotten resurfaces as she sees them together, a memory of her mother and this same man having an argument, and her mother pushing him away. So Hyun is shocked at this sudden memory restore, and assumes this man must be her wayward father! She learns his name is Lee Jae Young (Ryu Soo Young). She determines to take revenge on him for deserting her and her mother. She discovers he owns a restaurant and chooses an apartment for herself nearby. While moving in she recognizes the boy across the street from her new apartment as the one who had been bullied and attacked, and learns he works for the mystery man she thinks is her father. Again, she is shocked. Maybe this boy could actually be .... her brother?

 

She also sees two women she surmises must be the mystery man's new wife, named Kim Bok Hee (Lee Jin Hee), and an old lady named Hye Soon (Park Seung Tae) whom she assumes must be his grandmother. So Hyun marvels to herself: have I a new extended family now? 

A Rare Lighthearted Moment
The Tom and Jerry Date :)

So Hyun plays nice to them all, as part of her revenge plan, and even gets hired part time as a delivery person at Jae Young's restaurant, giving up her pick pocket ways, and eventually she gets the boy Yoon Ho to forgive her for not getting involved when she saw him being attacked. As time goes by they grow closer, but the bullies are still in the background waiting for their next opportunity to attack both of them.

Then So Hyun becomes even more bitter when she learns Jae Young had been secretly dating Kim Bok Hee, who had turned out to be the grandmother's paid nurse, not his new wife. She learns that the old lady is actually Yoon Ho's grandmother, not Jae Young's, but that Jae Young had been kindly helping his worker's family out financially when necessary. Yoon Ho is not his son, just his employee. She also sees that Jae Young even occasionally checks up on her own alcoholic mother, and she wonders why he doesn't help her more financially. Her revenge plan becomes even more whacked out and vicious: she thinks up a plan to kill the nurse-girlfriend, to get her out of the way. She wants to hurt Jae Young in the worst way possible, even if it means she goes to jail for the rest of her life! The fact that Jae Young had been nothing but KIND to everyone involved doesn't stop So Hyun from her fatefully evil plan of revenge. 

As So Hyun works out her plan to perfection -- or so she thinks -- another alarming memory from childhood resurfaces. Perhaps Jae Young wasn't her father after all, maybe another man was! How can she obtain confirmation either way? Will Jo Yoon Ho help her, and end up forgiving her for all her dark thoughts and plans of revenge, to help her come to terms with her own lies and subterfuge ... and thoughts of murder?

This short drama had me transfixed throughout, it was so well written and directed, and Kim Hwan Hee totally amazed me with the depth of her performance, even though I knew she had been wonderful in earlier roles too. I will definitely be re-watching Here's My Plan several more times in future, just to marvel at it again. Don't miss it, especially if you love revenge dramas! I feel sorry for those K-drama fans who never watch the shorter dramas: what they are missing out on is immeasurable!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RETURN TO KOREAN DRAMA REVIEWS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aww! So Cute! :)