The lead actress in this dark thriller Low Life (2025), Su Jeong Im, is the reason I became addicted to Korean entertainment, way back in 2006. On the advice of a friend I had tried her classic 2003 Korean horror film A Tale Of Two Sisters and was blown away by her phenomenal performance in it. I went looking for other works she had done and discovered my first Korean drama, I'm Sorry, I Love You, and loved her in that too, as well as falling in love with her male lead actor in the drama, So Jisub. The die was cast and I became totally enthralled with Korean entertainment: it changed my life ... or at least my entertainment viewing habits! The last American television show I watched ended in 2010. I pay no attention to American "entertainment" whatsoever now. It can't compare one iota to the high quality of Korean dramas and films produced over the past decades.

So when I read that this new drama of Su's was sparking interest online I was eager to check it out. Once again her performance was impeccable. Her character in Low Life is not admirable or sympathetic, as other ingenue characters she's played in the past have been, and as the series progressed I could easily see why she was attracted to the role: it was unique and very challenging: a character determined to obtain an ancient buried treasure before anyone else could succeed at it, no matter what she had to do to succeed, even attempted murder.

Su Jeong Im in 2025's Low Life and A Tale Of Two Sisters (2003)

Her main male co-stars were the excellent prolific older actor Ryu Seung Ryong (Personal Taste, Painter Of The Wind, IRIS, Jirisan, The Good Bad Mother, Moving) and the younger intense actor Yang Se Jong (Saimdang, Light's Diary, My Country The New Age, Doona!) and they both knocked it out of the ballpark with their mesmerizing performances. Also turning in excellent performances were Kim Sung Oh (Sad Love Story, Midas, When A Man Loves, Becky's Back, Fight For My Way) and fabulous veteran actor Jang Gwang (The Crowned Clown, Moonshine, Melancholia, When My Love Blooms, Gapdong, Jung Yi: Goddess Of Fire, Super Daddy Yul, and many more!). 

Screenwriters were Yoon Tae Ho (who wrote the webcomic), Kang Yoon Sung (who also directed the drama), and An Seung Hwan, and the drama was paid for and produced for online streaming service Disney+ / Hulu. If you are interested in darker drama stories (without too many standard cliches), instead of the more typical lighter-weight dramas that abound in K-Dramaland, then definitely check it out. The dynamic performances of the entire cast, main and supporting, will no doubt keep you interested in who exactly will obtain the buried treasure first! (Come to think of it, this drama is kind of a "buried treasure" as well!).

The Story:

In the 1970's a struggling small time crook in Seoul named Oh Gwan Seok (Ryu Seung Ryong) and his devoted nephew Oh Hee Dong (Yang Se Jong) join forces to steal beer from a brewery to make extra money on the black market, but they are caught, arrested, and sent to jail. There they meet a corrupt antique "dealer" and appraiser named Song Gi Taek (Kim Jong Soo) who tells them he has a scheme ready for when he's released from prison to dive and salvage some priceless porcelain pots and gold pieces that had sunk in a famous shipwreck in the early 14th century off the waters of Shinan, South Jeolla Province. They figure with the more modern diving equipment available to them that they might succeed when others in the past have failed.

When they are all released from prison they travel to the coast of Mokpo and prepare to learn how to dive and retrieve the buried treasure in the water. Gwan Seok and nephew Hee Dong are a bit leery of Song, however, because they wonder why he wants them to dive for the treasure instead of hiring professional divers. Uncle and nephew plan to ultimately rip off Song by keeping some of the gold and porcelain pots for themselves, to sell on the black market later on. With such a fortune they could retire from the criminal life for good. This might even help Hee Dong win back an old girlfriend (Lee Seung Ju) of his who broke up with him when she learned of his secret criminal lifestyle.

In addition, soon they learn through the gossip mill that they aren't the only ones who have the same plan to steal the treasure before anyone else can! A corporate head of a wealthy business titled Heungbaek Industries, an older man named Chun Hwang Sik (Jang Gwang), has the same intent. When Uncle and Nephew tell Song about this Chairman, Song tells them they should drop some modern made porcelain pots, camouflaged to look old, into the water so this Chairman will be fooled and take the wrong pots instead of the authentic ones!

Meanwhile, the Chairman's younger wife, named Yang Jung Sook (Su Jeong Im) goes over her husband's head and approaches Uncle and Nephew and promises to provide additional funds to them to make their diving job easier, and she also offers a lucrative deal that she will pay 100,000 won for each real ceramic pot they capture on their dive. They agree to work for her and not so much for Song. Will Song ever find out and what would he do to seek revenge on them?

A first dive results in a tragedy, though, when one of their paid divers suffers a collapsed lung, so the attempt to continue diving is put off. Also it becomes obvious to the younger Nephew Hee Dong that Jung Sook is having an affair on her older husband with a younger employee of Heungbaek Industries named Im Jeon Chul (Kim Sung Oh) and that she might even be pregnant with his baby. If the older husband finds out about her betrayal, and casts her aside, will that ruin his and his Uncle's chances to bring up the buried treasure before anyone else can succeed at it, and also prevent them from secretly confiscating some of the treasure for themselves?

Her elderly husband is suddenly diagnosed with heart disease and told to stay away from alcohol. Jung Sook secretly feeds it to him in clandestine ways in an attempt to get him out of the way permanently so that she can control their corporation in its entirety, including taking any of the buried treasure for herself only. Plus she would then be able to live with her lover and have his baby in peace.

At the next attempt at a dive the crew is successful and is able to bring up the entire treasure! However, the success makes Uncle Gwan Seok go crazy, and to take the whole treasure for himself he kills Jung Sook's lover who was on the crew so he and his Nephew can keep the dead lover's share of the riches for themselves. When his Nephew tells him that Jung Sook was lovers with the man and pregnant with his baby, Gwan Seok becomes horrified at the murder he has committed: Jung Sook could then send Gwan Seok to prison and keep all the money for herself.

Then the tangled web of all their lives becomes even more alarming when Jung Sook discovers that Heungbaek Industries is bankrupt. To have any chance at financial security for herself she must keep all the buried treasure money and not give the divers anything. Oh this will further enrage Uncle and Nephew! Chairman Chun also discovers his wife's repeated betrayals and ultimately has to decide what to do about it.

I won't reveal the ending, I don't like to reveal end spoilers, but definitely check out this suspenseful dark thriller for yourself on Disney+ / HULU. After watching Low Life, boy oh boy do I need a nice, cute, fluffy, easy-going romantic comedy to watch next! :)

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

RETURN TO KOREAN DRAMA REVIEWS

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