When The Phone Rings
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MBC (2024-5) 12 Episodes
Thriller, Grade: B+
Korean Drama Review by Winnie, USA
(No End Spoilers)
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When the Phone Rings is based on a popular web novel by Geon Eomul Nyeo, with the same title. The K-drama adaptation was penned by Kim Ji Woon (who wrote many favorite dramas such as Hyde Jekyll and I, Cheongdamdong Alice, and the beautiful Melancholia), and it was directed by Park Sang Woo (My Secret Terius, The Forbidden Marriage). It stars the versatile actor Yoo Yeon Seok (Warm And Cozy, Hospital Playlist, Gu Family Book, films Love Lies and A Werewolf Boy) and the beautiful, enigmatic Chae Soo Bin (I'm Not A Robot, A Piece Of Your Mind, If We Were A Season, Love In The Moonlight, Where Stars Land, Strongest Deliveryman).
The Story:
Throughout its 12 episodes we follow handsome but stern Paik Sa Eon (Yoo Yeon Seok) the youngest public presidential spokesperson in the history of South Korea, and his mute wife, a professional sign-language interpreter named Hong Hee Joo (Chae Soo Bin). She had become mute after suffering a trauma earlier in her life but as the story continues we see that her disability is not as severe as she makes it out to be publicly, even to her husband. She can still speak if she really wants to, like in crisis situations!
While Sa Eon comes from a prestigious political family, including an overly controlling mother named Sim Kyu Jin (Chu Sang Mi), Hee Joo’s Dad Na Jin Cheol (Park Won Sang) was a powerful media mogul who is now hospitalized due to early dementia. Sa Eon and Hee Joo have lived together in a contract marriage for three years, to please their families, but they rarely communicate with one another and have separate bedrooms. That all begins to change when Hee Joo gets kidnapped by a lunatic (Park Jae Yoon) and Sa Eon quickly begins to realize he has cared about Hee Joo more than he ever let on. He also doesn't want the scandal of his wife being kidnapped to negatively affect his job with the State department.
The kidnapper had fooled around with Hee Joo's luxury vehicle ahead of time, and causes it to behave dangerously on the road. She manages to stop the car and then sees the kidnapper approaching her. He gets in the car and threatens her with a knife. She manages to drive erratically and cause the kidnapper to become unconscious in the back seat. She dumps his body, taking his cell phone (which he had used to call her husband to threaten him too) and goes home to make food for herself and to try and recover from the stress of the kidnapping. Contract "hubbie" arrives "home" and has all kinds of questions for his "wife" about the kidnapping.
Hee Joo uses the kidnapper's cell phone in future to call her husband and through voice changing technology installed on that phone calls her husband up at work frequently, using the technology pretending to be the kidnapper who is still out to blackmail Sa Eon, and by extension, his family. The sensuality heats up between "husband" and "wife" -- and Sa Eon even becomes jealous when an old male friend of Hee Joo's named Ji Sang Woo (Heo Nam Jun, A Hundred Memories, Snowdrop, When The Stars Gossip) reappears in her life and they smile at each other a lot. Sa Eon is not used to ever seeing his contract wife smile, and it shakes him up with jealousy.
Will the kidnapper ever succeed in attaining his revenge against this married couple and their families? Will the public find out about the truth behind their contract marriage and might it cause Sa Eon to lose his prestigious and lucrative job as Presidential spokesman? It is addictive to watch it all unfold. I liked the mystery in the story and the sexy qualities about it.
Enjoy When The Phone Rings. It's available to watch on Netflix.
