Sometimes I will stick with a Korean drama with especially dark themes like Walking On Thin Ice (2025) simply because I have great respect for the high quality of the actors cast in it. However, halfway through this drama I felt like I needed anti-depressants to continue to the end! Truly! There were hardly any redeeming or humorous moments in the entire story. One character is dying of pancreatic cancer then on top of that gets murdered, another character is selling illegal meth in order to avoid losing her home due to bankruptcy, another was quickly getting to the point where she wanted nothing more to do with her hurting, erring mother, and then we are bombarded by the usual criminal / gangster types who care more about money than morals, and even like to brutalize others physically, like cutting off fingers! OUCH! Even most of the cop characters were less than ideal human beings in this story. Shudder!

Warning: Violent Trailer

I usually do not include end spoilers in my drama reviews but I feel this one is just so dark that I should add a For Mature Audiences warning, and that I should reveal that it has an open ending where the audience is left hanging about one of the major characters, whether they live or die. I really dislike open endings. Imagine if Jane Austen didn't tell us if Darcy and Lizzie got together at the end of Pride And Prejudice, or if Charlotte Bronte didn't tell us if Jane and Rochester got together at the end of Jane Eyre? They would not be the classics they still are today if the authors left the audience hanging by the end of their stories, wondering if the characters found happiness! Most Korean dramas do not get sequels because it's so hard to get all the actors back together again at the same time later, since they go on to other projects, so that is yet another reason for writers to avoid open endings. This writer, Jeon Young Sin, will hopefully avoid that pitfall in her next drama. This director, Song Hyun Wook, had directed only one drama that I really liked, Super Daddy 10. His style is obviously not the style I care for in my K-drama choices.

Now this drama got pretty good ratings and feedback from fans in general -- I just happened not to be one of those viewers who thought it one of the best dramas of 2025. Far more beautiful dramas than this one made that 2025 Favorites' list for me, including Our Movie, Melo Movie, Bon Appetit Your Majesty, and A Hundred Memories.

L to R: Kim Young Kwang, Lee Young Ae, Park Young Woo
About The Only Time We See The Actors Smile
For This Drama Is In Promotional Photographs!
LOL!

Taking all that into account it still was a pretty powerful role for our lead actress, whom I've been watching for two decades, lovely Lee Young Ae who has established herself well in great works such as A Jewel In The Palace, Saimdang Light's Diary, Dream Racers, Maestra: Strings Of Truth and classic films like Sympathy for Lady Vengeance and Joint Security Area.

Her handsome leading man was the prolific actor Kim Young Kwang who has been in a plethora of dramatic works starting in 2008, series such as Trigger, Call It Love, D-Day, Pinocchio, Good Doctor, Love Rain, White Christmas, Worlds Within, and films such as Hot Young Bloods, Soul-Mate, and 2025's First Ride.

Our second male lead is Park Young Woo who was memorable in dramas such as Strangers Again and the original 2000 film Ditto playing actress Kim Ha Neul's major love interest, and the haunting classic film Lover's Concerto with Ye Jin Son and the lovely but tragic actress Lee Eun Ju who later committed suicide in 2005 at only age 24.

Then we have the wonderful actor Bae Soo Bin (Shining Inheritance, 49 Days, Temptation of an Angel, Secret Love, Dong Yi, Painter Of The Wind, The Good Witch, A Pledge To God, Love Like That) who plays Lee Young Ae's tragic husband. I felt so sorry for him playing this sad character whose future is nothing but bleak.

Their teen daughter is played by beautiful Kim Si A (See You In My 19th Life) who in many different close up shots reminded me so much of a very young Song Hye Kyo. She gave a great performance in this difficult drama. This kid is going places in the entertainment world! Mark my words. :) 

The Story:

Stay at home housewife Kang Eun Soo (Lee Young Ae) enjoys her nice, peaceful life in the suburbs of the city, taking care of her loving but workaholic businessman husband Park Do Jin (Bae Soo Bin) and their teenage daughter in high school, Park Su A (Kim Si A). She is proud of her husband who makes a good salary and her daughter who is developing into an outstanding artist while taking art classes after school with a talented teacher named Lee Kyung (Kim Young Kwang).

Eun Soo never expects her pleasant life to change very much but suddenly one day her husband collapses in the kitchen, is rushed to the hospital, and is diagnosed with late stage pancreatic cancer. She is in shock. Medical bills start to pile up and Eun Soo isn't sure how she will pay them. She also discovers that hubbie had lost a lot of money with bad investments and crypto / gambling and had been hitting up loan sharks to pay their bills. Then she even begins to get notices that the bank will take their home away from the family due to large unpaid mortgage debts. How will she pay them when she hasn't worked outside the home for years since her marriage? Her husband remains in the hospital for advanced treatments, leaving Eun Soo and daughter Su A to try and get by financially in extreme financial distress.

 

Then suddenly in an odd, random way Eun Soo becomes entangled with a shady drug crime group called Phantom that had been chasing a drug dealer who had confiscated a large bag of illegal meth from them. He is Kim Bong Nam (Kim Yoon Bae) and soon the police are after him as well, including the local chief of police Jang Tae Gu (Park Yong Woo). Trying to escape from the gang and the police Bong Nam cleverly climbs into Eun Soo's back porch and hides the bag there, thinking he can come claim it later when the chase has calmed down, but he never gets the chance and is killed.

 

Eun Soo finds the bag and in watching the news discovers the meth is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars! She realizes that if she can sell the contents of the bag she and her daughter will be out of financial danger. However she bides her time and gets a job cleaning at a local nightclub. One night a nasty patron finds her cleaning the bathroom and comes on to her. Scared, she fights him off but he hits her so hard she temporarily passes out. Then suddenly who should enter the scene but a rescuer, who ends up being Lee Kyung, her daughter's art teacher! He disposes of the jerk and comforts Eun Soo. She follows him outside and then he realizes she is the mother of his favorite art student. He decides to help her after she confesses to him about the meth. He also has his own family problems he would like to rectify so they decide to become a team to carefully sell the meth in small amounts to addicts to avoid detection if they had attempted to sell the whole large amount at once to the black market. Eun Soo and "James" can't help but grow closer but it's not the kind of closeness that is productive for either of their lives.

However the police are still after the illegal meth, including the captain Tae Gu. He eventually catches on to Lee Kyung and Eun Soo and is determined to arrest them and jail them. He proves to be a dirty cop too who has his own eye on the meth to hopefully benefit himself.

Gosh, is there any character in this story who isn't at their very heart a selfish rotter??? Eventually the daughter has had enough of her mother and art teacher and goes to live with a relative. When Eun Soo's husband is released from the hospital he is eventually killed and both Eun Soo and "James" -- Lee Kyung's gangster name -- go to prison for their crimes. When Eun Soo is released she hopes she can re-attain a more normal kind of life, but Lee Kyung goes to the top of a skyscraper and we don't know if he will commit suicide by jumping off the roof, or not.

 

Although the performances here were dynamic and realistic it isn't exactly the type of drama which will make me root for their characters. How about turning in the meth to the police authorities immediately after you found it on your porch and hopefully get a reward for being a good citizen? Then you don't lose your daughter, for one thing, and your husband wouldn't have been murdered. Sigh.

If you want to venture into this strange Korean drama just be prepared for it to haunt you by the end. You can watch it on Kocowa+. Have a glass of wine while watching. You'll need it. LOL! (I was so glad to start a cute rom com after watching Walking On Thin Ice - so refreshing!). :)

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