[Drama 2019] Everyone’s Lies/The Lies Within, 모두의 거짓말

[bedifferent]

On 12/2/2019 at 8:01 PM, taeunfighting said:

On a much lighter note, it looked like the cast members had a blast filming the finale 

I seriously don’t know who to ship more…Sang Hun/Seo Hui, Ho Gyu/Jin Gyeong or Tae Sik/IDG 

 

AWWW, cute BTS video, LJH's black make-up eye cracked me up.  TaeSik holding IDG's hand is on another bromance level.  The actress who plays Jin Gyeong does have a pretty smile.  I always thought PD Lee is the kindest sweetest female PD out there, she looks like a nice aunt you would want to have. Here she is making a crime thriller LOL

 

I didn't know this beforehand.  Apparently, Lies Within is an adaptive screenplay based on a 2012 SK novel "AntiHuman Declaration" by Joo Won Gyu.  Book is about 7 body parts found scattered around the city.  Hand, foot, ear, mouth, heart, eye, head.  A detective responsible for the investigation believes the body parts are related to his own case of accidental death involving factory workers.  One character's ex-hsb's (also named Sang Hoon) hand was found at the plaza.  As the senior researcher working on renewable energy source for a company where the factory is located at, Sang Hoon disappeared after his father's traffic accident. The cases eventually reveal the struggles of corporate greed and political powerplay.  There are enough differences in the drama from the stories in Seo Hui and her father, done for dramatic purposes.  The body parts are used to point out the corrupted ugly desires that turn us human to non-human.  In order for us to be human, must we have to reject these negative qualities that make us human?  (Did I make sense here?  )

 

@taeunfighting hope you got the chance to watch Signal if you haven't yet. 

 

On 12/2/2019 at 7:48 AM, bebebisous33 said:

So with the mutilations, JSH is trying to destroy the image of his deceased son. It was as if he was giving up his identity as his son... Finally, they also symbolize the crimes committed by the chairman: contamination resulted in the destruction of parts in the human bodies. 

 

 

I think Sang Hoon was sending the body parts to signify the crimes committed by CEO JYM just like you have predicted   For the same reasons, @triplem @nrllee Sang Hoon sees himself as the vehicle to expose the truth.  JYM manipulated others serve his purpose.  He committed crimes without any remorse for money... IDG and YM were his tools.  The evil that was JYM, once has taken roots in a person, can't be cured.  It takes someone like Sang Hoon who is willing to dismember himself to expose the man's evil deeds.

 

Someone needs to read the book to tell us more LOL

 

 

 

[Katrina Abdul Talib]

Really sad ending. Love all the casts.

 

But the three involved and sacrificing in such a painful manner.. thts quite weird and leaving behind such a young wife. Must be traumatic for her. 

[AC95]

*spoilers abound in long ramble below, but seems everyone has had a chance to watch the finale by now*

 

On 12/2/2019 at 4:39 PM, UnniSarah said:

SH loved YM, he was his family and the one person who he could be totally honest with. Someone who knew his past and future. 

  

  @UnniSarah Yes, Eun-seong/Sang-hun and Yeong-min were actually closer than any of the characters in the story. The desperation of their scheme reminded me a little of the phrase 'folie a deux' - a kind of shared madness of two people against the outside world. I loved that Yeong-min, who had always been the protective elder brother, followed the lead of Eun-seong in the end. The two scenes that really got me:

• In the car after the escape from the asylum. Yeong-min regrets siding with the Chairman but doesn't see a way out. Eun-seong realises they need to make use of the one person who has a hold on the Chairman - Jeong Sang-hun. It's performed so quietly, no histrionics, but you can just see that mix of sadness and horror and finally resolve on their faces.
• The euthanasia scene, when Eun-seong gives Yeong-min reassurance by grasping his hand. Both actors did so well.

 

On 12/4/2019 at 1:16 AM, taeunfighting said:

Sang Hun and Seo Hui's love for each other was a ray of light throughout.

 

@taeunfighting Yes! I know some viewers felt it was a betrayal, and that he was cruel to her for putting her through this. But he knew her well enough to understand that at the outset, she wasn't strong enough for the fight. Her naivety was the only protection she had; she could survive only so long as the Chairman and political party underestimated her. It required extraordinary stress for Seo-hui to grow into that resourceful and resilient woman who stared down the Chairman in Ep 15, and who made use of the groundbreaking ceremony in Ep 16. She was nowhere near that level in Ep 1.

 

Eun-seong trusted her to become that strong woman. That's love.

 

On 12/3/2019 at 2:07 PM, triplem said:

loved the cast . I really liked Lee Min Ki in this role especially how he portrayed TS - calm , thorough & dependable.  Also hats off to Oh Ju Wan who played YM. He did amazing - he was the hardest to read and the writer did a great job fleshing out his character right till the very end . 

 

 @triplem  Lee Min-ki and Ohn Ju-wan were revelations for me, since I've not been watching kdrama long enough to have seen them before.

 

Lee Min-ki played Tae-sik with so much authenticity. No over-the-top eureka moments (credit to writers of course for this). When he led that press conference, and admitted that the police had made grave mistakes but would commit to doing better, it rang with truth. Whether it was that look of pain when he found Sang-hun's body, or closure when he spoke with his sister, he brought just the right balance of emotion and stoicism.

 

Ohn Ju-wan, where to begin? His confrontation with the Chairman in Ep 15, his exchange with In Dong-gu on the roof, amazing. I went back to some of the earlier episodes and he was just masterful in holding the mask while adding nuances of menace, anger, doubt etc.  

 

On 12/3/2019 at 2:07 PM, nrllee said:

LJH welled up?   At 2:05-2:08 in the video above after his final scene and he received flowers.  He was looking fondly at LYY and she asked him, “Why are you crying?”.  Aww... they must be good friends for him to step in and play her “husband” SHoon.  Such a nice man. Hopefully they will meet together again in a lighter drama.

 

@nrllee I can't help feeling that Lee Yoo-young's agency and LJH are trying to rally around her. As many here will know, in May she posted a distressing message on Instagram and people feared for her safety. And this was a difficult role that could have dredged up negative emotions. I would like to think that surrounding her with good colleagues and meaningful work was the best way for her to heal.

 

*cough* That aside, she's a very attractive and talented woman so I know I'd weep if I had a last scene with her 

 

On 12/2/2019 at 11:48 PM, bebebisous33 said:

About the mutilations: we shouldn't forget that JSH had been adopted because he resembled his deceased son so much. So with the mutilations, JSH is trying to destroy the image of his deceased son. It was as if he was giving up his identity as his son...

 

@bebebisous33 Absolutely, and I think Eun-seong was as much trying to gain his own identity as much as deconstruct 'Jeong Sang-hun'. It was tragic and a desperate move, but also a twistedly brilliant one. 

 

12 hours ago, bedifferent said:

Apparently, Lies Within is an adaptive screenplay based on a 2012 SK novel "AntiHuman Declaration" by Joo Won Gyu.  

 

@bedifferent Wow, really. I wonder if it's been translated and I'm definitely intrigued. It seems like the story has diverged somewhat and I love that The Lies Within is very much its own story too.

 

~

Thanks folks for posting the BTS and farewell messages. So wonderful to see the friendly atmosphere on set and YES! it was so funny to see Tae-sik and the Unstoppable Dong-gu-nator actually hugging and messing around between takes! And... "Hogyu X Jin-gyeong FOREVER". It even reminds me that our evil Palpatine and despicable Assemblyman Hong were created by no doubt very hardworking and beloved senior actors 

 

~

I will miss having roller-coaster, nail-biting, gut-wrenching, heart-stopping weekends with the TLW cast, and even more so the gorgeous people on this thread. Hope to see you all in other high quality drama discussions! 

 

 

[nrllee]

44 minutes ago, AC95 said:

@nrllee I can't help feeling that Lee Yoo-young's agency and LJH are trying to rally around her. As many here will know, in May she posted a distressing message on Instagram and people feared for her safety. And this was a difficult role that could have dredged up negative emotions. I would like to think that surrounding her with good colleagues and meaningful work was the best way for her to heal.

Yes I feel that too.  I think she turned down Terius Behind Me because the female lead in that had a backstory where her husband died and at that time it was coming up the first anniversary of the death of her boyfriend.  I always thought it was odd that she was the one to carry his picture and lead the funeral procession.  That was usually the responsibility of the spouse or close family member/best man.  It put her right in the spotlight which I felt was horribly unfair for her to be forever burdened with that.  She picked up Your Honor instead of Terius.  And that in itself was pummelled with all sorts of side issues which detracted from the drama because Yoon ShiYoon was main lead and he was the one who took on the spot vacated by her bf in 2D1N.  I always felt she buried herself in university/work to try to get away from having to face the grief.  And that post on Instagram was obviously a moment when it all came crashing down.  I am glad LJH took on the role as SHoon.  Acting with someone who knows your history and is responsive to how it could possibly affect you off screen is always assuring.  I think that could be why he seemed more attentive than usual during the BTS in the scenes with her.  Love him for that .  

[taeunfighting]

6 hours ago, AC95 said:

 Yes, Eun-seong/Sang-hun and Yeong-min were actually closer than any of the characters in the story. The desperation of their scheme reminded me a little of the phrase 'folie a deux' - a kind of shared madness of two people against the outside world. I loved that Yeong-min, who had always been the protective elder brother, followed the lead of Eun-seong in the end. The two scenes that really got me:

• In the car after the escape from the asylum. Yeong-min regrets siding with the Chairman but doesn't see a way out. Eun-seong realises they need to make use of the one person who has a hold on the Chairman - Jeong Sang-hun. It's performed so quietly, no histrionics, but you can just see that mix of sadness and horror and finally resolve on their faces.
• The euthanasia scene, when Eun-seong gives Yeong-min reassurance by grasping his hand. Both actors did so well.

 

@AC95 Though tragic, I was relieved that the writer kept Sang Hun and YM's brotherhood true in the end. In addition to the two scenes you noted, another scene that made my heart heavy was where Seo Hui placed their childhood photo on YM's columbarium. Even though she felt that their plan was inconceivable and beyond crazy, because it was, she understood that Sang Hun trusted YM immensely to follow through each step of the way and that YM did love Sang Hun in fulfilling his final wishes. I thought the resurfacing of childhood photo in the end was symbolic that their friendship/brotherhood was restored and returned back to as it was at the orphanage. 

 

Particularly with YM, Seo Hui had misunderstood and doubted YM (and rightfully so). Still, YM never tried to explain himself. He kept the "mask" on because he needed to keep to Sang Hun's plan and focus on their goal. To see Seo Hui give validation to YM that he was indeed true to Sang Hun and his character was significant closure for me (as a viewer).

 

6 hours ago, AC95 said:

Wow, really. I wonder if it's been translated and I'm definitely intrigued. It seems like the story has diverged somewhat and I love that The Lies Within is very much its own story too.

 

@bedifferent @AC95 If either of you get your hands on a translated copy, please share your sources with me. I'm intrigued as well.

 

I'm delighted that I'm not alone in finding joy in their final BTS and farewell messages. It totally brought a smile to face to see everyone have such great chemistry behind the camera. And YES! Lee Min Ki and Seo Hyun Woo (actor playing IDG)'s bromance was just . Haha.

 

19 hours ago, bedifferent said:

@taeunfighting hope you got the chance to watch Signal if you haven't yet. 

 

Signal is on my list! Literally on Netflix (alongside Bad Guys). I've heard great mentions about it. Thanks for letting me know! 

[larus]

The Lies Within: Episodes 9-16 (Series review)

by Saya

The Lies Within really brings to bear its original title, Everybody’s Lies, which has been the compass of the show from the start. As much as it’s a mystery drama, it’s also a forensic investigation into the lies and hidden truths of its inhabitants. The best thing about the second half is the co-operative partnership between Tae-shik and Seo-hee, though this doesn’t necessarily mean that they work together at all times. They each pursue their own lines of inquiry and tend to converge at the same discoveries, while actively sharing information and suspicions.

Sang-hoon’s disappearance takes the backburner for much of the second half as instead, the team focus on figuring out Chairman Jung and his JQ lackeys’ true agenda behind their ruthless campaign to spearhead the new business project in Songju. JQ presents a three-headed dog of villainy to our good guys, headed by Chairman Jung at the top, and below him, Chief In Dong-gu on the one hand, and Sang-hoon’s best friend, Jin Young-min, on the other.

The three of them act in an accord when it comes to furthering the new business, with Chief In and Young-min as bitter rivals, and Chairman Jung willing to play them against each other to suit his own ends. At the midpoint of the show, we had just learned of Choi Soo-hyun’s identity as an investigative reporter who had been killed at the start of the show, thus setting into motion Sang-hoon’s disappearance.

With her death now recognized as murder, it’s clear that she was meant to be silenced from whatever she had been on the brink of exposing. But reinvestigating her case brings Tae-shik’s chief, Yoo Dae-young, down on him like a ton of bricks, and the team is disbanded and facing internal audit.

 

more http://www.dramabeans.com/2019/12/the-lies-within-episodes-9-16-series-review/

 

 

[AC95]

Thanks @larus happy Drama beans had some kind of coverage albeit belatedly.

 

I quote the final para of the article:

 

"For those reasons, The Lies Within is more than a simple mystery thriller to me. And while it’s an indictment of a broken system skewed to favor a select few, it also makes a strong case for personal agency and individual resistance. No effort is wasted even if it seems fruitless, it tells us, because resistance itself is meaningful. It’s something of a rallying cry for our times, I feel, to people who feel that same impotence where their lives are controlled by powers bigger than them, and they have very little currency with which to take their agency back."

 

Simply, yes. 

 

[ktcjdrama]

I am actually missing the weekends with new episodes of this drama  

[taeunfighting]

@ktcjdrama  You are not alone. I miss this show and the thread...especially when I browse Netflix and see it. So, it's great to see a post pop up here and there. 

[bedifferent]

I’m watching in passing the current crop of dramas.  Have to say this was the last good drama of 2019 for me.  Along with Camellia.  I think it must have been due to how engaging the story was and how much I connected/understood the characters.  I hope the cast gets more good projects after this.  

 

I will be traveling the next few weeks, hope to see you all in another thread of great drama in 2020, including 365.  There will be aplenty.  Was so fun being here.

 

 

[nrllee]

@taeunfighting We’ll be reassembling the A Team when Secret Forest 2 comes out in Jul2020 for sure.  So if you haven’t watched SF1 (like I didn’t until a month ago), definitely watch it.  It’s on Netflix as Stranger with Cho Seung-woo and Bae Doona.  It’s brilliant. 

[taeunfighting]

@nrllee Thanks! I was late to FoS/Stranger. I watched it this past summer. You're right - it's brilliant and very well done. I do have plans to be there for season two. Seems like there's lots to look forward to in 2020. 

 

@bedifferent Safe travels!

 

 

[40somethingahjumma]

Hullo gang... Back to give a summation of my thoughts about the series.

Caught the last two episodes on my way home from an overseas stint. Needless to say the resolution elicited mixed emotions from me. Which, I suspect was the intention all along.

 

On some level I always had an underlying foreboding sense that a happy ending for Sang-hun was unlikely to be on the cards. All that grotesque mutilation was ominous to say the least. But the lynchpin at the end of the day was the "why". Why do something so drastic? That was the real mystery in a show riddled with all kinds of red-herrings... both of the ridiculous and the sublime.

 

Finding out that Sang-hun was a dying man was the key to unlocking the whole thing. It explained why he came back to a life he ran away from in the first instance. It also explained (in part) why he chose to bring attention to egregious abuses of power in such shocking fashion despite his deep affection for his wife. I don't know that I approve... but I'm not asked to approve of his choices here... only to understand. In light of the chairman's recalcitrance, I can say I understand the desperation behind Sang-hun's subsequent choices.

 

My thinking about the chairman remains largely intact. He was something of a megalomaniac who believed that everything was within the palm of his hand as long as he had the cash and the power to pull the strings in the background. In a sense he may be right in his assumptions in so far as he is able to tap into people's greed. At least the types that he has surrounded himself with much of his life. But the truth is not everybody cares that much about money and power. Yes... it's true that a lot of people do. However, even when some people veer off the straight and narrow, it comes from a variety of motives. Dae-young for instance, thought he was providing for his family when he fell into bribery and corruption. Yeong-min, wanted desperately to please the man whose approval he craved. As did IDG. The difference between the two men, of course was that one was constantly tortured by divided loyalties. IDG was completely servile to the chairman.

 

Tae-shik and Seo-hui couldn't be bought off because they was operating on different principles. He had a highly developed conscience due to his affinity with the victims' families. This drove his single-minded pursuit for the truth despite threats and impediments. She was a simple-minded wife and daughter who loved her husband and father greatly. Her uncorrupted simplicity saw her determined to find the truth in order to save her husband.

 

I also believe that the writer wants to say that the chairman's power was in large part propped up by those complicit in his dealings. As long as those around him believed he was untouchable... he was. The reality is that he was only untouchable because there was a support system holding it all together. As soon as the cracks appeared... a few good people swimming against the tide in fierce determination... the superstructure soon became a house of cards. In that way, the show was very Burkian... "the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." That was clear even in the failed attempt to topple him. His hold on power was more tenuous than his own deluded mind believed.

 

Overall, it was a decent drama after a shaky start. Not one of OCN's best years (compared to the previous two years) admittedly but the fact that they've been able to attract more than a few good actors of late is testament to the increased quality of their dramas in recent years.