FLOWER OF EVIL
A GLOBAL MASTERPIECE
THE TALE
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Lee Joon Gi portrays Do Hyun Soo, the eponymous hero of Flower of Evil, the highly charged 2020 global masterpiece. Do Hyun Soo, the son of a psychopath, ‘blossoms into a beautiful Flower from an ugly Seed of Evil’. The spellbinding suspense-melodrama, with many thrilling twists and iconic scenes, is helmed by international award-winning director, Kim Cheol Kyu and written by gifted screenwriter, Yoo Yung Hee. The drama boasts of a very impressive and talented ensemble cast. TVN’s unique Flower of Evil, the most impressive and unforgettable drama of 2020, will be ingrained in everyone’s memory as a spectacular drama of all time.
The passionately romantic but sad tale about a sometimes strong
and sometimes mentally fragile metal craftsman, and his strong-willed homicide
detective wife is a labour of love of the director, the writer, the
cinematographer, the lightning director and other members of his dream team, particularly, the actors, Lee Joon Gi and
Moon Chae Won. One can say the drama is result of a very strong team effort
and work ethic.
Do Hyun Soo, portrayed by the sterling actor,
gives the epic tale its heart and soul.
The stunning drama captures many important moments in the life of Do Hyun Soo, a metal craftsman, who has been wrongly diagnosed as suffering from ASPD when a child. Do Min Seok, his father, is incriminated in a series of murders in Gakyeongri. Found dead by the local police who have been negligent in their investigations, the serial killer is confirmed to have committed suicide. As the son of a serial murderer,
Do Hyun
Soo is publicly abused and compelled
to undergo many humiliating and out-dated shamanic ceremonies dictated by the corrupt and greedy village headman.
To aggravate his distress, the helpless Do Hyun Soo is
suspected of being an accomplice in his father’s serial murders and also, the
murderer of the village headman. The list of accusations piles up. The matter worsens when Do Hyun Soo is also accused of kidnapping
and murdering Jung Mi Sook, the wife of a taxi driver. Even the death of Nam
Soo Kil, his former restaurant co-worker, is linked to him. The accusations
have dire consequences on Do Hyun Soo’s life.  He and Do Hae Soo, his older sister, flee from their home. It is a miracle that Do Hyun Soo survived his mental and emotional torture. As his own form of self-defence, he assumes a cold and detached view of the world. The coincidences and twists of fate drive this spellbinding
drama. Due to an accident, Do Hyun Soo enters into a surreptitious false
identity arrangement with Baek Man Woo to assume the identity of his comatose
son, Baek Hee Sung. As the fake son of Baek Man Woo, a university hospital
director, and Gong Mija, a pharmacist, Do Hyun Soo is destined to live 14
happy years of married life with Cha Ji Won, his homicide detective wife.
The vivacious and single-minded Cha Ji Won, having irrevocably
fallen in love with him, had relentlessly pursued him and won his heart in
their younger days. It is the
passionate and unconditional love of his wife that saves Do Hyun Soo from the
perilous descent into insanity or instability. From their union
springs forth a cute and intelligent daughter.
Do Hyun Soo blossoms into a fine man and citizen. As a loving
father and attentive husband, he is the envy of everyone.
  The are many important defining points in his life but the beginning of the turning point in his marriage is when the inquisitive Kim Moo Jin, a former schoolmate and Hajoongan Weekly investigative reporter, drops in at Do Hyun Soo’s metalcraft workshop. The meeting leads to an acrimonious but thrilling confrontation in the workshop itself and also in the basement of the workshop. But luckily, the two level-headed childhood friends share a common goal. They collaborate to investigate and unravel the real truth behind the murders. Park Kyung Choon, the unstable taxi driver, misled into thinking that Do Hyun Soo is his wife’s murderer, kidnaps him and the prisoner is threatened with a watery death.
After the tearful reunion of the siblings in the abandoned Ski
Alps Resort, a significant location near the Korean Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) in
Goseong, the brother-sister pair together with Kim Moo Jin, conduct a
thorough investigation into the decade-long mystery.
With the reopening of the investigation of the Gakyeongri murders, Cha Ji Won, his
tenacious homicide detective wife leaves no stone unturned. Though Do Hyun
Soo and Cha Ji Won profess undying love for each other, they have to face the
horrible truth of his seemingly murderous past.
But, because he could not reveal his real self to his wife, Hyun
Soo is sometimes crippled temporarily by sudden attacks of anxiety and nerves
brought on by stress.
The investigations carried out by the violent crime unit of the
Gangsu Police Station headed by Lee Woo Chul undermine their loving and
close-knit relationship. It is a gruelling test of their love but in the end,
they come through with flying colours.
To everyone’s shock, the real Baek Hee Sung, who awakes from
his coma, is the real villain of the piece. The lives of Do Hyun Soo and Baek
Hee Sung have been entwined from the beginning. It was revealed that after a fateful accident, the psychopathic Baek Hee Sung had attempted to bury him in the
lawn of the Baek family home.
Do Hyun Soo’s confrontation with Baek Hee Sung is inevitable.
As a consequence of his decade-long coma, Baek Hee Sung is not Do Hyun Soo’s physical
match. But, he provides the perfect foil for Do Hyun Soo’s mental and
emotional struggle in the final moments of their showdown.
In his clash with Baek Hee Sung, Do Hyun Soo seems to be
removed of his humanity and trapped in his delusions. A silhouette of the
unhinged Do Hyun Soo in the basement of his childhood home inspires fear and
anxiety in the viewers.
Their feud culminates in a thrilling one-sided fight which ends
at the vertiginous edge of the beautiful craggy cliffs near the metal
craftsman’s former home. Vacillating between reality and unreality, the broken Do Hyun
Soo sees dead people. The achingly poignant scene evokes the image of a
whimpering infantile boy who nearly collapses into blubbering mush.
Flower of Evil is a story of passionate love, marriage vows, lies and truth, friendship,
hatred, fear, loyalty, greed, mental illness, psychopathy, prejudice, the social
media, family and parenting failure. Though the drama lauds duty-conscious public servants, it is also a strong criticism against the dereliction of duty of civil servants, particularly, the psychiatrist who misdiagnoses Do Hyun Soo as a child, and the local police who demonstrate a lax and sloppy handling of Do Min Seok’s serial murders. The lack of accountability forces his hapless and helpless son to suffer needlessly through no fault of his own.
Flower of Evil is a study of the human condition; it explores the 'heredity versus environment' issue in the case of psychopaths. It attempts to
show the disturbing but real psychological and emotional fight between good
and evil that one has to struggle with within one’s head. The lack of love due to
absentee parents is juxtaposed with the unconditional and undying love of a
passionate wife. The writer argues that unconditional or real love can
prevent human beings from yielding to evil and going down the path to ruin.
In this case, Do Hyun Soo’s tragic fate, which is mapped out for him by his
psychopathic father, is averted by the dogged determination and undying love of
Cha Ji Won. The real Baek Hee Sung is not so lucky.
Flower of Evil, a highly acclaimed global masterpiece, is the
best drama of 2020. There are many impressive and thrilling moments in the drama;
some are deeply traumatic, wonderfully clever and hysterically funny and the
others are peppered with a lot of edge and heart. Flower of Evil is capable
of reducing even grown men and women to tears. It is an impassioned and
stunning achievement of the Asian nation well-known for its wonderful dramas. Global viewers and fans alike are firmly convinced that Lee Joon Gi should not only sweep the top awards at local drama award shows but also global and international award shows for his spellbinding performance, and his many iconic and show-stopping moments in the drama. The rest of the elite Flower of Evil team should also garner top awards for their work.
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