Currently Watching: Devilish Joy
Source: tvN
STORY
The Smile Has Left Your Eyes is based off of the 2002 Japanese drama One Million Stars Falling From the Sky. Yoo Jin Gook has 27 years of experience as a homicide detective. One day, a suicide/murder is discovered and the police team he manages is on the case. He starts to secretly investigate on his own because of special circumstances with the help of another team member and discovers parts of the case aren’t what they seem. As he steadily gathers clues, he meets Moo Young, a first assistant at a brewery company, who he suspects may be involved.
Moo Young becomes a suspect due to his photographic memory and his assumed relationship with the deceased woman. His carefree lifestyle has now caught up to him, but he doesn’t seem phased by it despite seeming to harbour many secrets.
As the story progresses, Moo Young becomes close to Jin Gook’s sister, Jin Kang, an advertising designer. As Jin Gook witnesses their relationship, he becomes protective of Jin Kang and does whatever it takes to keep her away from Moo Young. Jin Gook can tell Moo Young’s destructive behaviour affects not only him, but everyone involved with him and deems Moo Young dangerous. Can Jin Gook save his sister from an enigmatic and destructive Moo Young?
CHARACTERS
Jin Gook: played by Park Sung Woong, works at a detective agency as a manager and is the older brother of Jin Kang. He loves his little sister dearly and has a great relationship with her. He is outgoing, outspoken, and an overall friendly guy. Yet, when he steps out of his brotherly role, he is inquisitive and showcases his skills as a detective by being analytical and cautious. He meets Moo Young and instantly feels he’s a danger and seeks to reveal his involvement with the recent murder. Unfortunately, he witnesses his sister getting closer to Moo Young as well and will do anything to protect her from him.
Jin Kang: played by Jung So Min, works as a brand designer for a small company. At first glance, she seems friendly and sociable. The deeper we dive into her, we realize her childhood has made her a cautious person and is perceptive of the way people act around her. She has a strong personality and can easily express her feelings in any situation when she wants to. If she’s uncomfortable she’ll state so, and if she’s curious, she’ll genuinely express her interest. When she meets Moo Young, he brings out more emotions than she expects. She knows to be cautious because she can’t understand him, but that has also triggered her curiosity and she can’t seem to stay away from him.
Moo Young: played by Seo In Guk, works as an assistant at a brewery company and has a very multidimensional/enigmatic personality (I personally believe he has psychotic tendencies). He’s moody, looks bored all the time, but knows how to manipulate people well enough for someone to show interest in him and believe he’s a trustworthy person (this mostly refers to his interactions with females). Moo Young is such a confusing, but simple person. He never shows his true feelings, but after meeting Jin Kang he begins to try to understand what it means to care for someone.
REASONS TO WATCH
Mystery
This show can be very suspenseful and mysterious. Almost everything surrounding our main characters can bring you in and make you stick around for the ride. There are some things that are a bit obvious, but as the story carries on, you start to want to know why our main characters act the way they do and make certain decisions.
Moo Young
If anything, I will make Moo Young a reason, just for his personality alone. There are things and ways about him that can be questioned and answered, but never be completely understood unless we were in his shoes.
Romance
Now this is a make or break for most viewers. Mostly because a lot of people watched the original. I personally haven’t, but because of my curiosity, I know the details LOL. I do not get scared away easily from a show even if I already know the ending - that’s just me. But if you like great kiss scenes, love/hate chemistry, and complicated/forbidden love then this is the romance for you.
Second Lead Romance
I just think they’re cute and really enjoy the spunkiness of Tak So Jung and her outright feelings for Jin Gook.
REASONS NOT TO WATCH
If you’re not a fan of manipulation and/or mental instability, you may exit right.
If you need a feel good character to enjoy the show, you will be sadly disappointed. (A lot of these characters are very hard to like and understand, but that’s also what makes them intriguing.)
I honestly do not know the difference between law enforcement in South Korea and where I’m from, but if you’re a stickler for law accuracy, I’m sure this will be a bit hard to watch.
Thanks for reading! I hope this helped everyone decide to watch it or not. I got a lot of feel good comments from my last article about presenting the characters' personalities. Thanks so much for that! And I know the drama is almost over so good news for the binge watchers: the last episode airs on November 22! XD
I'll also be doing a full review on it on my YouTube Channel so look out for it!
