The first two episodes of the explosive six episode series of Made In Korea has dropped in Disney+ and aside from its star-studded cast – Hyun Bin, Jung Woosung, Woo Do-hwan, Seo Eun-soo, Won Ji-an, Jung Sung-il, and many more – Director Woo Min-ho has delivered a gripping period political action thriller that ends 2025 with a bang and promises a spectacular finish by the finale on January 14.
The show’s premise follows a “rising KCIA agent (Hyun Bin) who leads a double life as a night-time smuggler.” But his extracurricular activities have put him in the crosshairs of a relentless prosecutor (Jung Woo-sung). The two become bitter rivals who battle to bring the other down against the chaotic backdrop of 1970s South Korea.
The show’s first episode plays out like a movie, focused primarily during a real-life event in Japan and South Korea’s history, the show openly fictionalizes the hijacking of Japan Airlines Flight 351 to introduce us to Hyun Bin’s Baek Ki-tae. Ki-tae is smart, cunning, physically capable of taking down a plane of hijackers by his lonesome, while maneuvering through his own double life as an agent for the KCIA and as a smuggler. The episode is thrilling, suspenseful, and action packed and allows us a glimpse of how capable our protagonist is and how dangerous he can be.
The second episode takes on noir sensibilities, introducing us into the world of Jung Woo-sung’s Jang Geon-young. Jung Woo-sung is not afraid to show him as utterly relentless, the press material and press conference defines him as “dogged” in his obsession with his work.
When a string of murders and drug dealings leads him to Baek Ki-tae, we see an epic showdown coming to a head. Jang Geon-young is no team player, for sure, but he’s smart, crafty, and punctuates his obsessiveness with a loud, maniacal laugh that is very off-putting. He may technically be on the side of the law, the one we should be rooting for, yet Jung Woo-sung’s performance and Director Woo Min-ho are not afraid to approach him like a villain.
Rounding out the cast are Seo Eun-soo as Oh Ye-jin, a detective who wants to be a prosecutor in a period when women weren’t allowed to be prosecutors. While obviously taking on a symbolic feminist role, she playfully portrays Ye-jin, turning into a fangirl when fawning over her boss, Jang Geon-young, but switches gears when in pursuit.
Won Ji-an plays Yuji Ikeda, the power behind the Yakuza throne. Though we only get a glimpse of her in episode one and hear a mention in episode two, we know that her role will get bigger as she and Baek Ki-tae will probably have to cross paths as they both seem to want the same things.
Woo Do-hwan plays Baek Ki-hyun, Baek Ki-tae’s younger brother, who is in the military. When we first see him, he is rigid, much like that of someone in the military academy, which Baek Ki-hyun is. His relationship with his brother appears strained, and we have no real insight yet as to what he thinks of his brother and his work, how much he knows, and whether this seemingly upstanding soldier will be on his side or against him. Considering the actor, his billing, and the set up for his character, we know that this is going to be another important dynamic in Baek Ki-tae’s story.
While the series gears up to be a thrilling, action-packed political drama, its social commentary involved does not go unnoticed. Set in a time period and the way the South Korean government uses the KCIA for its own purposes, outside of its government mandate, pokes questions at the way the government uses institutions to benefit themselves and consolidate power. It frames each character by their own desires and amplifies the age-old adage: “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This series already hits the ground running and with a confirmed second season, this is shaping up to be an event drama for 2026 and, hopefully, another season in 2027.
My Rating: 5 Stars
Buckle up for intrigue, action, and power plays, stream Made In Korea now on Disney+ and witness the thrilling chaos of 1970s South Korea unfold!