[REVIEW] SBS TV series "The President" - 1st Episode

A scene from SBS TV series "The President" [SBS]

Shin Mi-rae (Kim Sun-ah) from SBS TV series "City Hall" dreamt of putting her heart into healing people's pain without separating her personal life from politics. And now, in a reality where that dream has been brutally shattered, Seo Hae-rim (Ko Hyun-jung) in SBS TV series "The President" cries out "How am I supposed to explain this country to my child!" She is asking for 'an understandable explanation' to why the world around her is changing from power exercised under the name of the state and for it to serve at least as a community which can protect individuals who cannot protect themselves. That is how "The President" started -- on a more macroscopic level than "City Hall" but on much more basic issues. And to do this, Seo Hae-rim, who will become Korea's first female president, experiences that basic issue, a problem linked to her family and life. "The President" placed Seo Hae-rim quite quickly into a more extreme situation. Having what Seo Hae-rim experiences as a president in the first ten minutes of the drama be the same in fundamental to what she experiences as an ordinary citizen in the last ten minutes, has made it necessary for the story to make a full-fledged start which is making Seo Hae-rim become a president. At the same time, the story surrounding Ha Doya (Kwon Sang-woo) may come off as unnatural yet it being told with more humorous and comic-like elements keeps the drama from becoming too serious. Seo Hae-rim opens her eyes on the world and politics after her husband's kidnapping and death and Ha Doya, deep-seated in power, is preparing to stand up against that power in his own way. Will "The President" be able to tell us why we need a president?

Reporter : Yoonina (TV Critic)
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@