Trolley Korean New Series Season 1
Episode 1 Recap And REVIEW
Episode 1 of Trolley begins with a woman named Kim Hye-Ju searching for her daughter Yoon-Seo at the police station. He’s in high school and didn’t miss anything before he left. He and Yoon-Seo had an argument before the latter left, but he had never disappeared or anything like that before. According to Hye-Joo, this is the first time this has happened.
Then we reached 13 hours ago at the Book Guard studio. Hye-Joo works to restore pages from books for various clients. How she is raising her son is 22 and her daughter is in school. Her client is quite eccentric, but Hye-Joo seems uncomfortable answering these questions. Finally, emphasizing that he does not love his daughter more than his son, he tells his client that he loves them both equally.
Yoon-Seo is quite an exemplary student considering he is the Class Leader. She doesn’t even go to extracurriculars and doesn’t interfere with her daughter’s studies. As for Yoon-Seo’s father, Hye-Joo claims that he “has a normal job.” he’s actually a member of the District Assembly, and as for Hye-Jo, he refuses, donating most of his money to others.
Nam Joong-Do is a member of the Assembly and is tough on crime. He wants to eliminate all illegal real estate speculation by members of the National Assembly who are coming for inspection soon. He says they have launched a special investigation to investigate this in more detail.
As we soon learn, Joong-Do came into office thanks to his wife’s wealth, which saw him elected. He never attended or even interfered with her campaign rallies. Apparently, she didn’t want to be a part of his political career, revealing the secret.
As the National Assembly inspection approaches, Kang Soon-Hong, another Assembly member, mistakes him for an overseas secretary. The pair forcefully laugh before Joong-Do forgives her for her mistake, considering that Kang is actually a secretary her age. Yes! Anyway, they part ways, pointing out how young and brash Kang Joong-Do is.
Joong-Do is quite humble, but has aspirations to make it big. He texts Hye-Jo, saying he’ll be home at midnight, and mentions that he’s been called young twice. As for Hye-Jo, she stops by to pick up some oil, but the owner, a grieving grandmother, doesn’t mourn her grandson, who committed suicide after a fight with her boyfriend. He threatened to publish her shameful photos. Hye-Joo comes to pay her respects, but refuses to sign the guestbook.
Meanwhile, Joong-Do writes down all of the citizens’ concerns, sees each one, and even gives them his personal number so they can call anytime with their concerns.
Speaking of worries, Yoon-Seo heads home and confronts her mother about the SNU situation. Yoon-Seo isn’t happy considering he canceled the invitation and points out that Hye-Joo didn’t even go to university. Finally, he slams the door and goes to his room. Luckily, Joong-Do returns and heads out to help, but his phone rings. Despite his being off the clock. called to attend the wake. Apparently, the mother-in-law of the manager of Taeyang Shopping Center has passed away. It’s too late and Yoon-Seo is disappointed, another evening between them.
When Yoon-Seo wakes up in the middle of the night, he finds his daughter gone. Given that it is raining, she is anxious and desperate to find him. This takes us to the beginning of the episode. When she leaves the police station, Joong-Do is there to meet her. The pair frantically search for him, but can’t track him down.
At the police station, when the officers realize it’s Joong-Do and the Assemblyman, they prepare to speed it up the chain of command. He doesn’t want preferential treatment, but Hye-Joo asks him to make an exception just once. Finally, he confesses, and the Chief calls to say they’re turning it into a Missing Persons case, along with a bunch of detectives looking for the truth.
Unfortunately, the truth is unbearable for both of them. A red windbreaker is found next to the docks belonging to the dead body. Only, it’s not Yun-seo who returns home, but their eldest son. The context and framework for the early conversation in the book repair shop now makes more sense. Hye-Joo tells her eldest son Ji-Hoon to leave and has a big argument with him. Now he has been found dead in a shocking turn of events.
Ji-Hun was released from prison 15 days ago and his biological mother has been dead for some time. It turns out that Hye-Ju actually came to pick him up from prison when he was released. Hye-Ju took him to her apartment, offered to pay the rent, and gave him a card for extra money.
Ji-Hoon believes that Hye-Joo is only being nice and buttering her up because she wants to protect Joong-Do’s career. This explains the context of the argument we see, with Hye-Joo admitting that she’d rather disappear than cause trouble for a family like her. He leaves after handing over the red jacket. After this argument, he did not see her.
To make matters worse, a gram of meth was found in Ji-Hoo’s pocket. The phone with him was actually on fire. His cell service is still down, but the last ping they got was 4.5 km upriver. Officials say they are checking all CCTV cameras, but as it was raining heavily at the time of the death, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact location.
Officers proceed and discover that he had been drinking heavily in the hours before his death. The autopsy results should be available in 10-15 days, which should give them more information. However, the lack of trauma and signs of physical stress suggest that he took drugs, was intoxicated, and then fell into the river and drowned.
Yoon-Seo walks in the door, apologizing for what happened. He just wanted Hye-Joo to care and worry about him. She cries, throwing her arms around her daughter like Hye-Jo.
We jump forward two weeks later, after the funeral has been held. Hye-Joo begins to empty and tidy Ji-Hoo’s apartment. The floor is littered with empty bottles and trash. In the end, he signs the death certificate, but he is convinced that it took a toll on him. Finally, back home again, Hye-Ju is greeted by a visiting guest. A young woman reveals that she is pregnant with Ji-hoon’s baby.
The Episode Review
Well, this looks like a pretty interesting K-drama to kick off the many winter Korean projects that are about to start. Trolley is well-edited, with a beautifully re-contextualized scene involving Hye-Joo at the book repair shop.
Whether or not Joong-Do has more dark secrets up his sleeve remains to be seen, but there’s enough here to suggest that his squeaky clean personality could be a great facade for a darker past. If so, could this whole situation with Ji-hoon have been orchestrated by him to get an easier ride in the election? Could he be aware that Ji-hoon got this girl pregnant? It will certainly be added, especially considering the scenes at the funeral.
The pacing of this episode is also about right, and the tone, which swings between mystery and crime thriller, is almost perfect for a one-hour chapter. There’s a lot to like about it, and the characters are well defined for the most part. It will be interesting to see where this goes next, but for now it was a very solid opening.