[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Why Her?" Episode 2

Chan (played by Hwang In-youp) is a law student with quite the backstory. He was accused, falsely, of murdering his stepsister, and released after a year when the real killer was found. But the stigma was so severe that he had to change his name to Chan. During this difficult time in his life, Chan only had one real friend- his attorney, no other than our other lead, Soo-jae, the only person who actually believed in him.

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Evidently Soo-jae has undergone a pretty serious attitude adjustment in the intervening years. Now Soo-jae cares nothing for sentiment, and only for crushing her enemies. Speaking of which, we are introduced to former hot-shot prosecutor turned law school professor Joon-myeong (played by Kim Young-pil) when he attempts to molest his new work colleague in a hallway. It comes as little surprise when we later learn that Joon-myeong also attempted to molest Chan's classmate Se-ryeon (played by Nam Jihyun).

Now, you might be expecting that Joon-myeong will get his comeuppance. And he does. Sort of. But there's nothing noble about the way Soo-jae goes after Joon-myeong, having spent most of the episode verbally emphasizing the stupidity of picking a fight with him. Soo-jae is as cynical about the world as ever, even directly attacking Se-ryeon for trying to take a moral stand against piggish behavior when past experience should have taught her that #MeToo hasn't actually solved anything in regards to claims of sexual harassment.

This strong grasp of the current political moment is "Why Her?" at its finest. We can tell that Soo-jae isn't naturally a sociopath, but it is an aspect of her demeanor that she's spent the last several years cultivating- for the simple reason that it's the only way to win. What's more, Soo-hae has a very specific definition of winning. Soo-jae won't even tell Chairman Choi what her plan is in regards to those mysterious documents she schemed her way into getting a hold of.

The pacing for the first episode was a little off, if only because it was so long, but "Why Her?" picks up a lot of steam in the second episode. Se-ryeon's sexual harassment complaint is resolved. We know pretty much everything we need to know about Chan. We still don't know a whole lot about Soo-jae, but then that's a big part of the character's appeal. Soo-jae is genuinely dangerous, and still constantly underestimated despite her fearsome reputation.

Review by William Schwartz

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"Why Her?" is directed by Park Soo-jin-II, written by Kim Ji-eun-III, and features Seo Hyun-jin, Hwang In-youp, Huh Joon-ho, Bae In-hyuk, Ji Seung-hyun, Lee Joo-woo. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2022/06/03~Now airing, Fri, Sat 22:00 on Coupang Play, SBS.