K-drama Nothing Uncovered: Kim Ha-neul and Yeon Woo-jin dig up the truth in an old-style thriller based on web novel Grabbed by the Collar

K-drama Nothing Uncovered: Kim Ha-neul and Yeon Woo-jin dig up the truth in an old-style thriller based on web novel Grabbed by the Collar

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Lead cast: Kim Ha-neul, Yeon Woo-jin, Jang Seung-jo

Latest Nielsen rating: 2.7 per cent

In Nothing Uncovered, a reporter will stop at nothing to expose the truth, even if it means going up against powerful politicians and stepping on the toes of her male superiors at work. But her journalistic ethics are put to the test when her personal life collides with her professional one.

Kim Ha-neul (18 Again) plays Seo Jeong-won, the daring host and producer of the hard-hitting evening news show “Nothing Uncovered”. She follows leads to mystery locations and, with her trusty cameraman Ju Yeong-seok (Kim Min-jae, The Outlaws: No Way Out), barges in on people when they least expect it, whether they’re in the middle of offering a bribe or beating their wife.

It’s worth noting that the Korean title of the fictitious programme is Grabbed by the Collar. That’s also the Korean title of the drama itself and the name of the web novel it is based on.

There are several allusions to the Korean title of the news show in the series’ narrative, for instance when fans ask Jeong-won to grab them by the collar during selfies. Ever the consummate professional, she refuses these requests.

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Jeong-won is married to Seol Woo-jae (Jang Seung-jo, The Good Detective), a successful novelist who is also the heir to the Mujin Group. Wool-jae is a doting husband, who supports her and finds time for her, even though her work doesn’t often give her the time to reciprocate.

Jeong-won’s perfect professional and personal life suddenly begins to crumble one fateful day, starting with a tip that brings her to a residential neighbourhood on a rainy night. Looking up, she is shocked to discover a woman’s corpse hanging out of a broken window, her blood flowing down the building’s facade.

After the police arrive, the shock turns to confusion when it is revealed the woman is the housekeeper of Mo Hyeong-taek (Yoon Je-moon), an assemblyman whose doings Jeong-won has recently exposed on her programme.

Kim Ha-neul (right) as dogged reporter Seo Jeong-won, and Kim Min-jae (left) as her trusty cameraman Ju Yeong-seo, in a still from Nothing Uncovered.

Next comes a call from top star Cha Eun-sae (Han Ji-eun) promising a tip. But it is an ambush, as Eun-sae claims to be Jeong-won’s husband’s mistress. She shoves a sonogram of her unborn child into Jeong-won’s hands while the reporter attempts to storm out.

Jeong-won’s suspicions turn into something more concerning when another tip leads her to another dead body, this time Eun-sae’s.

On this occasion, however, Jeong-won doesn’t wait for the cops to show up, as she has just learned she has been recommended for the coveted 9pm anchor position at the network, and needs to keep her nose clean if she will have any chance of landing the gig.

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Another layer is added to Jeong-won’s predicament when the detective assigned to investigate both deaths turns out to be Kim Tae-heon (Yeon Woo-jin, Daily Dose of Sunshine), her ex-boyfriend.

Initially known for her work in romantic fare such as the classic films Ditto, My Tutor Friend and My Girlfriend Is an Agent, Kim Ha-neul found great success when she stepped into the thriller genre with the hit film Blind.

Nothing Uncovered sees her return to the realm of classic K-thrillers, with a seductive dose of prime time melodrama thrown into the mix.

Yoon Je-moon (left) as assemblyman Mo Hyeong-taek, the subject of an exposé by Jeong-won, and Jung Woong-in as her father-in-law, Seol Pan-ho, in a still from Nothing Uncovered.

With its mix of corrupt reporters, politicians and businessmen, illicit romance and murder, Nothing Uncovered presents an engaging, if familiar, mystery. It resembles an older style of K-thriller, partly owing to the presence of several reliable stalwarts in the cast who have appeared in similar productions over the last 15 years.

While Jeong-won investigates the crimes taking place in the present, part of the journey for viewers will be figuring out events that happened in the past. Her father was also a reporter, nicknamed “scoop hunter”, who suffered an untimely death.

Jeong-won was the one who found his body, but to this day his death remains a mystery. Helping her deal with her unresolved feelings surrounding his death is her counsellor Yu Yoon-yeong (Han Chae-ah).

Jang Seung-jo as Seo Jeong-won’s husband, Seol Woo-jae, in a still from Nothing Uncovered.

With two bodies discovered by Jeong-won – three, if we include her father’s in the flashback – Nothing Uncovered goes for broke in an engaging opening episode, but it is hard to imagine the show being able to sustain this level of action and this many reveals over its 16-episode run.

Whatever the secret behind the show’s various mysteries, they appear likely to be connected to Assemblyman Mo and to Woo-jae’s father, company chairman Seol Pan-ho (Jung Woong-in), who appears to have a dim view of his daughter-in-law and her work.

Jeong-won and her ex-boyfriend, the detective Tae-heon, will have to get over their history if they have any chance of teaming up and doing what they both do best in their respective jobs: unearthing the truth.

Nothing Uncovered is streaming on Viu.

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