Screen Test: ‘When the Phone Rings’ Revives the Thrill in Romance
Did a new show pop up on your Netflix watchlist? Or maybe there's a new Asian drama making its rounds on social media? Stop scrolling before you fall into the spoilers black hole and let us help you decide if it's worth watching.
From Hollywood sitcoms that tickle your funny bones and thrillers that keep you on the edge of your seats to romantic K-Dramas that make your heart skip a beat, The Beat Asia is taking a first look at the latest series releases for your viewing pleasure.
So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the review!
When the Phone Rings: Limited Series
Mystery, Thriller, Romance
12 Episodes (ongoing)
There’s a new K-Drama making its rounds online and has been receiving rave reviews for its gripping storyline that has fans hooked every week since its release last Nov. 22 — catapulting it to the #2 spot on the Global Top 10 TV Shows (non-English) list on Netflix and #1 spot in the Philippines for the first week of December.
“When the Phone Rings” stars Yoo Yeon-seok (“Hospital Playlist”) and Chae Soo-bin (“I’m Not a Robot”) and is based on the popular web novel entitled, “The Number You Have Dialed” by Geon Eomul-nyeo. Written by Kim Ji-woon (“Melancholia”) and co-directed by Park Sang-woo and Wi Deuk-gyu, the story follows rising politician, Paik Sa-eon, and his wife with speech disabilities, Hong Hee-joo’s, tense marriage that begins to unravel after receiving a mysterious and threatening phone call, which inevitably turns their lives upside down.
Equal parts mysterious and thrilling, this new series from MBC TV boasts an incredibly intriguing hook — and after watching the first episode, an addicting storyline too that will surely keep audiences on the edge of their seats. We already know this show is the type to make us say “one more episode” long into the night, considering how the pilot dropped a staggering plot twist dressed as a cliffhanger in the end.
The K-Drama romance genre has been lackluster this past year with some shows just barely hitting the spot, but “When the Phone Rings” is about to change that. Read on to know why.
Recap: Episode One
Run Time: 1 hour, 6 minutes
Subtitle Availability: English, Korean, Filipino
Audio Availability: Korean (original), Spanish (Latin America)
Warnings: Violence, language
SPOILER ALERT! This section contains details from the pilot episode of “When the Phone Rings.”
We’re introduced to the President’s spokesperson, Paik Sa-eon, as he walks into a party, turning heads and receiving intrigued glances from the guests. Enter a meek young woman, Hong Hee-joo, who takes his arm and is immediately assumed as his wife. However, Sa-eon whispers to her how there shouldn’t be any speculations about their relationship, hinting that whatever’s going on between them is being kept under wraps.
We then see Sa-eon meeting with the press as he reports a hostage crisis with the kidnappers not only requesting ransom but threatening to kill the Korean hostages. He acts as the government’s scapegoat and is usually the one breaking the news to citizens when bad things occur. In this scene, we witness how he smoothly delivers the news and answers questions, a nod to his past job as a news anchor.
In the following scenes, we learn that Hee-joo is a sign language interpreter for a news channel and suffers from selective mutism which was caused by an incident a while back. As she dines with her mother and mother-in-law, we also learn that she is the daughter of a newspaper proprietor and is married to Sa-eon, but only for formality. Their relationship and her identity are both kept from the public. During their talk, her mother-in-law insists that she quit her job and remain in the shadows as the elections are coming up.
After the tense meal, Hee-joo gets into her car lost in thought, and drives away. But soon, she finds herself unable to control the car. She just managed to stop in the middle of the road after a terrifying drive through city traffic when a masked man in black appeared. She tries to lock the doors, but they keep opening until the mysterious man gets into the backseat and threatens her with a knife. Hee-joo learns that he’s been controlling her car through a phone before proceeding to call her husband.
Sa-eon answers an unknown caller threatening to kill his wife. He’s unbothered because nobody knows who his wife is, and brushes it off as a scam call before ending it. But just to be sure, he calls Hee-joo’s mother to ask about her whereabouts and the woman lies that her daughter is with her and that she’ll bring her home after dinner. Meanwhile, the kidnapper takes his frustration out on Hee-joo and tries to strangle her with a rope. She also gets swiped by his knife on her neck before explaining how his phone is a special device that uses a VPN (Virtual Private Network) and a voice modulator, making it impossible to track. It’s also only used to call one specific person.
Afterward, the kidnapper calls again, and Sa-eon — after having confirmed that his wife is safe — tells him to call back when there’s a corpse. (Ouch!) Hee-joo hears this and shows an expression of heartbreak and anger before stepping on the gas and speeding away. The kidnapper tries to stop her and they struggle for the wheel, but they soon drive over a hump at top speed and the car skids off the rain-soaked road, rendering the kidnapper unconscious in the backseat from the impact.
The scene skips to Hee-joo getting out of the shower at her apartment and proceeding to treat her injuries. When Sa-eon arrives home, he’s relieved to see Hee-joo in the kitchen, seemingly nonchalant. He then asks (more like orders) her to come with him to the British ambassador’s birthday event (the same party in the opening scene of the episode) to be his sign language interpreter because the ambassador’s wife has a disability. As Hee-joo retreats to a separate bedroom that night, the scene transitions into a flashback where we learn that they have been married for three years under contract.
At the party, Sa-eon talks with the British ambassador who assumes that Hee-joo is his wife. Sa-eon corrects him and mentions that he keeps his wife hidden because she is his “weakness” — not because of her disability but because anybody close to him is susceptible to danger. Hee-joo seemed hurt by his statement and she confronted him afterward in sign language, saying how torn apart she was despite his claims to protect her. She cursed at him for saying that knowing how he brushed off the kidnapper’s threat to her life. She then walks away with Sa-eon unable to understand a word she had said to him.
A few moments later, Sa-eon receives another phone call from the kidnapper and is immediately on high alert when he realizes he could be at the party. He then rushes off to find Hee-joo. While talking on the phone, Sa-eon calls his bluff about knowing his wife but the kidnapper insists that he knows it’s Hee-joo and proceeds to tell him about something only his family knows: that she was a stand-in bride for her older sister who disappeared on the day of their wedding. Shaken by the kidnapper’s words, Sa-eon demands for his condition to which the kidnapper replies that he wants him to divorce Hee-joo and return to his original fiancé.
The scene fades into another setting, revealing the kidnapper on the other end of the line who turns out to be no other than Hee-joo! We are then thrust into a flashback from the night of the kidnapping incident.
After hearing Sa-eon’s harsh words, Hee-joo screamed and started cursing him, surprising the kidnapper that she could speak. The car accelerates, which leads them to skid off the road. With the kidnapper unconscious in the back seat, Hee-joo takes the phone from him.
Back in the present, we see Hee-joo on the phone with Sa-eon, blackmailing him to get rid of his wife, otherwise, she’d reveal the secret of their fake marriage to the public and ruin his father’s election. This only riled up Sa-eon even more and as Hee-joo tells him about the kidnapping incident the night before and how she almost died, Sa-eon declares that he will not only find him but kill him once he tracks him down.
REVIEW: A Threat Gone Wrong?
Thrillers are always a delight to watch, mainly because they tickle our minds and keep us wanting to know what happens next. It’s only effective, however, if the storytelling and pacing are done right. And this first episode didn’t disappoint!
“When the Phone Rings” doesn’t begin with a lengthy prologue or introduction many K-Dramas are known to have, but instead thrusts audiences right into the present action. This is a well-known plot structure used in crime or mystery novels where the author starts with the crime scene before weaving back through time in the succeeding chapters to uncover the villain. The series left breadcrumbs throughout the episode, giving audiences the freedom to decipher for themselves; to gather clues, and piece them together. It’s almost liberating to watch something that makes you think about what could happen next and still be able to catch you off guard.
One of the worst things a mystery can do for its audience is to confuse them, but the scenes in this episode were woven together in such a way that it keeps you in the line of action while still introducing new characters and uncovering backstories. It presents you with windows to their past through brief flashbacks, and just before you get too invested or start formulating questions about the character, it pulls you right back to the present, preventing audiences from straying too far from what’s currently happening in the main timeline.
First episodes are tricky to get through considering they tend to drown us in lengthy backstories, but “When the Phone Rings” puts you right in the middle of the action, generously supplying us with need-to-know information while withholding the “goods” that will eventually turn our world upside down.
And that’s exactly what it did when it revealed that Hee-joo was only pretending to be mute and had somehow become Sa-eon’s blackmailer.
Every scene had a role in moving the story forward and coupled with good cinematography which showed in the seamless transition of scenes, flashbacks, and big reveals, it heightened intrigue and kept us hooked, making that one-hour run time feel like minutes.
In terms of casting, K-Dramas have a reputation for putting together leads with fantastic chemistry and this drama is no exception. We believe there are two types of good chemistry between romantic leads: the electric kind and the sweet kind. The former types are the leads that have instant visual chemistry that you don’t need to watch the entire season to know that these two are going to end up together.
The latter kind, however, is seen in the way these actors play their roles, showcasing good rapport that eventually convinces audiences that they’re meant to be (or something like that). Yoo Yeon-seok and Chae Soo-bin manage to have a balance of both. There’s no doubt that they are good-looking actors, but there’s something in the way they acted as a married couple — despite being a fake one — that makes us want to root for them. Perhaps it’s the way Yeon-seok looks at her like there’s nothing else of equal importance to him despite his cold disposition towards his wife or the longing in Soo-bin’s eyes, which underscores her character’s true, though unacknowledged, feelings for her husband. There’s so much charged energy between them and the romantic tension is fantastic—the cherry on top of the entire series.
The rest of the cast seemed to have good chemistry as well and looked the part. But since the bulk of the episode was focused on the main leads, it’s too early to comment on their performances. We are, however, intrigued by the kidnapper and his true intentions as it hasn’t been revealed yet. Based on previous K-Dramas, these people are usually working for someone so we’re looking forward to uncovering the true villain and the bigger picture in later episodes.
Final Verdict
If you’re a fan of romantic tropes including marriage of convenience, enemies-to-lovers, slow burn, or all of the above, then this show is for you. These tropes are beautifully woven into a tapestry of mystery which we believe makes this series unique from its cousins in the genre.
We’re giving this episode 4 BEATS for using a good blend of storytelling techniques, its gripping pacing, and impressive cliffhangers that will have viewers clicking the “Next Episode” button before the credits roll.
New episodes are released every Friday and Saturday on Netflix. Start watching!
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