Disney+ “Red Swan” Episodes 1 And 2 Review

Disney+ has unveiled Its newest kdrama “Red Swan” earlier today, let us discuss it!

“Red Swan” boasts a star-studded cast consisting of Kim Ha Neul, Rain and many more. It focuses on a woman named Oh Wan Soo (Kim Ha Neul), a former golfer. She enters high society when she marries the heir of Hwain Group. She then gets into trouble digging into the family along with her bodyguard Do-Yoon played by Rain.

It’d be a lie if I said I felt the script was anything special, because its seems very typical, so far. Its penned by Choi Yoon-Jung, who wrote dramas I bet most kdrama fans have not heard of [including me], ask me why! because she works on very long Kdramas, some being over 120 episodes long. She’s taken a 10-year hiatus and chose this idea as her comeback script. Her last K-drama was in 2014. The kDrama landscape has changed so much since then.

Like some have already pointed out, this drama’s script bare idea is similar to another Disney+ kdrama named “Blood Free” which coincidentally wrapped up its run not too long ago. The key only difference here is that the woman is married which makes the situation more complicated.

But for an idea, its very typical. A bodyguard who shakes up a married woman who is the only sane, kind and righteous in a family of rich powerful people. I’ve seen many similar projects from various countries before, not just Korea.  

For a start, I’d say it has a very glamours appeal and I can tell a lot of money was poured into it, but I felt it was average. It didn’t particularly draw me in and had a very makjangi-feel to it, a feel that’s also reminiscent of old daily kdramas. It made sense why I felt like this after looking up the screenwriter’s past works. I had no idea whom it was penned by until after I’d seen the premiere episodes.

I think such types of kdramas, and dramas in general, have their appeal, but the leads have to have some amazing chemistry and I just don’t see that with Rain and Ha Neul, yet. You could have had a different experience.

I have a rough idea how it would end. I think the group is somehow responsible for Do Yoon’s friend death and I think he and the Wan-Soo will come to the conclusion that they’re both working on bringing down the same family and will band together. They will discover just how corrupt and horrible the family is and eventually blow up their entire corruption and operations in their face by the end.

Now what I don’t know will happen is whether the two leads will sleep together, we’re getting into a grey area here and the husband had already cheated. But it’d be interesting if the screenwriter goes there and how she chooses to frame the idea too.  

This drama will be 10 episodes and is the shortest kdrama by the screenwriter. Since its on Disney+, we can expect she had more leeway with the script so let us see if she’ll take advantage of the freedoms given by the said streaming service.

This drama will rely on the chemistry of the couple, a lot. It can make or break it. Let us see how it goes.

Side note, there is like a LOT of kdramas with cheating couples airing these days, anyone else noticed that?