When our world seems Lost, there will be a stranger who deeply understands and heals that pain by a miraculous encounter.
JTBC’s 10th-anniversary special series, Lost, shows us the slow dynamics of people who are considered ‘broken’ and their fear of becoming nothing throughout their lives. The gloomy and depressing ambiance through this series presents us with a different perspective about life that we do not regularly see in our daily ‘normal’ life.
- Main Casts: Jeon Do Yeon, Ryu Jun Yeol, Park Byung Eun, Kim Hyo Jin
- Supporting Casts: Park In Hwan, Shin Shin Ae, Park Ji Young, Yoo Su Bin, Son Na Eun
- Streaming Site: iQiyi
- Thrill/Addictive Meter:
- Overall Rating:
- Rewatch Value:
- K-Dramas of Similar Vibe: My Mister | Mother |
gabriellevangelyne watched Lost on iQiyi
INTERVIEW: Ryu Jun Yeol Shares his Thoughts & Experiences in “Lost”
INTERVIEW: Jeon Do Yeon Ponders on Her Emotional Character from “Lost”
Lost Quick Plot Recap
A 40-year-old woman who works as a ghostwriter, Lee Bu Jeong (Jeon Do Yeon), faces the bitterness of life as she experiences ‘failure’.
Losing her stable and high-appreciated job because of the unfairness she got, losing her first child during her pregnancy, and getting negative judgment as well as high expectations from people around her.
She is married, but she cannot find her happiness and trust in her husband. This leads to her hatred toward the world and becomes vulnerable to suicide.
On the other side, a 27-years-old man who offers stand-in service, Lee Gang Jae (Ryu Jun Yeol), is anxious about his future as he feels that he has not yet become anything at his current age. The job as a stand-in service is probably odd in the community as someone could be seen as ‘low’.
FYI, stand-in service is a kind of job when someone pretends to be another’s family member or relative. He also feels confused about the meaning of life when his best friend killed himself without knowing the reason. Emptiness and loneliness are the main feelings he feels because of that.
These two ‘broken’ people meet each other on an unexpected coincidence. They somehow can relate to each other and slowly grow some emphatic feelings that lead to a complex bond that heals their wound. The story starts to become interesting when Gang Jae knows that Bu Jeong is directly related to his best friend’s suicide.
Lost Series Highlights
Deep-Meaning Dialogue and the Use of the First-Person Narration
The series is introduced with a deep narration about the right to be human that is narrated from Bu Jeong’s point of view. She doubts every human right by comparing those who have high social status and wealth with herself, while she reflects that she has never received any pleasant rights based on her difficult life.
Firstly, it was confusing as the narration is blended with Gang Jae’s scene when he is in the middle of serving a client. However, viewers can slowly familiarize themselves with this type of scene-blending as we can get through their minds and heart.
This type of deep narration is stable until the very end. The intro is strong enough to implicitly introduce the concept of “인간실격” or Human Disqualification (the literal title of Lost) as Bu Jeong and Gang Jae are seen as people who are disqualified humans because of their failure-perceived life.
Both Bu Jeong and Gang Jae share their thoughts and feelings about their point of view by addressing a specific third-person name. Bu Jeong calls the imaginary third person “Madam” or “선생님 (Seon-saeng-nim)”, while Gang Jae calls his late father or “아버지 (A-beo-ji)”.
This concept gives us insight into the nature of their feelings that leads us to be more understanding of their situation and past experiences.
‘Normal’ Behavior for Those Who are in Pain
Marriage is not giving Bu Jeong any joy and happiness in her life, despite her eventually falling down deeper. The unexpected meeting with Gang Jae leads her to find her healer.
Their first meeting leads them to spend time more frequently at ambiguous places – such as a motel and a camping site, even though they only chat. People can see their relationship as a deviation as we know Bu Jeong is already married.
Nevertheless, if we see it from a different perspective, we can see how normal this behavior is as we are exposed to their painful story. Healing is only found with each other and no one else can give this significant impact.
Even though the affair is considerably wrong, we can see their deepest needs and empathize with them. Bu Jeong can share her pain with Gang Jae – who was a stranger before, and Gang Jae can find his answer about the emptiness of life while viewing Bu Jeong’s painful experiences.
The affair scenes are not comfortable enough to watch if we compare them to the community values. I assume them as too extreme to depict this kind of behavior because they are being too selfish and not appreciating others, especially the family members – in this case, Bu Jeong’s husband, dearest father, and mother-in-law.
The Other ‘Broken’ People
The story is not only focusing on the relationship between Bu Jeong and Gang Jae, but the viewers are also exposed to another interesting dynamic, Bu Jeong’s husband and his first love.
Jin Jung Soo (Park Byung Eun) has shown his effort to approach Bu Jeong’s problem and frustration, but Bu Jeong is very enclosed. This leads him to his loneliness and he finds a good time together with his first love, Kyung Eun (Kim Hyo Jin).
One year ago, Jung Soo made a mistake by having an affair with Kyung Eun and he felt guilty toward Bu Jeong. After that, he commits to not meeting Kyung Eun anymore. However, after a year, Kyung Eun’s husband is terminally ill which leads to Kyung Eun’s hard life as she must take care of her husband at the hospital every day.
While on her frustration, she sometimes visits Jung Soo’s workplace and it makes Jung Soo sympathetic toward her. These two lonely people become close to each other again, but in the end, they realize that they cannot live together at all.
Bu Jeong personally has a deep hatred toward a famous actress, Jeong Ah Ran (Park Ji Young), because of their past ill-fated relationship. Bu Jeong lost her job because of Ah Ran, while Ah Ran herself tried to protect her career that had already been on the edge of a cliff.
Prior, we can see how annoying Ah Ran is as she is seen as someone who is very greedy and ungrateful. Later, we also can see how desperate she is while having her toxic abusive husband on her side. She is also a lonely person like others. This is very interesting because we can learn another layer of life from a different person.
Lost Series Musings
The gloomy, slow-paced, and sad story of Bu Jeong and Gang Jae – and the rest of the cast members, leads us to have a different perspective of life. Even though this series is not addictive enough for viewers, we can learn many things, especially about the reality of life.
Our community always expects everyone to have a good career, good education, and happy marriage – and we consider them as ‘normal’ life. However, in reality, there are things that we cannot reach the people’s expectations, as we can see in Bu Jeong and Gang Jae’s life.
Bu Jeong lost her job, her child, and her happiness in her family which leads her to not become anything in her 40. Meanwhile, Gang Jae who works an ‘unacceptable’ job seems to not have a bright future ahead facing his late 20s.
These two can relate and depend on each other and finally, they can find their own identity and purpose. Bu Jeong tries to come back by writing short stories, while Gang Jae becomes prouder of his stand-in job and pronouns himself as a professional stand-in service.
The last narration of Bu Jeong, “I now realize that rather than what you become, what you do is more important.” gives us the main message of this gloominess but beautiful series.
Photos: JTBC | Videos: iQiyi | JTBC
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