Infiltrating Il Kwang Hitech
Returning for its second hour of espionage action, Good Casting returns for a bigger injection of comedy and deeper plot line as our trio of ladies plunge head-first into danger. While some of the individual set pieces don’t quite work as well as they should, there’s enough enjoyment to be had with this episode to continue watching through, especially given the cliffhanger ending. Episode 2 of Good Castings begins 3 years ago with Chan-Mi interviewed surrounding her part in the botched operation against Michael. She’s accused of shooting Min-Heok and allowing Michael to escape. After seeing the pictures laid before her, she storms out the room. In the present, Chan-Mi attends her interview at Il Kwang Hitech. Along with Ye-Eun and Mi-Soon, only Ye-Eun passes her interview with flying colours, prompting the team to resort to Plan B, C and D. Mi-Seon is initially disqualified for lying about her age before being hired while Chan-Mi starts gibbering nonsense in different languages in order to get the part. As we cut across to the car outside, CEO Seok-Ho watches Chan-Mi’s confident interview and it’s here where we cut back in time and see his affection for her grow. Back in the present, we learn the plan ahead involves 3 hits. The first being Seok-Ho, who became CEO at Il Kwang-Hitech, the second being Director Gye-Cheol and the third being Sang-Gi Tak. This last man we see in a separate scene later on talking to a mob boss in Taipei, with a shadowy business deal going down on behalf of the company. Among this messy hierarchy of players is celebrity Woo-Won. One of the aforementioned three men are connected to Michael but which one remains a mystery. That’s where our three leading ladies come into it – tasking with tailing each of these men and uncovering their link to the big boss. All three ladies start their assignments but things don’t go to plan. Mi-Soon is forced to move by a grouchy security officer, Chan-Mi is confronted by a whole group of ladies trying to haze her and Ye-Eun drops her listening device and is forced to stay later by her new colleagues. While she does, the NIS security team outside are forced to look after Ye-Eun’s daughter while she works. At the same time, Mi-Soon’s daughter returns home with a bruised and cut shoulder. Back at the office, Chan-Mi stays later at work and snoops around to find the CEO’s key-card. Only, she’s caught in the act of looking through his drawers but just about manages to save herself by handing over his ID card, pretending it’s the reason she’s in the office. Ye-Eun starts her task in seducing Woo-Won and with the guidance of Mi-Soon starts to prep his dressing room. Only, things go horribly wrong and she catches Woo-Won with his pants down. In doing so he requests four times the asking price of his contract thanks to Ye-Eun’s mishaps. As the girls prepare for the next stage of their operation, Chan-Mi looks over her board at home and reminisces about what went down 3 years ago. In the wake of Min-Seok’s death. Chan-Mi finds herself locked out of the files by Dong but desperate to try and apprehend the ones responsible. Only, one of the agents dropped a burner phone and that isn’t part of the evidence. Back in the present, thanks to a flashy cartoon graphic, the team get to work in carrying out their plan and breaking into CEO Yoon’s office before he arrives. The girls certainly cut it fine too and Chan-Mi is unfortunately forced to hide in his office when he returns. With Mi-Soon stuck in the research office as the Head Of Research returns too, and Chan-Mi caught behind the hidden bookshelf, trying in vain to keep it closed, the episode ends on a big cliffhanger. The epilogue cuts back 10 years ago where we see a young Chan-Mi meeting Dong. Clearly scared of her, he struggles to break up with her but eventually says the words, running for his life as Chan-Mi starts hurling knives at him. Although some of the humour is a bit cheesy and doesn’t always land – especially the fiasco involving the diaper midway through the episode – the show oozes charisma and that’s thanks in part to the excellent cinematography and characters themselves. The girls have really strong personalities and their individual moments certainly shine. It helps too that the expository text segments, with the name of the country flashing across the screen, gives off serious Killing Eve vibes that keeps this one feeling like an espionage thriller. With a big cliffhanger and lots of unresolved plot points, quite what will happen next remains to be seen.
