Song of the Bandits – K-drama Episode 1 Recap & Review

Episode 1

Episode 1 of Song of the Bandits starts in the 1920’s when Japan-invaded Korea was suffering due to the political suppression that had befallen the Joseon-era citizens. Lieutenant Lee Yoon used to be a soldier who killed off the Russian tyrants and was working for the Japanese Major Miura. He receives a letter from a fellow Korean, Kim Seon-bok, who gives him the address of the person that killed his family right before his eyes.

Yoon is summoned to an event where Miura introduces him as his former servant and follower. Yoon doesn’t show up at the ceremony and leaves Miura embarrassed. Later that evening, the two meet up at a bar where Yoon tells Miura that he wishes to go somewhere and is abandoning his army. Miura is baffled by the revelation and threatens to kill Yoon but the soldier has made the decision to go.

Yoon tells Miura that neither of them owes the other a thing and that he is thankful that he is finally free. Yoon travels across town and sees Nam Hee-shin from her window one last time before taking the train to Heoryeong. There he meets Seon-bok, an arms dealer who had somehow made it out of Miura’s control and had made a life for herself as a wealthy Joseon-era Korean. She tells Yoon all about the Japanese army killing freedom fighters who sought Korea’s independence.

Seon-bok adds that the region they were in was a hybrid where the Japanese, Chinese and Koreans were all trying to be in power as the Chinese land was occupied by Joseon Koreans who were funded by the Japanese government. The carriage stops because of a sand storm, and Seon-bok tells Yoon they need to protect themselves using a cloth mask.

The duo make it inside the city where Seon-bok reveals that she is the only remaining rich Korean in the area. She tells him all about her secret arms business as they feast on some ramen. She wonders what he’s planned on doing in Heoryeong and is shocked to learn that Yoon does not have any plans to stay in town.

Just as they are eating their meal, the bandits show up and start killing people. Seon-bok tries to take Yoon away but he watches their leader kill a young man with his sword. The leader, Jane Ki-ryong, takes notice of Yoon who learns from Seon-bok that the bandit leader has just killed his enemy Nodeoksan’s crew.

Yoon learns that the bandits had tied up with the cops who didn’t bat an eye when Ki-ryong’s men shot and killed Koreans as well as people of other descent just for their own pleasure. Yoon suffers from PTSD from watching Miura burn the dead bodies of innocents. After witnessing another fight, Yoon bids farewell to Seon-bok and goes off looking for Choi Chung-soo.

On his way there, he finds more dead bodies of freedom fighters. Yoon makes it to his destination and meets Chung-soo. He finds a young girl named Eon-nyeoni who lies to Chung-soo about her origin. However, Chung-soo is called to settle an issue with Ki-ryong who’s there to chat with him.

Chung-soo leaves Yoon at Eon-nyeoni’s hands and goes out when the girl tries to attack him. The two get into a fight and Eon-nyeoni reveals that Miura paid her to kill him off for betraying the Japanese army. The face-off between the two leaves them pointing guns at each other and Yoon asks Eon-nyeoni to back down because he was destined to die at Chung-soo’s hands.

Eon-nyeoni tells Yoon she knows what he did to Chung-soo and lets him kill Yoon with his own hands. She leaves to go back and gives him a final message from Maura. Meanwhile, Yoon goes outside to see Chung-soo and tells him that he is here because of what happened in Gurye. He reveals that while working with the Japanese military, he was hired to betray and kill his own people.

Yoon reveals that he was tasked to reveal Chung-soo’s location and that of his people but Chung-soo had fled before the Japanese military could arrive in Gorye. Miura decides to kill the innocent people of the town in order to make sure they won’t follow Chung-soo’s footsteps to join the independent fighters.

Yoon tells Chung-soo that the incident was more than just an eye-opener to him which made him see that he was betraying his people. He tells Chung-soo that the military killed his family right before his eyes and was trying to kill an infant girl who was related to him. At the time, Yoon saves the little baby by killing the soldiers.

Just then, Miura shows up with more soldiers and asks Yoon to back down. Yoon continues to shoot the soldiers and finally points a gun at Miura who shoots Yoon first, knocking him out. Present-day Yoon asks Chung-soo to kill him in order to free him from the guilt. Chung-soo is angry and tries to kill him using a bow and arrow but a noise from outside startles him.

The bandits from Nodoeksan’s crew show up at Chung-soo’s village. Yoon tries to catch Nodoeksan as he flees with a young girl. He wakes up the following morning after being passed out and returns back to Chung-soo’s village, where he sees that the survivors, including Chung-soo, are burying the bodies of the dead.

Yoon asks if Chung-soo will seek revenge on the bandits but the latter states that doing so would result in unending bloodshed, something he’s not keen to see. Chung-soo decides to let Yoon go and live with the guilt. Yoon goes back to Seon-bok and asks her to lend some weapons to him.

After Yoon leaves, Seon-bok tells a man how Yoon is known as the Grim Reaper due to the pile of bodies he left in his wake when he was in the mood to kill. Seon-bok states that Yoon is a mind player and adds that it takes a lot more than just grit to beat him when he decides to kill.

At the same time, Yoon shows up at Nodoeksan’s house and kills all the bandits working with him. In order to save a little girl from being raped by the old man, Yoon kills Nodoeksan and brings the little girl back to Chung-soo’s village. Yoon meets Chung-soo in private and tells him that he wanted to kill Nodoeksan because he knew the aftermath of such attacks quite well and wants to make sure it never happens again.

Chung-soo tells Yoon the story of a king who does all things wrong for politics but protected his family with all his might. He asks Yoon to be the same ruler and protect the land of Manchuria – the land that Joseon-era Koreans had invaded. With no one to support him, Yoon claims that he is powerless.

He hopes to win the trust of people who are just like him; outcasts with nothing to lose. Yoon tells Chung-soo that after raising an army of Outcast Bandits like himself he was going to protect the people of Joseon as the episode comes to an end.

The Episode Review

This one looks interesting from the way the first episode ended but the beginning was rather slow. We love seeing Kim Nam-gil in his most rugged avatar after seeing him in Prime Video’s Island where he played the demon slayer. Here, he is all set to play a Bandit who saves the people instead of killing and looting them, which makes for an interesting change of pace.

Since we do not have a clear timeline of events on the show, it won’t be right to make an assumption yet but there is a high chance that Eon-nyeoni is the little girl from Yoon’s family who grew up to be a contract killer. This could explain why she let him go instead of killing him as per her contract with Miura. Well, episode 1 is too soon to make assumptions so we may as well just watch the rest of the show!