The Kidnapping Day – K-drama Episode 1 Recap & Review

The Kidnapping

Episode 1 of The Kidnapping Day starts in 1993 when a young girl visits her father’s maternity hospital. A man on his way to kill the doctor ends up attacking the little girl with a scalpel, leaving her bleeding from her right shoulder.

The episode jumps to 2023 where Kim Myung-joon is on his way to an apartment to kidnap a tween girl, Choi Ro-hee. He is doing this upon instruction from his ex-wife, Sen Hye-eun. He almost chickens out when he spots two police officers. He drives off when he gets another call from Hye-eun.

As he answers the call, Myung-joon slams the brakes when a young girl comes in front of his car and faints. He is shocked to discover that the girl is none other than Ro-hee, whom he was trying to kidnap. Myung-joon takes the girl home and dresses her wounds. He gets a call from Hye-eun and rushes to the rooftop to answer it.

The two argue about whether or not he should take Ro-hee to the hospital, but Hye-eun tells him he’ll be arrested if the doctors find out he’s kidnapped the little girl. At his house, Ro-hee wakes up which scares Myung-joon. He is further surprised to learn that she has no memory about herself and tells her that she is Hee-ae.

From the drawings in their house, Ro-hee finds out more about herself but finds it oddly difficult for herself to connect with the name Hee-ae. She also finds it hard to believe that a person like Myung-joon is her father and asks him to bring her some food.

Myung-joon goes outside to bring food to her when the scrap collector from the area follows him. He returns with convenience store snacks and asks Ro-hee/Hee-ae to eat them. She demands that he make him a proper meal and orders her alleged father not to smoke inside the house as she finds the odour unpleasant. Myung-joon makes a call to Ro-hee’s father and is dumbfounded when no one answers.

At the same time, the scrap collector shows up outside Myung-joon’s apartment and tries to look inside. Myung-joon catches him red-handed but the two men eventually chat and familiarise themselves with each other. They learn that they are the only two people remaining in the locality as the other residents have evacuated their apartments.

Myung-joon goes back inside and threatens the man against stealing anything from his car. He goes inside the house and turns on the heater for Ro-hee/Hee-ae to sleep peacefully.

Myung-joon then starts getting rid of any evidence of Hee-ae, his real daughter. He finds a photo album and recalls memories with his daughter who’s suffering from cancer. A flashback takes the episode to the day when Myung-joon discovered Hee-ae had Stage 1 Leukaemia.

The doctor tells him that there is a high chance for them to save her when they find a bone marrow match and asks the father to admit Hee-ae immediately. Myung-joon is devastated to learn this and is determined to help his daughter get better as soon as possible. He leaves Hee-ae at the clinic and goes back home.

Back to the present day, Myung-joon makes some Korean sweet pancakes (buchimgae) but she refuses to eat them. Ro-hee tells Myung-joon that the flour expired 4 years ago and adds that she won’t eat expired food. Ro-hee is now certain she didn’t grow up in an unhealthy household considering her upbringing.

The two bicker for a bit and Ro-hee gets on Myung-joon’s nerves. He leaves the tablet with her and Ro-hee realises that she understood and spoke in English. While shopping for fresh groceries, Myung-joon recalls when his ex-wife, Hye-eun, came back into his life when their daughter was admitted to the hospital.

The former couple argue about Myung-joon not being able to pay the hospital bill because Hye-eun ran away with all their money. He tells Hye-eun that he has taken so many loans and mortgaged his property, as well as sold his organs, in order to help save their daughter’s life. Hye-sun reveals that she has come back to help Myung-joon and gives him the idea to kidnap Ro-hee.

Present-day Myung-joon calls Hye-sun and the two discuss how Ro-hee’s parents are not answering the ransom call. She yells at him for being outside the house leaving the kidnapped girl alone while he scolds her for leaving her own child unattended at the hospital.

Myung-joon runs to the hospital without thinking about Ro-hee and somehow dodges the nurses to get to Ro-hee’s hospital ward. He sees Hee-ae sleeping and tries to empty her urine bag when the nurse shows up. The father hides away, spilling urine all over the floor. He apologises to the doctors and runs outside the hospital but the nurse chases after him and tells him that they had found a donor match. She tell him that he needed to pay the hospital’s overdue bill and the surgery fee as soon as possible.

Outside the hospital, Myung-joon curses his fate but suddenly recalls that he had left Ro-hee alone. Meanwhile, Ro-hee goes around the neighbourhood and makes a map for herself based on all the houses she toured. Myung-joon takes the taxi back home and rushes with food which Ro-hee initially dislikes but still eats because she is hungry. She tries to figure out how she is fluent in English when Myung-joon isn’t and asks about her mother and asks if she has any siblings.

Myung-joon continues to lie to Ro-hee and later that night, tries to call her father again. He looks at Ro-hee’s house from his rooftop and notices the lights are still turned off. He goes outside to see if Ro-hee’s father is driving back home and ends up browsing for ways to save himself from being arrested for kidnapping online.

The next day, Myung-joon and Ro-hee start to bond but she throws a fit when she can’t find anything to wear. Ro-hee shows the injury marks on her hand to Myung-joon and wonders if he abused her. He lies to her, stating they are bee stings. Myung-joon tries to coerce Ro-hee and forces her to speak out an emotional message addressing her father. He manages to get a message out of her when he pinches her but gets emotional when he recalls his memories with Hee-ae.

That night, Myung-joon puts socks on Ro-hee’s feet and covers him with a blanket before going to the rooftop. He finds a message from Ro-hee on his phone and smiles about the day they had. He tries to call Ro-hee’s father again but when there is no answer, he shows up at the house.

The scrap collector notices that Myung-joon has driven away and tries to break into his house. Ro-hee wakes up from the noise of the lock opening inside the house and gets scared. The episode ends with Myung-joon being shattered after he finds out that Ro-hee’s parents have been murdered.

The Episode Review

This show looks like a light-hearted comedy filled with suspense and thrills, which makes it a pretty interesting watch. Myung-joon is hilarious as the first-time kidnapper who is also a kind-hearted father. Yoon Kye-sang does a pretty great job at that and his interactions with the little girl playing Ro-hee are hilarious to watch.

Having a child with cancer is the worst circumstance for a parent to be in when they are already strapped for cash. The flashback scenes show Myung-joon’s plight well and it makes viewers empathise with him even if he is a kidnapper. It looks like Ro-hee was being abused by her parents, and taking her away from them was sort of a blessing in disguise for her.

There are many elements from this episode that leave viewers with questions but with such a well-made first episode, we can hope for the makers to answer those questions in the episodes to come.