[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Pride and Prejudice" Episode 10

Enough clues have been put together in regards to the overall mystery that Yeol-moo and Dong-chi are able to make serious progress here. Oddly, they're only really putting together one clue that us viewers have already been aware of for some time. But it's clear from how emotional Yeol-moo gets that this is the difference between theory and practice for them. They might actually be able to find out what happened to her brother. They've been groping about in the dark for so long that it's a shock for them to actually hit something solid.

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It's a psychological element that really gives "Pride and Prejudice" a lot of power here. Tonally speaking the drama hasn't changed that much from the previous few episodes, where I've honestly felt a little lukewarm. And in some ways I feel like my change of feeling is arbitrary. Yesterday's episode of "Doctor Frost" was really bad. Coming from that, any mystery with actual serious studied deliberation will come off as great by comparison.

I feel ridiculous about that frankly- how the moments where I enjoy "Pride and Prejudice" the most are where I'm comparing it positively to other things. But the fact of the matter is a lot of the high quality material in this drama works primarily because it's so subtle. Take Hee-man. As we find out more about his involvement with the incident fifteen years ago, Hee-man seems less like a boss concerned with procedure and more like a man using his position to delay things just enough that no one catches on to what he's been doing.

This is especially under-the-radar because outside of the sinister scenes where Hee-man discusses or flashbacks to these past transgressions, his behavior is almost identical to what it was at the beginning of the drama. Yeol-moo and Dong-chi are barely capable of even noticing the difference at all. It's only thanks Dong-chi's prodding that they're able to realize something suspicious is going on at all.

Take the way the department transitions to a new case- at almost the exact moment that Yeol-moo and Dong-chi's investigation is starting to get interesting. At first glance this might seem like poor screenwriting, but the creative decisions being made here are very deliberate. As criminal investigators, there will always be another distraction waiting for these guys just around the corner. A job that involves high connections in law enforcement, long hours that are mostly unaccounted for, and high latitude in deciding which investigations are acted upon...in many ways this is the perfect career for a criminal. Now there's a worrisome revelation.

Review by William Schwartz

"Pride and Prejudice" is directed by Kim Jin-min-I, written by Lee Hyeon-joo and features Baek Jin-hee, Choi Jin-hyuk, Choi Min-soo, Son Chang-min, Jang Hang-sun, Lee Tae-hwan and many more.