♦ Would You Like to Become a Politician?
In “Assembly”, Jin Sang-Pil is a welder, an average ordinary blue-collar worker, who, along with his fellow workers are protesting the way they have been mistreated by the company they worked for. They were laid off and had initiated lawsuits against the business asking for reparation and reinstatement.
As soon as Jin Sang-Pil is introduced, you immediately know that even though he is not a man who has attended a university nor did he aspire to do anything other than be a welder. However, the way he interacts with his fellow workers and with others is a clear indication that he has leadership skills. Nevertheless, entering the world of politics had not even crossed his mind. Since the thought did not cross his mind, somebody had to approach him and ask if he would be interested in becoming an assemblyman.
Baek Do-Hyun is a seasoned politician who wants to inject some “new blood” into his political party. He is the one who meets Jin Sang-Pil and asks if he would consider being an assemblyman. That’s when the wheels started turning in his head. Baek Do-Hyun persuaded Jin Sang-Pil by holding out a “carrot”. He said that he could get the lawsuits resolved, the workers would get reinstated, and several of their demands would be met.
Jin Sang-Pil does not realize that Baek Do-Hyun is already sure that he will never succeed. He lacked education, political awareness, and all of the qualifications people say are necessary to be a good politician. Baek Do-Hyun’s true intentions were to further his own political ambitions. But there are some things he needs to “use” others to do so that it won’t destroy his political career.
Jin Sang-Pil is inexperienced, innocent, naive, and uneducated. He began to wonder if becoming a politician might be a way for him to not only protect workers’ rights of the people he worked with but all laborers in South Korea. Layoffs were affecting many citizens. Sometimes bad decisions made by politicians hurt both workers and business owners. He personally knew people who had been hurt. They not only lost their jobs and businesses, but they lost their families.
He himself was hurt having been dismissed from a job he had held for decades. It was the only kind of work that he knew. When he started leading the workers in protest, he could not imagine how long it would last. But it lasted so long that his wife asked for a divorce. He hadn’t even decided to get into politics. He was an average ordinary person standing up for his rights who knew firsthand the pain of being disregarded and discarded.
Maybe the protests and lawsuits were never going to work.
Maybe politics was a practical and viable solution to the problems.
Jin Sang-Pil accepted the offer to become an assemblyman.
Baek Do-Hyun was pleased because now he had someone he could use, misuse, and discard when they were he no longer needed them. But he underestimated Jin Sang-Pil. Some thoughts had never crossed Baek Do-Hyun’s mind. It never occurred to him that Jin Sang-Pil could teach himself (without attending university), had a mind of his own, and was nobody’s fool.
♦ I Have to Be a Good Politician; It’s Not Optional
Some of his friends, and co-workers, felt he had betrayed them. They disagreed with the “new method” he intended to use to solve their problems. One worker started a one-man protest against Jin Sang-Pil. The man and Jin Sang-Pil were longtime friends but they were at odds with each other on the political route Jin Sang-Pil was taking.
However, his friend eventually had a change of heart. He tried to contact Jin Sang-Pil to let him know. But Jin Sang-Pil was busy and did not answer the phone, so his friend left a message. The man was sincere and wanted to let Jin Sang-Pil know that he was going to climb up a crane and sit there until Jin Sang-Pil became a good politician. It was a symbolic gesture, but sadly, the old man fell to his death.
Jin Sang-Pil rushed to the hospital to see his dying friend. He stayed by his bedside for a while but left disturbed and downhearted. He had hoped he and his friend would reconcile, and never dreamed it would come to this.
The man had a son, Kim Gyu-Hwan. He and his father were not getting along very well and the last words he said to his father were “You are no longer my biological father”. Those were words he would never be able to take back. He also came to his father’s hospital bedside. His father in a semi-conscious state called out Jin Sang-Pil’s name and asked him to take care of his son. The man did not know that Jin Sang-Pil had left and that the person by his bedside was his son. Jin Sang-Pil never heard those words.
But the son did hear them and became angry with Jin Sang-Pil. He felt as though his father had been betrayed by a dear friend for the sake of obtaining political power and fame. The son, Jin Sang-Pi, and everybody else believed the man had chosen to commit suicide.
Nothing could be further from the truth. When Jin Sang-Pil heard that his friend had died he was devastated. He finally looked through his phone messages and saw that his friend had called and left a voicemail. It was a beautiful message. His friend expressed his support for Jin Sang-Pil as a politician.
Contrary to what everyone believed, the man had not committed suicide. He accidentally fell while climbing up the crane. Jin Sang-Pil could not have imagined that voicemail would be his friend’s final words. His friend asked him to become a good politician. To honor his friend, he decided that he had to become a good politician. It wasn’t optional.
♦ Good Politicians Have Enemies
Jin Sang-Pil knew he needed help so he asked Choi In-Gyeong if she would be his aide. She felt insulted and she was also angry. She envisioned herself in the assemblyman position. Her first response to Jin Sang-Pil was a refusal. But Choi In-Gyeong was a loyal friend and had a long-time relationship with Baek Do-Hyun. He persuaded her to take the job as the assemblyman’s aide. So she stepped up!
In the world of politics, an assemblyman who desires the serve the people will have enemies. He does not have to try to make enemies. Speaking the truth and taking a stand on a matter can cause enemies, almost instantly. Sometimes people have decided to be an enemy before the assemblyman even starts serving the people. They are divided by political party and that’s the only reason needed.
But sometimes enemies are the result of a misunderstanding. It’s not political, it’s personal.
Kim Gyu-Hwan believed his father had committed suicide and since the last name he heard before his father died was Jin Sang-Pil, he believed his father’s death was caused by him. He applied for the job and got hired to work in the office of Assemblyman Jin Sang-Pil.
He and Jin Sang-Pil had met before but Jin Sang-Pil did not know he was his friend’s son. He knew that his friend and his son had an estranged relationship. Kim Gyu-Hwan did not even use his father’s name so nobody in the office made the connection. Nobody knew that he had only taken the job so he could get revenge for his father.
It’s too bad that his father did not call him and leave a voicemail message before he died. The last time he spoke to his father was face to face and it was in anger. He told him that he was no longer his son and never wanted to speak to him again. People often say things in anger that they can’t take back. His father never opened his eyes to see his face again.
Everybody was so sure the man had committed suicide and blamed Jin Sang-Pil. Nobody knew about the last voicemail and Jin Sang-Pil did not tell anyone about it. Why would he? That was a private conversation between him and his friend. The message was meant only for him and it gave him purpose and determination to carry on as an assemblyman.
Jin Sang-Pil was not there at his hospital when his friend asked him to take care of his son. His son heard those words but decided that his father was calling the name of a man who had betrayed him and caused his death. Since his father could not get revenge, he would do it for him.
Jin Sang-Pil could see most of his political enemies. But he had no idea there was an unseen personal enemy that he would be seeing almost every day.
My personal rating is the same as the Viki viewers: 9.2 out of 10 stars.
If it’s a legal drama, political drama, or police procedure drama, I usually all in. I saw that “Assembly” was a political drama and figured it was probably like “Queenmaker” and it was. It was not disappointing. The character growth and development seemed so real. It got the viewer involved with each of the main characters.
“Assembly” was nominated in several categories for the 29th KBS Drama Awards. It was worthy of the accolade. Even though Jung Jae-young has a prolific career in acting, this was his first Korean drama series. But this was not my first time watching a K-drama series where he was the male lead. He had the lead role in “Partners for Justice 1 and 2”.
P.S. I said that the characters seemed “real”. Perhaps it is because this series is based on the Screenwriter’s actual 10-year experience as a national assembly aide. However, the Director was careful to point out that it is NOT based on real-life politicians.
FUN LINK: Things to Do in Seoul | The National Assembly Building | All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)
KBS WORLD TV. “Assembly | 어셈블리 [Trailer].” YouTube Video. YouTube, July 17, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nLL-plLPC4.
PopGeeks runs on reader support. We are not backed by corporate media, driven by algorithms, or overloaded with invasive ads. We are an independently run site created by fans, for fans, and we cover what we love: movies, TV, video games, comics, and tabletop RPGs.
Support PopGeeks for just $1/month and help keep our content free and ad-light. Your support covers hosting, pays our writers, and helps sustain independent coverage of movies, games, TV, and geek culture. Every dollar makes a difference.
This is a voluntary support payment. No physical goods or exclusive digital content are provided. PopGeeks content remains freely accessible to all. Sales tax does not apply.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for caring. And thank you for helping PopGeeks stay fan-run, freely accessible, and fully independent.
Copy and paste this URL into your WordPress site to embed
Copy and paste this code into your site to embed
