The WONDERfools

Presentation

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Overview

Synopsis

Set in 1999, Eun Chae Ni and her two neighbors, Son Kyung Hoon and Kang Ro Bin, get caught up in an unexpected incident and suddenly gain a supernatural power. Helped by civil servant Lee Woon Jeong, they fight against a villain who threatens the peace of their city.

My Opinion (No Spoiler)

Why aren’t there more people talking about this drama!? It’s absolutely FANTASTIC! I think the part that I liked the most is the humor and comedy. The serious situations always turn into a joke in which these misfits argue, fight, are completely out of it, or simply don’t realize the dangers. The main quartet is just perfect. Each character is eccentric is his own way but perfectly matches the energy of his companions. Not going to lie but Im Sung Jae and Choi Dae Hoon brought me to tears (of laughter of course!). Even the trio’s superpowers serve the intrigue well. The plot in general is well-developed. There’s action and a good pace until the end. However, I would’ve appreciated to know more about the villain aka the scientist, his motivations and his past. We knew very little, making him quite linear and bland. Same for Chae Ni’s grandmother. I wished we knew more about her background. As for the ‘Wunderkinder’, they were excellent though quite pathetic in the end. Finally, some questions remain regarding the ending, like first and foremost the side effects of having powers, as it seemed like these were not impacted subjects in the same way. There will potentially be a second season, so let’s see. In the meantime, you MUST watch this drama!

Analysis

• Characters
  Eun Chae Ni, the new Child of Eternity
  Lee Woon Jung, number 3792
  Son Kyung Hoon, the family loser
  Kang Ro Bin, strong with insults
  The Wunderkinder
  Ha Won Do, the big villain?
• The comedy
• The romance
• The side effects
• The WONDERfools
• The ending

Characters: The drama displays misfits who become superheroes against their will. Each has a core value that motivates him/her to use their power to do good.

Eun Chae Ni, the new Child of Eternity: Eun Chae Ni (Park Eun Bin)’s nickname is Trainweck. Born with a heart problem, she spent her childhood in a hospital and never bonded with others. She became socially awkward and compensated her physical weakness with an eccentric personality. She is strong-willed, stubborn and reckless. Her grandmother raised her like a fragile flower, refusing to let her go out of Haesung on new adventures. Therefore, Chae Ni has never truly had friends nor experiences. She feels stuck and imprisoned. Her life changes completely when she orchestrates her kidnapping, but dies unexpectedly. She comes back to life with a superpower well adapted to her desires and health condition. She can teleport but only when her heart beats fast – which is rather ironic for someone with heart problems. Teleportation allows her to travel the world and go anywhere she wants to. However, the female lead doesn’t have one but two superpowers. She received the heart of the former Child of Eternity. This means that her heart never stops beating and she thus never dies. Taking that into account, I found it a bit strange that she supposedly dies at the beginning – maybe that’s a loophole in the plot? Other than that, Chae Ni has a strong sense of justice and wants to protect people, she’s empathetic though she seems rough on the edges.

Lee Woon Jung, number 3792: Lee Woon Jung (Cha Eun Woo) was part of the orphanage where the head scientist led experiments with superpowers. Before that, he has no recollection of his childhood, but dreams of reconnecting with his mother who abandoned him. His power is telekinesis – he can move things – and he’s learned to control it over the years. His traumatic experience with Ha Won Do (Son Hyun Joo) made him a loner wary of people because it always led to being used and hurt. He doesn’t want to associate with the trio at first, but becomes their ‘master’ and leader. He’s the most reasonable, calm and rational of the band; the only adult when the children are fighting. He pretends to be tough when in reality he’s soft and sweet. Throughout the show, it’s clear that Woon Jung just wants to create connections. He finds a new family and friends with the trio and learns to make relationships based on love, trust and respect. He finally belongs somewhere.

Son Kyung Hoon, the family loser: Son Kyung Hoon (Choi Dae Hoon) is considered a pain in the ass by everyone because he complains all the time about everything. He’s got a big mouth and voices out his anger constantly. But inside the house, his wife belittles him and he feels undervalued by his family. He feels like a loser, a pathetic father who tries hard to support his family. He would do anything for his wife and daughter, and that’s his only motivation from beginning to end. He always pretends he’s someone tough, difficult, dangerous but he’s just a sweet man who just wants to be respected and considered. His superpower matches his lack of confidence. Every time he says a lie, he gets stuck to things or people. This is the most atypical power of the lot that seems very strange at first but comes in handy later on. At the end, he gains the respect of his own daughter who’s seen her father’s super abilities and admires him.

Kang Ro Bin, strong through insults: Kang Ro Bin (Im Sung Jae) has always been an outcast and a pushover, harassed and bullied for his weight. He’s too kind for his own good, very sensitive and doesn’t know how to fend for himself. At school, Eun Chae Ni befriended him and became his one and only friend. Since then, he protects her and does whatever he can to help her in her endeavors. Considering that Ro Bin suffered from people’s insults and mean remarks all his life, these then become the fuel of his super strength that allows him to move cars and break through walls. He now has the power to protect himself and the ones he loves.

The Wunderkinder: If there’s a main trio that emerges at the beginning with the misfits, they are confronted with the former trio of Wunderkinder. In the middle of these 2 groups stands Lee Won Jung who belonged to both sides at different moments of his life. Wunderkinder may be adults, strong and capable of mastering their incredible powers, but it becomes clear that they have not changed since their orphanage days. They are immature children, looking for protective parents and a certain validation from them. The person they call their father obviously gaslights them and uses them for his own interests, but they refuse to admit that out of fear of being abandoned and alone again. On top of that, they all suffer from the side effects of their powers – Kim Pal Ho’s (Bae Na Ra) body stiffens when he uses his telekinesis too much, Seok Ho Ran (Choi Yoon Ji) is blind of one eye that changes color whenever she creates hallucinations and Seok Ju Ran (Jung Yi Seo) is deaf from one ear and it gets worse when she controls minds too much. Ultimately, these survivors end up dying at the hands of the same person who destroyed their lives in the first place: their beloved father. He nurtured their misplaced resentment towards people who were not ‘defective’ and sent them on a quest to find the Child of Eternity, supposedly the only one capable to save them.

Ha Won Do, the big villain? It’s a shame that we didn’t get to know more about this character, his past and motivations. He experimented on children to create the Child of Eternity but what for, what was his purpose. It’s not clear in the drama which makes him linear and bland as a villain.

The comedy: There’s no better word than ‘hilarious‘ to describe this show. I especially want to applaud Im Sung Jae and Choi Dae Hoon’s performances who unleashed their full potential. They brought me to tears! Some situations are so far-fetched and don’t make any sense but the context is enough to justify them. One example would be when Kang Ro Bin is confronted to Kim Pal Ho in the car junkyard. The latter is trying to crush him using his superpower. But Ro Bin isn’t affected and simply see Pal Ho clapping with his hands. So, he starts singing ‘boom, boom, clap’ instead. Another one of my favorite moments is at the end, when Son Kyung Hoon uses his power to stick people to the giant mascot of the town. It was so crazy, but the context made it credible. The drama perfectly blends comedy and action, serious and crazy.

The romance: The drama displayed the perfect amount of romance I expected to see in a drama of that genre. It didn’t feel insufficient nor did it take over the whole intrigue. I personally loved how Woon Jung and Chae Ni shared their first kiss because it also served the intrigue. Woon Jung wanted Chae Ni to teleport and needed to make her heart beat fast for that. Considering that she had been sedated, the only option left was to kiss her (to our greatest pleasure). And it worked wonders. Additionally, the drama brilliantly mixed romance and comedy by attributing some grand romantic scenes to secondary characters rather than the leads. For example, Son Kyung Hoon and his wife share a grand romantic embrace, as he’s about to go on his final battle against the villains, while Ho Ran harbored romantic feelings for her long-lasting crush Woon Jung.

The side effects: The drama is not quite clear on the way people with abilities are affected by side effects. The Wunderkinder use their power frequently and must deal with the physical consequences of that power abuse. However, the rule doesn’t seem to apply to all characters. If we take Lee Woon Jung for instance, he too has had his power since early childhood and uses his telekinesis a lot to fight against the Wunderkinder. Yet, he doesn’t seem to suffer from any side effects. Hopefully, we’ll get an explanation on that point.

The WONDERfools: I think the title is so well adapted to the plot. Phonetically, you hear the English word ‘wonderful‘ which can be linked to characters’ superpowers. These are indeed wonderful abilities that they’ve acquired. It can also indirectly refer to the ‘Wunderkinder‘ (the children of miracle mentioned in the drama) because ‘Wunder’ in German is the exact translation of ‘wonder’ in English. However, the title is also a brilliant play on words that convey the comedic aspect of the show right away. Here ‘Wonderful’ is written using ‘fools’ aka idiots. I can only link that word to the main trio of outcasts who can sometimes be very idiotic.

The ending: At the end of the drama, the Wunderkinder have all succumbed to the side effects of their superpowers and died. But a new enemy awakens: Ha Won Do. Following the explosion of the underground lab, Seok Ju Ran finds her father in very bad shape. So she injects him his own serum in an attempt to save his life. Though it doesn’t seem to work at first, the scientist opens is eyes in the final scene and even regenerates his wounds. This could suggest that he now has the ability to heal his wounds, meaning that he’s become the child he wanted to create. This is pure speculation of course, so I hope a second season will confirm this theory.

P.S.: Even the OST of the show is amazing!