And This Is How Americans Ruin a Fun TV Show

So Rebekah and I just finished a delightful Korean drama from 2019: My Fellow Citizens.

It's about a man and a woman who "find" each other after they've been jilted and then marry on the rebound. 

Now she's a police officer, white collar crimes detective specifically, who never shares that piece of information with her new husband until they're on their way to their honeymoon. That's because her job intimidated her last boyfriend.

The problem is that her husband, although he freaks out and definitely doesn't tell her HIS real profession, is a third generation con man. And he's just conned a powerful Korean loan shark, whose now fighting for his life after the stress of the con.

Fast forward a bit: the loan shark's daughter threatens to kill the con man and his wife unless he runs for National Assembly to protect a law that helps the moneylending industry.

All of this makes for some really dry humor, interesting subtext, and good fun that delighted Rebekah and me until the very last episode.

Well, an American version is now playing on ABC. It's called The Company You Keep, and it's everything predictable in an American show with nothing of the funny subtleties we enjoyed in the Korean one.

Here are some links to illustrate my points.

First link: brief trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NaAejP-6x4&ab_channel=KBSWORLDTV

Second link: Marriage proposal and the cop telling her husband the truth (he doesn't reveal, of course). This link sold me on the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY-FlemsB4c&ab_channel=KOCOWATV

Third link: Where the con man tries to con an assembly man who the mob girl wants to help the con man get into the National Assembly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHopOGw9vbI&ab_channel=KOCOWATV

BTW, if that older assembly man looks familiar, it's because Kim Eui Sun played the nervous and selfish businessman in this zombie film.

Fourth link: How the con man cons the mob chick and the assembly man who wanted him to con an old couple into buying a building.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CizwMJHyGfg&ab_channel=KOCOWATV

Fifth link: Trailer for the American version. So, so, so predictable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J33DvjU9724&ab_channel=RottenTomatoesTV