This drama deserves more attention than I have time to give.

But here are the four things you’ll need to know to connect the dots in this drama.

1. Introductory scene

The writer’s theme and message are embedded in this scene.

The year is 1999 and a mother is clipping her son’s fingernails over a newspaper. She tells him, “You actually shouldn’t clip your nails at night.” The child questions why. She answers, “If a field rat eats your nail clippings, it takes your form and appears.”

BTW, this is a real superstition in South Korea.

There’s an ominous feel because of the background music and dark visual composition. It’s as if a giant rat is lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce on the mother and son, and gnaw their skin off.

Son: Really?
Mother: Scary, isn’t it? So don’t discard you nails just anywhere. Make sure to throw them in the trash can.

Surprise! Surprise! Rather than carry the newspaper carefully to a trashbin, the child brings the newspaper outside. The mom chases after him. He climbs a rooftop of the outhouse and starts throwing the nail clippings into the air.

Mother: InSeong, what are you doing?
InSeong: I’m spreading it, so the rats can come and eat them.
Mother: (shocked) Say what?
InSeong: One can go to school instead of me, and another can do my homework. I’ll also ask them to help with the dishes and the laundry. Since your back hurts, Mom.
Mother: (starts laughing) Stay right there. I’ll go up.
InSeong: Look over there. That star resembles you. It’s pretty.
Mother: Really? Wow. Where’s InSeong’s star?
Son: Right there!
Mother: The one that’s twinkling brightly? So that’s yours?
Son: Yours should twinkle too.

And the camera zooms out until the mother and son are tiny specks on the earth.

To me, the message is clear because it’s familiar. I’ve heard of it before. It expounds on what Bruno Bettelheim discussed in his seminal work, “Uses of Enchantment.”

Similar to fairy tales and folklores, the mother’s belief in superstitions allows the child Inseong to use his imagination to make sense of his world and conquer everyday problems. Instead of fearing rats, Inseong learns to take advantage of the situation. He employs the rats to do his bidding.

Spoiler alert: We shall see this mentality in Episode 2, when the adult InSeong handles a stressful situation with confidence because he uses his imagination. He’s met at the entrance of the office building with an army of employees. Though startled, he’s ordered by the Boss-on-his-phone to act as naturally as he can. So, he imagines himself as an actor in a medical drama, a badminton drama (lol, the meta. The actor was in “Love All Play”), an executive, and a Joseon King.

He encourages himself, “Right. Don’t be afraid, Park InSeong. You were the golden 27th Class of Evergreen Troupe. What is there that I haven’t done? I’ve done my best with any role. This is my stage and from this moment on, I’m the president.” In his head, somebody is shouting, “Sound! Speed! Camera! Roll.” Then he tells himself, “Ready…Action!”

That’s how he’s able to face his employees.

This is a great montage (Ep 2 at 24:00 mark) by the Director of this Drama to show the power of imagination when facing unknown situations.

That said, the Opening Scene also imparts the message that familial love is important. The mother and son’s bonding is captured in this moment. The mother evinces surprise that InSeong worried about her back ailment, and delight that he compared her to a beautiful star.

As for Inseong, he basks in the glow of his mother’s approval. When he climbs up the rooftop and starts throwing the nail clipping, he’s on virtual stage performing for an audience of one.

His mother was his first fan.

Now, remember this scene and let’s compare it to the next one. Once you see the difference, you’ll unlock the meaning of this drama.

2. The Demo scene

The year is 2022. A young girl in a blue gown, walks alone in a foggy forest. She encounters a witch who offers her an apple. With one bite of the apple, she falls to the ground. The witch cackles.

This is obviously a scene from Snow White.

Then a disembodied voice interrupts the witch’s cackling.

Boss: Baro, turn it off.
Baro: Thank you. You’ve been watching a Silver Lining VR Lens simulation.

The fairy tale simulation disappears, and the little girl’s blue dress turns into ordinary clothes. She stands up in the middle of a circular dais. As the audience claps, a man from the sidelines goes up the stage. He’s the Boss, Kim SunJoo.

Boss: Good job, Baro!

He walks on stage and pats the girl actress on the head.

He gives his pitch.

Boss: The era of reading fairy tales and watching animation is over. Now I can personally become the main character of the story and talk, feel, and experience a new world. Even in your room, IU will sing in front of your eyes, and Son Heung Min [note: he’s a soccer player] will pass you the ball. A world where the wall between virtual and reality has collapsed. This is Silver Lining’s technology.

He opens the floor for questions from the reporters. But rather than asking him about the VR lens demo, the reporters focus on a company named Beomyoung.

Reporter 1: Why did you turn down Silicon Valley’s love calls and joined hands with Beomyoung?
Reporter 2: Is the merger with Beomyoung, a strategic move for the launch for self-driving cars?
Reporter 3: Please comment on your scandal with Beomgyoung’s executive, Oh Mi Ran?

The Boss evades the questions. He reminds the audience, “This stage is to present VR, which will enable children to dream. Please focus on that.”

Then, he addresses the child on stage with him.

Boss: Princess? Shall we meet the dwarves this time?
Girl: Yes.

Then, in a creepy fashion, the camera zooms in on the child’s eyes that light up in creepy blue. She exclaims, “Wow, it’s Snow White!”

My comments:

a. Do you see the difference?

In the opening scene, young Inseong is the focus of attention. Though his mother may be the only person present with him, the stars in the sky, looking down on him, are also his audience. The whole world is his stage.

In the demo scene, the technology is the focus of attention, and the child is only incidental. The audience isn’t clapping for the child but the amazing technology.

It’s quite telling that the Boss congratulates Baro, not the child, for a job well done. He pats the girl’s head in a patronizing way, and calls her a generic name, “Princess,” after the character.

Does he even know the child’s name?

b. The demo scene lacks the coziness and familiarity of a mother and son hanging to enjoy the stars. In fact, members of the audience, the reporters, are confrontational and ready to attack him.

c. Visually, the introductory scene flows outward. Our view of the land increasingly grows larger and larger as the camera zooms out from the rooftop to the little neighborhood.

In the demo scene, the movement is inward. We’re told that the individual is going to be the main character of his personal story, thanks to this new technology. The Boss praises virtual reality and this kind of self-absorption.

He’s painful unaware that reading fairy tales is the best way to pass down these stories from one generation to the next. Parents (or grandparents) nurture their children with one-on-one attention during story time.

And that to me is the cautionary message of this drama. In the first 5 minutes of the show, the Director and the Writer have shown the main thrust of this show. While the mother and son are connecting over simple things like superstitions and star-gazing, the Boss stands alone touting virtual reality.

The third thing you should keep an eye on in this kdrama is the match cut. 

3. The Director’s Match Cut

I don’t often see this many match cuts in the first episode so I’m giving the director two thumbs up.

What are match cuts? Well, it’s a technique used by Directors to show transition from one scene to another. The Director focuses on one detail in the first scene then matches it (hence the name!) to a same or similar detail in the next scene. The matching details can either be visual or aural. The purpose of matching details or elements of the two scenes  is to show a link that may (or may not) be significant to the story.

Here are a few examples.

a. The transition between opening scene and the demo scene

The match cut used is the clouds/fog.

The camera zooms out of the Inseong’s little world and enters the clouds in the sky.

Then, the clouds turn into fog swirling around the little girl’s feet in the demo scene.

b. The transition between the demo scene and the Adult InSeong

The camera zooms in on the eyes of the girl as she shouts, “Wow, it’s Snow White!”

Then, in the next scene, there’s Adult InSeong, dressed in a Snow White mascot suit and swarmed by kids.

c. The scene with the frog

The actor playing Jin Mu is an extra here!

He dons his frog mascot suit and heads towards the door. But he clumsily bumps into the glass door and loses a froggie shoe.

His pair of white shoes is contrasted with the black shoes worn by the Boss in the next scene as he strides confidently in the corridor of his office.

The purpose of this match cut is for comparison. Adult InSeong lives in Lala land while the Boss belongs in the corporate world.

d. Next, the Boss observes that his secretary that she’s more AI than an actual AI.

The match cut here is audio.

The Boss admires artificial intelligence so much that he’s declared the end of reading fairy tales and watching animations. As his drones on, the camera pans to the books on Inseong’s bookcase. They’re about directing and acting. Lol.

Inseong is definitely guy who still believes in animation and animating, that is, making characters come alive on stage and camera.

e. Inseong turns off the lights

To turn the lights off, he hits the wall switch with a toilet paper. The screen turns black.

Then we hear the Boss ordering Baro to turn on the lights. As the screen lights up, the the Boss enters his hallway and Baro greets him.

We can tell that the Boss is so civilized.

f. A gangster collects money from debtor.

The poor man is sobbing that he can’t pay his debt so the gangster hands him an ad. He tells the man to show up at the docks the following at 9am since he already received payment.

The ad says that seamen were needed for a deep-sea fishing crew.

The subbers at Viki kindly explained that these ads are recruitment scams. The poor man has already been sold to traffickers.

Then the camera switches to a building that shaped like a sleek ship.

It’s the office building of the Boss. Lol. I don’t know if this meant to be a sneaky commentary that some corporations run white-collar slavery, too.

The examples go on and on. If you have time it’s a fun mental exercise to spot the match cuts and guess their connections….

which brings me to the meaning of the title.

4. Title

I’ll give you a few seconds to think about the meaning of the title, “Unlock the Boss.” I’ve already given you hints, you just have to connect the dots.

One…

Two…

Three…

Four…

Five…

This is the meaning of the title…according to ME, of course. YOU may have your own interpretation).

Technically, the only way to unlock the Boss is connect the dots on the screen. But symbolically, the only way to unlock the Boss from his sorry existence is for him to form connections with real people.

Connecting, linking, bonding, joining. That’s how we open ourselves to family, to others, and to life.

🙂