Recap: Search: WWW Episode 1

I’ve never written a recap before, but I love KDrama “Search: WWW” so much that I know I’ll be watching every episode multiple times anyway, might as well share the love.

The first episode introduces us to the characters played by Im Soo Jung, Lee Da Hee, Jeon Hye Jin, and Jang Ki Yong. Their relationships with one another and their jobs are explored. Old relationships break down, new relationships start, some relationships begin to change their nature. The concepts of ethics and politics as they relate to internet portals and search engines specifically are explored.

Search: WWW Episode 1 Recap

The scene opens on a temple. A monk stands in the morning sun and takes a deep breath. He then opens his eyes and… pulls out a smartphone to check the dust particulate count for the day. A montage of people using the internet for various purposes follows (pay attention, these are all key players you’re going to meet later). Our lead, Bae Ta Mi (Im Soo Jung), provides a monologue about the importance of search engines in today’s society.

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As Bae Ta Mi continues to speak, we learn that this is, in fact, her testimony as a witness before a congressional hearing. The hearing is about manipulated keyword searches at her company, Unicon. Bae Ta Mi takes a breath and pauses before confirming that yes, the searches are being manipulated.

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6 MONTHS EARLIER

It’s the first day of work for Choi Bong Ki(Woo Ji-Hyun) who dashes onto the elevator just as the doors are closing. On the elevator is his new boss, Bae Ta Mi. He attempts friendly banter but is met with a professional aloofness.

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When he chides her for using old-fashioned language regarding the person he’s dating, Bae Ta Mi sets him, er, straight 😉

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The two go their separate ways from the elevator and Choi Bong Ki heads to a board room where employees are discussing the upcoming presidential election. One mentions that General Manager Bae Ta Mi rode the subway to work today and all the employees groan. Before Choi Bong Ki can find out why, Bae Ta Mi enters the room and begins asking about the company’s numbers. Unicon has lost 0.5% of its market share and she wants to know why.

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The discussion is cut short when another employee rushes in talking about a fireworks festival becoming a top search. The scene moves to the office of Director Song Ga Kyung (Jeon Hye Jin), Bae Ta Mi’s boss. We learn that there are rules governing searches and advertising on the site. Keyword searches can be deleted when those rules appear to be broken. There is a clear tension between the two women as they disagree over what to do with the search words.

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Later on the rooftop, Director Song meets with her boss who questions whether Director Song really deleted the searches just to follow the rules. We get some explanation of where some of the tension between her and Bae Ta Mi has come from.

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Back in her office, Director Song flips through photos of her husband with another woman. She shreds the photos before getting a call from her mother-in-law. Director Song is next seen walking down the hall of a hostess bar. She enters a room to find her husband, Oh Jin Woo(Ji Seung Hyun) with a group. The other men become nervous and try to cover for him but nobody is fooled. She tells him she won’t be going home and gives him a package to give to his mother for her. He attempts conversation and to show her some concern but she just leaves. His friends worry that it will mean trouble for him, but her husband is unconcerned.

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Meanwhile, Bae Ta Mi chats with a barista in the Unicon cafe. Despite her attention to detail and excellent insight into the business, barista Jo Ah Ra(Oh Ah-Yeon) fails miserably at all her job interviews. She and Bae Ta Mi discuss her failures as well as why Unicon’s competitor Barro seems to have much better election coverage on their portal than Unicon does.

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Bae Ta Mi heads out for dinner at a pork belly joint where she eats alone. A restaurant like this doesn’t serve single portions, so she’s ordered double what she can eat by herself. When another woman tries to order a single portion, Bae Ta Mi invites her to join her table. The woman is Jung Da In(Han Ji-Wan.) She is a pianist recently returned to the country, which Bae Ta Mi deduces from her manner of speaking. The two women enjoy the meal and discuss the upcoming election amongst other things. They end up agreeing to meet again sometime.

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The scene cuts from an election van to a televised debate between two presidential candidates. In a discussion on marriage, talk turns to the candidates’ personal lives and becomes nasty. One brings up rumors of the other’s affair. Back at the Unicon office, Bae Ta Mi’s team watches as the top searches begin to change to questions regarding the possible affair. Bae Ta Mi leaves to get her hair done, confident that her team can handle things. While sitting at the salon, she watches as all the keyword searches change suddenly from being about the candidate’s possible affair to more mundane questions about music and weather.

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Bae Ta Mi runs back to the office to find out what is going on. She confronts Director Song and accuses her of manipulating the searches for political reasons. As they argue, a congressman arrives at the office to accuse Unicom of the same thing. (He is the same man who will be leading the congressional hearing in 6 months time.) Faced with an outsider, Bae Ta Mi changes to parrot her boss’s arguments showing her loyalty to the company.

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The following scene shows a candlelit studio lined with nude sketches. The portraits hang on the walls and sit on the floor. Director Song watches as her mother-in-law, Jang Hee Eun sketches at an easel. They discuss the keyword deletion and the probable hearing that will come of it. Becoming angry, Jang Hee Eun sends her half-naked model home and stalks out of the studio.

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We fast forward to election night and the supposed underdog is elected president. Choi Bong Ki has won the office pool because he listened to Bae Ta Mi’s advice. When He asks her why she is so certain, she answers that the search words never lie.

Bae Ta Mi goes to relax at an arcade where she kicks a younger man’s butt in a fighting game. A new challenger arrives and Bae Ta Mi begins to lose. When her challenger leaves, he turns to her, his face bathed in a halo of light.

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He refuses Bae Ta Mi’s request for another game, but later she finds him waiting outside the arcade for her. *flirting commences*

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They talk over drinks as the rain comes down on the windows outside. *flirting intensifies*

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When she asks what he does for a living, he plays music for her and tells a tale of a man trying to rescue the woman he has loved for a thousand years.

The next morning, Bae Ta Mi wakes to sunshine streaming in through the window of her hotel room. In her bed, a very handsome, very naked young man lays next to her. She leaves quietly so as not to wake him, but walks out of the room with her head held high (no walk of shame for Bae Ta Mi). On her way to the office, she does her make up and stops off to buy herself some jewelry, because why not? Treat yourself!

At work, Bae Ta Mi discovers that Congress is holding a hearing regarding keyword manipulation and she is the one being sent to represent Unicon. Also, she’s told that if she does well and keeps Unicon off the top searches that day, she might be promoted.

Later she drowns her sorrows over food and soju with Team Leader Choi and prepares herself for the battle to come

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Present Day

We are back at the beginning, back at the hearing, with Bae Ta Mi admitting that keyword manipulation occurs. She continues to speak and explains that many searches regarding sex get deleted because those subjects are not deemed appropriate for an all-ages access web portal. Congressman Joo Seung Tae is frustrated by her seeming deviation and demands Bae Ta Mi return to the subject at hand. At this point, our heroine turns the tables on the congressman and drops a bombshell that takes all focus off of Unicon.

Bae Ta Mi leaves the hearing surrounded by reporters asking her if her allegations are true and how she discovered it. Through a flashback, we learn that she searched the web and Unicon’s servers to connect the dots and find the evidence she needed.

The scene changes to a woman in her car watching the hearing on a tablet. She discusses it over the phone with someone and is surprised when her car door opens and Bae Ta Mi sits down in her passenger seat.

They recognize each other, and Bae Ta Mi realizes that she has just entered the car of an employee at Barro, Unicon’s biggest competitor.

Back at the Unicon office, things are not going well. Director Song gets blasted by the CEO for Ta Mi’s testimony. Her mother-in-law isn’t too happy about it either.

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In the car, Bae Ta Mi and Barro employee Scarlett(Lee Da Hee), are getting on each other’s nerves. They debate the legality and righteousness of Ta Mi’s testimony until Ta Mi demands to be let out of the car. Scarlet points out that they are in the middle of the freeway, but Ta Mi doesn’t care. She gets out and begins to walk home.

Meanwhile, Bae Ta Mi’s handsome one-night-stand is listening to music in the most attractively cool sound room ever. When he leaves work, he sees Ta Mi’s hearing on the news.

Having dropped Bae Ta Mi in the middle of the road, Scarlet works out her frustration fighting Ju Jitsu style in a gym. We learn that she was once a competitive Judo athlete but a shoulder injury seems to have ended that dream.

Scarlett and the trainer watch Bae Ta Mi’s testimony on television. He praises Ta Mi for exposing the truth.

The reality of what she has done finally hits Bae Ta Mi and she contemplates suicide. Every method she attempts fails and ultimately she decides she must go to work and face the music.

Once at work, Bae Ta Mi hides in her office. Team Leader Choi finds her and offers her some words of support.

He also tells Ta Mi that the bosses are looking for her. She decides to avoid them by taking his place at a meeting regarding video game music development (I think we can all see where this is headed)

At the meeting, the debated music begins to play, and Bae Ta Mi knows that she has heard it somewhere before. She can’t quite place it. How has she heard music for a song that has not yet been developed?

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Just as her brain connects the dots, the person presenting the music turns around and their eyes lock

Finally, we learn the mystery man’s name and learn what his job is. The executives discuss the merits of softer music during a fight scene, but Bae Ta Mi is too flustered to add much as Park Morgan(Jang Ki Yong) seems to be speaking directly to her.

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Ta Mi escapes as soon as possible. In her distracted state, she enters the men’s restroom by accident. As she runs out of the room, she bumps into Park Morgan, leaving quite an impression on him.

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In that moment, Bae Ta Mi becomes every noona as she asks the eternal question…

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And he gives her quite the answer.

Final Thoughts:

Search: WWW has compelling characters and a great plotline so far. I loved everything about the first episode. Strong female characters who are far from perfect but are good at their jobs is something I want to see more of in dramas. Noona romances are extremely my thing and I love it when they are told well. I very much look forward to seeing what the future holds for this drama. Fingers crossed it stays this good throughout.

I will definitely be watching more of “Search: WWW.”  What were your thoughts on episode 1?  I hope you enjoyed Search: WWW’s Episode 1 recap. See you soon on Episode 2.

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