The Apartment Job: Episodes 3-4
by lovepark
A fake family is formed to win an apartment election, but our hero soon learns that having a wife and kid are not enough to earn his voters’ hearts. As with many elections, negative campaign ads, corrupt leaders, and fickle supporters turn even the most predictable races into a ride of twists and turns, but this retired gangster has more than a pretty face to woo over his neighbors.
EPISODES 3-4
Project “Intermittent Family” (name courtesy of Big Guy’s diet) is in full swing, and the first step of Hae-kang’s apartment scam is submitting his application for building representative. While most people complete it online, Hae-kang goes in person and brings his entire family because how else will the residents know that he’s completely normal and totally not shady. Luckily, no one really pays attention to his odd behavior because nearly every seat is filled with sole candidates. Unluckily, Hae-kang’s district turns out to be an outlier with not one but three residents up for election. In other words, it’s time to hit the campaign trail.
While Hae-kang and his fake family initially treat this election like a legitimate seat for power — vibrant pink jackets and all — they soon realize that neighborhood politics operate a bit differently. Rather than blast loud music and earn every resident’s ire, Ha-ri suggests taking a crisis and turning it into an opportunity. More specifically, delivery trucks have been barred entry above ground, leaving packages stranded at the gate, so Hae-kang creates a personal delivery system to solve the problem.
Instantly, Candidate Hae-kang becomes a neighborhood hero with the community forum abuzz with his praise, but one particular poster is displeased with her delivery: Hae-kang’s political opponent Sook-jin. Instead of ignoring her complaints, Ha-ri says that they need to fight fire with fire and writes an anonymous post about Sook-jin lying about her education. Given her reputation, the voters easily fall for the fake news, and no matter how much Sook-jin cries that she graduated at the top of her class, her political dreams have been tanked.
At this point, Hae-kang has basically won the upcoming election, and he does his very best to avoid any scandals that could taint his chances. Unfortunately, he happens to witness a neighbor beat up a security guard, and when he tries to walk away, Ha-ri berates him for caring more about his election than being a decent person. Her words sting more than Hae-kang lets on, and as a result, he intervenes and beats up the neighbor. Alas, a couple of teenagers recorded the whole fight, and soon, a clip of Hae-kang kicking a man goes viral in their community.
All hope seems lost as Hae-kang sulks at home, not even bothering to go vote, but when the results are announced through the speakers, his name is called. As it turns out, Ha-ri went out of her way to find the teens and then got the head of security to write a post explaining the situation. With his name cleared, he won back the voters, and now as a building representative, Hae-kang can run for president of the residents’ association, bringing him that much closer to 17 billion won.
Winning his first election turns out to be the easy part, though, since the current sitting president and his lackeys are determined to sabotage Hae-kang. Thanks to their trash removal contractors, President Seo learns of Hae-kang’s past as the leader of the Oasis Gang and then calls for an emergency meeting where he reveals it to their entire community. The effects are immediate with everyone treating Hae-kang like a social pariah, but surprisingly, his ex-rival Sook-jin takes pity on him.
Putting their past mudslinging aside, Hae-kang joins Sook-jin’s local protest where some residents are trying to get a subway exit moved to their apartment complex. Everyone besides Sook-jin knows that it is a fool’s errand and treats their protests more as fun outings. However, their talk suddenly sparks an idea for Hae-kang, and he calls up an old Japanese VIP who owes him a favor after saving his life.
In the middle of the night, Hae-kang and his crew go to the construction site and bury cultural artifacts they got from their Japanese VIP. Then the next day, they hold a protest at the dig site and “trip” over one of the relics. Thanks to their meddling, the government puts the development on hold until an excavation and investigation have been completed, and thus, the subway exit is moved. Hae-kang has accomplished the impossible, and with real estate values skyrocketing, everyone forgets about Gangster Hae-kang and instead hails him as their hero once again.
In an unprecedented turnout, Hae-kang wins the presidency with 90% of the votes, and penthouse resident Chung-won is none too pleased. While Hae-kang was only concerned about neighborhood politics, Chung-won was shaking things up with ministers and assemblymen to develop Oman City, but because of Hae-kang’s latest stunt, all of his bribes and threats have become void. Nothing annoys Chung-won more than people who take his money and fail to complete their jobs, and in this moment, President Seo sits at the top of that list.
Since he has no more use of the failed president, Chung-won beats him with his name plate and laughs while he is doing it. He then leaves without even bothering to hide his deed and runs into Hae-kang in the streets. The ex-gangster immediately recognizes the blood splattered all over the other man’s hand and face but slaps on a cordial smile to keep the peace. However, his alarm bells ring as Chung-won stares him down and ominously warns him that they will be seeing each other very soon.
The Apartment Job continues to be a delightful watch, striking the perfect balance of tension and humor. While the plot is predictable, the zippy pace and excellent delivery keep the story moving along without much lull, and the attention to detail, especially in terms of directing, really elevates the stakes as well as the jokes. There are plenty of scenes that could have been left as exposition, but the show goes out of its way to depict them and infuse action into the story. Even the parts that are more exposition-heavy tend to have other elements thrown into the scene — oftentimes a cute animation or a well-timed joke — and thus, there’s never a dull moment when watching.
Though some of the resolutions are borderline fantastical, it actually works in favor of the show’s tone and heightens the overall low stakes. For Hae-kang and his crew, this is a life or death situation, but for everyone else, it’s just a neighborhood election that no one really cares about. In essence, this dramatic irony is what makes the drama feel fun and lighthearted. Granted, there are some more serious topics sprinkled throughout (i.e., the young mother with the controlling husband, corruption at every level of politics, election manipulation) but these issues give the show more complexity rather than take away from the fun.
While I’m enjoying a lot of the characters, Hae-kang is definitely the heart of the show. He’s such a vain yet lovely protagonist, and the show does a great job poking fun at his overly cool persona. Whether he’s sitting in the background sipping on espresso instead of eating with the rest or staying up all night to read positive comments about himself, Hae-kang is an absolute hoot to watch. I also love how the others match his energy from Ha-ri’s uncontrolled outbursts to Sook-jin’s oblivious intrusions, so it makes me happy to see his circle get larger with even more colorful personalities joining his side because I suspect he will need all the help he can get to fight against our penthouse villain.
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