Compared to the first arc of Moving, I think the second arc deviates more from the source material in interesting ways that deepen the characters’ backstories. The overall plot remains the same, but the drama explores the past in greater depth. As a result, there’s something about the middle act that feels fuller and more expressive than the original.
Note: Part 2 will cover episodes 8-14 in the drama and episodes 16-25 in the webtoon (a.k.a., the second act).
MI-HYUN AND DOO-SHIK: ROMANCE
Starting off with Bong-seok’s parents, episodes 8 and 9 depict a spy romance that culminates into an epic reunion and ends with the confession, “I thought I would die.” For the most part, their trajectory stays the same, though the path to their love story differs. The drama spends two episodes just on their courtship, allowing their romance to blossom slowly and carefully. There isn’t anything grandiose about their love, and by most accounts, it’s a quiet and simple affair.
The biggest difference from the drama and the webtoon is Mi-hyun and Doo-shik’s shared past. The webtoon has them meet as strangers, and Doo-shik tests Mi-hyun’s intentions by jumping off a roof. When he sees her worry for his safety, he softens and opens up towards her. In the drama, Doo-shik is already interested in Mi-hyun from the moment she begins her task because, as it is revealed later on, he was there when she failed her first mission. The addition of this flashback works so well for the drama because it helps establish that Mi-hyun and Doo-shik are of the same ilk, and consequently, their attraction to each other feels natural. In a world filled with deception and ruthlessness, these two weary souls recognized the kindness hidden in each other’s heart.
Another important effect of this change relates to Director Min. In both the webtoon and drama, the director sets up this mission to tether Doo-shik, but by adding to Mi-hyun and Doo-shik’s past, the drama casts Director Min in a more sinister and conniving light. He isn’t just a heartless boss trying to clip Doo-shik’s wings but a calculating villain who outright thinks compassion is a weakness. He looks down on Mi-hyun and Doo-shik for caring about people, and as a result, Director Min becomes an even more dastardly bastard.
JU-WON AND JI-HEE: NOIR
Compared to Mi-hyun and Doo-shik’s backstory, Ju-won and Ji-hee’s tale is basically a drama-original. The only commonality between the webtoon and the drama is that Ju-won used to work as a gangster in both, but his darker past is only briefly touched upon in the source material before he’s scooped away by Director Min. Despite being completely different from the original, episodes 10 and 11 are my favorites of this bunch and really showcase Kang Full’s ability to adapt and expand his characters.
What I loved most about the drama version of Ju-won and Ji-hee is that neither of them sees themselves as heroes or even “good” people. They both have painful pasts that the show doesn’t necessarily explore, and instead, we’re dropped in the middle. Essentially, we meet these two at their lowest, and rather than explain how or why these characters went down these paths, their story is about finding the romance within the noir. Just as Mi-hyun and Doo-shik were attracted to reflections of themselves, the same can be said for Ju-won and Ji-hee; except in their case, they saw through the pain and mistakes in each other’s eyes and noticed the glimmer of romanticism underneath all the regret.
THE TRIO
Episodes 8 through 11 mostly focus on the parents’ romance, and deviate rather substantially from the comic. Starting from episode 12, the plot merges back with the original, and while there are differences between the two as a result of the added backstories, most of the major beats remain the same.
Important moments like Doo-shik coming back for Mi-hyun’s sake and then shooting her in front of everyone as a ruse is taken directly from the webtoon with minor adjustments, but in contrast, the scene where Doo-shik gets captured again is very different. The show makes this event more dramatic, and utilizes its original characters to create new sequences. It works well within this context, and also lets the characters shine. Doo-shik’s actions more obviously show his devotion to his family than in the webtoon and highlight the tight bond he has with Mi-hyun. This change also gives Mi-hyun agency in this moment which she lacks in the original, and as a consequence, the separation between the parents feels more sorrowful. He stays behind to protect them, and though it pains her, she leaves him behind to protect their family.
For Ju-won’s story, the overall setup is the same as the webtoon. After Doo-shik’s disappearance, Ju-won finds himself lost again and thinks the answer to his aimlessness is being a black agent, but later on, he realizes that his true purpose comes from his family. For the most part, the adaptation and the source material follow the same plotline, but in the drama, Ju-won continues going on missions even after Hee-soo’s birth without any signs of slowing down whereas in the original he starts cutting back on them. As a result of this seemingly minor change, the drama has to handle Ji-hee’s accident differently because in the original, it is clear to the reader that Director Min thought his family was becoming a hinderance. The answer Kang Full comes up with is rather simple but immensely effective: just state it out loud. The advantage of a drama adaptation can sometimes be the actors, and for Moving, the acting really elevates what could be a boring scene on paper into something impactful.
Another shining example of an actor improving a scene is the ending of episode 13. Ryu Seung-ryong gives an absolutely heart wrenching performance here as the gutted Ju-won, and the way he allows himself to break down and cry left me in tears. The funeral scene isn’t in the original, but I’m so glad the drama added it because, unlike the webtoon, it gives the audience a chance to mourn alongside the character. For the webtoon, the loss of Ji-hee is devastating and sudden—the main purpose of the accident is to impart a feeling of abruptness, so the webtoon doesn’t linger on this moment for too long. In contrast, the drama already revealed Ji-hee’s death, and so this scene is used to convey Ju-won’s new resolve born from loss. It’s in this moment that he fully realizes that his purpose in life is his family, and in order to protect them, he will need to do everything in his power to do so.
FATHERS
The message of episode 13 blends seamlessly into the next and final episode of the parents’ backstory, which also happens to be one of my favorites in the original webtoon. Jae-man (Kim Sung-kyun) is a misunderstood figure who just wants to be there for his family, but society sees his condition (both physical and mental) as an impediment. Though he tries to live peacefully with his loving wife and son, things take a turn for the worse, and he finds himself chased down like a monster. This is where Ju-won comes in, and the two fathers meet for the first time.
Up until the end of their fight, the drama closely follows the webtoon, and the general tone is consistent between the two. In fact, they even recreated one of the epic panels from the webtoon in the drama. Out of all the backstories so far, Jae-man’s has the least amount of changes, but the one major difference they did make (the little boy lost in the sewer) was a brilliant addition to the drama. It highlighted Ju-won and Jae-man’s unspoken bond with each other as fathers, and though they are so different, they also shared a lot of the same traits. By inserting the boy, the drama added a bit of tension while also giving the two characters a chance to connect without needing to talk. Both Ju-won and Jae-man aren’t men of many words, so it makes sense that they finally understood each other through their actions. It’s little details like these that make this adaptation so great because Kang Full knew how to translate his work in a way that utilized the advantages of a live action while still maintaining the charm of the original.
Read the other parts here: Moving: Drama vs Webtoon Part 1, Part 3
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