Delightfully Deceitful Episode 1 Recap & Review & Explained

Delightfully Deceitful Actors and Plot

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“Delightfully Deceitful” is a Korean drama that will be released in May 2023. The story mainly revolves around a fraudster who cannot empathize with others and a lawyer who empathizes too much, two completely different people teaming up for an exciting revenge against absolute evil.

“Delightfully Deceitful” consists of 16 episodes, each lasting about 70 minutes. The director of the drama is Lee Soo-yeon, and the screenwriter is newcomer Han Yu-joo. This drama’s script won an award as part of Studio Dragon’s second TV drama script open recruitment exhibition.

Delightfully Deceitful Actors:

• Chun Woo Hee plays “Lee Ro-Woom” in the series.
• Kim Dong Wook plays “Han Moo-Young” in the series.
• Yoon Bak plays “Go Yo-Han” in the series.
• Park So Jin plays “Mo Jae-In” in the series.

Delightfully Deceitful Episode 1 Recap

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💛Lee Ro-Woom is a woman who was imprisoned for killing her own parents. Han Moo-Young, on the other hand, is a skilled lawyer whom people want to entrust their cases to. He always manages to turn things around in a miraculous way.

This time, he defends a card sharp and sees things differently from others. He believes that it’s not about how the defendant cheated but rather why and for whom they did it. Han Moo-Young discovers that the defendant became a card sharp to help pay off his lover’s gambling debts instead of personal gain. His defense helps at least reduce the sentence of the accused.

Woo Young-Ki becomes deeply attracted by Han Moo-Young’s charm and wants to interview him for an exclusive headline story but gets rejected.

💛However, Han Moo-Young is actually known as “the vampire” because he chooses his clients carefully and some of his case results are considered unfair which makes some victims resentful towards him.

In the past, Han Moo-Young wasn’t such a cold-blooded lawyer; he used to shout so much in court until he fainted when his clients were treated unfairly. But because he empathizes too much with them, it takes its toll on him psychologically.

The next day, Han Moo-Young finds out that So Gye-Sook has disappeared from outside the courthouse after hearing Woo Young-Ki say that her son was killed by his adoptive parents one year after being sent away since she had no evidence against them.

So Gye-Sook needs to be held accountable for why she gave up such a big child while Woo Young-Ki hears rumors that the adoptive parents paid high insurance premiums every month for their stepson.

💛Meanwhile, news reports reveal that there is another culprit behind Lee Ro-Woom’s patricide case which prompts Han Moo-young to defend Choong-Sik who admits proudly during their conversation that he wanted to kill someone and used Lee Ro-Woom to set the fire. Han Moo-Young becomes very angry and wants Ryu Jae-Hyeok to sentence Choong-Sik to death.

💛Despite his counselor’s objections, Han Moo-Young takes on this case which violates public domain and shows a significant gap between rational judgment and his actions. In other words, Han Moo-Young is destroying his own future prospects.

Finally, he publicly releases the recording of Choong-Sik’s unrepentant confession resulting in him being sentenced to life imprisonment. Even Lee Ro-Woom thinks that Han Moo-Young is crazy for betraying Choong-Sik like this which affects his image as well.

💛Lee Ro-Woom was acquitted and released from prison. Han Moo-Young had been waiting for her and even gave her a new set of clothes to wear instead of the ones she wore in prison. Lee Ro-Woom decided to hire Han Moo-Young as her lawyer to apply for compensation for wrongful imprisonment.

When they met, Lee Ro-Woom suddenly burst into tears, saying that she hadn’t felt such warmth in a long time. She carried the burden of a crime she didn’t commit for ten years in prison and was called a witch, just like how Han Moo-Young was called a vampire.

However, Han Moo-Young realized that he had been deceived by Lee Ro-Woom whom he sympathized with earlier on. People like him who easily fall into other people’s emotions are prey to these anti-social personalities.

💛Han Moo-Young then sought out people who knew about Lee Ro-Woom’s character. Some said that on her first day in prison, she stuck chopsticks into the necks of guards and claimed water was dangerous methanol while easily dealing with bullies among inmates which caused psychological trauma until now.

The prisoner staff  believed that Lee Ro-Woom must have killed her parents because someone with an IQ of 180 wouldn’t be foolish enough to turn herself in and stay in jail otherwise; they considered her a dangerous person.

💛The next day, Lee Ro-Woom immediately went around scamming people using her photographic memory talent to memorize things quickly and amassed many expensive shoes and bags which made herself look noble before going to casinos where she used card counting techniques to earn large amounts of money.

💛At night, Prosecutor Go Yo-Han came looking for Lee Ro-Woom suspecting something suspicious about the bags she carried; he insisted on checking them out despite being warned by Han Moo-young that Lee is not trustworthy.

Delightfully Deceitful Episode 1 Review & Explained & Analysis

Character portrayal of Han Moo-Young

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At the beginning of Delightfully Deceitful Episode 1, we see that Han Moo-Young, a lawyer, only takes on clients with backgrounds and power. However, there is a reason behind this. Han Moo-Young is known as the “vampire” lawyer, meaning he is cold-blooded. But through the transitions in the scenes, we can piece together his inner thoughts:

In fact, three years ago, Han Moo-Young was a passionate lawyer who would argue and get angry in court for his clients who were wrongfully accused (the child that Han Moo-Young hit at the beginning of “Delightfully Deceitful” had a father who was one of his clients; the client’s wife resented him for not winning their case).

Han Moo-Young needs to see a psychologist. Mo Jae-In asks him if he still gets called “vampire” lately and how it makes him feel. This shows that being called “vampire” doesn’t leave him indifferent; instead he buries his feelings of resentment and pain deep inside.

Nowadays, Han Moo-young specifically chooses those considered to be “bad people” as clients. We can infer that he intentionally picks these types because during his last case three years ago he realized only those with money and power could win easily (so he also says these types of clients don’t need to take things too seriously since they always win).

However, it’s not about winning for Han-Moo Young but rather because he has an innate sense of empathy which is too strong. By choosing unsympathetic or pitiless clients like themself ,he can detach himself from such emotions otherwise his mental health will deteriorate further.

That’s why when seeing So Gye-Sook protesting outside court,Han-Moo Young ignores them – according to his past personality traits ,he should want to help them but now chooses to be indifferent.

The writer and director have portrayed Han Moo-Young’s “empathy” in great detail, showing how he observes his surroundings and empathizes with others’ feelings, such as noticing that Lee Ro-Woom has no other clothes to wear when released from prison, realizing that Lee Ro-Woom is cold, knowing that Lee Ro-Woom wouldn’t order food just after being released from prison ,and ordering several cups of coffee for him to choose the flavor she likes.

Did Lee Ro-Woom kill her parents?

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Before news broke out that there was another true culprit, Lee Ro-Woom had asked someone on the phone “how much longer?” It is currently difficult to determine whether Lee Ro-Woom intentionally wanted to create a false impression of the true culprit or not.

However, Choong-Sik claimed that he was the real culprit and based on Han Moo-Young’s questioning, it seems like Lee Ro-Woom may be related to arson. It appears that she was coerced by Choong-Sik into committing arson.

In 2012, in a case where a couple were murdered, Lee Ro-Woom was arrested at the scene and has been serving time for ten years (at that time, traces of arson were found on her hands and clothes).

In July 2022, the true culprit was arrested for illegal possession of weapons and he confessed (he said he wanted Lee Ro-Woom to commit arson and mocked her by saying she would cremate her parents).

What I find interesting is that Lee Ro-Woom herself lacks empathy; meaning she doesn’t feel anything about what she did but also doesn’t hesitate when hurting others. Therefore, regarding Choong-Sik’s coercion at the time, it is unclear if Lee Ro-Woon actually felt threatened or just calmly followed through with his demands.

Although she didn’t have any intention to commit a crime herself initially, she didn’t resist either nor did she defend herself in court which makes her personality quite chilling. I think Delightfully Deceitful’s screenwriter purposely made this character ambiguous so viewers can’t tell if they are innocent or guilty.

Therefore when suddenly crying in front of Han Moo-Young saying “I haven’t felt this warmth for so long…no one understands me because I’ve spent ten years in prison for something I didn’t do…I’m scared,” it was unexpected.

Given her toughness in prison and how she could make other inmates who bullied her obedient, this implies that Lee Ro-Woom is not a simple or innocent person. Therefore, the scene where Lee Ro-Woom suddenly cries in the café shows that she is actually deceiving Han Moo-Young (using a psychologist’s words, she sees Han Moo-Young as prey).

After many characters describe how scary Lee Ro-Woom is, it makes people feel like she may not be so innocent after all. After seeing her skills at deceiving people in this episode, if she were to use these talents to defend herself in court I believe she could do it.

As the prison guard said “her IQ is 180; why did she turn herself into jail?” The screenwriter designed suspense around Lee Ro-Woom’s character: why doesn’t she want to resist? Why does she want to take responsibility for the murder case? What exactly is her goal throughout this process? These are answers that Han Moo-Young will have to find out.