Disney+ K-Drama Red Swan: Rain and Kim Ha-neul ensure a successful start to the action romance

Today, Wan-soo travels the world as director of Hwain’s Now Foundation, acting as a goodwill ambassador for a company otherwise involved in very shady dealings.

Unlike many Korean prime-time melodramas, Red Swan plays, at least in the first episodes, a fairly global role.

The series begins with Wan-soo giving a speech at UNICEF headquarters in New York, and then quickly moves on to the Philippines, where she next hosts a fundraising gala.

Already in Manila is Seo Do-yoon (Rain), a man with stubble and a mysterious secret. While wandering through the casinos and back alleys of the city, he tries to track down his friend’s murderer.

While shopping in the Makati district, Wan-soo becomes the target of an assassin. Her security guards die, but she survives after being rescued by Do-yoon, who happens to be in the neighborhood.

Although the identity of the killer remains a secret, it appears to be the same person who murdered Do-yoon’s friend, raising the question of whether there might be a connection between Do-yoon and Wan-soo.

At this point, Do-yoon realizes how lonely Wan-soo really is. He also realizes that it is his job to protect her not only from outside threats, but also from within.

Red Swan doesn’t give us a full picture of Wan-soo’s life at the beginning of the series, as it also alludes to a son she had who apparently died. This would certainly add to her pain and suffering, but it could also be connected to a larger secret going on behind the scenes.

The show hints at a possible romance between protector and protected in several close-quarters scenes, such as when Do-yoon dabs blood at Wan-soo’s cheek as they seek refuge in his Manila apartment, or when he takes her to her hotel room after she has a few too many drinks at a bar.

The Bodyguard is not the only Kevin Costner classic that the show seems to allude to, as fans of the 1996 golf film Tin cup may sit up and take notice when he sees that Wan-soo’s preferred golf club is the 7-iron, which is also the preferred club of Costner’s protagonist.

Wan-soo practiced with the club as a child after her mother, who was a caddy, stole a 7-iron and a driver after being fired by a younger Mi-ran. She later used the club to win her Hall of Fame title, even though it was the wrong club for the shot.

Red Swan may tread very familiar ground, but it does so brilliantly, with a colorful mix of global locations (including scenes of charity work in Tanzania), dynamic scenes and brilliant melodrama.

These scenes include the assassination and rescue scene in the Philippines, which features an elemental mix of water and fire as Do-yoon rescues Wan-soo from a hail of bullets through a well and leads her behind a line of exploding cars.

Meanwhile, Seo adds even more melodrama with her gleeful role as the manic chairman who giggles like a banshee and throws threats around like bowling balls when she’s not performing ridiculous chi-gathering rituals in the lush garden of her villa under a full moon.

With all these entertaining elements in the game, Red Swan has made a solid start.

Red Swan is streaming on Disney+.