Story: Big Mouth is about Park Changho, a lawyer whose strike rate of winning cases is just 10%. His habit of bragging has earned him the sobriquet of ‘Big Mouth’. When Choi Doha, the mayor of Gucheon, approaches him to take a case that relates to officials and doctors of a local hospital, little does he know that his life is about to change. It's a journey peppered with dangers, double crossings, and murders.
Review: Call it coincidence or sheer writing similarity, but both ‘Big Mouth’ and ‘Adamas’, the other big K-drama release of the week, have their opening sequence happen in the middle of the night while it’s raining. Whatever the reason is, it surely creates an impact and sets a tone for things to come. Based on the solitary episode made available by the streaming platform, 'Big Mouth' succeeds in creating curiosity with its myriad twists and turns. The premise of the show is based on the familiar story of David vs. Goliath and deals with how a good-for-nothing lawyer, when cornered, becomes extremely dangerous to his detractors.
The plot of this action-drama begins with the decoding of the identity of a criminal, also known as Big Mouse. Big Mouse is a menace in the city of Gucheon and has a hand in most criminal activities. The series soon switches gears and focuses its attention on Park Changho, a lawyer. Park Changho lives with his wife and his father-in-law and maintains a lavish lifestyle. This has resulted in a huge burden of debt on him and thus Park is always on the lookout for cases that can fetch him huge sums of money, but the conversion rate of his legal cases is abysmal. When Choi Doha, mayor of Gucheon meets him and offers him a case, his life is about to alter in more than one way. He soon becomes the defense counsel for the Gucheon hospital murder case that saw the murder of professor Seo. When he has an accident, it turns out to be a life-changing experience for him.
The makers of K-dramas must be lauded for their innovative approaches to tackling simple subjects. They completely turn it around, and the end product always looks much more refined and watchable, and 'Big Mouth' is no exception. A lot happens in the first episode of the mystery drama and as events unfold, it completely grips us before the episode gets over. The first episode does a great job of slowly establishing the main characters. It’s a slow and steady transformation of the protagonist, and based on the first episode, it can be safely assumed that subsequent episodes will be far more taut and gripping. From a plot perspective, 'Big Mouth' has nothing new to offer. The story has been dealt with umpteen times in films and series in the past, but it’s the approach and the treatment that make all the difference. In the end, it remains a commercial drama whose only purpose is to provide wholesome entertainment to its viewers.
There is no character in the series that stands apart from other characters in the series. Lee Jong Suk in the role of lawyer does justice to the character, but again it’s not an exceptional performance. The events are such that they surely pull you in and you actually look forward to what will happen in future episodes. The end of the episode does give viewers a clue as to who Big Mouse could be. 'Big Mouth' serves well in entertaining its viewers, but don’t expect much beyond this.