Official Synopsis: Betrayed by his girlfriend Han Jae Hee (Park Si Yeon), Kang Ma Roo (Song Joong Ki) uses Seo Eun Gi (Moon Chae Won), an heiress who has lost her memory, to exact his revenge.

Ratings: KBS' 'Nice Guy' premiered in second place with a rating of 10.5%. MBC's 'Arang and the Magistrate' (starring Lee Jun Ki and Shin Min Ah) topped 'Bridal Mask' as it occupied the first place position with a high 14.1% rating. As viewers gave favorable criticism of 'Nice Guy', it'll be interesting to see if 'Arang and the Magistrate' will be able to keep its first place position in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, SBS' 'To the Beautiful You' (starring SHINee's Minho and f(x)'s Sulli) remained in last place with a low rating of 5.4%.



Recap of Ep. 1: Kang Ma Roo, clad in a doctor uniform, is seen rushing when he abruptly halts in the hallway as he catches sight of Han Jae Hee, giving the news for the day. Chuckling at Jae Hee's mistakes as a news reporter, Ma Roo is called back to his duties as a clinical practice student. Ma Roo complains about his overseeing doctor's disregard for the medical students. The doctor answers giving him an assignment to find out a patient's illness. After the patient throws up, Ma Roo discovers the boy has a cerebral aneurysm. However, the head director rejects Ma Roo's suggestion after an angiography proves otherwise. The tables are turned when the patient returns to the hospital and the doctor admits his mistake and compliments Ma Roo, telling him, "Our school will have a genius doctor in two years."



The elated Ma Roo returns to his home, only to find his younger sister, Cho Co (Lee Yoo Bi), sweating and sick. Ma Roo is about to take Cho Co to the hospital when he gets a phone call from a terrified Jae Hee, begging for his help. Disregarding his sister's pleas to stay with her, Ma Roo goes to the motel room, shocked to see a bloody man on the ground. After Ma Roo confirms his death, he tells her that she can turn herself in and claim self-defense, but Jae Hee refuses at first as she'll lose her position as a news anchor. After Jae Hee calms down, she calls the police to turn herself in, when Ma Roo stops her and passionately kisses her. He tells Jae Hee, "I killed this man. Noona doesn't know any of this," and takes the blame as police cars surround the motel. He gets a five-year sentence in jail.

Eun Gi, the heir to a cosmetics company, takes an employer, who's unhappy with how Eun Gi became team manager by inheritance, on a terrifying ride, spitting out sarcastic insults and revealing her brusque personality. However, she's stopped short when she sees Jae Hee handing Eun Gi's father an envelope, "Do you know what I did? To protect you, president, do you know what I did? Do you know what I did to the man who's as precious to me as my life?" Eun Gi's father hugs her as Eun Gi looks on spitefully.

Six years later, Ma Roo wakes up in a hotel room in Japan with a woman, a gold digger who seduces men for money. After revealing to the woman he knows of her criminal background, Ma Roo receives the money that his friend, Jae Gil (Lee Kwang Soo) lost to the gold digger. Meanwhile, Eun Gi, whose health is deteriorating due to her sleep deprivation and chronic illness, deals with a false complaint with the help of lawyer Lawyer Joon Ha (Lee Sang Yeob). Eun Gi, her stephmother Jae Hee, and Jae Hee's biological son, return to Korea on the same plane as Ma Roo after their work is done.

However, Eun Gi suddenly falls ill and is in a crisis condition as the crew searches for a doctor on-board. Although Ma Roo refuses to go at first, Jae Gil pressures him using Ma Roo's sister, Cho Co, as bait. Ma Roo arrives at the scene, but is shocked to find Jae Hee, who announces herself as Eun Gi's stepmother, there. Despite learning the shocking news of Jae Hee's marriage and her biological son, Ma Roo calmly tends to Eun Gi. However, Ma Roo is unnerved when Eun Gi begins to spit out blood. Ma Roo moves on to the next procedure, but Jae Hee stops him, crying out, "Stop it, Kang Ma Roo. You're not even a doctor, so stop it!"

_________________

kdramacrazy's Thoughts:

[ Note : This post reflects the opinions of the author, not necessarily those of allkpop.]

Wow. The pilot episode packed a hundred punches in just the last five minutes. Although that could be said for the whole episode. The episode was a knockout and pretty much gave me a nose bleed (and no, it isn't because of Song Joong Ki and his 5-second half-naked scene). I love how the storyline immediately dived into the melodrama and only gave a little snapshot of Ma Roo's life before he turned himself in. The bone of the melodrama is already revealed, making it unnecessary to spend time on Ma Roo's past dating life with Jae Hee in the pilot. It was quite a nice twist though to see Ma Roo's potential as a successful doctor and his willingness to give up his dream when Jae Hee was afraid to do so with her dream as a news anchor.

And what's more interesting is we can't exactly put our finger on what turned Ma Roo into an 'evil' man. It could be the fact that Ma Roo had to spend five years in jail and give up his medical career because of Jae Hee, but the argument contrary to that is that he was the one who agreed to take the blame and had offered to do so. Another reasoning for his revenge is because of Jae Hee's marriage, which I'm guessing will be the catalyst to his revenge. But you could tell Ma Roo wasn't the 'nice guy' he was before he met Jae Hee on the airplane. Here's to hoping we delve into Ma Roo's time in jail and his transformation in the following episodes.

But the true highlight of this episode was the flawless acting by the main cast. Song Joong Ki hit the nail on the head with his slightly dark image and his furious, shocked expressions when he met Jae Hee on the plane. Park Si Yeon did wonderfully with the motel scene, as her tears weren't too melodramatic. I loved her vulnerability. Moon Chae Won's character and her acting were heaven to me, and it was quite nice to see the actress change so dramatically from her role in 'The Princess' Man'. It was refreshing to see a female protagonist who wasn't the kind girl next door, but rather someone with a backbone and a bad mouth. It'll be quite interesting to see her relationship with Ma Roo, and I hope she doesn't turn into some sappy girl when she 'dates' Ma Roo because we all know she needs to be strong when she faces the ugly truth.