Gyeongseong Creature Season 2

Not quite as good as the first season, but still enjoyable

First off, are they expecting to make another season? Because if it's not planned for sure, then WHAT was up with that little bonus scene (plus all the unanswered questions).
That aside, I really really enjoyed this season. It scratched a very specific itch I have for superhuman/experimented on heroes, giving me almost exactly what I wanted. However, I do think that the first season had better emotional arcs for the characters and more overall heart throughout.
I think this season could've given us what the first season did if they had a few more episodes. Usually I'm in favor of less episodes because some dramas take way too long to get to the point, but in this case, I would've liked to spend more time with these versions of the characters and to see the different relationships between everyone.
I also think that Lady Maeda should've been introduced sooner. We should've seen more of her with Seungjo so that when he kills her the impact would've been greater. I also think her twisted relationship with Taesang was a missed opportunity. It would've been interesting to see more of them throughout the years and actually see what kind of games she was playing with him. I think this would've given us more of an idea of why she had set up such an elaborate scheme to make Taesang kill Chaeok.
All of that to say, I really liked this season and if another season does happen, I'll be eagerly waiting for it.

Read More

So Much Potential Lost in Love and Repetition

The series opens nearly 80 years after S1, with the mystery of a biotech company - Jeonseung Biotech, which it turns out is the Japanese continuing their horrific experiments from World War II, but to what end? There is a serial killer on the lose who is obviously human but kills like the GyeongSeong Creature, Chae-ok is alive but living somewhat in the shadows. TaeSang is still alive too but living with amnesia as Ho-Jae. All these stories quickly converge to make for an excellent setup to what should’ve been an intriguing new phase to this story.

Unfortunately, the story just as quickly started to go nowhere. It became all about TaeSang/Ho-Jae and Chae-ok’s love which was always the weakest part of the series. The actors have no romantic chemistry whatsoever. With this pivot to love, the story just became repetitive. Chae-ok would get mortally wounded and/or she and TaeSang/Ho-Jae would end up in a trap set by Jeonsueng Biotech, leading to a death match with the security forces of the former. They’d get through it. Surviving, but then it’d start all over again the next episode. Wash, Rinse, Repeat.

I did like it being revealed how TaeSang and to a lesser degree Chae-ok ended up in the present. I also liked that almost everyone around TaeSang were descendants of his friends from the 40s or people he helped back then. There was so much potential with Seung Jo, the son of the pregnant mistress who got infected with the parasite in S1, but his storyline was all over the place. The writers really missed an opportunity in showing how he formed such a strong attachment toTaeSang, which would’ve made his complexity more tangible. Lady Maeda was back. Still mad and wrecking havoc because TaeSang wouldn’t f*** her 80 years earlier. SMH. She was a pathetic sociopath. I’m glad she finally met her end.

Like the first season there were many questions not answered. Too many to get into here but one of the biggest ones was Jeonsueng Biotech’s endgame. Was it really to poison all of Korea with the parasite? Or was that Seung Jo’s psychotic plan after taking over the company? I’m guessing it was more the latter than the former.

I did like the ending. Chae-ok had been through so much horror up until that point. I’m glad she was given the gift of forgetting and can live a happy life with a positive motherly figure and likely friends, not knowing the horrors she suffered…at least until things go bad again in the next season (if there is one). I was also fine with she and TaeSang not getting their HEA. He was alive but they were separated due to circumstances. Fine by me because they were never believable as a couple. As terrifying as the ending was with that parasite infected bottled water being distributed to all of Korea, it will make for a great set up for a third season. I just don’t know if it’ll be any better than what we’ve already seen.

Read More

The Struggles and Pain of Life

(Minimal spoilers ahead)

This was very, very good.

I’ve been watching kdramas since 2013, when I was a very young person. As I’ve grown and matured I’ve become choosy about the shows I watch. Not just kdramas, any type of show. This was the first shows I’ve watched all the way through in months, to give you an idea of how picky I've become.

Just about everything about Gyeongseong Creature Season 2 was compelling. The commentary about human nature at the core of the story, the action, the CGI, the fluidity between this season and the last. The absolute highlights for me though were the acting and the soundtrack.

I’ve been a fan of Park Seo Joon since I watched him years ago in the movie Chronicles of Evil. If you are a fan, it's worth checking out. It came out in 2015, right around the time he had his breakthrough. Although mostly a side characters, he has one scene where I was truly blown away by the emotional range he displayed. I still sometimes go back and rewatch that scene. His ability to evoke raw, profound emotion is underrated, particularly as his comedic sense and timing is so good. In Gyeongseong Creature, I found myself crying along with him just about every episode. Han So Hee measured up to him well. Her acting didn't pack quite the same punch, but he's got a few more years than her in the industry and in life, and I have no doubt that she is going nowhere but up. I'm looking forward to see how her acting matures in future projects. Also, to be fair to her, Tae Sang/Ho Jae was a more fleshed out character than Chae Ok.

And then the soundtrack! The soundtrack added so much depth. Nothing rips me out of my immersion in a show more than a soundtrack not hitting the right notes. But this season's soundtrack did everything right. The composition's were good enough to conjure emotion on their own, but the music in conjunction with the intense action and emotional acting scenes was everything.

The CGI and the action scenes were fantastic. Enough said. As for the rest of the main cast, Claudia Kim was so creepy as Lady Maeda. She embodied the evilness, selfishness, and cruelty of humanity. She was a fantastic villain. The torture she put Ho Jae and Chae Ok (especially Ho Jae) through because she was bored in her position of power? That is a true villain right there. Bae Hyun Seong as Seung Jo flip-flopped well between being insanely psychopathic and somewhat endearing. Lee Moo Saeng as Captain Kuroko was the only character out of the main cast that fell a little flat to me, but I'll chalk it up to his character being written as emotionless and stoic.

One criticism I have seen of this season is that it is a repeat of the first. This, I think, is actually part of the beauty of the show. At its core, Gyeongseong Creature is about human nature, greed, selfishness, the struggle to survive, and life. And life has a strange way of repeating itself. How many actions do we complete, day after day, that are exactly the same as the day before? Part of the struggle of life is learning how to escape this repetitive process of pain, making the same mistakes, and experiencing the the same betrayals and traumas over and over. So many scenes this season were written to intentionally replicate ones in season 1. I felt for the characters, that even after experiencing such heavy hardship, they have to repeat and experience the same pain over and over, year after year.

Another criticism is that the motives of the big bad went largely unexplained. I don't disagree, but I also don't think it detracts from the drama. The executives of Joenseung Pharmaceutical are undergoing unequivocally inhumane experiments. All we really see of their motives this season is a supposed urgency to advance their research for the sake of preserving the human race. But perhaps it is this vagueness, when juxtaposed with the sheer desperation of the protagonists to survive, that makes the emotional impact of this series so strong. Every day in real life powerful people make decisions that once examined seem truly indecipherable. Meanwhile, "average" people struggle to survive, and are harmed or hindered by those inscrutable decisions.

In conclusion, Gyeongseong Creature Season 2 has it all. Park Seo Joon's acting and the soundtrack were stand-out phenomenal in a close to perfect production. If you are on the fence about watching, just watch it. The seven episodes go by so fast that it's really not going to waste much of your time. And hopefully it will evoke some serious emotion for you like it did for me.

Read More

The Trailers Promised Much

Season 2 was watchable. However, what should have been a blockbuster continuation, failed to materialise. It took some time for show to get its game face on.

The acting was superb. The relationships well done. The production values, top notch. The direction, very good.

The story however, lacked the level of world building we experienced in S1. I guess it begs the question: How interesting is today’s world?

Some of the elements I didn’t enjoy: the use of Putty Men type characters we see in Power Rangers. Lady Maeda’s beautiful but menacing character gets lost in today’s palette. The creature was watered down. The Korean Drama ending.

When show flashed back to the past and showed us a glimpse of what happened in the handful of years post S1, it felt like the rich experience we were used too.

I’m not sure I will be back for Season 3.

Read More

Darkness and unfulfilled promises

Just finished season 2…honestly I’m disappointed but bear with me here I loved the first season very much it had fantasy, tragedy, action, and funny moments all encompassed well in the plot and I looked forward to the second season even with a different setting.
Now as for why I was disappointed in season 2, let’s start with the cinematography there’s nothing wrong with it at all I’m sure the action scenes were filmed very well but you see I couldn’t see it as it seemed the director decided it would be best to shoot it in the darkness and let the viewers figure out who got stabbed and when, I don’t know who thought that idea would be best but let’s move on.
Minor spoilers ahead
Second reason, The first season got a 8.5 out of me and it could have got a 10 if they had given the villains their lashings but COME TO FIND OUT the villains are still very much alive, they built a new layer to do their evil doings and killed all the characters who sacrificed everything to deal one blow to them. This this was the main reason why the second season disappointed me very much while I get it their trying to go for third season which again- is very much not NEEDED. The villains in gyeongseong creatures are always given an easy out or better yet they just keep doing their things while the characters fight tooth and nail and it amounts to absolutely nothing.

I think this is where I stand, I would enjoy having 3 seasons of park seo joon and Han seo hee having steamy chemistry , fighting monsters and looking hot while doing it shit even 15 seasons of it I won’t get enough but do it to point where it makes sense and where it leaves a satisfying mark on viewers. It’s tiring watching them fight tooth and nail just for the next seasons to go “hahaha surprise the villains are still very much alive and those attacks the MC’s did amounted to nothing and I’m still very much doing evil things” it gets to the point where it’ll be like why are they fighting when it’s not making even an inch of a difference.

My conclusion? This could have been a hundred times better if they had ended it this season. Shit it could have been a million times better if they had at least hadn’t ended with such a dumbass cliffhanger. Good luck to watchers I believe deep down this is a good show and a good idea but it’s not good enough to run it for 3 seasons. This plot just doesn’t have enough to do that with.

Read More

don't forget to watch after the ending credits/ regardez jusqu'à la toute fin après les crédits

Spoiler below

This is an excellent sequel, the connection with the 21st century is well done. There's never a dull moment. The actors are perfect, and I've just discovered Bae Hyeon Seong, who is excellent! Clearly there's room for a 3rd season, after the credits we see that the virus is put in plastic bottles and distributed everywhere! In addition, the main actors, apart from the villainess, are still alive! And there's still the mystery of the treacherous detective to solve. In short, watch without moderation.

Spoiler ci-après

C'est une excellente suite, la connection avec le 21e siècle est bien faite. On ne s'ennuie pas une seconde. Les acteurs sont parfaits, je découvre Bae Hyeon Seong qui est excellent ! Clairement il y a de la place pour une 3e saison, après les crédits on voit que le virus est mis dans des bouteilles plastiques et distribué partout ! De plus les acteurs principaux, à part la vilaine, sont en vie ! Et il reste le mystère du détective traître à régler. Bref à regarder sans modération

Read More

The second season is really good

Just finished season 2, first thing i wanna say is that PSJ's acting peaked in this show, there were many scenes where i was saying to myself that no other kdrama actor can match his skills and talent of acting, I can say Devil works hard but PSJ works harder What an amazing actor he is

Now come to the storyline, The show has engaging storyline and also the action scenes were topnotch, But it ended with a tease of separation, i really wanted them (ML & FL) to be together at the end but they left us with the possibility of third season and didn't bring back the couple together completely, But i am happy that both ML and FL survived at the end, It was neither sad nor a happy ending, Maybe we have to wait for another season to see them together happily.

Read More

Disappointing

Honestly, it wasn’t that great—it was just… meh. It’s watchable, but I was expecting more.

With only seven episodes instead of the ten from season one, everything felt super rushed and kind of dull. There were so many plot holes, and the conflicts didn’t feel fresh or exciting. Plus, there were a ton of backstories that really needed more attention. I mean, a hundred years is a long time! The events and relationships built up over that time just didn’t get the focus they deserved.

Yeah, the action scenes were cool, but it felt like they were trying to make up for the weak plot with all the action and CGI. Park Seo Joon and Han So Hee are great actors, so no complaints there. But the script was a bit too cheesy and pretentious for my taste. You could tell they were going for some deep philosophical stuff, but it didn’t really land.

Honestly, I think season one was way better. They should’ve built more on that story in the same era and maybe just made the present-day stuff an epilogue. I really wanted to like this season—I was pretty excited for it—but it was a letdown compared to how rich and creative season one was.

Read More

A Bloody Romnce

Whoever chose not to list this as a romance on Netflix, has clearly not watched a lot of romances as this may be one of the most intense romances I have seen on screen in a while (and I watch a lot of romance).

While season one focused on who is the monster, who is the real enemy and war is bad. Season two seems to try to answer two questions:

1. Who wants to live forever
3. Are 5 minutes of love enough to last a life time?

The season was gone in an instant, as I started it after breakfast finished it before dinner and even managed to take a walk somewhere in the middle. The story for season two is a lot of fun to watch an easy binge with less gore, less political more men in black fighting each-other and somehow ending up in a huge tub of water.

Definitely a drama I recommend that is a strong 8,5 may even be a 9 for its entertainment value.

Read More

A Fast-Paced Sequel with Unexplored Backstories

Part 2 takes us to modern Seoul and, like the first installment, unravels the backstory—exploring the events between Part 1 and the current narrative—later in the series. However, it feels a bit limited. I’d love to see more of those 75 years when our main characters were apart! Diving deeper into Lady Maeda's truly wicked nature and Captain Kuroko's backstory would be fascinating.

Overall, this sequel amps up the pace and is packed with action, pulling viewers in much quicker. Despite its flaws, the excitement makes it a fun continuation of the story. I’m curious to see if there will be a Part 3 with that intriguing ending!

Read More

Story + acting + chemistry = 10/10

We'll start with Han So Hee, she's amazing in this role and she might be the best female action star in Korea. I felt her emotions throughout the 7 episodes, her acting has improved drastically.

Park Seo Joon, he's one of my favorite male actors. His range of acting was on display, action, romance, a dash of comedy.

Their chemistry was amazing. The writing wasn't too complex and it made sense once the whole story was revealed. It was a roller coaster of emotions with an intriguing story.

Highly recommend if you enjoy action with a side of romance. 10/10

Read More