Arclei

A Heartwarming Story Through a Wacky Plot.

TL;DR: A wacky and outlandish but tender plot with respectful social commentary and good themes and messages.

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SHORT VERSION:

┊┊WHAT I LIKED:
►Heartwarming story.
►Interesting role reversals.
►Good pacing.
►The wacky setting and plot.
►Good (and progressive) social commentary and themes.
►Overall production quality.

┊┊WHAT I DISLIKED:
►Some plot threads were a bit rushed/glossed over.
►No transman representation.

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LONG VERSION:

┊┊CHARACTERS:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The two leads are workaholic friends-with-benefits (I believe anyway, their relationship status is ambiguous throughout the entire drama). ML goes from being a corporate slave at the peak of his game to a softer, more understanding version of himself, still fighting for his dreams but now with a fresh perspective and more respect not only for himself but also for those around him. FL is the typical douchy-boyfriend character. She fluctuates between being supportive and not depending on what's in it for her 9/10 times. In the end she does come around but it takes a bit. Though I didn't dislike her as much as others apparently did, I did think her character could've been tackled better. Because of all this, this drama is NOT a romance (which I admittedly thought it was despite not seeing the genre or tag anywhere, whoops).

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Supporting characters were all quite nice and served their purpose well. ML makes a bunch of pregnant male friends, and we get to see others' experiences as well—albeit, admittedly brief. 

┊┊ACTING:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Very solid. I honestly bought everything pretty much everyone was selling me without a second of doubt. ML especially delivered (heh) the process of acceptance so nicely, going from confused and angry to slowly understanding more and becoming more gentle. Some supporting roles were more 'eh' but no one broke immersion, so still a win! 

┊┊STORY:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The plot is wacky and outlandish, yes. An immediate turn-off for a lot of people, but once you settle into the absurd premise, the story told is respectful and tender. The reversal of roles IS what sets this drama apart from similar social-commentary dramas, and that's personally a win in my book. Some things that should've been addressed due to the premise unfortunately weren't (yes, the 'how' mostly), but at the same time, it wasn't that big of a bother. They worked well with the setting and gave various perspectives on the situation. 

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ As for the themes, I must say, I was positively surprised. With such a wacky plot, it could've easily turned into a laughing stock or a mock, but that didn't happen. They took their story seriously and used it to tackle themes of diversity, inclusivity, labels, feminism, gender roles, and general expectations tastefully and respectfully without really being preachy. Admittedly, a transman character was greatly lacking, and I feel this would've elevated the story tremendously, if even only as a supporting character. 

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The pacing is very well done; the show neither drags nor feels rushed despite being only 3 hours long. Even the conclusion felt satisfying, wrapping up everything with a nice little bow. Honestly, I don't really have a whole lot of complaints. 

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The only issue, which was more of an unfortunate thing than an issue, would be the fact that certain arcs, mostly those relating to the lead's parents (FL especially), weren't all that developed. 

┊┊ANYTHING ELSE:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Pretty much everything else about the drama was good. The music was good to honestly, really good; I enjoyed quite a few tracks. Production value was also very solid! The drama even has some comedic scenes despite the overall more grounded tone. Overall, I have like no complaints! 

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◇ Was it what I was expecting? Yes.
◆ Did it live up to its potential? Yes.
◇ Would I watch it again? Yes.
◆ Would I recommend it to others? Yes, as long as they can handle wacky premises.

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Extremely Promising Setup, Dwindling Progression, Lackluster Conclusion.

TL;DR: An interesting sci-fi premise with amazing production value, promising characters, and interesting themes, but ultimately lacking in the direction it was taken and its use of the original setup and characters.

Whump meter: ▲◭△△△ (Light on the whump)

【spoiler-free】

LIKES:
► Stellar cinematography.
► Unique, realistic settings and locations.
► Mostly good performances from the actors, with some even being very good.
► Flawed characters.
► Promising premise and themes.
► Interesting final villain’s arc.
► Seemingly intentionally written as mediocre.

DISLIKES:
► Weak villains with little development and goals.
► Underused characters.
► Drama where not necessary, and no drama where necessary.
► Too few female roles and those relevant are only relevant to the MLs.
► Fade to black in a LOT of important scenes.
► A lot of things were brought up but went nowhere or added nothing while important things weren’t elaborate on.
► Uncertain subgenre, thus ultimately juggling conflicting narrative approach and progression.
► Low stakes


【!some SPOILERS below!】

CHARS:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎You have a group of university students trying to save the world from a dangerous app after losing someone close to them. The usual characters are there: the troubled idealistic leader (SML), the kind one (FL), the hothead friend (TML), the preppy girl, the sensitive girl, and the bully. They take up most of the screen time for the first couple of episodes, as the typical students in a mystery-thriller would, while the ML, mostly just messes around on the side. But then everyone but SML and FL takes a tremendous backseat. No longer is it about an unconventional group of youths trying to save the world but rather about a troubled young man’s descent into madness after being stood up once (he was giving sigma male (basically an introverted alpha male) the whole time, tbh). And once this happens, ML starts getting significantly more screen time and importance.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎The problem? ML isn’t a good protagonist. Not only does he fight his chosen oneness throughout the ENTIRE drama, but he has no skillset, is consistently the dumbest person in the entire cast, and doesn’t care about anything other than his mother and sister. Not only that, he has no fighting, investigation, or other ability of any kind. In every sense, he’s useless. One protagonist makes sense (SML), the other does not (ML). But there are four lead roles. The other two being FL (who’s supposedly the second lead) and TML. ‎FL is merely a catalyst for both MLs' stories. To ML, her brother, she’s the only reason he does absolutely anything. To SML, she was the last drop in his cup before it tipped over, sending him spiraling. For both men, she was, in some way or another, the cause. But as herself? She does little to nothing. Extremely disappointing leading female role. As for TML, he did consistently NOTHING for the entire drama. He had a side arc that added nothing, had a very relevant skillset that was only used thrice, and other than that, was only a supporting role to the already supporting role that was FL.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Other side characters include people who are only ever serving ML for no good reason or characters who do all the relevant stuff off-screen. ML has a lawyer friend who constantly helps him, an assistant-like character (who was my favourite) who does EVERYTHING for him but all off-screen. Then there’s SML’s father, who does most things off-screen too, but when he’s there, he’s rather solid (though nothing revolutionary). His story, however, ends somewhat inconclusive and underwhelming.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎As for the antagonists, we know little to nothing about them throughout the entire drama. Not only the organisation itself but also the leader of it. She seemed promising in the beginning but quickly went from mysterious and scary to outright pathetic. the final villain was fine in theory but terrible in execution. He is a plot-twist villain, which was well done—albeit a bit rushed—but him being the final bad guy in the way he was set up was laughable at best and irritating at worst.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Then there’s the character relationships and dynamics, which, like everything else, were lacking. They started good with the group of youngsters; there was a clear conflict between them, and it had the promise of being interesting with how the story progressed, but then they dropped the ball, leaving us only with SML and FL, who were fine together; they did seem to have chemistry and bounced off each other well—but nothing really relevant with the direction they took the story. FL is supposedly besties with TML, but it feels very one-sided (with him giving the most). There’s ML and his lawyer friend as well as SML’s father; he has good scenes with both. Then there’s one of the main dynamics, which is between FL and ML, but they only ever scratched the surface of it. Their scenes together are surprisingly few. And finally, the most important dynamic between SML and his long-lost father… EXTREMELY underwhelming. Their relationship goes nowhere before it abruptly ends and then causes no further issues.

ACTING:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Acting was alright for the most part. Everyone did a good enough job, some better than others, but none of the main cast really stood out to me either. Those that did were Hu Wei (who slayed as usual), Wang Zhen, who nailed the bubbly cutie, and Fu Mei, who made my skin crawl (in the good way). Fan Chengcheng (SML) had a difficult role with a lot of depth and intrigue but didn’t have the best execution. I do think the mediocre character was in great part the writing, but I also think his performance was a bit lacking. I’d complain more, but I honestly don’t think it was an issue of the actors but rather direction/writing.

STORY:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎The story is set up as a youth thriller, balancing a good deal of relationship drama with an overarching thriller plot. It’s the kind of story that depends tremendously on its characters to make things interesting, but unfortunately, it simply does not do that. What starts as a promising setup turns into a mediocre saving-the-world chosen-one style plot with one of the most weirdly written protagonists I’ve ever seen. About halfway through, the focus shifts entirely from the original setup and becomes a classic buddy-cop situation, only without the buddy and without the cop; it’s just two middle-aged men doing something (one significantly more than the other).

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎The original premise itself also becomes irrelevant after the first couple of episodes. Sure, characters still use the Wisher app, but the application itself doesn’t cause the same amount of issues as it did early on in the later parts of the story. It’s merely a thing that exists in the background rather than the main point of the whole drama. It’s like the original premise was somewhat forgotten in the convoluted plot that came later.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎A lot of things are brought up but not elaborated on; various important things happen off-screen (darn that fade-to-black nonsense), and we’re only ever told these things after the fact. The drama, however, is not clever enough to give subtle hints without explicitly needing to state them which overall makes for quite a confusing and ultimately frustrating watch. Just when you think you got something, it’s revealed to be something else, and you’re constantly left to draw conclusions with the mere breadcrumbs thrown at you. Viewers are only ever allowed to see about 40-50% of the story.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎The origin of the Society of Wishers is such an example. The original creator is revealed at a certain point and briefly explains what went down, but it’s so vague that it’s immediately forgettable, which consistently makes his character feel out of place. Then the organisation itself is uncertain in background, goal, leadership, position, and values, which makes them quite a pathetic antagonistic force. We see very little of them, so one can only draw conclusions, which are then immediately shot down in the next batch of scraps thrown at you.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎The ending was rushed, but honestly fine. Not particularly satisfying or conclusive, but it was passable. Then there were the bonus epilogue scenes, which hint at a second season… and, uh, I’m confused.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎And finally, the drama has this issue where it cannot kill off characters, so the stakes are extremely low. This is quite bad for a * thriller* of all things, and was especially disappointing after the buildup every death got… * sigh*

PRODUCTION:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Absolute perfection. Everything from the CGI to the cinematography, locations, and even outfits were top-notch. The futuristic city looks quite legit for being mostly, or in great part, CGI. The shots are stunning. Filming locations are largely real, as well as varied and unusual, catering to the type of show rather than maximizing aesthetics. That’s not to say that aesthetics aren’t important; sets and locations are beautiful, mixing highly futuristic elements with very vintage stuff, all wrapped up in a whole lot of greenery. Character styling was also very good. I especially loved FL, SML, and Bo’s outfits!

MUSIC:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Good. Felt very fitting for the genre, scene, and moment. Nothing particularly stands out in the good or bad sense, just good futuristic thriller vibes.

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◇ Was it what I was expecting? In a way, yes.
◆ Did it live up to its potential? No
◇ Would I watch it again? Unlikely
◆ Would I recommend it to others? Yeah

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Double Identity, Double Confusion.

I had been anticipating this drama for far longer than I care to admit, and it took me months to find serviceable subs, so I was quite hyped to get to watching. Alas, I found some subs and was able to complete it and now... I am a bit conflicted.

►PLOT
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The plot was messy. I do partially blame the poor subs for this, but I can't lie and say that the convoluted story in short-length format and the back-and-forth between what's really going on with her dual personality weren't the worst offenders. I think if the drama was even normal minidrama length (3–4 hours), it would've been far more enjoyable. Especially with the end reveal in mind, the rest of the drama doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Sure, some things were explained, but a couple of sentences at the very end don't nearly make up for the rest of the drama I *actually* watched. But despite its shortcomings, I enjoyed the conclusion of things being somewhat vague. It was fairly satisfying. Plot twists also kept coming with little buildup or relevance, really. That being said, all things considered, it's fine. 

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ I do, however, like that the story is very clearly *about* FL, not ML. Sure, he's the POV character whom we follow, but the story is about her. Doesn't happen nearly often enough in Cdramas. 

►ROMANCE
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The romance was alright. No kisses, but plenty of endearing hugs and support (especially from ML towards FL), which sometimes means more, right? Right? (The cope is hard.) What was quite disappointing, however, was that, at the very end, it's unconfirmed what their relationship status is. FL tells ML that there are more important things in her life presently than romance, which slay, but was a bit disappointing (I was here for the girlboss x malewife, ok?). It does conclude with ML staying by her side as her consort, vowing to help her, so we can only assume that's a matter for season 2 or our imagination. 

►OTHER: 
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Everything else was overall fine for minidrama standards. Acting was alright, dialogue is hard to judge, production value was, one could say, even slightly better than the average minidramas, music was repetitive as usual, and other than that, there isn't a whole lot to say, really. 

It's an alright watch overall; pleasant even if you don't think about it too long, haha.

◇ Was it what I was expecting? Not really
◆ Did it live up to its potential? Kinda
◇ Would I watch it again? Probably not
◆ Would I recommend it to others? Probably not

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Entire Personality: "I Read The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka"

TL;DR: A pretentious drama crutching so much on metaphors relating it to another story that it ends up being not only exceptionally dull but also extremely grating. 

Whump meter: ▲▲▲▲◭ (there's a lot, ok).

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I won't make this long because I honestly don't want to waste any more time with this drama. The worst offender regarding this drama is just how pretentious it feels. It really took the "It's all a metaphor related to The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka" and made that its entire personality. Because trust me when I say, the drama has little identity other than that. The characters are shallow, most being shy of a caricature we unfortunately and for some reason spend HOURS following. Especially SML (portrayed by Lee Dong Wook) was an inconsistent nightmare (LDW acted the crap out of this role, though, I'm in awe). I'm not gonna lie, for most of the drama I thought he was gonna end up being a slenderman-like entity with how all-over-the-place he was (which might've single-handedly made this drama a 9 for me) but that obviously wasn't the case. Even the phenomenal performances from literally every single actor in this drama couldn't save such midcore writing. 

The best thing the drama does (casting aside) is the unsettling vibe. I will admit, that was well captured and executed. From the claustrophobic feel to the overall 'wtf is wrong with this place' vibe. Kudos. Cinematography, production quality, OST, etc were all serviceable to good so no real complaints there either.

Without going into spoiler territory, the ending was bad. Nonsensical and not well executed. All tying back to this overly presumptuous superiority complex either the screenwriter or the original IP's writer had of making it 'poetic' and 'subverting expectations' and being 'deep'. I heard a lot of people call this a descent into madness, and I guess you could call it that? But even that feels a too generous. The drama has an unreliable narrator, but rather than being engaging and exciting to follow the main character's story from his unstable POV, it felt more dumb, boring, and irritating. Especially with the ending 'plot twist', it really brings to question the rest of the drama and how it unfolded, and not in the 'wow, I missed so much' kind of way but rather in the 'wtf, this makes no sense' kind of way. It's also strange for a drama already almost half the length of the usual Kdramas to still somehow be so exceptionally slow. So much time is spent meandering around half-baked side characters or just, standing... If this were an hour and a half long indie film, then whatever, but come on.

In the end, the drama is merely alright. It does some things good, some things bad, like most dramas out there. However, this drama somehow manages to have mostly 9s and 10s across the ratings, which is shocking to me but I'm glad people like it. Would I have enjoyed watching this more if people didn't unanimously claim that it was the best thing since slice bread? Probably. But that wasn't the case, so I'm not only disappointed I watched a mid show; I'm also disappointed I watched a pretentious show everyone claimed to be phenomenal. 

This isn't the first time something referencing The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka was midcore and irritating so I think it's best for me to just stay away from that all together, lmao.

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◇ Was it what I was expecting? No. 
◆ Did it live up to its potential? No. 
◇ Would I watch it again? Definitely no. 
◆ Would I recommend it to others? Probably not.

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