Arclei

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).

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ 

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.

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ 

◇ 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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