A Commentary on Society-Destroying Meritocracy
My 4 categories are Acting/Cast, Writing, Direction/SFX/Music, Entertainment Value.
It became clear by the end of this series, that this is a social thriller depicting the damaging effects of living in a meritocracy. I wish I knew from the beginning...maybe then I wouldn’t have been so pissed off by the ending.
By the way, this review encompasses both parts.
Acting/Cast: There were certain characters that over-acted pretty consistently. I also didn’t like the acting style of the main student (the one in charge of filming interviews). Other than that, it was alright and for the most part the acting improves throughout the course of the drama. 5/10
Writing: The purpose of this drama is to criticize meritocracy by using the backdrop of an alien invasion. A meritocracy is “a political system in which economic goods or political power are vested in individual people based on ability and talent, rather than wealth or social class. Advancement in such a system is based on performance, as measured through examination or demonstrated achievement.” In short, it’s a system where a person’s performance in school is really the only thing that matters. This drama depicts the consequences of that type of society. This is a huge problem in South Korea in particular. It has created a society where a student’s peers are seen as competition, creating a lack of comradery between them. It also results in a divide between child and parent—with the parent’s love being conditional to their child’s academic achievement. In a metaphorical sense, citizens are thrown into warfare to fight within a brutal system at a very young age far before they are able to mentally handle it, which is something the drama did in a literal sense with these students. Such an extreme focus on grades results in a blindness to all other valuable aspects of life—fun, love, friendship, truth—which prevents one from truly experiencing a full life and finding happiness. They are seen as expendable soldiers, as illustrated in the drama, and are easily used as pawns due to this hyper fixation on grades to the point where common sense has gone out the window. These aspects of a meritocracy cause mental illness in those who are forced to participate—depression, suicide, psychopathy, low self-esteem, insecurity. The drama shows all of this and it’s inevitable conclusion: death.
With that being said, is this drama written well? Even though I understand what the writers are trying to convey, there are obvious issues throughout the drama. There are scenes that are so infuriatingly frustrating and there are scenes that don’t make much sense. For instance, all of the students have guns, but conveniently they suddenly don’t have them when they actually need to use them. We see one student kill an alien using a blunt object and brute force, but later, when it’s ten kids versus one alien, they can’t kill it because they don’t have guns. At one point, an important key falls behind a cabinet and they spend five minutes trying to stretch their arm to reach it and none of them thinks to grab something to make their reach longer. So, the kids are either really dumb or really smart depending on how the writers need them to be in order to make the scene work, but that doesn’t work for me. Because of these issues, I actually preferred part 2; the kids were more consistently intelligent in part 2 (except for the end). I liked the opening sequence for part 2. It really showed the change and positive growth of the students and how they’ve learned to work together. I also really liked the prison sequence in part 2. Even though it was frustrating as like other scenes, it was really powerful in showing character relationships and character growth. This sequence also serves to further reveal the darkness and corruption of humans and that the humans have caused the downfall of their own society (by implementing a maritocratic system); it was not the aliens who were responsible. The aliens were simply there as a sort of judgment day or ‘a reckoning’.
From this point on in the drama, the aliens are less of a focus. Instead, the psychology of the students becomes the focus. Now we are seeing the lasting effects of the maritocratic system come into play—corruption, manipulation, distrust between peers, and mental disorders. I read that viewers really didn’t like this part of the drama, but it was inevitable. The ultimate ending was also a problem for viewers, but that too was inevitable because of the meaning behind the script. I still didn’t like it. The gruesomeness of the ending was so far removed from the lightness, fun, and feelings of hopefulness of part one and half of part 2. In other words, the ending sequences of part 2 were disturbingly dark compared to the rest of the drama...traumatically dark. It was hard to watch. It was also frustrating because the students were all trained marksmen by this point, with guns in hand, and they still were unable to subdue the threat. This is why viewers were so angry, I think. This is why I was angry. Another reason is because endings like this one tend to make the entire drama feel like a waste of time. 4/10
Direction/SFX/Music: Hot take...I actually don’t like the alien design. I think they look very nonthreatening and it’s kind of ridiculous watching so many people be terrified of them. They are also killed very easily, which is something discovered pretty early on, but not really utilized. The first alien they encountered was really a tease because we never see anything as threatening as that alien for the rest of the drama. There were some minor things with the scene editing that I had an issue with in part 1. The editing and flow seemed better in part 2. I like the OST; it’s energetic and fun. 4.5/10
Entertainment Value: This was a pretty entertaining drama despite it being so frustrating. I was always worried for everyone because the writers were obviously fine with killing off important characters. Also, I had no idea where they were taking the plot, so that kept it interesting. The ending pretty much ruined this drama. It almost felt like they didn’t know what else to do with the plot so they just set it on fire. But, looking at it as a condemnation of maritocracy, it seems like this was the intention from the beginning. Even though I didn’t like the ending, I can say that I probably won’t forget it. By the way, there isn’t really any romance in this drama, so that made it a little less entertaining to me as well. 5/10
Combining both parts into one, I gave this drama a 4.5/10 (4 stars and up are ‘enjoyable enough for a watch’). This drama is similar to Happiness in that it is also a social thriller that uses the metaphor of a sci-fi infestation to commentate on destructive aspects of South Korean society. Understanding that this drama is depicting a judgment on maritocracy and its long term effects will provide viewers with perspective on why the writers chose to have the plot play out in the way that it did. However, there are still a lot of issues with the writing that make this drama an aggravating watch and the ultimate ending may still make you feel like you’ve wasted your time. I do like the thought-provoking nature of the story through allegory, but the script isn’t written well enough for it to have as much as an impact that it could have had.
It became clear by the end of this series, that this is a social thriller depicting the damaging effects of living in a meritocracy. I wish I knew from the beginning...maybe then I wouldn’t have been so pissed off by the ending.
By the way, this review encompasses both parts.
Acting/Cast: There were certain characters that over-acted pretty consistently. I also didn’t like the acting style of the main student (the one in charge of filming interviews). Other than that, it was alright and for the most part the acting improves throughout the course of the drama. 5/10
Writing: The purpose of this drama is to criticize meritocracy by using the backdrop of an alien invasion. A meritocracy is “a political system in which economic goods or political power are vested in individual people based on ability and talent, rather than wealth or social class. Advancement in such a system is based on performance, as measured through examination or demonstrated achievement.” In short, it’s a system where a person’s performance in school is really the only thing that matters. This drama depicts the consequences of that type of society. This is a huge problem in South Korea in particular. It has created a society where a student’s peers are seen as competition, creating a lack of comradery between them. It also results in a divide between child and parent—with the parent’s love being conditional to their child’s academic achievement. In a metaphorical sense, citizens are thrown into warfare to fight within a brutal system at a very young age far before they are able to mentally handle it, which is something the drama did in a literal sense with these students. Such an extreme focus on grades results in a blindness to all other valuable aspects of life—fun, love, friendship, truth—which prevents one from truly experiencing a full life and finding happiness. They are seen as expendable soldiers, as illustrated in the drama, and are easily used as pawns due to this hyper fixation on grades to the point where common sense has gone out the window. These aspects of a meritocracy cause mental illness in those who are forced to participate—depression, suicide, psychopathy, low self-esteem, insecurity. The drama shows all of this and it’s inevitable conclusion: death.
With that being said, is this drama written well? Even though I understand what the writers are trying to convey, there are obvious issues throughout the drama. There are scenes that are so infuriatingly frustrating and there are scenes that don’t make much sense. For instance, all of the students have guns, but conveniently they suddenly don’t have them when they actually need to use them. We see one student kill an alien using a blunt object and brute force, but later, when it’s ten kids versus one alien, they can’t kill it because they don’t have guns. At one point, an important key falls behind a cabinet and they spend five minutes trying to stretch their arm to reach it and none of them thinks to grab something to make their reach longer. So, the kids are either really dumb or really smart depending on how the writers need them to be in order to make the scene work, but that doesn’t work for me. Because of these issues, I actually preferred part 2; the kids were more consistently intelligent in part 2 (except for the end). I liked the opening sequence for part 2. It really showed the change and positive growth of the students and how they’ve learned to work together. I also really liked the prison sequence in part 2. Even though it was frustrating as like other scenes, it was really powerful in showing character relationships and character growth. This sequence also serves to further reveal the darkness and corruption of humans and that the humans have caused the downfall of their own society (by implementing a maritocratic system); it was not the aliens who were responsible. The aliens were simply there as a sort of judgment day or ‘a reckoning’.
From this point on in the drama, the aliens are less of a focus. Instead, the psychology of the students becomes the focus. Now we are seeing the lasting effects of the maritocratic system come into play—corruption, manipulation, distrust between peers, and mental disorders. I read that viewers really didn’t like this part of the drama, but it was inevitable. The ultimate ending was also a problem for viewers, but that too was inevitable because of the meaning behind the script. I still didn’t like it. The gruesomeness of the ending was so far removed from the lightness, fun, and feelings of hopefulness of part one and half of part 2. In other words, the ending sequences of part 2 were disturbingly dark compared to the rest of the drama...traumatically dark. It was hard to watch. It was also frustrating because the students were all trained marksmen by this point, with guns in hand, and they still were unable to subdue the threat. This is why viewers were so angry, I think. This is why I was angry. Another reason is because endings like this one tend to make the entire drama feel like a waste of time. 4/10
Direction/SFX/Music: Hot take...I actually don’t like the alien design. I think they look very nonthreatening and it’s kind of ridiculous watching so many people be terrified of them. They are also killed very easily, which is something discovered pretty early on, but not really utilized. The first alien they encountered was really a tease because we never see anything as threatening as that alien for the rest of the drama. There were some minor things with the scene editing that I had an issue with in part 1. The editing and flow seemed better in part 2. I like the OST; it’s energetic and fun. 4.5/10
Entertainment Value: This was a pretty entertaining drama despite it being so frustrating. I was always worried for everyone because the writers were obviously fine with killing off important characters. Also, I had no idea where they were taking the plot, so that kept it interesting. The ending pretty much ruined this drama. It almost felt like they didn’t know what else to do with the plot so they just set it on fire. But, looking at it as a condemnation of maritocracy, it seems like this was the intention from the beginning. Even though I didn’t like the ending, I can say that I probably won’t forget it. By the way, there isn’t really any romance in this drama, so that made it a little less entertaining to me as well. 5/10
Combining both parts into one, I gave this drama a 4.5/10 (4 stars and up are ‘enjoyable enough for a watch’). This drama is similar to Happiness in that it is also a social thriller that uses the metaphor of a sci-fi infestation to commentate on destructive aspects of South Korean society. Understanding that this drama is depicting a judgment on maritocracy and its long term effects will provide viewers with perspective on why the writers chose to have the plot play out in the way that it did. However, there are still a lot of issues with the writing that make this drama an aggravating watch and the ultimate ending may still make you feel like you’ve wasted your time. I do like the thought-provoking nature of the story through allegory, but the script isn’t written well enough for it to have as much as an impact that it could have had.
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