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This review may contain spoilers
A fun drama with one flaw I had to overlook to rate it this high
(Spoilers regarding one character in Ep 8 specifically)
I went and watched it! It was as grand and ridiculous as I thought it would be: Amazing cinematography, epic music, great atmosphere, excellent acting, fun villains, a plot that is always moving forward in interesting ways, convenient solutions that know they're convenient, slow-mo shots that go on too long on purpose, constant murders, a badass pigeon, a FL that doesn't exist to be a love interest, and a cool Italian-speaking ML that is always one step ahead. It was an incredibly fun and bloody drama that heavily leaned into Mafia stereotypes that had jokes that made me lose my mind laughing. What's not to love?
Well, there's one thing.
Regarding Representation: Okay. The elephant in the room. The representation (Ep 8). Hwang Min Sung, CEO of Shinkwang Bank, is Gay. He has physically abused his exes in the past but wasn't punished because they were afraid of being outed. His character is very over-the-top but I had no problem with them leaning into that. It's the style of the show and all the characters are oddballs, villains and protagonists alike. That wasn't what I found problematic.
What I Did find problematic was Vincenzo's behavior. He has to pretend to be interested in Min Sung and reacts Very negatively to the prospect. The very idea of pretending to be interested in a man makes him shudder. And he freaks out multiple times while going on dates with him. He is not called out for this nor is it addressed in any way.
They did that for comedic purposes, which really upset me. That, and it doesn't even fit with the way his character normally is. Unless it's something that offends his "Italian sensibilities," he doesn't really care and will pretend and do whatever it takes. This tells us, the audience, that the writers really wanted to include this joke about his disgust/horror at pretending to be Gay.
In summary, we got a Gay SML here. But, we were treated to some problematic behavior on the part of our ML in regards to that SML. I'm disappointed. Not to mention, the jokes about any male affection continued from then on.
I went and watched it! It was as grand and ridiculous as I thought it would be: Amazing cinematography, epic music, great atmosphere, excellent acting, fun villains, a plot that is always moving forward in interesting ways, convenient solutions that know they're convenient, slow-mo shots that go on too long on purpose, constant murders, a badass pigeon, a FL that doesn't exist to be a love interest, and a cool Italian-speaking ML that is always one step ahead. It was an incredibly fun and bloody drama that heavily leaned into Mafia stereotypes that had jokes that made me lose my mind laughing. What's not to love?
Well, there's one thing.
Regarding Representation: Okay. The elephant in the room. The representation (Ep 8). Hwang Min Sung, CEO of Shinkwang Bank, is Gay. He has physically abused his exes in the past but wasn't punished because they were afraid of being outed. His character is very over-the-top but I had no problem with them leaning into that. It's the style of the show and all the characters are oddballs, villains and protagonists alike. That wasn't what I found problematic.
What I Did find problematic was Vincenzo's behavior. He has to pretend to be interested in Min Sung and reacts Very negatively to the prospect. The very idea of pretending to be interested in a man makes him shudder. And he freaks out multiple times while going on dates with him. He is not called out for this nor is it addressed in any way.
They did that for comedic purposes, which really upset me. That, and it doesn't even fit with the way his character normally is. Unless it's something that offends his "Italian sensibilities," he doesn't really care and will pretend and do whatever it takes. This tells us, the audience, that the writers really wanted to include this joke about his disgust/horror at pretending to be Gay.
In summary, we got a Gay SML here. But, we were treated to some problematic behavior on the part of our ML in regards to that SML. I'm disappointed. Not to mention, the jokes about any male affection continued from then on.
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