Video Prose Poetry
Anything revealed in the first two episodes is not considered a spoiler here.This is a reverse Cinderella story with a rich older woman running a major hotel chain who while in Cuba meets up with a much younger man from a humble background. She’s robbed and left in desperate straits while out and about in Havana. The young man saves her and they spend the day together not knowing each other’s backgrounds. Their meeting occurs outside the normal social class context in Korea that would have dictated their initial interactions, and so a seed is planted for a relationship as each triggers something in the other.
Upon returning to Korea it turns out he is a new recruit in her hotel chain.
Back in Korea we learn more background. As a rich younger woman she was forced into an arranged marriage to further her mother’s and her mother-in-law’s political ambitions. The couple divorce after two years (husband caused) and two years after that the encounter occurs in Cuba. The ex mother-in-law and her mother scheme ruthlessly to get the original couple back together to further the evolving political ambitions of both.
The pacing in the first several episodes works and the story proceeds at a sedate but acceptable pace, but somewhere about half way through there’s a drag in pacing. Certain conflicts are signaled but don’t happen until much later and then off screen. Towards the last few episodes some interesting plot twists occur and the pacing picks up but the damage has been done for some viewers.
This slowdown midway is a deliberate choice by the writer who I suspect wants to dwell on the inner conflicts of the CEO and the young man, and the impact their relationship would have on those around them. They are after all not in Cuba in isolation, but back in the larger cultural context and that fact has consequences.
The rich CEO character is a good woman struggling to break out of her class strait jacket, her gilded cage. Even her closest confidants constrain her choices. She can’t open the car window for fresh air to avoid catching a cold. The young man brings out her inner true self trying to win release from the external demands demanding conformity and obedience. The CEO is just holding on barely fending off the overtures of her mother, ex mother-in-law, and ex husband who also makes it clear he wants to get back together. Meeting the young man was a breath of fresh air but back in Korea there are too many complications to pursue things further.
The young man is basically as saintly as they come and his family is average but happy and well meaning. The CEO notices the contrast with her family and also knows that continuing a relationship with him is going to risk the happiness of his family as the collision between his peaceful happy if humble existence and her cruel family complications will have consequences for him and his entire family.
The CEO’s mother and especially the ex mother-in-law are some of the most evil ‘stepmothers’ you’ll see in a Cinderella story.
Song’s acting as the CEO may seem controlled or smothered, but that’s the character she’s playing, and later as her character goes through liberation there are several scenes in which her acting talent is on full display.
Many of the scenes are picture poetry as there is heavy reliance on images and symbols. Note the background art often in particular shots for each character especially the two leads. Often enough I was able to enjoy the lingering on particular images or scene set ups.
The script and directing are well done throughout. I thoroughly enjoyed the first several episodes so when the pacing lagged a bit in the middle there was no doubt I would continue, and I was glad I did. The reveals in the last half and the plot twists rescue the production from the slow pacing in the middle.
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Action Fun With More Than Expected Layers
At one level this is an action fantasy comedy, but the conflict set up is much more complicated, and interesting, than it seems on the surface in the beginning episodes.Usually with something like this the good guy vs bad guy breakdown is obvious, but what makes this one stand out is the ambiguity. As the plot develops it becomes confusing as to who the viewer should root for.
The ending sets up a next season. I hope that happens.
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Fantastic, Subtitles Subpar
At the beginning it struck me as ridiculous in certain affectations. However, by the end of the first episode I was won over. I finally started because of the news that there will be a second season - always a positive.The mix of comedy, crime procedural, and thriller aspects are sure not to disappoint. The male and female leads were outstandingly good and the supporting cast all superior.
I do have one nit to pic here. The English subtitles here are subpar as compared to most K-dramas put out these days. This in itself is not a reason to not watch. Context delivers the understanding to follow the meaning. The question is when these S Korean production companies so often succeed so well in production quality, script, acting, continuity, and great direction, why do they scrimp on subtitles? How much would it cost to get a college educated native speaker to review the proposed translations and smooth them over? Why is this important? Why not just go with subpar translations? Because in a fast paced story such mistakes take the viewer out of story immersion and call attention to wrong verb tense, the odd phrasing or word choice. No one anywhere in the English speaking world says 'get on the car' it's 'get in' or 'get into the car'. Verb tenses even in the simplest situations were grating and just too often obviously wrong. If I were talking to a Korean friend in college and they made these mistakes I wouldn't correct out of politeness, but I suspect this lack of correction gave someone doing these subtitles a false sense of mastery of the language.
Please fix before wrapping up the second season.
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Easy Procedural - Contemplative on Marriage and Love
On the surface this is a legal/crime episodic procedural drama. However, oddly there are strong themes regarding love, marriage, and family relationships. I suspect that the lower than expected rating is due in part to people going in with episodic crime expectations and perhaps looking for a stronger romantic entanglement between the leads, and instead getting a healthy dose of almost at times meditative discussions on love and its evolution within a marriage.There are the promised court room cases per episode. These are entertaining with satisfying surprise twists. Of course there is a main story arc involving the two leads and this is interwoven skillfully with several plot arcs involving supporting characters, good and bad.
Symbolism is artfully placed without being too heavy handed. Also enjoyable are the contrasting relationships and character arcs that invite understanding.
A partial spoiler.....
The two 'supporting' main leads have a romantic connection. She is 10 years older than he, and they finally do get together i.e. things are consummated and we're left at the story end with marriage on the horizon. The two main leads have a similar age difference with a gender reversal but things are left open. The contrast between these two couples seems intentional with one hopefully foreshadowing the prospects for the other.
In general on one level an easy and entertaining courtroom procedural that with repeated watching reveals more subtle commentary waiting to be noticed.
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Vigilante Serial Killer
I have not seen the original French version, nor the American spin off so I started this with only the description to go on - an imprisoned serial killer mom who forces her detective son to work with her to solve a series of copycat murders.Go Hyun Jung as The Mantis dominates every scene she’s in owning this serial killer mom role. Early on there’s a Dexter like assertion that her murders were only of really bad men who had escaped the failed justice system. She forms an interesting relationship with the detective who captured her and through whom she negotiated an unusual arrangement for her imprisonment which included provisions to give her son a new identity and to raise him to be like the detective. While The Mantis is cynical about the justice system (hence her vigilante justice) she admires the sincerity and naiveté of the detective. She would prefer her son to grow up molded after the detective than herself.
This show directly brings up the nature/nurture issue. The son fears that his bloodline connection to his serial killer mom will determine his behavior and future. It’s this fear which leads him to often react seemingly irrationally in his interactions with her, and with his wife, and his fears should they have children.
At times the killer mom projects an insane enjoyment of the torture she inflicted on her victims said torture inspired by the form of the torture they themselves inflicted on their own victims.
The plot twists and reveals near the very end cascade rapidly one after another and lead us to an understanding of why she became that way. And I promise that these final reveals will inspire sympathy for her if not acceptance of her actions. Think of Hannibal from the books and movies series and his origins in WWII as a small child struggling to survive the horrors of the German/Soviet front.
The show is a mere eight episodes so pacing is a problem only for the impatient.
The reason I rate it a 9.5 is connected to a few flaws in plotting and certain scenes. There are some clumsy lurches in moving from certain plot points to the next. Second time through these became even more glaring. The story, like a magician’s sleight of hand, glosses over them to move things along. And then in a very few scenes the absurdity just jumps out and no sleight of hand can hide it-e.g. washing machines with windows scene.
Within the larger context of a great story and Go Hyun Jung’s performance these flaws are forgivable.
There’s a final scene which promises a sequel. Such a sequel would have to shift from the backward looking to the present and future, and consequently will be very different, but I welcome the attempt just to see this fascinating character in action again.
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Impressive**
**I rewatched and say again that this is an impressive production start to finish with only one irksome detail. That tattoo she wears on her chest....that would not, could not have gone unnoticed during police training (e.g. group showers during training), medical exams, visits to the hospital, etc. Yes, it has great symbolic meaning, but any gang leader who wanted to put her covertly on the police force would not have done that and if he had he would have had it removed, or covered up. Other than that a very enjoyable watch.I put off watching this when it first appeared in 2021 in part because it seemed like it might be another 'Girl Boss' story line. I was so wrong. I happened upon a video on YT and I gave it a go. I was so so wrong. Yes, there are some examples of a slightly built young girl beating up guy almost twice her weight, but it's clear that she's using better technique to beat their physical advantage, and then she often loses, too.
Some combination of a well above average script, skillful directing, and outstanding acting performances deliver a mesmerizing series.
The story calls for Han So Hee's lead character Yoon Ji Woo to often project an emotionless stone faced demeanor but then, when real emotions are called for as her personal revenge quest leads to uncovering unexpected twists and to developing unexpected emotional connections, she delivers. No doubt her talent is core, but give credit to a nuanced script and I suspect a director aware of the embedded tension and layers of meaning between the lines in the script. Her character undergoes a profound evolution as she grows from a beaten down young girl motivated and living for revenge to a young woman who finds love and is loved as she is forced at the end to confront the truth behind her father's murder, her real role, and her final choices.
Also a standout for me was Park Hee Soon's Choi Moo Jin, the lead 'villain', whose villainy has context and depth, and as the story unfolds we understand why he made the choices he does. Towards the end the script gives him and us the audience some lines revealing much about his own tragic motivations and his own feelings of betrayal at every attempt at trust.
As the story unfolds we see an almost father - daughter relationship develop between Ji Woo and Moo Jin as they come to rely and trust each other on her quest for revenge. For much of the story the gang boss is the closest thing to a father she has. Her own father had to keep his distance when she was young and while the gang boss is anything but close and fatherly he does provide crucial support when she had nothing and no one else. And we see on his face and his reactions the inner turmoil in the gang boss when at key moments of danger she will ask him how he's doing, is he OK, etc.
However, the story is a Greek Tragedy meaning the characters make reasonable logical choices at every step given their backgrounds but they relentlessly step by step are forced to meet tragic ends.
And like in the movie 'Unforgiven' small events trigger vengeful reactions which in turn escalate into ever bigger and more costly actions. No one can stop and everyone is trapped into the logic of revenge. Undercover the lead Ji Woo discovers that many of her police comrades have been wronged by gangs, by drugs, etc and are seeking to get payback even if a true righting of those wrongs might be out of reach.
Another source of tension is the undercover mission in which the lead must hide her role as a mole for a ruthless drug gang boss. This reminded me of Dexter in the books and TV series. Dexter is a forensic blood splatter specialist on the Miami police force and must hide the fact he's a serial killer who uses his inside information to find and kill other serial killers before his colleagues on the police force. Ji Woo again and again comes close to being discovered even as she feeds information to her gang boss.
All in all a very satisfying series.
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On Stranger 1 & 2
After completing a rewatch of both seasons I have few comments to add. I recommend seeing the top reviews from each season as they do a thorough job of covering why these two seasons are so outstanding.This show is not an action thriller. You won't see prolonged fight scenes. The dense fast pace of clues demands your attention, and I guarantee the great majority will not see the twists coming. You'll need to rewatch and knowing those coming twists appreciate how well crafted the two seasons are.
I'm going to give a spoiler for the movie 'The Sixth Sense'. If you haven't seen that you might want to stop here. In the Sixth Sense the boy who can see ghosts is helped by a psychiatrist and we watch the good doctor try to deal with his own problems and also try to figure out how to help the small boy. It's not until the very end that it's revealed the good doctor is a ghost but doesn't know it. Both seasons of Stranger have twists at the end but the first season has the biggest, and like in the Sixth Sense after it's sprung you'll want to go back and check off the oh so subtle clues that it was coming.
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Much Better Than Expected
Japanese movies and shows tend to score well below, on average, the Korean stuff on kisskh. Sadly, after sampling many Japanese shows I concluded that the Japanese are just not very good, or perhaps the Koreans are just outstandingly capable. I tried this one with low expectations and was surprised. This one is a cut above and on par with much of the Korean output and worth giving it a chance.Was this review helpful to you?
Made to be Rewatched
My first impression maybe one or two episodes in was to wonder how will they get 16 episodes out of this basic set up. As the story unfolds layers of hidden reveals and story twists emerge to justify those 16 episodes. On rewatch I appreciated the foreshadowing and reveals placed early on but which require that second time through to fully get.For example, pay attention to the flashbacks connected to each character. In particular and I say this without spoiling anything note the flashbacks with the main male lead. These point towards whether he does or does not remember certain events and who he really is.
I enjoyed the steep character arc of the main male lead, but also the less obvious arc for the main female lead.
All in all a very entertaining story that improves the second time through.
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Good movie that could have been much better.
Overall I liked the movie but I often found the transitions in character arcs and major plot points clumsy and difficult to follow. For example, the how of someone crossing over and the role of the 'warden' were left under explained. Still despite the flaws the good aspects including the characters and acting held my attention until the end. The Korean series 'Missing: The Other Side' seems to have inspired much of the world building in this movie but the Korean version did a much job of explaining important aspects. For example, when someone passes over the Missing series shows it happening, whereas here the viewer must pick it up from context and the presence of the warden, but his role here isn't really clarified until well into the film.Was this review helpful to you?
Well done crime drama / mystery
Unusual in that it's only 6 episodes, and the conclusion wrap-up is only minutes long. Usually these dramas last 12 or 16 episodes with a full hour devoted to what happens to each character. Here this was extremely abbreviated. The main story drops several hints pointing in the right direction to figure out who was behind the crimes without giving anything away. The separate arc involving the two detectives is particularly well done and arrives at a satisfactory conclusion. Of course, rewatch potential is for following closely the early hints leading to the conclusion. The best measure of a series is the urgency felt to watch the next episode and I found myself looking forward to each next episode.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Impressive Drama on Mortality, Love, and Redemption
Some TV shows can be passively watched, but others and DAYS I count among them require a more active participation to pay attention, maybe rewatch, in order to appreciate the layers of story, of meaning, offered to the viewer. In DAYS there are three main characters and three primary themes. There will be spoilers.The main character, Tak, is a young woman who learns she has three months to live due to a terminal brain cancer. In frustration she wishes to end the world which catches the attention of Doom (aka the Devil) who pities himself immensely and uses a ‘loophole’ in the ‘rules’ governing creation to seize upon Tak’s wish to set up a contract with her to end the world which will also end himself (his goal) and bring about the end of his mother, God. However, God, who manifests as a young teen girl with a terminal heart disease, has a plan of her own.
The Devil covertly schemes, but his mother time and again goads him in her chosen directions, and it’s clear she has the upper hand with reminders such as “God always knows everything. She just pretends not to know.” Pay attention to this half a spoiler. Note from the early episodes the small clay flower pot that God is tending in her hospital room. Much later what this flower pot represents will be revealed and then the significance of its presence early on will redefine events and conversations throughout early episodes.
The first layer theme is that of the individual confronting their own mortality and the angst in not only their own end but the conflicts with friends and relatives left unresolved. In an early episode the Devil says to Tak, “All humans’ days are numbered. They only live forever until they realize it.” In the last episode Tak will repeat this exact wording back to the Devil. That most people avoid thinking about or confronting their own mortality will limit the appeal for some. The angst surrounding Tak’s end reminds me of a TV series Dead Like Me from 2003/4 but in that case the main character was a girl who died and became a grim reaper collecting souls near her family. Here Tak is contemplating her looming future death.
The second theme is that of the romantic entanglement that grows between Tak and the Devil. The Devil first takes Tak as an average human, but soon discovers she has a strength of will that he cannot break. In one of their early conflicts the Devil tells her, “That’s just what you are. The rock that happens to be closest to me when I wanted to throw one into the lake.” But God knows all so was it a coincidence that Tak was the rock who happened to be closest?
Resonating within this second theme is a sub arc involving two brothers and Tak’s ‘adoptive’ older sister who make up a love triangle. The romantic entanglements of these three contrast with the love between Tak and the Devil that gets lit and burns hot within a mere 100 days. The three humans who are ‘living forever’ dilly dally for 10 years before they resolve their entanglement and then that is accelerated in part due Tak.
The third theme is the redemption of darkness gone astray. The Devil has a love hate relationship with his mother. She goads and manipulates him into rebellious behavior. These conversations between God and the Devil are a fascinating part of the series. God shows up when Doom is absorbed in his self pity while Tak is in the hospital. God tells her son, “It’s good not to see her. It’s the right decision.” The Devil storms off in anger and God smiles and says: “A child grows up when they defy their parents. And love is lit up when it runs into hardships.”
This third theme brings to mind a Netflix TV series, Lucifer 2016/21, which also involved God (a father figure) who was estranged from his son, Lucifer, who rebelled and was consigned to Hell where he punished the damned. Among Lucifer’s powers is that he is sexually irresistible. He is also self centered and impulsive having spent much of his time fulfilling his every impulse. Lucifer rebels and leaves Hell for Los Angeles where he meets a female detective, who is the only human entirely immune to his powers. Complications ensue and he finds his redemption through his relationship with the detective, who it turns out was placed in his path via a miracle by his father in order to bring about his redemption. In DAYS there are many striking parallels as the teen God again and again is implicated in the developing relationship between Tak and her son, Doom, aka the Devil.
Some hopefully constructive observations.
The redemption arc with Doom could have been meaningfully steeper. For example a few early scenes or even one in which God says, “You made love to 10,000 women, but never loved any one of them.”
The intense love between Doom and Tak is surprising for its chasteness. Explicit sexuality isn’t necessary but at least some allusion to a bit more physical contact would have added to story texture.
Subtitles were about average. Given the potential foreign English speaking audience it is surprising that the creators don’t pay more attention to getting this aspect right. Even modest mistakes force viewers to reverse and reread. In DAYS case there was considerable confusion regarding the important distinction between would vs will / could vs can etc, some clumsy tense mistakes, and a few cases of incorrect negatives i.e. a missing negative.
The most grating annoyance was the injection of the Canadian Kevin character. Those gratuitous scenes were seriously painful to watch. The money would have been better spent hiring the Kevin actor to edit the subtitles and using a Korean character in Kevin’s role.
There were a few cases of excessive emotion expressed. For example, when the younger brother finds out his sister is terminal. I blame the director, and then this may be a cultural difference.
Fancy clothes - new change every outing - seems unlikely for a woman of her modest salary.
Oddly Doom is often shown holding cigarettes but never actually lighting and smoking them.
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It's Okay, And Flawed
The first episodes grabbed my attention, and I found them good enough to watch until the series end, but there were aspects that rubbed the wrong way.The medical aspect seemed superficial and these doctors and their behavior were not convincing. However, the main characters especially at the initial set up are interesting and their conflicts held my attention keeping me watching.
There are several interesting twists in the characters' backgrounds as we learn more about each.
Potential spoiler.... It was annoying towards and at the end the two doctors working together but divorced suddenly had partners. The tension for these two for 14 or 15 episodes concerned where these two and their relationship would end up, then suddenly in a near final scene the male doctor has a previously unmentioned spouse return from the states, and the female doctor suddenly has a previously unmentioned spouse? or perhaps boyfriend? return from abroad. My first reaction was that the director/producer/ or writer wanted that broad scene in which a happy ending showed everyone was paired up into nice neat couples despite the storytelling and relationship development of the prior 14 episodes. Not a good decision.
The two leads were interesting enough to keep me watching but several twists and turns in their relationship were not believable, especially regarding the serious mental illness of one and the impact on the relationship. Often I felt there was a message - i.e. The Message - preaching about proper attitudes towards mental illness that took priority over telling a good story.
I suspect most viewers will fall into the love it or hate it categories. I happened to hit the sparse middle.
PS: The subtitles were good enough but often contained mistakes. Unusually (most get this one right) this translator did not understand agreement between subject and verb.
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Relaxing Entertaining Watch
An easy going romantic comedy with an interesting twist at the ending.The lead actress pulls off the dual character challenge well. During the day she's a mild mannered personality and then at night a 'demon' inside takes over and stresses everyone close to her. The demon knows both sides but the daytime personality isn't aware of her nighttime adventures.
Well worth the time and very enjoyable.
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This review may contain spoilers
Watched but sometimes for wrong reasons
Keep in mind this was released in 2016. The beginning and middle held my interest, but the last third I watched more to see if the apparent flaws were going uncorrected until the very end. They were.The writer had an idea of the growth arc for their main character and like an alligator they locked onto to it right into a death roll. Hideo, the main character, is weak willed lacking in the follow through action part of living. And he does go through some tremendous development at the very end. The problem is that it's delayed through the middle of the story into situations that are simply unbelievable.
The bigger problem is that death roll for the main character was pursued at the expense of the development of certain other characters, in particular the half zombie school girl. It's unbelievable that she's used merely as a McGuffin through until the very last second! She should have had an active role in the final resolution.
Yes, the writer wanted us to understand how important the transformation of Hideo is but this is not news that the main theme can be developed along with other characters and themes.
The nurse carried her load in the story well enough, but the total neglect of the story and character potential of the half zombie girl in the last half was criminal and seriously damaged the finished movie.
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