This review may contain spoilers
Oh, how the mighty have fallen!
Like any sane person, I too was insanely excited for season 2.Once all the episodes were done, I binge watched it, but right after first couple of episodes I could sense something was lacking. Soon thereafter, everything just when downhill. The taut writing, the emotional turmoil, the finely choreographed action sequences, the twists, and even menacing enemies, they all were absent in this one.
And the reason for that is simple:
This season is NOT based on the comic.
The creators decided to go their own way for this season, which is absolutely fine, and I would applaud them for that, but only if the result wasn’t so… ORDINARY.
In and of itself, this season is a fine one-time watch. But the moment you put season 1 into perspective, this season looks very amateurish and downright silly.
Following are some of the amateurishness / silliness I encountered:
THE VILLAINS: Gone are the dread and absolute horror that Bale induced in the first season. There’s not a single scene that comes even close to his scene of dropping grenades in that room full of women, and his subsequent evil stare of dark delight. His replacements are two entitled ladies, who yap a lot, especially the boss, say cheesy lines, act out, make faces, and just end up being a caricature. Annoying and laughable? Absolutely. Menacing or dread-inducing? Oh, please.
THE TWISTS: None of the twists, and I mean none of the twists, were unpredictable. The writing was so pedestrian at times that the twists became an obvious course of action. The one place they could’ve inserted a fine twist was when Pasin was made into a traitor. Right there, was a fine opportunity to make him into a double agent, but they missed it and messed up the whole thing. Him becoming a traitor felt so forced and out of character. I was once surprised, though, when Jianman announces to Pasin that he’s now the kidnapper of his son, but that went absolutely nowhere, as Pasin is killed off five minutes later, making the “twist” irrelevant.
THE HUMOUR: What humour?
THE EMOTIONAL HEFT: Again, what emotional heft? There’s not a single scene that would parallel that moment when our little Jian was left locked in that room in the school and her relief and outburst at the sight of her rescuer, her uncle. I choked up, even after watching it three times.
Or that quiet gut punch when, while trying to escape, she ends up in the same morgue cooler where her mom’s dead body is stored. That fraction of a moment where she learns her mother is no more, and she embraces her dead body, hoping to be saved…or to die, but in the arms of her mother. Or that dramatic scene where our grown up Jian steps out of her hiding with a severed head, no less, negotiating with her almost-killers. There is NOT A SINGLE scene in this season that would come close to these.
THE DEATHS: I felt bad for Brother’s death, but not for Pasin, because of the way he was practically written into a terrible hole in the episode before. And his death was just so stupid. He knows there’s a guy behind him and yet he turns his back just so he could bid an emotional farewell to Jian, who’s already pretty much on her way to safety. I was screaming at the screen, “ FFS! BEHIND YOU”. And later he gets his hands on some grenades, but he waits to first be riddled with bullets before flinging them on his killers. Moronic to say the least.
Back to the Brother: I was hoping his death would be avenged, especially by Jian, as I really wanted Q to die a horrible death. She was solely responsible for Brother’s death. I mean, if you kill one of the most likable characters, you deserve to die a very painful death. But not even a strand of hair is harmed on her in the name of vengeance. That’s just lazy writing. I suspect the creators want to use that, annoying girl-boss character in the next season. So, she gotta stay alive. If it were up to me, I would’ve had Jian simply shoot Q dead and respond to Jianman, “The difference between a friend and an enemy is a sheet of paper? I DON’T CARE”
THE ACTION: I personally didn’t see any better action in this season. That knife fight between Jianman and Bale alone in season 1 is far better than all the fights in season 2 put together.
THE CGI: It was what it was. But that scene where the two photographs are blown away by the wind was just too much. I did like those terminator bots, though.
Overall, I’m very very disappointed in this season. Yes, it’s very unlikely that season 2 would top season 1, for any show, even though there are exceptions (Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul). But the least they could’ve done was not make this show so ordinary, devoid of the sheer force, grit, and heart that season 1 was. Deviating from the source material was a PHENOMENAL MISTAKE on their part.
In my view, just skip this season altogether, and let the bittersweet memory of season 1 be the only memory of this show. It’s better to leave something on a tangent than to drive it into the ground in the name of progress.
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Unrelentingly horrifying
As opposed to what the title suggests, the show provides more of an indication of the cursed house's origin. It is more about the unending and inevitable suffering that befall the people who visit or reside in that house. These suffering have been portrayed in excruciatingly shocking and disturbing ways. There were handful of occasions that left me agape with horror; not the jump-out-of-my-seat kind, but more primal and long-lasting, which in my opinion is truly horrifying. There were at least two scenes that shook me to my core. One lasts for a few seconds, and the horrifying visual is off screen, but the sound, unfortunately, isn't. The second scene is more protracted, but it plays with your expectations in a very twisted way, sucker punching you with the extremes of horrors that the living could be capable of. Speaking of horror, the jump scares are next-to-none in this show, and so you may be a tad disappointed if that was your only motivation for watching this show . Instead, you will find multiple story strands, overlapping and interfering with one another, to convey a deep and densely horrifying experience.All the actors did a fine job, but I was more impressed by the very economical and precise screenplay, the sublime background score (the end credits score is quite mesmerising) and the editing.
So, if you are willing to invest for the gradual return of pure horror instead of instant gratification of jump scares, then you may like the show, and find it as unrelentingly disturbing and shocking as I did.
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Unforgivably dark... just the way I like it
WHAT I LIKED:Pretty much everything. Despite the fantastical nature of events depicted in the show, one can easily draw a parallel between those events and reality. Pretty much every authoritarian system out there, which includes religion and the current environment of shoving everything down your throat for "your safety" because "they" know better, is succinctly and brutally demonstrated in the show. To me, the show is about death and the randomness of it, and how certain despicable opportunists have taken advantage of that phenomenon and contorted it to suit their mythical narrative and amass untold influence and wealth.
However, the best part of the show was the end. It's the most beautiful thing I've seen in a show/movie in a very very long time. That one thing balances out the nihilism and overall bleakness of human nature the show is spilling over with.
It's just six episodes long, as opposed to the meandering and repetitive 16 episodes that most Korean shows tend to be. I suppose we have Netflix to thank for it, as they impose that condition, and have managed to get some really good shows produced, e.g., Squid Game, D. P., and the entertaining My Name.
There's no point talking about the making of the show and other technical accomplishments. And those don't matter to me much. If a show can pull me in into its world, regardless of the nature of that world, and keep me invested in the characters and the events, then that show has done pretty much everything right. So was the case with this one as well.
WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:
The show suggests there will be another season. In and of itself, the show is complete. It reaches its conclusion, and there are plenty of answers one can extract from it. The last-minute "twist" was unwarranted and made me go, "Oh, come on. Not you, too", a reaction identical to the one I had after watching another amazing show, "Squid Game". To me, the "twist" just overcomplicates the narrative, which clearly wasn't required. I guess the financials took precedence over art here, yet again. Or, maybe, the story was conceived this way from the beginning. Regardless, I don't like it. Too many shows and their impacts have been ruined because of this stupidity.
Another complaint, although this is just me nitpicking, is that one of the main characters in the first half of the show is abruptly dropped, never to be seen again in the latter part. He was a prominent character, and no reference was made of him in the second half. That just stuck out like a sore thumb for me.
BOTTOMLINE:
After a bit of world-building, the show gets going, and is relentless in its bleakness and just the overall repulsive human behavior. As mentioned, the beautiful end is the only moment you get some respite from all the doom and gloom. If you can digest all of this, then this show should be an unforgettable experience for you, just as it was for me.
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