This review may contain spoilers
Have you ever met someone charismatic, hot and interesting, got to talking with them and first minutes of the conversation are great? And you're excited, you're like Yes, All This. All these things are such great points, lets dive deep! Then, the longer the conversation goes on, the more you realize that this person, for as articulate and charming as they are, has nothing to say? That their understanding of certain topics is juvenile at best.
That's Somebody.
Which is an incredible shame. Somebody has real presence. Cinematography, sound design, sets and locations, acting, there is a lot of skill here. From Kim Sum's antiseptic, concrete surroundings, to Seong Yon O's half-destroyed, abandoned buildings, and Mok-Wan's neon purple lighting, there is a strong visual language. For the first few episodes I was absolutely hooked. This is a slow-paced show, but I wasn't initially bored by it. It's the sort of show which makes you sit with people's emotions in real time, that lingers.
Yet, as it wore on I realized that, much like the conversationalist above, Somebody brings up a lot of interesting topics, but fails to use them effectively or say anything about them. Or, often, fundamentally misunderstands them entirely. Autism, communication, empathy, sexuality, relationships with mothers, emotional connections, female desires, female sexual experiences, female friendship, disability, psychopathy, concerns about social media, ennui. All make appearances, but have no narrative through lines, thematic weight or pay-off. Yet, it also fails to simply be a meditation on any of those topics, which would require exploration. It feels like they had a checklist, and that's all they had to do. Mark it off, not explain it or understand it.
Nowhere is there hesitance and lack of understanding clearer than with Kim Sum. She is our POV character for the first half in the show, and she did initially make a compelling figure. She identifies as having Aspergers, though to me her behavior could read as Antisocial Personality Disorder, OCD or Autism. You always need to be careful when portraying a specific, named disorder, and care was not taken. Kang Hai Lim is beautiful, but all she's being called to do here is not emote. It works for a time, but when it comes time for her to start being proactive, or showing her thought processes beyond pure reaction the show chickens out and switches to two other POV characters. It obfuscates Kim Sum, it decides not to look into her complicated interior. I would rather have stuck with her for her entire journey. She's the character we've invested the most time in, so it seems strange not to let us follow her on her journey, however dark it is.
Not that I didn't like that Kim Sun had friends. Women so rarely get to have friends in K-Drama. But, these are such clumsy characters that all they ultimately end up doing is padding the run time. I could see, thematically, why Mok Won was there. She was spiritual and holistic grounding and an empathetic foil to Kim Sum and Yun-o. Gi-Eun was our connection to law enforcement, managing to be both a joke of a cop and a disabled character.
Because they've done the same thing with the characters; Oh, She's Disabled/has Asperger's/is a Gay Shaman, and then that's it. Absolutely no effort has gone into giving them cohesive thoughts, motivations or interior worlds. To the detriment of the plot; they're our main characters, we need to know why they're doing things and what they feel about them. Why does Gi-Eun keep taking her ass into situations that are so obviously stupidly dangerous even for the able-bodied? What exactly is her reasoning for her relationship wit Kim Sum? Where and why did Gi-Eun meet Mok-Won and why is Mok-won helping Kim Sum? Hell, why does Mok-Won keep not telling people things that she should? What exactly are Kim Sum's thoughts on her own life that make Yun-o so appealing? Does Kim Sum really value any of her external relationships? Why does she make most of her choices in the latter half? Yet, this is so compellingly filmed, I kept getting drawn in and I wanted to know more, I wanted to dig into the characters, I wanted to understand them. It's very frustrating to have appealing bits and pieces dangled in front of you.
I'd be remiss not to talk about the sex scenes because female sexuality is a huge undercurrent here. They were less pandering than you'd think... BUT. Number A, most of the sex scenes are with a murderer, so despite how much the women lead a sex scene, the power ultimately resides with the dude who may or may not kill them, and Number B that lack of understanding often undercuts the sensuality.
For example [and overt spoilers]; in a late scene Kim Sum is looking at a shirt-less Kim Young Kwan ( Look, he was naked in this a lot, and I was kind of here for it. Grade A simulated thrusting. 10 out of 10. I would watch him dry-hump a couch) . ANYWAY. She starts rubbing one out fully clothed. It's actually a really well shot scene-most of the sex scenes are- but...why? We've been so divorced from Kim Sum's thought processes that it makes what should be an erotic scene puzzling. I liked that he just sort of sat there and let her get on with it, him as the subject of her sexual desires, but I wanted to know what her sexual desires were. Was she turned on by the fact that they hadn't had sex and enjoyed a more domestic intimacy? Did she just think he was hot? Was she enjoying knowing who and what he was? Did she think she might not be in his presence again, so she stole that moment? Was she looking at him, vulnerable in her space knowing she was going to kill him? That last one might link back to her earlier masturbation scene, BUT...you have to, like, say that. Or be clear in that first masturbation scene what was doing it for her; the killing of the cat? The connection with the man? Her actions being filtered through Somebody? GIVE ME SOMETHING.
Things like this made the viewing experience frustrating. There isn't nearly enough connective tissue, but tons of ideas. It's rather fitting that we're beginning to liken AI Chatbots as mirrors. That 'relationships' with Chatbots are little more than onanism. Somebody is little more than that hollow reflection looking back, when we should be looking at the original.
That's Somebody.
Which is an incredible shame. Somebody has real presence. Cinematography, sound design, sets and locations, acting, there is a lot of skill here. From Kim Sum's antiseptic, concrete surroundings, to Seong Yon O's half-destroyed, abandoned buildings, and Mok-Wan's neon purple lighting, there is a strong visual language. For the first few episodes I was absolutely hooked. This is a slow-paced show, but I wasn't initially bored by it. It's the sort of show which makes you sit with people's emotions in real time, that lingers.
Yet, as it wore on I realized that, much like the conversationalist above, Somebody brings up a lot of interesting topics, but fails to use them effectively or say anything about them. Or, often, fundamentally misunderstands them entirely. Autism, communication, empathy, sexuality, relationships with mothers, emotional connections, female desires, female sexual experiences, female friendship, disability, psychopathy, concerns about social media, ennui. All make appearances, but have no narrative through lines, thematic weight or pay-off. Yet, it also fails to simply be a meditation on any of those topics, which would require exploration. It feels like they had a checklist, and that's all they had to do. Mark it off, not explain it or understand it.
Nowhere is there hesitance and lack of understanding clearer than with Kim Sum. She is our POV character for the first half in the show, and she did initially make a compelling figure. She identifies as having Aspergers, though to me her behavior could read as Antisocial Personality Disorder, OCD or Autism. You always need to be careful when portraying a specific, named disorder, and care was not taken. Kang Hai Lim is beautiful, but all she's being called to do here is not emote. It works for a time, but when it comes time for her to start being proactive, or showing her thought processes beyond pure reaction the show chickens out and switches to two other POV characters. It obfuscates Kim Sum, it decides not to look into her complicated interior. I would rather have stuck with her for her entire journey. She's the character we've invested the most time in, so it seems strange not to let us follow her on her journey, however dark it is.
Not that I didn't like that Kim Sun had friends. Women so rarely get to have friends in K-Drama. But, these are such clumsy characters that all they ultimately end up doing is padding the run time. I could see, thematically, why Mok Won was there. She was spiritual and holistic grounding and an empathetic foil to Kim Sum and Yun-o. Gi-Eun was our connection to law enforcement, managing to be both a joke of a cop and a disabled character.
Because they've done the same thing with the characters; Oh, She's Disabled/has Asperger's/is a Gay Shaman, and then that's it. Absolutely no effort has gone into giving them cohesive thoughts, motivations or interior worlds. To the detriment of the plot; they're our main characters, we need to know why they're doing things and what they feel about them. Why does Gi-Eun keep taking her ass into situations that are so obviously stupidly dangerous even for the able-bodied? What exactly is her reasoning for her relationship wit Kim Sum? Where and why did Gi-Eun meet Mok-Won and why is Mok-won helping Kim Sum? Hell, why does Mok-Won keep not telling people things that she should? What exactly are Kim Sum's thoughts on her own life that make Yun-o so appealing? Does Kim Sum really value any of her external relationships? Why does she make most of her choices in the latter half? Yet, this is so compellingly filmed, I kept getting drawn in and I wanted to know more, I wanted to dig into the characters, I wanted to understand them. It's very frustrating to have appealing bits and pieces dangled in front of you.
I'd be remiss not to talk about the sex scenes because female sexuality is a huge undercurrent here. They were less pandering than you'd think... BUT. Number A, most of the sex scenes are with a murderer, so despite how much the women lead a sex scene, the power ultimately resides with the dude who may or may not kill them, and Number B that lack of understanding often undercuts the sensuality.
For example [and overt spoilers]; in a late scene Kim Sum is looking at a shirt-less Kim Young Kwan ( Look, he was naked in this a lot, and I was kind of here for it. Grade A simulated thrusting. 10 out of 10. I would watch him dry-hump a couch) . ANYWAY. She starts rubbing one out fully clothed. It's actually a really well shot scene-most of the sex scenes are- but...why? We've been so divorced from Kim Sum's thought processes that it makes what should be an erotic scene puzzling. I liked that he just sort of sat there and let her get on with it, him as the subject of her sexual desires, but I wanted to know what her sexual desires were. Was she turned on by the fact that they hadn't had sex and enjoyed a more domestic intimacy? Did she just think he was hot? Was she enjoying knowing who and what he was? Did she think she might not be in his presence again, so she stole that moment? Was she looking at him, vulnerable in her space knowing she was going to kill him? That last one might link back to her earlier masturbation scene, BUT...you have to, like, say that. Or be clear in that first masturbation scene what was doing it for her; the killing of the cat? The connection with the man? Her actions being filtered through Somebody? GIVE ME SOMETHING.
Things like this made the viewing experience frustrating. There isn't nearly enough connective tissue, but tons of ideas. It's rather fitting that we're beginning to liken AI Chatbots as mirrors. That 'relationships' with Chatbots are little more than onanism. Somebody is little more than that hollow reflection looking back, when we should be looking at the original.
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