Hello my favs; Did you read the script for the last few episodes?
This is tragic. TRAGIC.Because I am willing to forgive SO MUCH.
Ding Yuxi and Esther Yu. I adore you both. Your chemistry is amazing. 10 out of 10. No notes. Most adorable couple ever. So very sweet. When you're both on screen I can't take my eyes away, because you hit this amazing harmony. It was beautiful to behold two performers who were being so complementary. You two have such a great vibe with your adopted son as well. I loved it, I was here for it. Was the plot revolutionary? No. But who cares? I can watch some mid-level writing when the chemistry is this good.
Welll...to a point. Mo matter how great this was, I cannot escape from the unfortunate reality that Love Game Eastern Fantasy shits the bed at around episode 19.
Now I still watched, I was never offended, and there were plenty of character beats and story pieces that I liked. The interplay remained top tier. It's just that the plot totally tanks. Virtually everything they already established about Ling Miao Miao is tossed aside in favor of pulling a late stage reveal, and making the entire plot about Mu Sheng.
I almost cried.
Just. WHY. What the hell is the point of a transmigration story if the heroine forgets she's transmigrated?! What's the point of assigning her to 'fix' the narrative if you're going to drop it any way? Why can't this story be about Ling Miao Miao? What even is the point of the first half of the show, if you abandon all of it in favor of--what, exactly? The reveal isn't even that amazing. Why do we have to constantly sideline female leads for male ones?! Instead of writing a smart, competent, and INFORMED heroine, they have to neuter Ling Mia Miao in order to tell the same-ass boring story as the original novel (and every other transmigration thing) tells. It fails as a meta examination, it fails as a transmigration story, it fails being a character examination, if that's even what it was trying to do. I don't think it even understands what its doing, tbh.
Nevermind that a late reveal calls into question the very fundamentals of their own world-building. Seriously. STOP INVALIDATING YOUR OWN PREMISES, C-DRAMA.
I am very frustrated because so much about this is great. Ding Yuxi and Esther Yu are amazing to watch. No, the characters aren't super deep, but gawd that chemistry. Ensemble Cast? Great. The backstory? Tropey, but good. 2nd fml and ml? Actually interesting! Adorable little Bamboo son? SO STINKIN CUTE. Costumes? Excellent. Ancillary characters? Engaging. Yeeeah, some of the demon world-building is a little wobbly, but it's not egregious. Water Demons? SO COOL. It's a solid foundation, so it really and truly is a pity that the whole thing falters in the last act and leaves a skidmark on the landing.
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When they promise NeW and Different!! and deliver the same old.
While this show started strong, it slowly loses steam and abandons most of the things that made it original and intriguing until you're left with another bland costume thing which grows increasingly similiar to all the other bland costume things you've seen. It never becomes unwatchable, but I did become frustrated with it because it set itself up as defying convention, and then repeatedly chickened out and reverted to typeThe initial premise is that 'K' transmigrates into the novel The Obsessive Tyrant as the side character Cha Seon Chaek. She immediately manages to get messy drunk and decides she's going to watch the titular tyrant Prince Gyeong Seong/Yi Beon meet-cute novel heroine Cho Eun Ae. Except, K has derailed the plot too much, and it's she who gets the meet cute. Or, y'know, drunkenly accosts the guy. By being both audacious and offering empathy and understanding to Prince Gyeong Seong (because of her knowledge of the character) she SOMEHOW (I wish they had elucidated whose impetus it was, it feels like a major missing element) ends up in bed with him. He then fixates on her because she popped his cherry. And like, Girl, I am so here for it. What sort of nasty shit did y'all get into that he was so desperate to have that sex on lock down? Like, for real. She has to have been the top.
So we have this messy, horny fangirl. Fun, right? I love the idea of a modern woman with sexual authority hooking up with an overpowered prince character who loves that she's a top.
Yeah, I know. It was too much to hope for. But hope springs eternal, darn it! And it's not even just because Seo Hyun was in Love and Leashes. It feels like the kind of thing we want to look at when deconstructing stories, which transmigration stories should, in some respect, be. That the Super Prince who terrifies everyone doesn't get with the damsel who bends to his power, but to a woman who makes him bend, and for whom sex is an act of joy and empowerment.
Regretfully, while Seo Hyun is very charming, and is working her ass off carrying this thing on pure charisma... this is another script with a very carelessly written female lead. Cha Seon Chaek's previous identity as 'K' matters so little it doesn't even rate a name. The show paints her interest in the novel The Obsessive Tyrant rather sheepishly as a depression-fueled indulgence bourne of a recent friendship collapse. That collapse is THE ONLY THING we know about K's life in the modern world, and we only know about it because it serves as a minor roadblock to her relationship with Prince Gyeong Seong. She's meant to be depressed, but once she transmigrates she becomes quite perky and bold-spirited; essentially like any other FL. It's like her whole life before this never happened, and all her emotional baggage disappears. Her actions become more like a character from the book, not like those of a modern woman with a head full of plot and character knowledge. Do you think she's going to form a real friendship with her maid character, instead of treating her like an appendage? She isn't. Will she use deep character analysis and genre-savvy narrative deconstruction to understand evolving character motives and defy expectations? She won't. Does she cook a meal with utmost confidence which she serves to the ML that turns out to be awful? She does.
It's especially weird because the idea should be that the transmigrator derails the plot- but K does such mid job at it the show introduces a couple of other characters who did not appear in the novel. Since Cha Seon Chaek's relationship with Prince Gyeong Seong causes less trouble than the original one with Cho Eun Ae, they even have to add a new antagonist. Which feels...dumb. Because the antagonist is someone who probably should have appeared in the original novel because he helps resolve Prince Gyeong Seong's story.
And because it makes Cha Seon Chaek's presence feel somewhat extraneous. In the end very little of the plot is really about Cha Seon Chaek in any significant way, which is a very great shame to me. It all is tragically low stakes and low effort. She doesn't even really, truly, properly get worried that when the story 'ends' she might STOP EXISTING. She doesn't ask questions about this new reality, she stops trying to figure out where the plot is going, she has nothing to do that isn't a reaction to something someone else is doing.
Almost all the conflict and agency belongs to Prince Gyeong Seong. He has a tragic back story, it's his situation that they need to extricate themselves from, its he who needs to grow and change as a person. Ok Taec Yeon does a fine job with his part, but it's nothing you haven't seen before. His interactions with her family are fun and sweet, he does a great job of looking at her adoringly, but how much more interesting would this be if he was trying to balance being the Scariest Prince Who Ever Princed while also trying to get his love interest to ride his face without mercy?
Everything else goes exactly as you've seen before; the former Heroine becomes a villain for reasons not entirely clear, a former female villain/rival gets redeemed, the 2ML is generally useless, there is some vague thematic work with fathers which is so badly attended it might as well not be there, no questions about the nature of reality are asked or answered, no pegging is confirmed, and nobody was harmed in the making of this drama.
It's like ordering a fun sounding cocktail, only to find out it's orange soda with some tajin on the rim. Orange soda is fine, great, if that's what you intended to order; but you kind of wanted the exciting cocktail they advertised. But they think the tajin will distract you from the fact that it's orange soda, the same as Fanta and Sunkist and Crush and Jarritos. It's orange soda. So long as you know and want orange soda going in, you'll be fine.
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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.
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It's beautiful and kind of boring.
Neither of these stories are new. Boy not living up to his potential until he meets a quirky girl who inspires him to reclaim lost joy. Girl wants to go on epic voyage one of her parents died attempting, but has to leave her partner to do it. That these two stories are pancaked together is in service to neither.This isn't bad. It's certainly beautifully animated, works as good speculative sci-fi and the design is great. It's inoffensive, cute, at times. However...I often found myself bored; for a movie which is relatively skimpy on plot, these are pretty one note characters that float through relationship-building scenes. We never fully get what Jay's whole deal is, or why he's so incredibly taken with Nan- Yeong. She's basically neglected Mommy-Issues in a semi-traumatized overachiever. She wants to go to Mars, he...doesn't really have an opinion until she gets the job and doesn't tell him? Then he's mad, but it's repaired for them to do the long distance thing. Their romance falls flat; not that Jay doesn't seem like a nice guy, but they just seemed to have floated into this relationship. In fact, the movie is so unconvinced of their attraction that they had to throw in the 'met before' trope by having Nan-Yeoung be absolutely obsessed with a song Jay posted then deleted years ago- anonymously, of course.
The movie has a feelings and conventions of a Rom-Com, except when it remembers it's supposed to be Sci Fi. Then it interrupts itself with little episodes which are memories, or maybe hallucinations. While I first I thought it had something to do with space/time and a SciFi concept, I think it just ended up being an Edgy Introspection moment, which is in keeping with the handling of the climax, but felt a little like someone telling you they are deep, rather than showing it in any way.
Over all, inoffensive, pretty, but bland.
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It looks better than it is because the competition sucks so badly. But I still love it.
I have such a fondness for Love Between Fairy and Devil. I own it on DVD. I've rewatched it a few times, but I have come to terms with the honest truth that I don't think most people want to acknowledge; it is not an extraordinary production. There is nothing mind-blowing or unique or of particular artistic merit about it. It is not Lightning in a Bottle. It is just a generally competent production.The problem is, that is not a bar that most Dramas seem able to clear. LBFAD looks amazing, but that's just because it avoids lazy nonsense, isn't insultingly stupid or needlessly convoluted. It knows what it's doing, and it's doing it well.
Esther Yu is a charming actress, and this familiar, sweet-natured archetype is well within her wheel-house. Xiao LanHua is cute, but a little dim until the plot needs her to figure things out to advance it. Dylan Wang is not doing anything particularly mind-blowing with his cold Moon Supreme who thaws into tender passion. But, he looks pretty and menacing when he needs to. These are stock characters being adequately performed with decent chemistry. All their emotional through-lines track. The story also takes particular pains to ensure both get generally equal screen time with their own melodramatic issues. Is Xiao Lanhua's part slightly under-written as compared to Dongfang Qingcang? Yes. But she at least has goals and she stands toe-to-toe with her love interest in terms of power. She isn't a passive observing partner in his tragic story like so many heroines. That in itself is great. That they both have stories, and both are important, and neither one is overtaken by the other.
Of particular note are the side characters. LBFAD shines in that, again, it ensure that characters are introduced with particular motives, go through an emotional journey and have satisfying conclusions, instead of just disappearing from the narrative when their involvement with the main couple concludes. I really liked Danyin and Chengheng. They could have easily been useless side-characters intended as obstacles and nothing more, but both were allowed to evolve into their own people with their own paths. They are treated like characters, as opposed to satellites to the main couple. All of the acting is fine, no stand-outs, but no weak links. Chidi and Rong Hao's story is particularly poignant, Jie Li and Shang Que's is the weakest.
The cast was also more balanced between male and female then we're accustomed to seeing, so you're not watching a barrage of men doing Plot Things while female characters bully the Female Lead or wring their hands. There was still inequality; just check out the number of male authorities and fathers- but an attempt was made and I appreciate it. Women aren't just here to be romantic objects or rivals. There are actual friendships being formed. The ambient sexism is fairly low, but at least two female characters get fridged.
The plot is also nothing amazing. Here is the Celestial Shenanigans, there is the mortal arc, and then the demon realm and the Big Bad. It all carries on at a decent pace, each arc accomplishing what it intends without getting needlessly complicated or overstaying it's welcome. They don't invest time in stuff they're just going to dump in four episodes, but the pace isn't so break-neck that it won't also linger on little moments. There is balance between the heavy, the light-hearted, the tragic and the sweet. There was silliness, but there wasn't a ton of terrible comedy that made me cringe.
The world building is fairly weak; what is the history with the Moon Tribe and why were they at war with Shuyuntian? What actually makes the 'fairies' and 'devil' different? What was Yun Zhong's whole deal? The cosmology was often confusing, as were the locations and how they related to each other.
On the other hand, nobody was an asshole for no reason. Characters became friends. Relationships were all built, instead of just instantaneously happening. And, importantly, the story wraps up in a way that feels complete and generally satisfying. It's really just workman-like storytelling, but I appreciate the hell out of it.
Unique to LBFAD is that it looks like someone actually did some Art Direction that wasn't just rooting around in Ye Olde Xianxia Warehouse. There are things to delineate the spaces of Shuyuntian, Mortal World and Moon Tribe in terms of architecture and costuming, as opposed to just lighting and color palettes. Again, this is basic, but someone did it.
BTW, gotta love that the Arbiter's Hall set was actually used as five different locations. Talk about economy.
The costumes are distinctive and look pretty decent, though I personally think the plastic head and shoulder pieces look cheap more than arresting. Still, when I see Chengheng's armor, I know where it's from on it's own merit, so that has to count for something. Xiao Lan Hua's costumes are also immediately recognizable and distinct.
The CGI is serviceable. It's mostly sparkles, weather, doofy monsters and an evil cloud. The wire-work is on the poor end; lots of dangling people who just hang there awkwardly-BUT, LBFAD avoids an excess of badly choreographed fight scenes. There are very few of those weird mid-air battles. If given a choice, they chose verbal confrontation as opposed to zooming camera work and people flying backwards. Rong Hoa's whip-weilding lackey was one of the few that constantly chose violence, but it looks pretty cool. They clearly put their money in the Arbiter's Hall set and the Cangyan Sea locations; the Shuyuntian pieces are underwhelming, particularly the main hall filled with masked extras and the ridiculous wavering still image of the Xuanwu.
The music includes a lot of Kevin MacLeod's pieces, which is really hard to unhear once you know. I really wish they'd score some of these properly. While the pop songs are nice enough, they are used too much.
Now. Despite all that, you should absolutely watch this. It's Drama doing tons of things right. It might still be flawed, but it's a highly enjoyable ride. I love these two kids and their shenanigans.
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Is this Fascist Propaganda or Nihilism? Or Anti-Capitalist? It certainly isn't about happiness.
Happiness begins as a generally competent zombie infection drama, but swiftly becomes a frustrating watch, and one consistently haunted by Sweet Home. Seriously, if you freeze frame at certain scenes you'll probably catch the shadowy specter of Sweet Home giving double middle fingers to the proceedings.Which, frankly, if it had just been a rip-off I could have dealt with it. BUT Happiness fails to understand the messy, sincere humanity of Sweet Home which made it successful, and instead rams occasionally contradicting, tactless messaging down our throats. Almost all of these characters are the worst kind of people, and not in any thematically fulfilling or narratively sensible way. They just suck and have no skills, because it's their sucky decisions and lack of teamwork which propel the stumbling inbred beast I will call 'the plot' because I have to, not because there's any cohesion or thought to it. Most of the 'plot' is just our cop couple running to different ends of the building to put out assorted fires caused by all these sucky, venal, stupid, selfish people. Of which more than the average number are murderers.
Money and social hierarchy are the primary messaging here- not happiness and the avenues through which it can be achieved. Rather than understanding the complexities of financial situations, the plot fixates on the money- there is almost no character motivation that isn't about monetary (and therefore social) advances to an almost satirical degree. They keep mentioning fees for things, stealing other people's cash or property, specifying that those who rent their condos are less worthy of resources than those who own, or otherwise centralizing money in the narrative in a way that makes no sense given the literal apocalypse going on outside. 'Oh, but you're living here for free' the HOA woman points out to two cleaners. BITCH You're all quarantined under indefinite martial law?!
So, while taking people to task for overt greed instead of financial desperation, fascist undertones can't help but manifest. The two police are essentially the only smart, capable, good people. They also represent the ultimate hegemonic family unit; a straight couple with a child. I know the kid is adopted, it still stands. The other residents, if left to their own devices, will hurt each other; the viewer is supposed to go 'this is dumb, just do what the police tell you!'. Their constant disobedience of the police and government edicts is painted in comically bad strokes; in service to hubris and the chaos of the plot, and not for any good character reasons. It also ignores the subtly that, yes, sometimes you should obey what an authority says, but also you have to be able to tell when that authority does not have your best interests at heart. The fact that our leads are both cops/special forces makes this messy; the turning against them in the building serves as the people turning against the force for law, order and salvation. Not that the government has been doing anything sensible anyway. What are you saying about cops? Government? Civil Obedience? Do you even know?
I'd be remiss in mentioning the strong theme of men being terrible to women. Which was something. What, I'm not sure. I do enjoy media being critical of gender inequity, but this was weird. You have at least three spouses showing differing levels of neglect, abuse and disregard of their often inoffensive to sensible female partners. Men are impulsive, self-serving and tunnel-visioned. The women are weak and inefficient. Even here, Happiness has feelings about gender dynamics, but doesn't know what it wants to say about them.
At episode 7 I was really done with this. It hates all it's characters, it thinks people are the worst. It has nothing to say as it makes you sit through excruciating moments of dumbassery and ham-fisted stupidity, but with no pay-off and no justice. The ending is just as forced and hollow, not even the tepid love story is tied up in a satisfactory way.
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This Guy Is the Biggest Mistake in My Life
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...But the show can't get past the idea that 'perverts' are funny, and so it won't delve any deeper into any of those issues.
If all you want is a laugh at a pervert, this will fit the bill. I gave it a five because it IS funny.
If you have any deeper thoughts and appreciation for BDSM, this becomes a more difficult watch. It is never genuinely sexy or genuinely romantic. I can't say for sure that it's attempting the former, but it's certainly trying for the latter, but because of the complete lack of engagement with the BDSM/Sexuality element, the romance is pretty doomed.
Now, I will not tell a lie. Hayami Mokomichi is really funny in this as the masochistic CEO Amagi Kyoichi. He is going for it. A few of the times he slid into frame in an absurd way I almost peed myself laughing. He's doing a great job with this wild part of a man. It's high energy, wacky, and bizarre. He does have some deeper story elements to him, so he has some serious turns. Not long lasting ones, but they are there.
In Matsui Airi's Sato Yui, the show stumbles. I think she's doing a fair job; it's the broader creative handling of the show that fails to acknowledge that if Sato Yui is not even a little interested in the dynamic with Kyoichi, then this is all a nightmare and not a comedy. I only ever saw her being revolted by Kyoichi, and weirded out by his overtures. I suppose you could say that her continuing to physically assault him is something, but she always did it out of anger. There is never a pause on her part that she might enjoy bossing Kyoichi around. The bereavement of her pet is the reason she gave Kyoichi the initial dressing down, which I suppose is some kind of impetus, but I wanted to see it come from inside her. I wanted to feel like she was engaging in being powerful. That could have been scary and funny so very easily. But, you have to grant her those desires in order to work with them. They don't. She never finds Kyoichi anything but burdensome, and seems more interested and has more connection with the second lead.
That's where the satire falls down. It works when she's administering round-house kicks to a delighted Kyoichi (Well, the first time. They go back to that well too often), but if she isn't fundamentally interested in a relationship with Kyoichi... then...well, why is it funny that Kyoichi stands outside her apartment with a bouquet of roses at all hours? Or calls her into his office as her boss to force her to interact in a way that she knows he he finds sexually stimulating? Or emotionally manipulates her? That shit ain't satire. Plenty of women experience those things and are utterly helpless, so it fails to be funny, even if he's generally somewhat pathetic in those scenes. It's still a man with higher social power forcing his attention on a woman who thinks he's gross and weird.
In order for this to work, both of these people need to be absolute freaks. But, they aren't. Ultimately, we're supposed to point and laugh at the submissive pervert man because his desires are so contrary to what we've been told men want. But there's real, tangible fear for a female sadist who enjoys verbally vivisecting a man, and so the story does everything it can to undercut Sato Yui having any kind of power. Even to the detriment of the show as a whole; it's that scared of her having and using sexual power.
It makes me feel guilty for laughing at so much of this, because this isn't what BDSM is or should be. It makes a mockery of Kyoichi's desires which don't conform to gender norms, and is rank with misogyny denying Sato Yui her own desires or even the capacity to escape her would-be-submissive.
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Get divorced.
I was totally captivated with this for the first third when the plot centers on our main couple. The set up is really good, the ideas engaging, the tension prickly. I was still invested but was growing skeptical in the middle section, when more twists and turns are revealed and hinted at. When the plot veers sharply into the political thriller elements in the last act, I begin to get bored with it. It had strayed from it's emotional core to become consumed with dramatic reveals and sudden twists as part of a thematic conversation about money, power and family obligation. Unfortunately, that's not why I was watching, and while I don't think the themes are without merit, it's super hard to care about these families when almost all the people in them are different levels of icky.Except, of course, our main characters.
Hong Hui Ju is an an extremely compelling situation and it's incredible to watch her navigate it when presented with a fortuitous opportunity. I loved the idea of these layers of obligation, and the shifting of identity inherent in this situation. Chae Soo Bin is mostly called upon to make big, wet, sad eyes, which she does incredibly well.
Yoo Yeon Seok as Baek Sa Eon has a controlled intensity as Cool Professional Guy With A Tragic Past. He's sharp, clearly a man set on balancing the multitude of demands on his life while trying to outsmart the architects of it.
When their exchanges begin, they're riveting. Desire, love, protection, secrets, lies, frustration, obligation, despair, desperation- it all mixes together gloriously as they both navigate their familial, professional and intimate restrictions. As they can finally communicate after years of polite, strained silence.
But, ultimately, it founders as the plot moves further into the couple's history and the cat-and-mouse portions. When you start to think about what you're watching. They're reluctant to portray Hong Hui Ju as traumatized as she probably should be-or as anything more nuanced than the Korean Nice Girl Who Suffers. Chae Soo Bin 's performance lacks depth and maturity. Yoo Yeon Seok's lacks cohesion- as truths are revealed about Baek Sa Eon, his past behavior becomes increasingly difficult to understand- particularly those choices around his marriage . There's no emotional through-line that tracks.
After an intense introduction, the show never goes into the emotional trenches. They're so busy making 'shocking' revelations about who did what when that they forgot to create any kind of emotional foundation. They refuse to let these characters evolve beyond being flawless victims.
Once certain things are revealed, the relationship just becomes magically fixed, and they're all lovey-dovey. They go from engaging anonymous conversations- really, there are a couple of really great ones about the state of their marriage -to spewing trite drama nonsense about love and protection. It feels impersonal, divorced from their specific, unique situation.
So instead of real conflict, the show constantly creates artificial drama in the editing. The whole show is edited at a brisk pace that kept me engaged, but the longer the show went on, the more they fell back on a trick I don't like; They show you a scene, then later show you that that wasn't actually how the scene went- not as a matter of a character's perception, but by omission of the initial edit. Sometimes it's to leave you on a cliffhanger, but sometimes it's just there to keep you in unnecessary "suspense" a little longer. It's a ratcheting of fake tension without pay-off, when there are dozens of reasons for real tension; but they are reasons that require these characters to become more than their archetypes.
They're a strangely sexless couple as well. Though an early moment flirts with injecting sensuality, it ultimately falls flat. Part of this is that when the actors perform solo on their phones they create a frantic energy, but the actual chemistry of Chae Soo Bin and Yoo Yeon Seok is fairly uninspired. The other part is an obvious shying away from admitting either of these people have sex drives, and that they might be sexually frustrated with their sterile, strained marriage. There's something faintly juvenile and off-putting about a show which faces corruption and child-murder head on, but demures in the face of adult sexuality.
The show does have a lot of criticism for Korean families and power; for the value of appearance over reality, the hypocrisy of actions being 'for' children who live in misery at the behest of their parents as acts of love and respect for their parents. However, the messaging falls flat. Too often characters are painted with cartoonish strokes to justify the heightened soapy nonsense, but it is paired with attempts at honest pathos and gritty drama. The dual tones don't mesh.
The final episode is just off-putting. It is another method of creating completely fake and senseless drama when there's a plethora of actual stuff to deal with. It fully underscores that these two people have resolved nothing, don't understand each other and don't know how to communicate.
Is it bad? No. Just disappointing.
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Girl needs revege. And fills for her acrylics.
This is actually my first short-form Republic Era that I didn't have to stop watching for Time Period Crimes (I'm looking at you, Bound By Sin), and over all? I enjoyed it. It was face-paced, and aware of what it was doing, and doing it as hard as it could on its shoestring budget.Most of the show takes place in closed rooms and courtyards, saving their locations for the finale, but since this is such an intimate story, the claustrophobic nature works. We're mostly watching individuals square off in intense emotional situations. The story is all revenge, manipulation, betrayal, false love and true love, all the best soapy tropes. It is the sort of show where people have no peripheral vision, must hold still while someone monologues, and recover from intense injuries in days. Also, if you're going to die, odds are it will be the tidiest headshot imaginable. But it's a familiar heightened reality that feels pleasantly old-fashioned, and fun.
Liu Nian is doing wonderfully as the betrayed Liang Yu, going from naive girl to the competent bride of a crime boss. She's keeping the tone from being too dark, and holding her own despite the men around her. Wang Ze Xuan is delightfully horrible, as a conniving murdering bridegroom. Ryan Ren... felt a little uncomfortable in some of the earliest episodes, but he settles, and carries his quiet intensity through the remainder of the show. He simmers well with Liu Nian when the characters are on a more even footing. And this is a simmery show; there was a lot of sexual tension between the two that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Now, there are Time Period Misdemeanors. I am particular about that; I hate watching something that has ZERO respect for the time period while trying to capitalize on it. You guys; plastic surgery like this absolutely did not exist, and even if it did, it would take way longer than, like, a month to heal from. But if you can just deal with that nonsense, then there will only be a few other things you shut your eyes and pretend you didn't see. Most of the wardrobe is generally tolerable. They largely avoided the awful 'Gatsby' idea of how women dressed by sticking women in cheongsam most of the time. Granted, they have the wrong kinds of giant tacky jewelry, modern glam make-up and eyelashes, terrible 1980's hats AND horrible 1970's platform shoes, but breathe. Breathe. The men are just in uniforms or modern suits- also with the wrong footwear and big ass modern aviator sunglasses. But, we breathe. We also stare at that that terrible brutalist wine decanter they REUSED THREE TIMES- and exhale. And then there are the nails. OMG the nails. Big thick acrylics that look like claws, that you can see when they grew out in close-ups.
I ended up just being amused by these misdemeanors, because they're trying their best. We're also not supposed to take all of this very seriously, and everybody else is being so earnest, I was able to let it go. They couldn't even afford one car, bless them.
Over all, this is carried on the intricate writing of the close-knit plot, and the wonderful work of the cast. Well worth watching.
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An inoffensive time with two bottoms and their crew.
Could Suspicious Partner have used three more episodes for a little breathing room? Absolutely.But, there's a certain economy to Suspicious Partner which I've learned to appreciate. It doesn't overestimate it's intelligence or drag it's feet. It spends its runtime exactly where it needs to, no dead ends, no unnecessary outside interference making things needlessly elaborate, no red herrings. The plot relies on coincidence a lot, but since this is one of those Drama worlds where only twenty-odd people exist, it's fine. It all feels relatively safe; like there's crime, sure, but the Safeties are engaged for all the major characters; even if a main character should get stabbed, he can still win a fist-fight. Pleasantly safe, because, really, we aren't meant to be too invested in the plot. Just enough to get a few little whodunit thrills.
We are meant to be invested in Yagi Yusei and Saito Kyoko, and largely I was. They are both adorable, have a really pleasant vibe... but they both radiate the biggest bottom energy. Actually, most of the cast did. They were all pretty passive and chill, which helped the low key vibe, but hell. Tosa Kazunari as Yoneda was the closest we got to a Top, and he just didn't have the chutzpah to herd this collection of cats. They're all pretty nice people, on the whole, which is also a great break from watching shows with parades of assholes. The female characters have lots of agency, and nobody is too stupid to live. The casting really makes this a nice watch, even if a lot of the time you're just watching them chat.
Is it great? No. Legitimately nothing is fleshed out enough to be properly significant. It feels like there should be major themes with grief and job-loss and betrayal, but the show refuses to be a downer, no matter how many corpses turn up. It does not criticize or idealize it's justice systems. It focuses in tight on individuals, though even their stories are not very in depth. Also, it seems like lawyers have to do a lot of investigative work in Japan. Shouldn't the cops be doing A LOT of this?
Eh, I can't bring myself to care. But not in a bad way. Just in a way where I get to watch them all be pleasant at each other.
Special recognition to Yagi Yusei's multiple pairs of fancy pajamas. I about died when he turned up with a third set. Like. How many ridiculously printed pajamas does this man own? Can we talk about it? It's such a odd thing about his character, who in all other respects is going for a semi-ice prince/awkward potato thing. Dude just has elaborate bedtime apparel.
Since this is a remake, I suspect this was on fast-forward, just hitting the highlights of the original series with out the draggy bits. But the actors are keen, and plotting is tidy and there's a kind of virtue in something this frothy and unconcerned with it's own gravity.
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It's not as ribald as you think; for the better.
This has to be one of the most interesting 'Sex' shows I've ever seen as an window into a culture, and for what it's accomplishing in terms of education and story telling.Wonderfully, finally, here are fully-formed and rather realistic stories about women examining romance and sex and where the two intersect. Son Hui Jae and Lee Mi Na are familiar character archetypes. Lee Mi Na is the sexually liberated but emotionally closed off one, and Son Hui Jae is the one in a long term but unsatisfying relationship.
Their stories are not going to shock you, but they're not supposed to. They're supposed to be relatable. Indeed, these are familiar ways women deal with sex and romance; they lead with sex and only sex, or they subvert their sexuality in the name of romantic harmony. Neither method works, and the show takes time to explore the feelings that led to both of these women making the choices they have, and what motivates them to make different choices.
Both romantic story lines are sweet without shying away from the realities of adult relationships. This show really does belong to the women. It's one of the few shows I've seen where side characters are almost always women. There are really only four significant male characters. Everybody is pretty well-written here, our leading ladies particularly so, with Kang In Chan edging out Chae U Jae and Kim Hyeon U by a narrow margin. All the side characters get their moments; the show didn't feel the need to give everyone a huge backstory, but we dipped a toe into the brains of a lot of women, which was very nice. This isn't a dire watch; it's upbeat, funny, sexy, bright, authentic and whimsical.
The other function here is, inescapably, that of sexual education. They are seriously front-loading you with a lot of the sort of things that should be taught, but often aren't and can be revolutionary to some minds. Like that masturbation is healthy for you, sex toys are fun and not a commentary on skill, that sexual thoughts are okay- that you are entitled to have a sexually satisfying relationship with your partner. This is accomplished on several fronts; in the most direct way the girls will read their podcast script, which also includes comments from the 'public'. There are statements made by in-universe authorities like, an author, doctor and sex toy sales clerk. The theme of the episode will then be echoed in the narrative structure and the dialogue. Often, there are little vignettes expounding on a topic.
There are not actually a ton of graphic sex scenes- there's one in particular which is re-used a couple of times for specific effect, but this show isn't about watching characters bump and grind. It's about them navigating their own sexualitys and sexual desires in a more introspective sense. You might watch some soft-core writhing, sure, but the voice-over playing makes it less about titillation. What do they want? Oh, here's what they want. Here's how it makes them feel. How do they get it? Communication is such a big deal here which is amazing. The show does not deal in ambiguities.
It does, however, quietly, gently, with the utmost care and kid gloves, take South Korean men to task. It gave me some insight into some of the behavior I have found strange in dramas. It's not the most overt criticism- the show spends way more time exploring women- but it is there, and it is worth feeling happy about. The show feels timely, even three years after its release. It's one of the few shows I've seen that is even attempting to tackle the gender politics of South Korea in a serious way. For that I applaud it.
A quality watch for perverts, though the 'extreme sexual content' is more about the bluntness with which female pleasure is discussed and the number of vibrators and dildos onscreen. The sex these people are having is fairly vanilla- and there's nothing wrong with that. This show is doing more with talking about the psychology of sex and intimacy then the Heart Killers was doing with clothespins, and I am SO good with that.
Avoided a perfect 10 because our two leads were a little too Everywomen for my eclectic tastes, but I recognize the necessity of that. Overall a very good, fun and sexy watch!
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Love and a man lurking behind a house plant to spy on his deaf BF.
While See Your Love is not going to blow anyone's socks off, it's one of the few BLs I've seen in a hot minute which is trying to do A Thing and is being somewhat successful at it. Not 100% successful, but I can see where they're going. Someone, somewhere in the production cared about this show, and in a business churning out increasing trite by-the-numbers nonsense, I appreciated it.See Your Love is a rather gentle show, despite the assassins. The organized crime aspect really doesn't matter, so don't be put off by it's appearance in the summary. It felt shoe-horned in because a focus group told them audiences like gangsters. You could jettison the whole subplot without changing the story all that much, so it's easy not to pay attention to it.
What See Your Love is really about is being loved for your entire identity, and how we need to take care in expressing our love, lest we risk warping that identity with expectation. It applies to both our leads in different ways. I am happy to report that both Jiang Shao Peng and Yang ZiXiang are equally developed characters, each with his own issues. No one falls in love with the other at first sight, which I was enormously grateful for. Identity matters here, and the boys take time to know each other before they're in love. For that reason, it's the slice-of-life elements which are important, not so much the Family Business/Power Struggle stuff. Don't worry, it doesn't get a lot of air-time. Much like the organized crime, you get enough to be aware that it's happening and motivating our characters, but the show wisely side-steps a lot of invented melodrama, and keeps the focus on Shao Peng and ZiXiang.
What does get more air time is the topic of disability. Jin Yun seems to do well with the sign language- it looks natural, not stunted. He's doing a great job with his eye-lines. The issues around his deafness run the gamut between ham-handed and poignant. Dude, you have to participate at job interviews, not just stare at recruiters like they asked you to fart on key.
But, Jiang Shao Peng is also a young man stepping into a larger world without the structure of school as a buffer, so I was prepared to cut him some slack. If you're worried; No, they do not 'fix' his deafness with an operation, as I was afraid they would. Yay! I really liked our beanpole of a guy, whose doe-eyes occasionally covered up a savvy brain. He has a really interesting physicality in the show, though I don't know if it was an actor's choice, or a happenstance of this being his first big job.
I liked Raiden Lin's Yang ZiXiang too. He's never a full-on rich boy horror show, nor does he end as a perfect and healed person. It is dumb that he learned sign language in like a week, but I don't think the timeline is all that important. There were several points in the show where it felt like the vibes were more important than linear realism or strict narrative structure. I didn't mind it, though I think it might annoy others. I liked that it carried through to the end; we resolved the major things we needed to, but not everything. It felt a little rushed, and I wish they had tightened it up a bit more, but I'm not mad at it. The show itself acknowledges that they have time; that their lives and issues are ever evolving. Since the show put most of it's roots into the feelings, rather than an entangled plot, it works more than it doesn't.
What absolutely doesn't work is the B couple. Lin Chia Yo as Cheng Feng Jie is great in scenes with Raiden Lin; they have a really entertaining chemistry as petulant boss and strict subordinate, he's good in the business scenes, and bless him, he is TRYING with his B costar. Unfortunately, Lin Yueng Chieh is pretty terrible as Wang Xin Jia. The part is dumb, don't get me wrong, but Lin Yueng Chieh can't act, he hasn't got any charisma, and the chemistry is non-existent. I have the distinct impression that they knew this, and a lot of their scenes were cut. Thank you for having mercy upon us.
Softly funny, with your standard number of drama coincidences, this was a pleasant viewing experience. I never felt wrathful, the female characters are well-written and fun, and there wasn't a ton of cringe to fast forward. Did it get a bit sentimental around the edges? Yeah. It also felt as if it shied away from really criticizing some parental expressions of 'love', but I think there's enough there for you to understand what they're hinting at.
Over all, a solid, unassuming watch.
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Thank you for trying, but yikes.
This series represents the quandary of ascribing merit for attempt rather than result.Is it amazing that Meet You At The Blossom got made at all? Yes.
Does that necessarily make it good? No.
Should it be watched regardless, to ensure more projects like this are made? ...That one's up to you.
For me, Meet You At The Blossom is a strange artifact. I'm not familiar with the novel, but I can see other media influences pulling this production this way and that. It feels as if the show hesitated about being too much of one thing or the other, and as such, never commits to anything with appropriate effort. Nowhere is this more evident than the very extreme split in tone between the first half (Gender-Bender Wuxia Rom-Com) and the latter half (Political Betrayal-Laden Wuxia Tragedy). There's also a lot of intense subject matter that they straight up refuse to deal with in meaningful ways, which makes it hard to respect the effort. Why include things if you don't want address them?
The twelve hour run time is, frankly, insufficient for the political backstory and the relationship and the fallout. Also, the presence of quite so many characters. You can see them thinking that they're going to be like The Untamed, with all this world-building and different dudes with different takes on the political situation, and yet none not enough air time is spent on the range of characters to make it anything but a waste. At the same time they tip their hats to the BL world where trope-laden writing abounds and every five paces there's another potential couple, but none of them are developed enough to be anything more than a curiosity on the sideline. Female characters? In short supply and are objects acted upon. Lurking darkness, tragic health situations and mental unwellness like Word of Honor? Present, but not quite addressed. Not taken to an extreme to make it worthwhile.
Over all, focus was constantly pulled from where it should have been: Zongzheng Huai En and Jin Xiao Bao's relationship. They only spent six episodes establishing it amongst the gobs of backstory and cast, and half of what we saw is subterfuge, lies, and general mistaken-identity goofiness. Very little sincere connection. There simply isn't enough emotional foundation to carry the romance through the second half of oh noooo prison and poisoning and complete betrayal. Huai'en needs more reasons to love Xiaobao besides that he's the first person who was ever nice to him, and Xiaobao needs more than 'he's hot and needy'. These are surface level characters, which nothing more than surface level attraction, there's no justification for the dramatics to follow.
It's possible that is where Meet You At The Blossom fails; it takes itself too seriously. This is a show where a dingbat rich playboy koalas himself onto a feral political pawn assassin he has mistaken for a lady with an aim of marriage. He's then surprised, but not dissuaded from matrimony with when it turns out she is a he. It's nonsense, and they should have stuck just with these two weirdos, rather than trying to invest in all the jockeying for the crown. Whatever Huai'en and Xiaobao have got going on-particularly in the way gender is performed, and where the power dynamics lay in the relationship- is far more interesting than omg which of these assholes should be king? I don't care. I could care about Huai'en and Xiaobao if only they would give me the opportunity to. Unfortunately they never did. I never invested properly in their relationship, so by the end I was tired of them and didn't want them to be together. That feeling was exacerbated by the stark reality that the sex scenes were all basically rape.
One of the reasons I didn't drop the show was wearied curiosity and that there was decent acting across the board. No one here is phoning it in. Props to Li Le for his performance as Huai'en, even if he sometimes felt constrained by a weak script that shied away from embracing Huai'ens madness. I think he would have had fun going full Luo Binghe. He's one of the few guys I could very well believe that a moron who saw him at night would mistake him for a statuesque lady, so, good casting. Wang Yun Kai is green but game as Xiaobao, though his performance is also hampered by poor writing. He does his best with the transition from misguided dope to tragic victim, but it falls flat a lot. The ensemble cast around them are all doing their best. The sets are good and the costuming is acceptable, though basic.
Meet Me At The Blossom must be noted for what it's trying to do. It will remain significant for being the first explicitly queer Chinese Costume drama, but beyond that, it's a confused effort with not much skill in the execution, though lots of enthusiasm. I look forward to a second effort with a more uniform vision.
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Confused, but has the spirit.
This is one of the few things coming out of Asia that dares look at their fixation on women's bodies, even in the year 2025. For that, it gets some merit. Does it to it particularly well? Ehh.This is a passionate project that feels very strongly about its issues, but it also fails to commit itself to carrying through, and it flubs the landing.
200 Pounds Beauty raises the question of women's bodily standards, sexism in the entertainment business, systemic shaming, pretty privilege and plastic surgery...while fat shaming and affirming those same things. It makes for a confused viewing experience.
The story line about Kang Ha Na's career resolves itself, the situation with Han Sang Jun does not. The relationship is the more poignant through line of the movie, Ha Na's love for this man who is kind to her face, but sees her as lesser. At no point is Han Sang Jun ever called upon to radically change his thinking, or to accept culpability for his attitudes and actions which have played across this woman's body like a warzone. He is a wholly undeserving partner for Ha Na, and the series shows its age and bias in the notion that she doesn't totally abandon him as a romantic prospect. He voices the same tired opinions as every other man- a woman must be beautiful to date him, but she can't have had plastic surgery to make herself into a beautiful object.
While this is an upbeat and often funny movie to watch, the undercurrent about female exploitation is quite dark, as is the production's inability to fully condemn it. Ha Na is surrounded by beautiful, untalented women; her talent only becomes worthy of attention and respect once she is beautiful; it is then which she is also no longer subject to being exploited by men around her, which is patently untrue. Beautiful women are at risk of more exploitation, beauty does not solve these problems. This lack of a critical eye and heart fundamentally cripple this movie, through it remains an interesting showcase in mid 2000's attitudes. For that reason, it is worth a watch.
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Sweet Home Season 2 wants to be the Aliens to Sweet Home's Alien.Think about it; Alien and Sweet Home are primarily Haunted House pieces. Doom is brought upon the everymen when human indifference and greed unleash monsters they themselves have borne. Interpersonal relationships must be balanced while they strive to survive. In expanding that world a la Aliens, we introduce marines and motherhood. Without the nuance.
For me, SH2 is a crushing failure in multiple respects. It really pains me to say it. It totally dispensed with everything I enjoyed about S1 and didn't bother replacing it with something comparable.
There is essentially a three episode arc featuring the S1 cast getting to a sports dome shelter with thousands of others...which is then bombed for reasons too stupid and infuriating to go into. Many plot threads from this three episode mini arc are just left blowing in the wind. It's a shame, since it had to have cost a fricken fortune. All but 6 of the original cast are summarily killed off in stupid ways for no real pay off. The only one I bought was Ryu Jae Hwan's monsterization; considering the shit he pulled in S1, this felt satisfying and a proper conclusion to his story.
This cast cull is not narratively appropriate in any way; it is in service of replacing a bunch of female characters with Interchangeable Army men. I cannot tell you how angry it made me. Not only did we dump these women- which includes the little girl, mind you, who essentially got fridged for her brother's (barely-there)story- but we didn't bother to replace them with equally compelling male characters. Most of them lacked sufficient development beyond their one-note traits. Mad Scientist? Check. Haunted Military Commander? Check. Fresh-Faced Soldier Boy? Yep. Military Asshole? Check, Double Check and Triple Check.
Because we're under the auspices of the military, there is no longer collaboration or egalitarian character interaction. SO all these new characters can only interact in this hierarchy. People are being demoralized, abused and screamed at by soldiers who resent having to protect them. All problems are solved with guns or threats. Most of the Army men are the worst kinds of people. We watch civilians being abused and used for labor, the army constantly going on that this is what they're owed for the protection they offer. There was one line that stuck with me; it was a throw-away by a soldier extra receiving his rations, 'I joined the army because at least I'd eat well'. It was pissy, the implication being that he wasn't getting what he was promised. Like. BRO. THE APOCALYPSE HAPPENED. NO ONE wants to be here. You're still eating better than everyone else, with a side of complete power, so SHUT THE FLIP UP.
I cannot emphasize how much of the season is about Army Shenanigans and How Little I Cared. Again, you can see them aping Aliens with the Crow Platoon being the Colonial Marines. The Crow Platoon, now cut off and on their own, moves the survivors underground, into a...subway system? IDK, there's clearly utility and infrastructure spaces, but most of it gives off a weird dungeon vibe. Chief Ji is the 'facility manager' of whatever the hell this place is, and she allows them to stay, which somehow creates a weird power imbalance between she and the army. This location couldn't be that far from the sports dome, and yet it also seemed to be connected to the Super Sekret Military Base, but also to another character's hide-out. It's one of those shows where you walk for ten minutes and you'll meet a cast member you haven't seen in a year.
Okay, so we're in Shit Bunker, 1 year later. The Army rules the civilians like evil overlords. Essentially, the army guys do whatever they want, and what they want seems to be threatening and abusing the same people they're meant to protect. And getting mad that there's a mortality rate to MONSTER HUNTING. We get a few new civilian characters, most of which are sus or unappealing (Creepy Priest? Check. Selfish Bimbo? Check. Old Woman Who Exists To Die? Check. Worse, there's a mentally disabled man whose story could have been sweet, except you can SEE them just using him to make issues for the sake of complicating the plot. How does his story end? In Bury Your Disabled, of course!)
Every single character's story is somehow a secret- something happened in their past, or they're sneaking around for some reason the audience isn't privy to. Except, if you don't know what anyone is doing or why they're doing it, why should we care? There is no narrative through line like Hyun-Soo's that serves as an anchor. It's just a bunch of fairly awful people doing inscrutable things- most of which there's not much resolution to, unlike, say, Pyeon Sang-wook's S1 revelation that he was hunting a child rapist and murderer.
For a launch of an expanded Sweet Home world, there has been very little world building done. Nothing about how this new society functions, and because there's no basic foundation nothing true can grow or be explored. The civilians do some kind of nebulous 'work', but it's never clear what, since they're not allowed outside much. In the hundreds of people there seem to be zero professionals of any kind, just a lot of filthy people cowering and doing virtually nothing to create a sustainable society. Even in S1 the characters knew their situation was not going to work long term; that food and water were going to be a problem. We're not seeing any solutions to anything here. Have they spent the last year setting up agriculture, getting solar panels doing some underground hydroponics? Naw. But batteries have become currency, even though the facility seems to have electricity, and you don't see people using any electronics, so what are the batteries for, exactly?
Monsterization has also become victim to this lack of focus. Clearly, nobody knows what they want to do with it or what they want to say with it. The intimate process that was the transformation has been lost. Very few characters undergo it, though the threat of it looms large. It seems like no one in Shit Bunker has monsterized in the last year. But, the landscape roams with CG monsters- some are unique, but there's a particular Trash Golem design which they used multiple times. Quantity has overtaken quality, here. They spent a lot of cash on animating way more monsters than I think they really needed. But again, Army guys! Gotta have those big, action set pieces- like Aliens!
The whole curse aspect has gone by the wayside. The Mad Scientist believes that monsters are the vaccine for the plague that is humanity, because of course his nihilistic ass does blah blah blah, who cares?
The first monster is actually good; a momma monster protecting her baby. This set piece is effective; the Momma monster doesn't actually hurt anyone. Hundreds of people die, but it's all from friendly fire because the soldiers are so terrified and gung-ho they just shoot and immolate fleeing civilians. It plays like a tragedy on multiple fronts. They attempt to continue that nuance when Hyun-Soo encounters monsters at The Sekrit Facility, and some mystical woo-woo happens which drives him to be reminded that monsters are, or were, human. They still have feelings, or memories. But that's about all the exploration about the nature of a transformed monster there is.
Unfortunately, you can't do a 'oh, people are just scared because monsters different' with a side of 'Feel guilty for viewing them as inhuman' and expect it to have emotional resonance when most monsters can and do slaughter people indiscriminately and act as the primary in-universe threat. It just fundamentally doesn't work.
But it's still Aliens! Lets talk about motherhood, shall we? We have quite a few mother-child relationships about, starting off with that mother monster on the freeway. Actually, that one's the best. The others are really uncomfortable for non-thematic reasons. The biggest one, of course, is Seo I Gyeong from season 1. She gives birth on a lake of ice while an explosion blazes behind her. It's an arresting image, but also endemic to the issues plaguing the show as a whole; It has replaced intimacy and honesty with spectacle. Nothing here is authentic and I hate it.
Hyun Soo got really downgraded in the character department. Song Kang looks great naked, but doesn't really have a lot to do, unlike his great first season arc. He also completely disappears from the narrative after apparently having been killed, which...just..like...why? When you dispensed with so many other characters, why would you ice the one we all had emotional resonance with?
This was a major disappointment to me. I wouldn't have even minded that this was filler between season 1 and season 2, but in order to do that you'd have to have exposition, world-building and some emotional core. It's bereft. It's a hollow Aliens rip-off that gleefully jettisoned everything that made Sweet Home Season 1 so good without realizing that those very things- compelling characters and human connection- where what made Aliens good. Not the Army.
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