One for the crying Yeo Jingoo enjoyers
While the overall show is quite usual --young adults having a relationship with a mysterious connection in their childhood, a loose murderer and on (1) fantastical element, it has some refreshing aspects that make it maybe a bit more meaty than your usual romance.Well, first, the showrunners knew that Yeo Jingoo is great at crying, so he cries often, and he does it well. Gotta love it when the strong points of an actor are xeploited. This does not beat his mournful sobs in Hotel Del Luna (what a scene that was!) but it's still nice.
What's more, for ONCE, even after the main characters have both admitted that they like each other, the support cast (and as a consequence, the support system of both characters) does not just fade into the background! They're still here, they're still super important to the characters, and it makes for a MUCH MORE enjoyable and believable relationship. I also loved the interactions of teh entire neighborhood with the police. Most normal cop treatment I've ever seen for once (the cops do nothing for the sexual violence until it is too late for them to do anything, following what they say that well they should have been told earlier. You love to see realistic stuff instead of copaganda), and their closedness growing over each episode really plays into the sense of unease you're supposed to get about the whole neighborhood.
Overall, quite a fun watch, and pretty satifying as romances go.
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This one is for the fans of John Wick and Greek tragedies
I have no better way to describe Your Name than that it is a tragedy following Aristotle's definition, with fight choreography on par with Chad Stahelski's so I had a GRAND time. The music is also great and has immediately been incorporated into my daily shuffle once I was done devouring this show (I couldn't leave the screen once I started).In this fast-paced sanguine thriller, you follow people affected by hubris, who think they can best the Korean gods of the carceral system, corruption, and sexism. Of course it does not end well (although! i wish it'd ended even worse, but that's just the very last five minutes of the show). The show does not pull its punches, mediocre sex, sorry, love I guess, does not save the hero, the system is crumbling unto itself, cops are no better than gangsters, and we have a beautiful fight scene in a nightclub entrance that I regularly rewatch because it makes me giddy how good it is.
This show is honestly a UFO in terms of kdramas, and it is one of my top favorite TV shows period.
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Muddled politics and misogyny galore
I am so confused about this show? How can you be so unclear about your politics when *you are a show about politics*. Sometimes I feel like it has a strong message but then five minutes later it feels like it actually is a parody of the message.Between this and the insane misogyny of Kang Yohan (misogyny level: the show would last three episodes if he treated women normally, he is The Most Misogynistic Man On Screen Ever, he's like if Gaston Beauty and the Beast was a Korean judge who absolutely refused to talk to a therapist about his trauma, it's so batshit it almost could loop back into being endearing if it wasn't so freaking annoying), I've resolved after about four episodes to watch this like I would watch JJBA, to try and guess what ar ethe four wild plot twists they'll pull per episode. However, in JJBA you get some form of hints, whereas this show adheres to the theory of "saying you're a clever show by never giving any worthwhile hint to the viewer", which, imho, is very disrespectful to the audience and lazy.
Still, it makes for an entertaining watch, rarely have I seen show that deserved the title "drama" so much, I guess.
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When tropes serve the message
If there's one thing Korean shows like, it's using tropes and building around comforting, well-known settings. Lawyer procedurals are one of these well-loved settings in K-shows, but here, the focus is not so much the setting but the message of the series.See, at its core, Good Partners has a feminist message of the place of women in relationships, whether they be platonic, marital, or professional, and what better settings than a divorce attorney cabinet to explore these questions? Through various cases we examine the question of marriage being a prison to women in South Korea due to the rigidity of the divorce laws, we question whether women can truly florish in an institution created by and for men, we opint out that children are people who often suffer because they are treated like the belonging of their parents rather than people who can voice their opinion and who can see when they are used as a living punition by adults, ...
/!\ On the notes of serious questions being raised I have to emphasize that episodes 12 to 14 are explicitly about marital abuse, with a violent murder taking place onscreen.
It is seriously refreshing and so lovely how this show does not treat the audience like imbeciles, and leaves you to guess things they have shown but not said explicitly, just like it is very refreshing to get an open end regarding the relationship between some of the characters instead of tying every single storyline neatly with a little bow. After all, it would be weird if they put all those relationships into neat boxes when the core of the show is how beautifully complex it all is.
Honestly, I would not be mad if we got a season 2.
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Sell Your Haunted House is about three things:1. How we deal with grief, and how what we call ghosts are often self-inflicted punishments of our own creation, but also sometimes they can still be the amalgamation of the vengeful spirits of a dozen people murdered by an evil capitalist guy
2. Jang Nara beating up ghosts and looking realy cool while doing so
3. The most interesting character dynamic I've ever seen on screen, like Mulder and Scully if Mulder was the most failwife scammer you've seen
And it does all these things remarkably well, truly an underrated gem
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