Revenge? What Revenge?
This "revenge story" ultimately had no revenge. The setup is super juicy. Her famous shoji player father decided shogi was all that mattered to him, so he abandoned her and her mother. Her mom got sick and our lead struggled for years to make ends meet and get her care. She even tried to reach out to her b@stard dad for help/closure, just to be rebutted. So we're on a revenge quest to ruin him with the very game he prides himself on.The quest was already muddled by some mixed messages. Is she a mega shogi genius or just a fairly gifted rookie who needs to steadily learn the game and get better after losing a bunch? Does she actually love this game and needs to work through her negative associations with it to embrace her passion, or is this a means to an end, the tool she can use to destroy her father? Is she taking down him, her own feelings, or this misogynistic/patriarchal system? It really changes from scene to scene, episode to episode. But it was still kind of cool to see her rise through the ranks when that WAS shown.
And then in the end…the message is still all over the place. Revenge? Not achieved. Goal? Honestly I couldn't tell you if she reached what she was aiming for. She is in a better place than where she started, but ultimately the through line of the show is a jumbled mess that kind of didn't go anywhere. It was an ok enough ride, but because it didn't amount to anything, I can't really call it "good." It can only be ok.
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This review may contain spoilers
"Horrible People", The Show
Some basic spoilers, but I won't go over the whole story or nitty gritty details.For the setup, oddly enough they start by establishing that ABO is NEW to this universe, which had until only a generation or 2 ago, had been the same as our normal universe. ABO is something that spontaneously developed and the medical world just kinda rolled with it. And the social norms of the entire world have drastically changed, regardless of centuries of history. Strange, but I was curious how they would address this. They don't. This was just so the writers wouldnt have to do extensive world building. Fine. We have ultra powerful alpha rich businessman A, moderately powerful rich businessman B (competitor), meek but competent assistant C, and secret femme fatale posing as delicate flower D. 4 main characters. 3 of which turn out to be monsters.
The story seems to be the trope of rich asshole takes an interest in downtrodden beautiful poor person, but we the audience know the poor boy is actually pretending. So it's a mystery of who he really is, why he's doing this, and what he's really after. There are the trope-y "romance" moments, but always with the context that the weaker one is playing into expectations. Which just draws more attention to how manipulative the scenes WOULD be on the alpha's side if he really was in control the way he thinks he is. He thinks this boy is destitute, trying to pay for medical expenses for a sick relative, having to work multiple jobs in bad situations, on the verge of homelessness, and being taken advantage of by their boss. So he throws a bunch of money at him, makes him owe him, and offers that he can pay with his body by agreeing to a sexual relationship. Regardless of the other party's hidden truth, he is an awful person. So as the watcher, you think, ok the "omega" (not really) knows he's like this, played the part to manipulate the situation, knowing the direction it would take so he could get closer. So he has dealt with this type of person before. He knows how they think. So obviously the expectation is that this is a revenge/power play against these type of people.
Turns out he has no motivation or goal at all besides to be close to him. Because he is obsessed with him and has been for years. The manipulation, the lies, the sabotage, etc. were all just his own way of getting close because he figured just approaching him honestly wouldn't work. He's a stalker yandere, willing to to anything, destroy anyone and anything, hurt the one he cares about, to satisfy his own obsession. That's it. And then not only is there the lying and coercion, meaning any relations they had would technically be nonconsensual, he straight-up forcefully sexually assaults him. There is unambiguous r@pe in this show. More than once. And once everyone involved is fully aware of what happened and with who, it all just gets brushed over. Every r@pe is forgiven. By the story writing and by the characters. It's atrocious.
3 out of the 4 main characters in this show are garbage people. Morally bankrupt and powerful enough to just get away with whatever they want. The other one I just feel bad for. He felt like he should have been the actual protagonist, especially given how much the first episode is about him and his story. I kept watching for the initial mystery and hoping that he (and only he) would get some sort of happy ending. As it went on, this honestly became a hate watch. It's a toxic train wreck of a show, but I kept coming back to see if the wreckage would explode.
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Finding Yourself (Not Romance)
This is a great story about a middle-aged woman finding herself again after giving up her personal dreams when she got pregnant very young. Now after years as a neglected and put-upon housewife, she's trying to improve herself and her life by going to college, which she never got to do. She's being "twenty again."Her story is heartbreaking. She was once so vibrant, creative, and confident. But that made this journey feel really fulfilling. I loved seeing her get her spark for life back and get back in touch with who she used to be. I loved seeing her son mature and finally connect with and respect his mother.
Unfortunately the romance subplot was really not interesting. It wasn't the focus thankfully, but honestly I don't think it needed to be there at all. They did not have chemistry and I don't think she needs a new romance at this moment in her life.
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Pretty little dessert, but not a real meal
The acting is great and the rough outline of the story is good, but it does fall into the melodrama trap of not really developing the relationships. They all just serve to create dramatic "shocking" moments. The romantic couple had great on screen chemistry, but I didn't actually buy their relationship or want them together because we never saw them actually build a relationship.This wouldn't necessarily be a huge issue if the focus of the story was actually on the investigation/revenge angle that was initially set up, but unfortunately, that element falls into the background most of the time. The bulk of the show is our FL being periodically sabotaged or bullied in this fancy house while all she wants to do is earnestly make sweets. It was compelling enough in the moment since the acting is so good, and I like hearing about traditional sweets, but it doesn't actually have much substance or momentum.
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Amazing story… that stumbled on the finish line
As I was watching this series, I was amazed at how compellingly naturalistic it was. The concept is of course fantastical, but the characters are very grounded, with pretty realistic reactions to situations. There is a looming threat, a ticking clock for Khem's life, but he's also trying to live normally as much as he can with the time he has. He's trying to stay alive, but also he can't live every moment in strict survival mode. This has been his entire existence. He still has friends, does school projects, travels, has a crush, etc. But as the deadline looms and things get more dangerous, this story follows the final desperate attempt to beat the curse. So there's this lovely balance of tension rising, danger lurking, trying to find answers, while also finding community in this town, with his friends, wanting to be with the boy he likes. It all felt very real in that way. Even with spirits, shamans, past lives, etc. because those things are natural to the people here. This is the accepted reality/religion/whatever you want to call it.And the characters were so compelling in how nuanced and naturalistic they were. Even the looming "bad guy" of the series, from the very beginning, there's a sense that there's more to her. That she's not just evil. There's a reason she is the way she is and why she's doing this. Eventually the story will give us those answers. And they are heartbreaking. I was really looking forward to seeing how they found a resolution. Especially after a certain death, things really seemed to be ramping up for a big emotional climax.
But then the show stumbled in the last 2 episodes. It didn't do anything stupid or really awful, but all of a sudden that masterful pacing was gone. After introducing new characters and elements at the last minute, there's suddenly a lot of jumping around in time and space. Things are revealed to the audience pretty out of order, leading scenes to lack proper impact. Characters suddenly do complete heel turns on decisions they were very clear on before for the sake of momentary drama. and worst of all, the big resolution to the problem is rushed, happening within a few minutes, and not tying in to our main characters' arcs at all. Again, the answer itself is not… BAD, but it wasn't properly integrated into the story. There were a lot of things in the last 2 episodes that felt like deus ex machina. For any other series it probably wouldn't be that noteworthy, but when this series was SO great at pacing and storytelling to this point, it was a definite let down.
I initially had this series as 9-9.5 stars. The ending isn't bad enough to ruin it, but enough to bring it down to just an 8 for me.
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