MAI

Oh dear... What a mess! Thanks for clarifying!

Came back to check out Eui Soo's work after hearing he's slightly problematic, and oh my gosh, I almost choked when I saw how lenient I had been when rating this lol. I gave it a 5.5 back when it was airing but, let's be real, this show was absolutely ridiculous.

Thanks for clarifying what happened! I was just casually scrolling through the list of upcoming shows I'd planned on watching when I encountered all these comments calling out Eui Soo. A bit disappointed, since it could imply that he's only seeing BL roles as stepping stones for obtaining fans, but I am also not entirely surprised by what was said. (But then, on the other hand, all actors choose roles quite deliberately; they all eventually be the main character in a big production-- so don't they not always treat small roles as stepping stones anyway?) Do you remember how his followers responded to the comments?

Darn it, I was actually excited about this show.

Darn it, don't tell me the actors of Color Rush are problematic too... I actually enjoyed that show! Could you elaborate on what happened?

I suppose judging the chemistry of the cast is a bit subjective endeavour. I personally wasn't necessarily blown away by the acting but I definitely agree that the romantic scenes didn't feel forced to me (if we ignore that very lasts scene at least, lol). The tropes of this show, however, are a different story for me. Yes, we might not have seen most of the negative stereotypes that we often encounter in other shows, but the show certainly makes up for it by bombarding us with other stereotypical plot developments (e.g. the love triangle, the absent father, the time jump with unexpected return from abroad). I am not saying it's a terrible show-- I finished the entire thing after all-- but I just think they've played it extremely safe.
You could argue the screenwriters took it easy because BL productions are still finding its footing within the South Korean movie industry but, as I would argue, there are quite a few good LGBTQ+ themed movies (albeit niche and often low quality) that are much more experimental. Even Light On Me (which, admittedly, had a much larger budget and full fledged episodes) managed to give its own flavour to a highly overused high-school setting by focusing on developing the characters extremely well. In contrast, I am not even sure if any of the characters in The Tasty Florida even had a personality lol. The show is made to be easily digestible for a wide public: no risks or social commentary; just a straightforward and highly utopian storyline (since that is pretty much impossible to mess up, after all). Without the gay romance this would have been just your cute (but slightly mediocre) romance web series, and that's why it feels like a cashgrab to me. Production companies know BL series have quite a cult following and, because of that, there is little incentive to come up with original or experimental scripts. Why take unnecessary risks if you know teenage girls will watch it no matter what anyway?

Edit: Also, I think there were quite some improvements that could have been made in regards to the ending. There was literally no resolve when it came to dissipating the tension within the love triangle (which didn't even make sense in the first place). JiSoo just kinda gave up on pursuing HaeWon without any explanation whatsoever. No communication necessary, apparently. But enough bashing, lol, I do appreciate some sweet LGBTQ+ representation and there is also only so much you can do with 11 minutes of screentime anyway. It's a cute show but it's certainly no masterpiece.

I'm truly surprised that everyone seems to really like this one. It feels like a bit of a cashgrab to me: take the most basic, unoriginal plot and slap a BL logo on it. Sure, the actors are handsome, the story is sweet, but it also makes no bold leaps whatsoever. I wouldn't have minded a bit more originality.

2015 called, it wants its annoying-female-lead trope back...

How funny lol! That was actually exactly the experience I had with watching Burning Ice! I randomly picked it up, not expecting anything, but I ended up binging the whole show in a matter of days. The Long Night is officially considered its sequel (since it is supposed to be the same detective solving a new case) but the story is completely unrelated and they cast a different actor as well. I personally preferred the actor of Burning Ice-- that guy had some real charisma-- but I ended up enjoying the new story too. And, if I'm not mistaken, we can also expect a Korean adaptation of The Long Night sometime next year!

That's the movie, not the series unfortunately... But thanks anyway!

Everybody's complaining about the lack of story progression in the relationship department but, to be honest, I'm just glad we got a plot that doesn't focus on romance alone. A main character with actual dreams and desires? Oh my, my eyes must be deceiving me lol!
Yes, I agree, the dialogue is hella slow but I watch most of my shows sped up anyway so I'm not that bothered by it. Just download a browser extension and watch it on 3x speed; problem solved!

I was about to recommend the exact dramas the both you already mentioned lol. But, if you want to venture outside of the Korean context, I also enjoyed The Long Night and Burning Ice (which are Chinese shows). Both are slow-burn investigation/crime shows that have a similar dark atmosphere (albeit no supernatural elements or gore). Burning Ice is definitely more character driven (it relies on the multiple main characters and their motivations to keep tension rather than on a very complex plot) whereas it takes longer to piece together the story of The Long Night, but both have great acting and suspense. So no immediate similarities plotwise-- besides the serial killer theme and somewhat dysfunctional detectives of course-- but definitely worth checking out if you're looking for good atmospheric shows (dang, lemme tell you again, Burning Ice is literally one the best shows I have ever watched when talking about atmosphere/location in particular).

Thanks for the advice y'all! I did end up starting the first episode after hearing your opinion! I'm still kinda torn whether I will actually end up watching the rest, tbh, because it seems like a solid series but it does very much have that typical American espionage vibe that I failed to really describe in my first comment. All the characters were basically Korean renditions of all typical Western character tropes that I've seen plenty of times before (even down to their hairstyles lol). Also, @DingooDramas' comment about this being similar to Bourne movies is absolutely spot on from what I've seen so far. But, while I prefer something a bit more slow-burn and suspenseful than those movies, the story progression of The Veil has not bothered me just yet. There is potential for the suspense to become interesting so I suppose I'll give it a try and see how things will unfold. Thanks again!

Also, holy smokes, I just realised that Namgoong Min is the main lead! Omg, that dude bulked up since the last time I've seen him! I barely recognise him!

Okay sorry HAHAHAHAH but how can anyone take the ending of episode 7 seriously HAHAHA-- especially with that freaking organ music in the background. I can't with this show, man.

I hope you're wrong purely because this would massively spoil the series for me but, dang, I gotta admit, that would be an incredibly interesting turn of events. It actually makes sense considering the detective lost his wife in the 1987 attack, and it would explain many of these seemingly paranormal elements. In that case I would be wondering where the mysterious tapes (especially that one of the Hagwon teacher) and the drugs come in because these seem to be deliberate efforts to get people in some sort of hallucinatory state. The detective is not the only person seeing things that are not really there (or forgetting important events). So is the detective unknowingly/subconsciously orchestrating this whole ordeal or is he being used by another (underground) organisation?

Almost dropped this one after the mediocre first episode but it got progressively better (if you manage to ignore the very questionable CGI and cringy acting at least). It's not as dark as I would have liked, and it is most definitely more targeted towards a younger audience (which, to be fair, can be expected from a high school setting) but it was an okay watch overall. The plot isn't anything too unique and the villains could have used some character depth, but we did get a satisfying ending that wrapped up all loose ends quite neatly.

Would y'all recommend this to someone who generally likes thriller/crime shows but who is not necessarily a huge fan of episodic formats and shows that have a somewhat 'Western/American' (for lack of better description) vibe? For some reason I found the trailer of this show vaguely reminiscent of NCIS (maybe because of the dramatic explosions lol) but this is something I'd rather avoid. I prefer it when shows have interesting, three dimensional characters rather than overly action-driven plots (for some context: I am enjoying/have enjoyed shows like Hometown, Stranger and Beyond Evil). Do you guys think I'd like this?

Nope, it's just coincidence that the English titles are similar and feature Shin Ha Kyun as the main character!

Hm, I'm currently 7 episodes in and I don't think I'm gonna finish this. The cast is great, acting is solid, and I do like the suspense between Woo Taeseok and Eun Sun Jae, but the episodic format of the show itself (with all its unrelated high-tension cases) feels too disjointed for me. Because each episode features yet another death or kidnapping, I don't really manage get invested in any of it. People are dropping dead like flies and, besides the fact that it is highly unrealistic in a South Korean context, it makes that I've come at a point where I can't be arsed to care about any of these characters anymore. I haven't watched the UK series-- so I don't now how faithful it was to the original work-- but I think the show could have been much stronger if it focused more closely on that past serial killer case that ties Woo Taeseok and Eun Sun Jae together. Now the show keeps postponing the main storyline by zooming in on unrelated cases, and it makes the plot drag. But then, maybe it also just boils down to personal preference: I'm not a huge fan of episodic dramas anyway.

Edit: Also,dang, the dialogue in this show really is the most pretentious crap I've heard in a while. It is fraught with unnecessary metaphors and those melodramatic conversations on rooftops (during which the characters gaze at the city and complain about the dangerous nature of their job and all the sacrifices they need to make for the sake of humanity) are just a tad bit too cliché for me.

It started off strong but it lost its momentum about two-thirds in. By the time I got to episode 9 I had completely lost interest, mainly because the lack of character development and story progression. The whole show relied on the morally grey character of Jung Woo for tension-- since we are meant to constantly questioning whether he is a hero, anti-hero, or just a plain villain-- and as soon as his motivations were revealed there was nothing left to drive the show forward apart from a somewhat predictable plot. Moreover, Jung Woo was probably the only character that was actually well-rounded, and it seems like all energy went into creating his backstory, because all the other characters had little to none character depth. If not for Namgoong Min and his stellar performance, the show would have been a mediocre assemblage of caricature villains.

Totally agree! In fact, I am surprised that your opinion seems to instill so much opposition and indignation, to be very honest. Since when does the enjoyment of art/popular culture outweigh morality? If someone chooses to boycott the show by not watching it, what is it on you? (The question is, of course, to what extent this so-called boycott has any impact since most of us are watching the show on semi-legal streaming websites anyway, and those don't impact the Korean national TV ratings). It's just ironic to me that we all seem to abhor sexual harassment but, apparently, not when it is linked to our favorite form of entertainment. Then, all of a sudden, these things become too tangible and close too home, and then we prefer talking about "a one-time mistake" and "he was simply intoxicated". If that discourse is not the pinnacle of rape culture then I don't know. I must admit I don't know the ins and outs of the whole case but, as far as I heard, the author's name has been removed from the ending credits, and I think that is certainly the least they could have done (although this also is just vaguely reminiscent of Roland Barth's concept of 'the death of the author' where art is always already de-linked from its original author by the audience at the moment of watching-- so how much does this even help-- but okay). The reality is that the show has already been made, and the broadcasting network has invested in it so, unless we see a nation-wide uproar like we did with shows like Joseon Exorcist and Snowdrop (which were mostly related to nationalism), this drama will continue to air. The realities of capitalism I suppose lol (maybe it's just a tad concerning that we deem it more important to cancel a show for misconstruing history instead of sexual harassment but I suppose that is my opinion). That being said, I personally chose to watch the series, and I am thoroughly enjoying it-- I love the way the rural atmosphere and the characters are depicted-- but that doesn't mean I need to justify or downplay the obvious problematic character of the writer. In that sense I am kind of pleased that there is so much discussion about the case in the comments since it is at least important to be aware of what we are watching in the first place.