interregnum

More ambitious that S1...and not as good as S1. A strong story-driven start quickly turns into a ludicrous crawl through story-disconnected puzzles, picks up with a much more cohesive second arc, and then kinda middle-grounds it with the somewhat lackluster (but still fun) third. Still excited for a third season, if there is one, but hoping for a better blend of concept and obstacles. (S1's submarine arc is the high-water mark, for me.)

Entertaining enough for an episode of, say, Supernatural, and more than enough pretty girls for me to not care even if it wasn't. I'm a simple man: 7/10.

I haven't seen it yet, so I don't know. (But it looks like it's predominantly palace intrigue.) And the MDL rating for it is good, so...figure it's a coin toss if it's actually good. 😆 Based on this show, though, the directing should be really good.

They are the leads from Bloody Heart, which is from the director of this show. (Though, the woman is Kang Han-na, who was in Start-Up with Kim Seon-ho, which is why I thought she was there. But I’m guessing it’s the director connection.)

I don't know who thought that mess of a second half was worth producing, but hot-damn those first six episodes were pure, uncut wonder. And they carry the day.

I was hoping to have had the chance to watch the rest of the show before responding, but...alas, time has had other plans. And not even the fun kind, where I accidentally start of the new season of Transit Love, forgetting that every episode is probably two hours long and no you shouldn't start this at midnight, what are you thinking?!

The short answer, I suppose, is that (for this show) none of the themes presented interest me terribly--regardless of whatever critique I might have of the writing of those themes--which means I am left focusing on the actions of the plot, which, as you imply, ask that I not do so. Which, given that I will not comply with said request from the plot, will probably land me in a different place than most people who have watched the show. (Though, to be fair, I usually fall contrary to the consensus on these things, so I shouldn't be surprised.) But, I suppose, we shall see what happens in the back half.

That said, I've enjoyed this back-and-forth and your measured and considered words--a rare thing, I've found, however limited my time in the comment sections have been.

Heh, y'know, I was all set to counter the "too rational" comment with a nod to my consistent forgiveness of K-drama romcom cliches, but...that means I still noticed the cliches, so, my hypocrisy aside, maybe you're right.

More seriously, though, I was interested in the female serial killer aspect, too, and was very open to the mother/son drama this (somewhat familiar) framework would provide. (For example: after the son tackles the mother to prevent her from strangling the glasses dude through the bars of her cell, he runs off, leaving the door to her cell completely open, which left me swinging back and forth between frustration and intrigue as I wondered if this was a ludicrous continuity error on the part of the production or a purposeful character beat about how the mom actively chose not to escape so as not to threaten her ability to see her son--though, as of right now, I think I was being generous in my ambiguity.)

However, given where we are, this relationship is so secondary--even tertiary--to what we're seeing that I've lost interest in it. They've done nothing with it except have side characters look straight at the camera and declare "He's just like her!" and then give a big wink about how that similarity is meant to be seen as a two-way street wherein, yes, he could be a monster but maybe also she's not as much of a monster as he thinks (because if he's not a total monster, then...).

Except, even if this is what they want us to consider, she A) acts just like a cliche psychopath when she talks about what she did, B) still murdered those men in needlessly cruel ways, and C) does nothing to help the cops or improve her standing with her son (instead of insisting that he not only wants to kill but should definitely kill and see how that makes us the same!).

I know I still have half the show left, but there cannot be a scenario where all of these issue get waved away by a reveal short of the son having done the original murders himself as a child in a fugue state and the mother taking the fall for it--and what we're seeing in the show is literally his distorted, hallucination-driven POV of what's going on.

I understand that there is some measure of leeway to be granted to dramas, and I likewise understand that this show is (attempting to be) about something for which the policing aspect is mostly a frame--but there are only so many times a story can get away with the characters (police or otherwise) not merely being unintelligent or unobservant but blindingly stupid before it becomes an issue that outweighs whatever greater theme might be at play. The incident at the hospital, the incidents--plural!--at (what I call) the sleepaway jail...they're absurd. It takes an extra 10 minutes to devise ways around the need for your characters to be utterly incapable of even vaguely common sense for the plot beats you want to see play out. And I'm only halfway through!

I thought the biggest point of contention was going to be how useless talking to the mom has been despite the show claiming otherwise, but...boy-howdy did they prove me wrong.

This might be the worst-written cop show I've ever watched. Perhaps that will ultimately be revealed to be hyperbole, but for now I genuinely cannot remember watching any other series that depended so thoroughly on its police detectives being so unceasingly incompetent, nor had its core villain-as-consultant premise be so irrelevant (while simultaneously insisting that it is essential, I might add), nor so brazenly tethered its dramatic core to narrative ephemera. If I make it to the end, it will be entirely out of spite.

And, for good measure, the acting is totally unimpressive. I really don't know what people are gushing about.

What a good time. Cute, amusing--exactly what you'd want it to be. Fun, charming characters written believably and performed very, very well. It isn't going to change my life, but I walk away more satisfied than I have with a movie in a while.

Doing a re-watch years after my first go-through, and my opinion has gone from "love it, except for the ending" to "wait, do I hate this show?"--presumably because I can see so much more clearly why I didn't like the ending, which has everything to do with the beginning and much less to do with the ending. That is, structurally, this show promises one thing and then delivers something entirely different: the ML isn't the ML; the love triangle isn't allowed to be a love triangle; the premise of the Episode 1 is abandoned for a plot that begins in Episode 2. But, my first time through, I was able to hold onto the logical promise of the first episode and let that color anything that seemed out of place. This time, though, knowing the answer ahead of time...it's been rough going. Because there's clearly a way to get where we end up and for it to be totally fine--but you don't start the story the way this show starts if that's where you want to end up.

What a lovely little show--and often far better than it had any right to be. Is it amazing? No. But it's got heart, laughs, and a solid script. Most will overlook it, and that's their loss.

Not zany enough to be Mrs. Doubtfire fun, and not serious enough to address the different angles surrounding the event that sets off the whole crazy escapade. Which is a shame, given it could have been quite funny or quite a notable discussion on the nuances around trying to do the right thing. Watchable, but forgettable.

I think “perfectly” is debatable, but beyond that the flak is fueled by a combination of a few things, as I see it—and not all of it is strictly an issue with him: his demeanor rubbed people the wrong way; So-hui’s demeanor (particularly towards Hyun-gyu) rubbed people the wrong way; Kyuhyun’s attitude/playstyle rubbed people the wrong way (especially regarding Hyun-gyu (and especially with Ep 10)); and the prison system was a bigger flaw than a boon, both structurally (the prison team had no real way to get out, no matter how well they played) and narratively (most of the time was spent with the prison players, since they always had two games to play a day)—which made them easier to grow attached to, which meant it was that much less satisfying when there was no payoff to investing in them, and which made it that much easier to be put off by Hyun-gyu and/or So-hui and/or Kyuhyun and/or the structure of the prison system, all of which bolstered Hyun-gyu’s win. I think it’s less that people wouldn’t be able to accept his win in a broad sense, since he was one of the two smartest (in terms of raw intelligence) players there and one of the more strategic players—regardless of whether people liked him or not. I think it’s that there are so many factors beyond him that seemed to needlessly benefit him that make it easy to be upset both with the end result generally and him specifically. As with Orbit in S1, death threats or whatever are uncalled for, but criticism is 100% (for him and many other participants, frankly—including some of my faves) warranted.

Tight alliances are often helpful, but an openly deceitful player is one you only side with for as long as you need him. So-hui is either really weak-willed or has a MASSIVE crush on Hyun-gyu. Those are the only reasonable explanations for keeping the biggest threat around when she had a shot to get rid of him.

And Justin was kind of a badass, yeah. He deserved better, and I was bummed to see him leave. Not as bummed as I was to see Chuu leave, of course, but for totally different reasons. 😉

Well, she was the only one of the three to say it outright. (Eun-yu and 7High were dancing around it.) But, yeah, it's like we've got reverse-Orbit, this season, with Hyun-gyu: drag people along explicitly to use them as pawns. And I am baffled by A) So-hui's passiveness and B) Kyuhyun's lack of strategic thinking. It's like watching Dong-joo "loyalty" away her shot at the final in S1 all over again.

Well...that got real boring real fast.

Exactly. I quickly clocked Ha-rin and Hyun-gyu as the two that would in short order tip from being useful weapons to necessary targets, not because of their strength as competitors but because of their demeanor: you can't trust them at all. (For example, So-hui is brilliant but soft, so she's okay to keep around--strategically.) Weirdly, 7High, whom I thought I'd dislike, has become one of my favorite competitors because he's turned out to be the most concerned about fairness (ironic, given his brilliant "cheat" strategy in the first game). Where we are right now, unfortunately, the prison element of the show is going to weigh heavier than much of the remaining competition, since it's going to force elimination on such a small portion of the cast when I think it would be more entertaining to, at this point, just see everyone play everything. Because, if you can take out Hyun-gyu, that leaves a likely 4-on-2 division (which would be exciting) or 2-on-2-on-2 (whoch would also be exciting). But...they still need to oust Hyun-gyu.

No, I'm with you: I was excited to see him, at first, but his total lack of empathy has been a real turnoff. This season's big divide hasn't been about skill level but skill set--and human interaction seems not to be within his. There are degrees of gamesmanship, and his skews hard into unsportsmanlike. (Similar vibes about Ha-rin.) We've seen some unflattering but understandable playstyles, this season, but I'm kind of shocked by how disengaged from the human element he is.

It's at least two episodes shorter than it needs to be for the character arcs to work, but it'll pass the time, if that's all you're looking for. Or if, like me, Kang Na-eon is enough of an excuse.