Fascinating Topic, But Could Have Been Executed So Much Better
Personally, as a Christian, I don't appreciate the Christian symbols and some Bible verses being misrepresented by this (or any real life) cult, when any symbols or ideology could have been used. It's so unoriginal to negatively portray Christians, yet they won't do the same with other religions or beliefs. Is there some reason that this show was not made with a cult that uses the star of D avid, free masonry, a pagan sacrificial cult, or something original? Besides, even secular ideologies like the neighbor of south Korea is a cult, so cults don't have to even involve religion. I don't think this series did a good enough job to not basically slander Christians as a bunch of crazies. In some scenes, the cult's symbol of the boat under the cross is not even fully visible, for example, from perspectives looking up at it. It's sort of corny how they made the cross glow red, when any symbol in that color is going to look eerie. Near the end, there's some half-hearted attempts to counter this misrepresentation of Christians, but to some viewers' subconscious, the damage is probably done. Why did the show producers have the 1 friend out of the 4 guys wear a regular cross, not the cult's altered cross, in the scenes where he shamefully didn't want to save Im Sang-mi? Greed, power, control, and psychopathy were the main driving forces of the main leaders (Jo Wan-tae seemed atheist), not Christianity, but this distinction should have been clearer from the beginning.
The soundtrack is really boring, which doesn't match the suspenseful, psychological thriller nature of this series.
The psychology of the main character's boymom (boymom-ism is kind of a cult of its own, this would make a good series topic), the cult, and the psychopathic leaders were the stronger parts of this series. The various methods of deception, the gradual increase of abuse towards members, the exploitation of people in desperate sad situations, and the claustrophobia-like feeling of cult members being anywhere in any job, was all covered well. The twists and turns of the plot, and costume design, are strengths of this series too.
OTOH, some of the plot is lacking. For example, why did the dad not just move with his family to another city, such as a big city with more jobs? Korea has more than just 2 cities. Another thing is, I feel like the main character (Im Sang-mi) constantly questioning things for years would have landed her in more trouble than what was portrayed. That's great that didn't happen, but the other members were hysterical, and it's doubtful they would have tolerated that much noncompliance.
Some characters were annoying, such as the main character's boymom. The boymom had the expectation of her daughter to put herself in harm's way against multiple boys, all to protect her brother, which is wrong and backwards. Even before the tragedy, the boymom was parentifying and negative toward her daughter. Is this a critique of the rampant favoritism of boys in many Korean families, part of what sparked the 4B movement that is now gaining traction worldwide? It's annoying how the female lead is only allowed to be strong and protective of males, but isn't allowed to be strong and save herself or other female characters. Jo Wan-tae, the curly haired sidekick manlet of the cult was really hateable. While it makes sense for this plot, more justice should have been dished out to him. At a certain point, there were too many characters and some didn't add much to the story.
Overall, this series could've been done so much better. Hopefully future kdramas about cults will take some lessons from this series' drawbacks.
The soundtrack is really boring, which doesn't match the suspenseful, psychological thriller nature of this series.
The psychology of the main character's boymom (boymom-ism is kind of a cult of its own, this would make a good series topic), the cult, and the psychopathic leaders were the stronger parts of this series. The various methods of deception, the gradual increase of abuse towards members, the exploitation of people in desperate sad situations, and the claustrophobia-like feeling of cult members being anywhere in any job, was all covered well. The twists and turns of the plot, and costume design, are strengths of this series too.
OTOH, some of the plot is lacking. For example, why did the dad not just move with his family to another city, such as a big city with more jobs? Korea has more than just 2 cities. Another thing is, I feel like the main character (Im Sang-mi) constantly questioning things for years would have landed her in more trouble than what was portrayed. That's great that didn't happen, but the other members were hysterical, and it's doubtful they would have tolerated that much noncompliance.
Some characters were annoying, such as the main character's boymom. The boymom had the expectation of her daughter to put herself in harm's way against multiple boys, all to protect her brother, which is wrong and backwards. Even before the tragedy, the boymom was parentifying and negative toward her daughter. Is this a critique of the rampant favoritism of boys in many Korean families, part of what sparked the 4B movement that is now gaining traction worldwide? It's annoying how the female lead is only allowed to be strong and protective of males, but isn't allowed to be strong and save herself or other female characters. Jo Wan-tae, the curly haired sidekick manlet of the cult was really hateable. While it makes sense for this plot, more justice should have been dished out to him. At a certain point, there were too many characters and some didn't add much to the story.
Overall, this series could've been done so much better. Hopefully future kdramas about cults will take some lessons from this series' drawbacks.
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