I loved this series overall and it's definitely become a favourite. Two letdowns;
a) Jang Seung-jun as a character doesn't work in the drama. He's wasn't funny or insightful. He had no chemistry with any of the cast and his villainous appearances weren't charismatic, interesting or even moved the plot forward. He is a wholly misplaced character whose whiny attitude and lack of value to the drama makes me feel he could be written out in the first episode of season 2 and literally nothing would change and no value would be lost. Every interaction he had was painful. You could argue that he served as a minor catalyst for Kwon Min-Woo's development as a character but that began before he had any major part in the drama so I don't find him necessary at all.
b) Episode 9 was painful. The drama is episodic so naturally you're going to have variance in quality due to some stories being more interesting than others but episode 9 was genuinely shockingly bad.
I am a huge fan of Johnnie To, however this did not feel like a Johnnie To film. It seems like being set/shot in Mainland China suffocated the style he became known for.
Fantastic film - I think the biggest 'what if' of the film was the failures to a) more closely examine the new relationship as widow and widower and b) examine how the widower is also dealing with their situation. I understand this is based on a novel which I have not read but by the end I felt there was actually way too much emphasis on the coastal setting/environment rather than what could have been an even higher quality insight into grief and understanding between the two. This film is relatively sparse on dialogue which is understandably a facet of grief, however I believe it could demonstrated that - and more.
This was a really refreshing watch and actually a good representation of what it's like to work in a call center. It just totally deadens your soul - the endless calls of nasty/crazy people is a real root cause of forming a habit of suppressing emotions and becoming naturally withdrawn.
The story let itself down at two critical points - Jina should have had a proper reunion with Sujin. The phone call for me was not on point with the themes of the film and it would have been better if they met to eat together and become friends or at least had a proper goodbye. Sujin served as a startling contrast to Jina and deserved a higher quality end to her story segment. Jina also telling her father she'll be checking on him through a web camera in his room, to me, was creepy, rather than supposedly endearing/comforting. Can you imagine if someone told you that? Again, it would have been better if they had an actual reunion.
The first half of this show is incredible (solid 10/10 material). It then loses all tension and leans very heavily into the comedy/romance aspects - sometimes to its detriment. Seo Dan's/Gu Seung-jun relationship arc comes to a genuinely dreadful end, not only was it completely rushed (despite having ample time to avoid this) but totally unfufilling and didn't appear in line with the story overall. Their arc was sacrificed for soft petting and 50 goodbye scenes between Ri Jeong-hyeok and Yoon Se-ri.
The soldiers in Company 5 were amazing and really carried the show at times, their adventures in the second half seriously retained my waning interest due to loss of tension. Jung Man-bok was a standout character outside of the main duo and his storyline reminded me of the incredible film 'The Lives of Others'. The North Korean villagers were also a surprisingly great addition to the cast as I didn't expect so much focus on them. This is a fantastic drama, the production values are high, but lets not pretend it isn't supremely flawed in so many ways due to the huge change in setting half way through.
a) Jang Seung-jun as a character doesn't work in the drama. He's wasn't funny or insightful. He had no chemistry with any of the cast and his villainous appearances weren't charismatic, interesting or even moved the plot forward. He is a wholly misplaced character whose whiny attitude and lack of value to the drama makes me feel he could be written out in the first episode of season 2 and literally nothing would change and no value would be lost. Every interaction he had was painful. You could argue that he served as a minor catalyst for Kwon Min-Woo's development as a character but that began before he had any major part in the drama so I don't find him necessary at all.
b) Episode 9 was painful. The drama is episodic so naturally you're going to have variance in quality due to some stories being more interesting than others but episode 9 was genuinely shockingly bad.
The story let itself down at two critical points - Jina should have had a proper reunion with Sujin. The phone call for me was not on point with the themes of the film and it would have been better if they met to eat together and become friends or at least had a proper goodbye. Sujin served as a startling contrast to Jina and deserved a higher quality end to her story segment. Jina also telling her father she'll be checking on him through a web camera in his room, to me, was creepy, rather than supposedly endearing/comforting. Can you imagine if someone told you that? Again, it would have been better if they had an actual reunion.
The soldiers in Company 5 were amazing and really carried the show at times, their adventures in the second half seriously retained my waning interest due to loss of tension. Jung Man-bok was a standout character outside of the main duo and his storyline reminded me of the incredible film 'The Lives of Others'. The North Korean villagers were also a surprisingly great addition to the cast as I didn't expect so much focus on them. This is a fantastic drama, the production values are high, but lets not pretend it isn't supremely flawed in so many ways due to the huge change in setting half way through.