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Just bewitched.. this was the end product??
Honest to god, what did I expect with this. I expected a melancholic and intimate take on the synopsis given. I haven’t watched the Chinese drama, or read the source material. I watched the trailer and have looked at the promotions, that lead me to believe this would be a bleak drama with emotional scenes and whatnot.
For what is here there is a lot of potential. I really say that a lot but it is true. This drama has a few things holding it back, but for the most part I can see it seriously working itself out.
The female lead is very gorgeous and has a certain look that I understand why she was cast, as for her acting capabilities only time will tell. Park Jinyoung will always serve, and his character is lacking as of now with the tenacious nature and lack of growth. That isn’t a problem yet because he likely will grow within the episodes!
For a first start this drama started off slow. It wasn’t that captivating, maybe that is because I’ve been watching hit after hit these days. Nonetheless it isn’t awful at all, it is just sort of slow and misdirected here and there. Especially with the lack of emotion for the FL, I get that it is mostly directing choice as her character could seem more offputing that way, but at least have the eyes have some emotion.. she is human after all.. or is she.. I really wish the actress would have some range with her emotions so in return the audience.. I don’t know.. could feel some sort of empathy for her. I, personally don’t care since her reaction is the same mundane for ever even. Stylistic or direction choice, doesn’t matter- it is not an effective way to grab your audience, and it’s a horrible method on all fronts. It makes the female actress look like she can’t act, and makes the character seem paper thin. She is a highschool girl, but watching I just know she is made up and fictional.. I know I’m watching fiction- but there are a lot of media that is fiction and the characters aren’t real yet you feel for them.
Besides all that my main issue is with Dong Jin. It is set up that he is an analytical person, he can read people quite well. He isn’t loud of bold, and he doesn’t have ultieror motives. Honestly the guy is normal, but then he stalks this woman that he hasn’t ever talked to. He justifies this because it is meant to be, as them seeing eachother again is now making it fate. I wish he would have used his voice, a let the guy speak rather than him looking into things for either intuition, or this said ‘fate’. I just don’t appreciate when ML goes around the neighborhood to see where FL lives, when A. He didn’t talk to her in highschool ever, and B. It has been several years and he didn’t make his presence known. That makes him creepier than the FL, because he actually has a choice.. and is hung up on this girl because she was mysterious and was his crush. Maybe the drama will get meta, because he is no different from all the other guys that liked her, or maybe he just has plot armor.. the guy is just so methodical so I don’t get why he doesn’t explain himself and stalks the FL home ok..
It just isn’t paced well with the flashbacks and then to the present, it’s slow, and non reflective. There isn’t suspense to any of it, and it’s rather frustrating and predictable. What convinces me of this is that the majority of the second episodes are showing scenes you watched in the first episode, this time just without Jinyoung narrating. The FL instead narrates, as if the visuals aren’t a bore to watch, I watched them one day prior and constantly have a raised brow. Reshowing the same scenes for several minutes with no new context is a blatant wast of the viewers time. It is poorly directed if there was nothing of substance to put in. A show that does the flashbacks correctly is King of Pigs, as it had an overarching story to the flashbacks over the case of several episodes rather than just using one episode. That way you wanted to watch more, and it helped that the story actually had a hook. Here there is nothing about the past that you don’t already know, nothing is being revealed and it just extends what you were told.
Directing issues stem in multiple areas here. The tone of the drama is being forced, as the dialogue doesn’t make you emotional, but they rather use a dim lighting and soundtrack to evoke that emotion. I wished it would have carefully done a slow burn to each pivotal moment, instead of the shameless tactics. The best dramas usually have the most impactful scenes when it is just raw human emotion, and early on in this drama it is trying way too hard to make you feel a sense of dread and mystery.
This drama has an unfortunate case of misdirection and miscasting. It isn’t well done in so many areas that I am having a hard time saying something I like about it. If you need to pad the runtime with scenes you have already shown, dare I say cut the episode down? It’s a disservice to your viewers, and leaves the project feeling half baked and rushed. So the characters aren’t consistent, the chemistry isn’t there, the tone is forced, the editing is dragging, and that equals to a pretty crappy drama. The writing also panders, hate to say it- but when a narration occurs for several minutes over film you had watched prior- they are quite literally telling you what is happen. The audience is not allergic to suspense and making connections themselves… I can’t kid myself, I think my time may be wasted.
For what is here there is a lot of potential. I really say that a lot but it is true. This drama has a few things holding it back, but for the most part I can see it seriously working itself out.
The female lead is very gorgeous and has a certain look that I understand why she was cast, as for her acting capabilities only time will tell. Park Jinyoung will always serve, and his character is lacking as of now with the tenacious nature and lack of growth. That isn’t a problem yet because he likely will grow within the episodes!
For a first start this drama started off slow. It wasn’t that captivating, maybe that is because I’ve been watching hit after hit these days. Nonetheless it isn’t awful at all, it is just sort of slow and misdirected here and there. Especially with the lack of emotion for the FL, I get that it is mostly directing choice as her character could seem more offputing that way, but at least have the eyes have some emotion.. she is human after all.. or is she.. I really wish the actress would have some range with her emotions so in return the audience.. I don’t know.. could feel some sort of empathy for her. I, personally don’t care since her reaction is the same mundane for ever even. Stylistic or direction choice, doesn’t matter- it is not an effective way to grab your audience, and it’s a horrible method on all fronts. It makes the female actress look like she can’t act, and makes the character seem paper thin. She is a highschool girl, but watching I just know she is made up and fictional.. I know I’m watching fiction- but there are a lot of media that is fiction and the characters aren’t real yet you feel for them.
Besides all that my main issue is with Dong Jin. It is set up that he is an analytical person, he can read people quite well. He isn’t loud of bold, and he doesn’t have ultieror motives. Honestly the guy is normal, but then he stalks this woman that he hasn’t ever talked to. He justifies this because it is meant to be, as them seeing eachother again is now making it fate. I wish he would have used his voice, a let the guy speak rather than him looking into things for either intuition, or this said ‘fate’. I just don’t appreciate when ML goes around the neighborhood to see where FL lives, when A. He didn’t talk to her in highschool ever, and B. It has been several years and he didn’t make his presence known. That makes him creepier than the FL, because he actually has a choice.. and is hung up on this girl because she was mysterious and was his crush. Maybe the drama will get meta, because he is no different from all the other guys that liked her, or maybe he just has plot armor.. the guy is just so methodical so I don’t get why he doesn’t explain himself and stalks the FL home ok..
It just isn’t paced well with the flashbacks and then to the present, it’s slow, and non reflective. There isn’t suspense to any of it, and it’s rather frustrating and predictable. What convinces me of this is that the majority of the second episodes are showing scenes you watched in the first episode, this time just without Jinyoung narrating. The FL instead narrates, as if the visuals aren’t a bore to watch, I watched them one day prior and constantly have a raised brow. Reshowing the same scenes for several minutes with no new context is a blatant wast of the viewers time. It is poorly directed if there was nothing of substance to put in. A show that does the flashbacks correctly is King of Pigs, as it had an overarching story to the flashbacks over the case of several episodes rather than just using one episode. That way you wanted to watch more, and it helped that the story actually had a hook. Here there is nothing about the past that you don’t already know, nothing is being revealed and it just extends what you were told.
Directing issues stem in multiple areas here. The tone of the drama is being forced, as the dialogue doesn’t make you emotional, but they rather use a dim lighting and soundtrack to evoke that emotion. I wished it would have carefully done a slow burn to each pivotal moment, instead of the shameless tactics. The best dramas usually have the most impactful scenes when it is just raw human emotion, and early on in this drama it is trying way too hard to make you feel a sense of dread and mystery.
This drama has an unfortunate case of misdirection and miscasting. It isn’t well done in so many areas that I am having a hard time saying something I like about it. If you need to pad the runtime with scenes you have already shown, dare I say cut the episode down? It’s a disservice to your viewers, and leaves the project feeling half baked and rushed. So the characters aren’t consistent, the chemistry isn’t there, the tone is forced, the editing is dragging, and that equals to a pretty crappy drama. The writing also panders, hate to say it- but when a narration occurs for several minutes over film you had watched prior- they are quite literally telling you what is happen. The audience is not allergic to suspense and making connections themselves… I can’t kid myself, I think my time may be wasted.
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