Case of Episode 1+2, why did the nurse bother reporting anyone? They were down to hours until she would be forever…
Episode 12 is the perfected example of why this series doesn't function. Is this a horrible series, no. It is entertaining. And for this reason alone is why many like it. However, as entertaining as it might be, it never can pull itself above mediocrity because the writing and plotting just will not allow it.
I have already highlighted some issues above, and then under spoiler put in some plot point commentary. However, I began refraining from doing so further. There is no need for me to pick apart each case or episode. Even though, I want so very badly to do just that. Episode 12 is seriously pushing me to my limits in not doing a complete deconstruction here.
So in broad generic non- spoiler terms.
Our 2 Main Male leads act the same in episode 12 as they do in episode 1. This is a major problem. Neither have grown as characters in any way which considering what they have learned about time, events, the cases they have moved through together and what they have uncovered about those around them, to behave in the same manner and approach situations in the same way is boggling at the least.
They also act as if they are untouchable. Openly and outwardly letting those they suspect as corrupt or duplicitous know they are gunning for them. They lob threats like throwing away chewing gum wrappers, and approach every case as if they are blunt instruments instead of seasoned trained detectives. And then, they actually tell these very people the details of the cases they are working, knowing that those people are corrupt. Then get flustered and surprised when crap starts going sideways.
It is incredibly frustrating and infuriating to watch. This makes them their own worst enemies and creates most of the problems they actually have to try and get around.
Meanwhile our Female lead has become the ineffectual member of the team. Which isn't shocking considering the amount sexism on display and the problematic victimization they have done to women in this show. Hell, our Female Lead has been victimized TWICE for the sake of plot, (In the back of a freezer truck, and the hands of a serial killer). In the past, the female lead is in training, so being unprepared is understandable. When we meet her in episode 1, she has become a jaded paper pusher who is respected for a past we do not see or EVER LEARN ABOUT, but presently has become a nothing on the force. And now she is the leader of the team, AWESOME, yet it takes a man, our male lead who is a fresh newbie, to bring the cases that need solving, and figure out all the missing pieces....and in the meantime she is virginal-ly waiting for the corpse of the 1 man she loved who has gone missing to be discovered. And again needs to be saved by the other male leads multiple times.
The main crux of how the plot functions with these characters, is to keep information out of everyone's hands. The female lead doesn't tell of her past, her love, or her mentor. Our Main lead, doesn't tell his past, why he is there, why he is looking into fellow officers, or any of the information he discovers on any of the cases until he is forced to. Our second male lead, refuses to work with anyone and tells nothing to nobody and acts hurt when he gets betrayed and looks around and has no friends.
Information is relayed in the most plot divisive ways instead of naturally or with any intuition by the characters.
I'm still holding my tongue on specifics but I wish I could just fully elaborate what I mean by all these comments.
Oh, and what is the rhyme or reason of how the walkie operates? Its in linear time in 1 timeline while functioning over decades in the other timeline. And yet, we know it only works at 11:23 (which I think I've figured out why that time) but why not that time every night. I mean many things could be ironed or worked out if the main leads would and could communicate, but the walkie seems to only come alive when the plot wants it too.
Acting has also gotten better too, more natural instead of the over the top stuff they use to do before. Once…
There might be. As all cultures have their own history with the arts. I heavily see Japanese influence in Korean Dramas, from cartoon sound-effects, to trope characters, stock side characters, and over-the-top storytelling and acting. Anime themes are very present in K-Dramas.
But as you talk of "natural" or real being based on European standards, I don't quite agree. There is a natural evolution to art, especially theater. Even by today's standards, if you go to see a play in the west, the type of story , how it's portrayed, and the way performers ACT is very different than what you get in film or television.
Performing on stage, or in a traveling troupe, or live in general requires a very different set of skills than performing on camera. Everything is heightened to be overly dramatic so those even in the back of the theater can see what is happening. More leeway must be given in the social contract that is the suspension of disbelief in plays as sets, props, changes in time, etc...become relative and limited.
This created a problem, and even the WEST did it for a very long time, in which moving to film kept these non-realistic acting standards. Which is the silver screen of Hollywood where musicals, niors, and grand romances owned the day.
Slowly, over time, the medium of the screen took shape and these began to fade. Musicals were left to the stage, niors became gritty crime dramas, and grand romances went to daytime soap operas or realistic stories of everyday people in everyday lives. Everyone didn't have to be super rich, the man the greatest catch in the world, the outfits as if everyone was about to walk down a runway. And then realistic stories of just life began being told in all their dirt, quirks, and imperfections.
On camera you could create realism and realistic fantasy (Marvel anyone). This has become the standard of film and tv. But it was an evolution to get there.
Asian Dramas in general seem to be going through these steps. Their stories are modern and set in today, but are still built and told, and acted like the West in the past. Everyone is rich, or wants to be rich. Everyone is fashionable and beautiful and the archetype of society. Everyone acts as a proper woman or man should act in society. When telling real stories they are exaggerated to become grandiose, and the rough edges rounded to be tame. Etc....but as the stories become repetitive, and the culture shifts and grows...so to does their art.
Japan has already mostly shucked this false husk of storytelling while K-Dramas have not.
China is currently once again clamping down on C-dramas and actors to reign in how their shows are reflecting society in order to keep society from changing. Because they don't want this evolution in society or art.
However, it is not a direct carbon copy of the west. As eastern ideas, histories, and styles still prevail. And again its going through this growth in a different age than the west and in a very different world.
Okay, this has a lot of opinion and anecdotal evidence without actually supporting or backing up any of what the article claims. For example:
1) You bring up Vincenzo as an example of Netflix Western influence on K-Drama and then do not give a single example of what that influence is or how Vincenzo is different than other K_Drams.
For me, who has downed 140 shows in about 6 months, yes I just ventured into the Asian Drama world this year, I found Vincenzo to be VERY Korean and I only gave it a 7 out of 10.
My examples supporting this statement are as follows:
All the side characters are cartoons and not real people, and mostly there to act like anime characters and bring comic relief, (This is a big problem in K dramas and really Asian dramas overall.) The structure of the show is 1 season completing the entire series with over hour long episodes and a count of 20. COMPLETELY K-Drama structure. It used music ques, songs, and score over and over again and equated classical music to being educated and wealthy...all of these the style of K-dramas to save on soundtrack costs and traditional tropes. It romanticized Western cultures and places, namely Europe. Common in K-Dramas. The story was ultra violent and bloody at times, but the romance was childish and stunted as if we were watching High-schoolers flirt with one another and not mature adults. And as always a single kiss with the highlight, slow motion and all, of their affection. LIKE all K-dramas that violence is okay but human relationships are dirty, stuck in the Western 50's and 60-'s television Donna Reed era where married couples slept in separate beds. Most of the courtroom cases and shenanigans were undeniably unrealistic, not even attempting to appeal to true law, and the story was PLOT driven and NOT character driven, meaning people came and left and failed and succeeded, and were one way and then another way whenever the plot needed them to be and do and work. (This is starting to really get to me with K-Dramas. While this happens in the west frequently, it is normally the sign of poor writing, and low quality goods. But in Korea, these are shows getting 8.6 and 9+ ratings here on MDL and are huge hits in ratings.) The show goes for over-the-top gusto and over-acting instead of realism. (This is one of the single largest differences in Western entertainment vs Korean the lack of realism) And the villian of the show is seriously a cartoon psychopath that is better fit for a cartoon or comic book than a real living breathing enemy. A massive K-drama problem when it comes to creating any type of villain.
So what was the "Western" Netflix influence?
2) You claim K-Dramas are now starting to be multiple seasons....but then say it happens in J-Dramas and even name one you are looking forward to, (After saying you hate waiting for seasons)
Yet, I know of 1 K-drama so far that has more than 1 season, Kingdom. Sweet Home is rumored to have a 2nd but it isn't officially announced. Taxi Driver is getting a second season, but that isn't made by a western company or distributed currently globally and the season 2 isn't actually made yet or known when it will release. All the other Netflix shows (again your example of westernization) are so far single seasons. Even with the cliffhanger ending and number 1 rank on MDL that Move to Heaven has, there still is no official announcement of a 2nd season...this isn't to say there aren't others, but the VAST MAJORITY of K-dramas that I have heard about, watched, have recommended to me, and know are all 1 season.
However I have come across multiple J-Dramas with multiple seasons and or special episodes or completions. Hell the NETFLIX J-drama (Yes Netflix makes Japanese Dramas too) Alice in Borderland is an example of one that is already filming its second season. Ossana's Love has multiple seasons, and of course there is the one you mentioned above, and this is just to name a few.
So how is this a difference between the two sets of content?
3) You claim you do not like fantasy, supernatural, or violence (Which is cutting out and excluding a MASSIVE swath of content if you truly adhere to this) and say J-Dramas offer more than K-Dramas. I cannot argue this, however, I can argue its opposite. That is the BULK of K-dramas I've watched do not have any fantasy supernatural elements...I've actually sought out the ones that do, because I got bored. Violence...yeah, anything Period Piece related gets violent and then there are actually action shows....
However I have found JUST as many J-Dramas that are fantasy, HUGE amounts of Supernatural, and violent you betcha....VERY VIOLENT. Also Japan is more western when it comes to relationships and sex and thus on top nudity and actual mature relationships are easily and readily found in their content. Slow motion kisses from 18 different angles are not the norm climax for a Japanese relationship....THOUGH, they do make those shows as well, for people who want that.
So I feel this is just your biased opinion on what you search for and watch other than what K-Dramas and J-Dramas actually make and put out.
And finally, your claims of Japanese isolationism in media and attitude instead of homogenizing in globalization and becoming western.
This is a complete misunderstanding on your part.
Japan is THE most Westernized Asian nation outside of those that were actually controlled by Western Powers. They globalized half a century ago. Their goods and products are largely the second strongest in the world and have been since the later 70's through the 80's. From Automobiles (Honda/Acura, Toyota/Lexus, etc) to gaming (Nintendo Sony PlayStation, Sega) to Anime and Manga (A world wide multi-billion dollar entertainment phenom) to decor (There is a defined aesthetic used in interior design and furniture making) to even food (How many people eat Sushi worldwide and number of Sushi or Hibachi restaurants exist (Wagyu or Kobe Beef anyone) compared to Korean restaurants or styled food) And Japan has stronger relations with western countries than eastern countries in general. (Hated by both Korea and China).
The entertainment you watch is already the product of the western and Japanese mixing together. This is why you probably actually like Japanese Dramas more. Because they actually appeal more to western styles. They produce a wide variety of entertainment and can run the gamut on childlike to mature audiences, it is not a 1 size fits all unlike traditional K-Drama. They also don't create JUST romantic melodramas.
Korea is relatively new to the scene and yes is currently globalizing their product (IN ALL INDUSTRIES not just entertainment) They have been one of the fastest countries to industrialize and move into the global view. And you are watching their evolution as they do this. If there are any moving changes to their entertainment, (Perceived or real), this is why.
And by the way, Netflix does very very little to influence on a shows creation. It is why so many in the entertainment industry want to work with them. They are a closed platform. The algorithm will decide if you get a second season or not, but season 1 for the most part is whatever you create. And their shows are created by people, and companies, in each of their foreign markets, to appeal to that specific market and gain subscriptions.
Reached episode 4 and my teeth are grinding. I keep lengthening the leash I allow these characters and stories…
Case of Episode 1+2, why did the nurse bother reporting anyone? They were down to hours until she would be forever free, literally like 2 hours, and then she calls in a tip leading everyone straight to her.
Why? Why not just watch everyone chase their tails until the clock ran out and then go laughing into the night free as a bird?
Answer: because the plot needed her to so they could solve it. They didn't write the story in away that the police could get to her otherwise.
Case of Episode 3+4 No one in 26 years ever thought to even ask the Bus driver if he had a son, let alone look at his situation. And I mean no one, even our current modern team, question him, but never look...seriously. And our main character, who is a modern day profiler, takes an entire backstory from a fellow bus co-worker and gets a call saying the found DNA matches the old man in question, and he stands stupified, no he too old, hes too old, and then the co-worker says he would do anything for his son....WAIT HE HAS A SON??!!!! DUH DUH DUHHHH. Eye roll, as the viewers , or maybe just me, had come to this conclusion long ago and was justy frustrated no one else on screen had.
Our main male lead then makes a call to the Female Lead who is at the hospital about to meet the believed old man suspect and they decide to have a casual chat....No he doesn't open the conversation with, "Hey, its not the old man its his son." But instead they talk about evidence, and stories, and other banal information while the music swells and the female cop tensely searches the room with her gun in her hand...and then...then...ITS THE SON!!!...and she is just in front of him so he can attack her.....
Meanwhile the Old man suspect seeing the police come into the building decides to turn himself in...but not to these police...no. He leaves and goes to their competition to turn himself in while our team is on the elevators on their way up to him. Why would he bother sneaking out of the hospital and to the other police? So the plot could have the big reveal in the press conference later as its more dramatic showing the inept police and their pride.
Back to our main male lead on the walkie with the past and our 2nd Male lead, now devastated that he couldn't save his love, because an entire station of cops were being mean bullys instead of doing work, and he immediately asks, did you get the killer, was it the bus driver? It was the bus driver...and AGAIN OUR MAIN LEAD DECIDES TO TALK ABOUT FEELINGS AND BEING A MONSTER instead of saying AGAIN, No it is his son, so now we get 10 minutes of over-the top crying and screaming with a full 5 minute flashback of finding the dead body, to then the cop leaving the walkie and running out into the night, and ONLY then does our main lead decide to say anything useful...yet still not that it's the son....but instead about a random woman who has been blackmailing killers for the last 20 years...because this is realistic television. Does it matter anyway since no one was there to listen to what he was saying by this point?
Can't even talk about this random woman who was blackmailing a serial killer. HAHA just laughable....but what I can question is why everyone feels like they are the reason for her death, diving into the case and reopening closed wounds, her death is on them.....ya know, not the fact that she had no moral compass and let killers roam free while blackmailing them...that's not the reason.
YET NO ONE HAS ISSUES with the perfectly innocent man who was walking to the bus and got attacked by police, arrested, and then brutalized, only to have a seizure and die. NO ONE THINKS THAT IS ON THEIR HANDS...considering the only reason that happened is because our two main leads changed the past and put the cop in the past at the crime scene as it happened and thus into a chase sequence.
And yeah, just when they needed a break, the dad goes and murders the blackmailing woman and tries to copycat his son's killing. If he was trying to shut her up, WHY THE HELL DID HE TRY AND MAKE IT LOOK LIKE THE SERIAL KILLER? Cause that just linked the murders together...and again ultimately is the reason they were all caught...if he wanted to wack her...why not make it look totally random? So it would be a completely different case ? LOGIC is WHERE?
Answer: Logic is wherever the plot needs it to be for the purpose of the story.
And then a Slow Jam pop song 5 minute interlude to close out the episode with all the characters whaling and crying over their losses.....needed why? I dunno. But, I can say melodramatic much.
Reached episode 4 and my teeth are grinding. I keep lengthening the leash I allow these characters and stories to get away with in order to stay engaged. No one is behaving believably, and everyone outside our main characters are corrupt, inept, care more about their, or so-in-so's, reputation, or all 3 things combined than ever doing a lick of police work . The main information that needs to be transmitted via walkies is omitted on purpose for plots sake, or told at just the last minute to try and create as much dramatic tension as possible.....Even in the characters own timelines they specifically omit information just to keep the plot going between each other....Witnesses help cover up murders without having any reason for doing so. And murderers who have been scott free for 15+ years and outsmarted all the detectives, just suddenly decide to do the very thing they need to do in order to get caught now that their cases are being reopened and investigated. Seriously?
Okay........on episode 14 and I'm about to give up. Well, I mean I want to...but I've come this far so I probably…
Episode 17 ended up being my last fully watched episode. I made it half way through episode 18 and just couldn't do it anymore....I skimmed the rest of the episode plus episodes19-21.
SO CLOSE.....SOOO CLOSE....
The brother getting more screen time almost saved it for me.
It became overly melodramatic and sentimental towards the end, much like a Hallmark movie. Without giving any spoilers, to the BIG BAD, and its eye roll inducing resolution, the climactic scene of the show takes place on a Premier Red Carpet with everyone in black tie formal evening ware, as the theme song "You are my Destiny" bellows over the soundtrack for the, maybe literal, thousandth time. I never want to hear that song again. I think it could be used to torture me if someone decides they hate me. In what, is honestly an empty, hollow, shallow, and worse banal finally and final moments that made me happy I resorted to skimming and also sad that I faithfully watched 17 whole episodes beginning to end.
BTW, can anyone answer me who they were talking to in the study. Suddenly about 1/3 to halfway through the series our main male lead starts breaking the 4th wall....I dunno why honesty...to sort of video journal recaps of events and give some ruminations...Then towards the end both our female and male leads start doing this.
Who is interviewing them? Why are they sitting in the secret private study of our main Male Lead and in his chair at his desk. Why is this happening?
How does this have such a high rating? I mean Kim Soo Hyun is an extremely attractive man, I'll give everyone...kinda why I bothered in the first place...but an 8.6 out of 10 for this....Who paid who off? I gave it a 5...at the lower end of average in a best case scenario.
I agree it was too slow, but I actually really liked the lack of conflict and the calm, peaceful vibe. I am a…
I getcha on wanting something not melodramatic or in your face. It is nice to just escape sometimes to sweet sugarville...I'm with ya.
But....there still must be conflict.
Inner struggle, relationship struggle, outward struggle, or simply a goal the character is trying to achieve.....every story told...slice of life or not...has to have a central conflict, as mild as it may be, to create a journey for the characters. It can be small as pin prick, but it must be.
Also, as for what this episode gave and didn't give us.
Our Chef....(main character) what do you know about him? And it can't be he's a chef that owns a restaurant. Anything at all about him, his personality, his goals in life, his past, what slice of his life is he currently in?
There are ONLY 10 episodes in this series and 1 is now gone...and in it you have learned nothing about a main character, the first character seen on screen in the show.
Let alone, any other character....If it isn't going to be a plot driven show (Big conflict stuff), then it MUST be character driven...however....45 minutes and we know nothing about any character except 1...and the 1 we did learn something about was as basic information as we could get without saying we got nothing...
"he grew up around food and his family runs a restaurant out of their house out in the country, but his mother wants more than a cooking life for him so he is in school studying and not following his own passion."
And this one statement is all that can be extracted from that 45 minutes.
There was honestly maybe 15 minutes of story , let alone dialogue in the whole episode.
Actors are very attractive Sets are very attractive Production quality is very attractive.
So a lot of pretty things to look at and nothing else.
I see some saying slow burn...no, there is slow burn and there is GLACIAL.
Anyone who knows anything about crafting a teleplay, novel, etc...is that the 1st Chapter (Episode) is the single most important of the story. It has so much heavy lifting to do. Introduce the characters, the plot, the world we will be living in, all while grabbing the viewer/readers attention and making them want to come back for seconds...(Food pun)
There are YouTube channels dedicated to watching the first and last episode only of a series....reviews that punch out their entire view of a series from the first episode...readers who choose to read or not read a book based on the 1st chapter...HELL in the west THE PILOT episode (1st of the series) is what production companies use to decide if they will or will NOT pick up a series...
And this show's first episode is 45 minutes of no plot, minor character development of only the lead (not even the second lead) side characters that are not introduced at all but come in for 1 scene (Pastry chef) and only a hint at the premise of the show...
Is this about a delivery boy becoming a chef and nothing else? Is knowing there will be some type of love story enough to come back because right now all we know is that one character's olfactory abilities are impressing the other? Is watching someone put on an apron for 5 minutes in slow motion a climactic ending to an episode?
When I watched the commercial there seemed to be some type of competition and a soulful finding yourself journey.... none of that was on display here nor even hinted at.
Also is there any conflict in this show? The largest thing this 1st episode omitted was any reason for us to be involved in what was happening. What is the obstacle any of the characters are trying to overcome?
A serious disappointment...I was excited about this...and with all the top notch production values it makes it even more of a let down....Ill see what episode 2 is like, but it really needs to give me a whole lot more.
The beginning is very rough. The 2 main leads basically are in a competition on which one can be the most arrogant…
Okay........on episode 14 and I'm about to give up. Well, I mean I want to...but I've come this far so I probably will finish it...but its really hard to swallow at this point.
The Main Female lead has grown on me a lot and I actually really enjoy her. I also wish there were more scenes with her and her brother. I kinda like him and wish they would develop him more. I'd like to spend more time with their brother sister relationship.
The Main Male lead is complete waste of space. He is now so deeply entrenched in cliches that all his thought processes, actions, and the scenarios he finds himself are unbelievable and unrealistic. No one with any logical developed brain would make the decisions he does, let alone do the things he is now doing. He is a daytime soap opera character ripped to prime-time and given massively powerful superpowers that he single-handedly reduces to uselessness. Everything he does at this point is an excuse to extend the plot for the sake of having more episodes instead of actually trying to resolve any issue being presented in any viable manner or with any modicum of realism.
It is rage inducing and simply bad writing and storytelling.....REALLY BAD.
The rest of the cast I am just so very much over. Her mother is honestly my least favorite. I'm finding myself picking up my phone and doing other stuff when the FL isn't on screen anymore...and I have even sinned, and skipped a handful of scenes just because I could care less.
The beginning is very rough. The 2 main leads basically are in a competition on which one can be the most arrogant ahole. All the side characters, from the mooching exploitative mother, selfish manager, controlling want to be husband, and conniving dishonest best friend make not a single character worth anyone's time..
I quit the series twice, with months between viewing, before reaching the 3rd episode...
But it gets better....at least one of the leads does anyway.
Though now I'm on episode 11 and I'm very frustrated.
The male lead, who's somewhere between 400-1000 years old, has multiple degrees from the top schools in the world, is a professor with full knowledge of medicine and law, has also amassed a fortune that marvels Korea's most wealthy, and to top it off lived through the horrors of the Joseon Period...
Let alone he also has super strength, telekinesis, teleportation, heightened hearing, super healing, immunity to poisons, super speed and CAN FREEZE TIME!!!!
Yet, a weasel businessman who laughs like a Disney villain and spins his finger ring while hatching nefarious plans, along with a single henchman, outsmart, outmaneuver, and outmatch him over and over again....
He makes the most inept decisions regarding the main big bad, and constantly fumbles every interaction, and has learned nothing on how to beat an enemy....if he was in GOT, super alien or not, he wouldn't have made it through a single episode with his head....
And it's wearing on me hard, getting really ridiculous, and how hes survived this long while being so ineffectual is the most amazing feat of the series. Biggest waste of super powers maybe ever.
Why, is all I'm asking. While I'm not a fan of Money Heist to begin with, why are they making a "Korean Version" when the Spanish Version isn't even finished...Since Netflix is a worldwide company and made the show for a worldwide audience, why is Korea getting their own version of it. How is it needed at all? Why not just make an entirely new Korean property that is in the same genre instead of remaking your own programming in a different country at the same time while still airing the other version...? Will Koreans not watch a Spanish drama like the rest of us?
Moo G seemed like a good guy...I wish we could have spent more time with him or made him come in and out of the series in some way...the Reaper in him is an ahole...funny...but an ahole....the ML is great in the role, and brings the character to life...and is sexy while doing it. Though the black outfits and better hairstyle unquestioningly help once he is taken over.
The female lead is driving me crazy tho. I don't know if it's the actress or the character...but she flips from strong and ball busting to fragile and helpless in a split second. Yes, the hair is awful and her outfits even worse, but that is out of the actress's control. She has been stumbling drunk multiple times already and tried to kill herself...not a spoiler...yet she fights with everyone and refuses to help anyone. Still though she wants help from everyone and cries over the hardship that is being her. Agency comes and goes at will and she so far does nothing to help herself and fight against those wronging her...just limp as a wet noodle. The actress cries every episode and three quarters of her lines are wailed or delivered at level 12, and as anyone can tell from this write up, she hasn't been able to create any empathy in me.
The story is fun tho..so far.
Drawback though, can someone repeatedly hit another with a golf club and not send them to the hospital? I mean those weren't love taps. He was being wailed on, and if I understand a golf club that would have made him a bloodied bruised broken boned mess. And why didn't he call the cops after...He already know his brother is trying to sell the company out from under him, while blaming him for its bankruptcy and in the meantime ruining his future. The brother has no love or brotherly affection for him and degrades him constantly and and now he has accosted him with a golf club...and yet, nothing is done...I mean he says buck up I'm gunna save this company with all I got buddy! whatever, so very unrealistic. Hated this whole scene...though there are now a couple scenes that just don't make logical sense like this one.
Okay so up to Episode 11...and...well...it keeps changing what story it wants to tell. So it's original start…
I finished it. 16 episodes done. And it was overall fun and I didn't hate it. But, I also didn't love it. Being fresh and original in a murder mystery is very very (one more) very hard. If the killer (s) is a passerby, one off, or outside the suspected circle of players the audience feels cheated and bamboozled. But, in being tied to the characters that the story has introduced us, makes it nearly impossible to create something shocking or new. Thus, it boils down to how it unravels and the story is told...(this is why some.comments bring up the cliches used or that they've seen it before. Which doesn't really say much about the show honestly...if your a fan of the genre then of course this is true.)
But unfortunately, there are some flaws in this shows execution and design.
The twist, never came for me. Maybe this was a problem. I was expecting a twist cause commenters...numerous...spoke of the ending being shocking, an incredible final twist, etc.....and so I purposely made sure I didn't get any spoilers and knew nothing more.
Yet, nothing played out outside of my expectations...and I ultimately felt let down...episode 15 was a gut clincher, The entire episode I was like what have I missed, who is gunna betray who, is our lead gunna finally lose it and go full joker holding the town at bomb point, like in the Chris Nolan's Film, and our second male lead is gunna have to suit up and save the day.
Or is our second male lead going to do the ultimate outside the lines art and betray everyone, proving his cold heartedness and self isolation.....
Will our leads die? One maybe...
Who is hiding under the stone not yet turned and what is the surprise???....I was almost giddy.
But episode 15 ended and then 16, and and...and ....
While, I will give the show props for 1 decent diversion just before the final set of episodes, it was a diversion spelled out in flames that had been set-up for quite some time...so it wasn't shocking...and seemed more as payoff than a twist.
Leaving the mystery part behind, I'll talk about the "character development." Back after episode 7, I did my original comment which was focused on the characters and what didn't and did work for me. And it remained true to the end.
I still don't feel our lead was a real person but instead a designed character. His arrogance was more off-putting than his joker grin. And he spends an awkward amount of time staring off in anger with his eyes wide a crazy just for dramatic affect. He also tends to talk towards horizons and not to people. This may be a blocking issue...I joke...but most definitely is a hit to authenticity and realism. When he speaks he delivers his lines like they are asides or monologues instead of conversations looking out at the night, or into a wall, or just nothing, until he gets to a juicy morsel, or rude comment, or agitating accusation, to which he will smile like the joker, or throw is eyes wide, or cackle and then turn towards whatever character he was supposed to be speaking and finally looks at them. This is like an actor on a stage who is constantly attempting dramatic affect and whose every conversation is meant to cause a rise out of someone on stage. This is just not how people behave in life an is more often the design of a cartoon villain. This never changes. In fact the only development this character has, is that in the end, he ends up liking someone who he didn't in the begining...though in honesty he starts liking this other characters pretty early on, just doesn't outwardly show it till the end. Otherwise there is no development or deviation from this caricature.
The second main lead is much much stronger. He does go through major development which I won't spoil here...and is by far the only reason I could stay involved. While he does have his mysophobia which isn't needed, metaphor for his growth and all, it isn't delivered outlandishly and thus he remains believable as a real person. I don't want to give stuff away, so I can't talk about him much without throwing this under a spoiler tag.....so I'm just gunna say..thank the writers for this character to stabilize the narrative and give me someone I can believe and connect.
The other characters don't have any development but are there to serve the plot, and they do so nicely. Again, as stated in my original comment, the side characters are something this show does very well and that holds up to the end.
Structurally the show has a lot of work to do. I've again already highlighted this. But episodes 1-7 and 11-16 are complete series, glued together by episodes 8-10. If this show had season 1, 2 and 3 with each storyline of these groups of episodes explored and turned into bridges from one season to the next for a complete whole series, this narrative structure would work and there is a shot at some greatness and mind bending television. But the show is just 1 season, and thus these changes in story, focus, and mysteries are abrupt, underdeveloped, and come off as slights or hand instead of needed. I can't delve more into this, again, without shuffling this under a spoiler tag. So maybe I'll do a spoiler write up to deconstruct this further.
I've already written a novel here, and yes still have more I can say, but I'm sure very few, if any, are interested. I gave the series a 7. 10 is perfection and 1 is trash. This makes a 5.5 completely average. A 7 is better than average and enjoyable. Is it worth a watch? Yep. Is it amazing? Nope. Did I enjoy myself? Ehh well enough. Will most people like it? I expect so.
So, I just finished episode 7... and so far this show has been a mess.Our main character LDS acts like Batman's…
Okay so up to Episode 11...and...well...it keeps changing what story it wants to tell. So it's original start was a "who dun it" then for a few episodes it was the "unpack the killer to find the bodies." To NEW crime...cliffhanger END SEASON 1...
Except it's all one season soooo...
Season 2 is just a reset.....months of time passed and the world of all the players have changed....but at the same time hasn't....and ohh here comes our 2 main leads at each other's throats again, on repeat, as frenemies...and the Joker is winding up his crazy grin and evil cackle...everyone trying hard to recapture the essence of season 1...wait..again...we are still in a singular season.....but now our by the rules guy has turned into a color outside the lines guy because... he has too... since everyone else is scribbling all over their coloring books with wild abandon...
and now we are back in a "who done it" story that mixes a fresh kill with our original killer didn't kill ALL the past victims...there's still someone else......
This plot twist better be a doozie and worth all this!!!
So, I just finished episode 7... and so far this show has been a mess.
Our main character LDS acts like Batman's Joker for 3 to 4 episodes straight, constantly adding gas to the fire of him being a suspected serial killer and marveling at the mess it makes...overacted to an Anime level, complete with long close-ups of one half of his face, or just eye, as it goes bloodshot, trembles, and stares off at nothing maniacally while easy listening music plays in the background..(I mean is this soundtrack supposed to be suspenseful or make us conjure up 60s era summer romances in Rio...cause I'm feeling the latter of the 2 options) Of course, given that there are 16 episodes and this is a "who dun it" story...it's not a spoiler to say this over-the-top pony show by our lead...leads us nowhere and is just a diversion for entertainment purposes, cause he's been acting normal for about 3 episodes now. This has made LDS come off as a character and not a human being let alone a cop...he is an actor playing an unrealistic cop....and you are constantly reminded of it.
Our other lead, HJW, is just very unlikable. He's an asshole...that has not given an inch so far in the 7 episodes to being anything else. Now, I've read comments here that people think he's poorly acted..and I disagree..he comes off arrogant, entitled, and condescending from the start and only wavers in his father's presence..I'm hoping we learn more about this relationship..and Jin Goo's subdued portrayal (though boring compared to our protagonist) is much more real and believable as a human being. His motivations, at least thus far, are clear. And unlike our lead when we are focused on him, I can actually let myself believe I'm with a cop and not a story of a cop.
Weirdly, the side characters are the largest treat. While K dramas have a very bad habit of making side characters walking punchlines, over the top, or just ridiculous...here all the side characters come off as real and authentic and enjoyable to watch...that is until the plot gets bored with our joker main character and wants to throw suspicion on someone else and they suddenly act like a villain until the plot clears them and they go back to being their character. Shrug.
Now a seemingly big shoe just unshockingly dropped by the end of episode 7...was I supposed to be thrilled or surprised by the turn of events? Cause all the characters and, yeah that music from Rio, seemed to tell me I should have been. But didn't they let this cat out of the bag like 3 episodes ago..and the only reason I was having to wait this long was because our Joker main lead was..well....being the Joker and letting everyone else in town get jailed, hunted, and framed for no real reason. Hell, text msgs are being sent from dead people's phones for 2 episodes because...um...well..because...um...drama...no a game...maayybbe because it seems cool.......I see you Pretty Little Liars...
But again 16 episodes.....and this only 7...soooo there's more...I'm just trying to come up with what 9 more episodes of more is and if I care...is the show gonna change it's objective...from "who dun it" to now a "how it was done." Or now it's one of those unpack the killer to find all the bodies...or there's an accomplice...or this is only the murder of some of these victims but not all. People say there's a big twist...Soo I guess I need to stick around for that.
Okay, so fu"* you episode 3....Apparently I'm doing a play by play as I go through this...naaa...just the switch…
Heading into episode 6....and...I dunno. Am I supposed to be rooting for Jae Eon? Maybe I hold grudges too much, but I'm not okay with the past because of the present, (trying to keep it vague for no spoilers). The GL side story seems stuck in neutral with the engine constantly whirring in the same repetitive circles...At least 1 out of the 3 relationships have made some progress since episode 3...our platonic side couple....the bus ride noodle man seems very kind, unrequited, and loyal. He is cute and an artist in his own way, but I'm afraid he is here to show the Nabia can cause pain as much as she is hurt by others....Nabia I've come to really like.
This is hard to watch...I get people's negative feelings to Nabi...after the end of episode 2...shes been warned…
Okay, so fu"* you episode 3....Apparently I'm doing a play by play as I go through this...naaa...just the switch from episode 2 to 3 is strong and I felt since episode 2 lead me here to rant...that I should come back for the cooling effect episode 3 had.Nabi reclaims her power, and I loved it. She wanted what she chose to do in episode 2 and did it and now in 3 realizes what it was and what it couldn't be and about faces....this episode put me back in her fighting corner....Jae Eon grew this episode....we think...while we know Nabi ex is a true blue as*hole, and until now Jae Eon has seemed to not be even a remotely tick better swimming the as*hole seas with aplomb....we are thrown some curve balls here...and learn some great lessons about what seems safe vs perceived...we also see there is a heart inside of even villians....Stupid Song Kang is still far too good at being Jae Eon and getting us as an audience to be like Nabi and fall for him...once he put down that hair dryer I couldn't image how I would have reacted if I was Nabi and he was coming for me like that.....weakness...I'm fully invested at this point in all of this show...I want the GL side story to continue to develop and am worried about hearts there...I think that kiss by our platonic sidekicks in the street is gonna cause a guys heart to get broken.....I am in this....Jae Eon whose the ponytails with a suitcase you meeting in an airport??? Huh...can we make it a sister? Is that allowed?
This is hard to watch...I get people's negative feelings to Nabi...after the end of episode 2...shes been warned by her friend, (Though , I'm lost as to why her friend arranged and pushed for them to meet in the first place to only turn around and say he is bad news).... she's felt the "off" ness of his smoothness and his too perfectness, has seen so many flashing red warning signs over his behavior that she has literally stopped in her tracks and pushed him away or left situations, but then what happens at the end of episode 2 in blatantly seeing Jae Eon disrespect her (dude was at her house) Nabi does what she does....she still DECIDES to...no spoiler...
While I like her spirit and her agency and taking the reigns of her own sexual freedom...I also now fully put whatever happens to her on her own shoulders....this was her choice, these are now her actions, she wasn't duped or going in blind...everyone, including Jae Eon himself have now let her know what type of person he is and where he stands and thus I have no sympathy for her moving forward. Which is gunna make the next 5 episodes hard to watch. If she is hurt by Jae Eon it's now on her.
And Song Kang as Jae Eon is too believable...after Navillera, Sweet Home, and Love Alarm 1 & 2 id become a bit of a fan...no lie...but this role has me rethinking my fandom...makes me wonder how close this character is to his true personality...also makes.me wonder why he was drawn to the character and made the choice to want to portray this person... Episode 3 and so far I hate this character...
And after what Nabi just did at the end of episode 2...God how it must have fed Jae Eon's ego. At the minimum it reinforced his predatory behavior and did nothing to make women anything more than objects for play and enjoyment to him....
Wait...so according to some links in this thread GB S2 is about expanding and following other characters from GB...so I'm guessing. The Alt GB of Achilles, Terrence, and Monster...I mean Wesely....
Does that mean that this is it for our beloved main pair? The movie's ending is the ending we get for Cai and Gav?....
I'm only starting ep6...and am looking forward to this unexpected ending you speak of because so far it's pretty by the numbers....fun...but nothing unexpected....
I don't understand the Mean remark...I have only seen him in 1 other program "Love by Chance."... And that character is literally the very example of Night to Day of the one he plays here in The Graduates. In fact, this show impressed upon me his range...
In Love By Chance he is a rich elitest semi-homophobic young man who is reserved, stern, hateful, speaks down to everyone in his path and is almost universally disliked. He looks and acts like a debonair supermodel and his story devolps over the series showing us how broken of a person he his. He was a side character that ended up a fan favorite by the end and the sequel to the series moved him to the main role to focused on his characters journey...
Here he is a lovable geek, middle class, warm, funny, and carries one hell of an inferiority complex...he is silly a lot and overly shy.... He wears jeans and t-shirt and though can't hide his hotness and muscled body he does a good job at turning himself 8nto bumbling everyman....everything about him is completley different....
So I am really shocked he was called out here on being typecast or possible lack of acting skills....cause I'm completely of the opposite opinion on him.
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I have already highlighted some issues above, and then under spoiler put in some plot point commentary. However, I began refraining from doing so further. There is no need for me to pick apart each case or episode. Even though, I want so very badly to do just that. Episode 12 is seriously pushing me to my limits in not doing a complete deconstruction here.
So in broad generic non- spoiler terms.
Our 2 Main Male leads act the same in episode 12 as they do in episode 1. This is a major problem. Neither have grown as characters in any way which considering what they have learned about time, events, the cases they have moved through together and what they have uncovered about those around them, to behave in the same manner and approach situations in the same way is boggling at the least.
They also act as if they are untouchable. Openly and outwardly letting those they suspect as corrupt or duplicitous know they are gunning for them. They lob threats like throwing away chewing gum wrappers, and approach every case as if they are blunt instruments instead of seasoned trained detectives. And then, they actually tell these very people the details of the cases they are working, knowing that those people are corrupt. Then get flustered and surprised when crap starts going sideways.
It is incredibly frustrating and infuriating to watch. This makes them their own worst enemies and creates most of the problems they actually have to try and get around.
Meanwhile our Female lead has become the ineffectual member of the team. Which isn't shocking considering the amount sexism on display and the problematic victimization they have done to women in this show. Hell, our Female Lead has been victimized TWICE for the sake of plot, (In the back of a freezer truck, and the hands of a serial killer). In the past, the female lead is in training, so being unprepared is understandable. When we meet her in episode 1, she has become a jaded paper pusher who is respected for a past we do not see or EVER LEARN ABOUT, but presently has become a nothing on the force. And now she is the leader of the team, AWESOME, yet it takes a man, our male lead who is a fresh newbie, to bring the cases that need solving, and figure out all the missing pieces....and in the meantime she is virginal-ly waiting for the corpse of the 1 man she loved who has gone missing to be discovered. And again needs to be saved by the other male leads multiple times.
The main crux of how the plot functions with these characters, is to keep information out of everyone's hands. The female lead doesn't tell of her past, her love, or her mentor. Our Main lead, doesn't tell his past, why he is there, why he is looking into fellow officers, or any of the information he discovers on any of the cases until he is forced to. Our second male lead, refuses to work with anyone and tells nothing to nobody and acts hurt when he gets betrayed and looks around and has no friends.
Information is relayed in the most plot divisive ways instead of naturally or with any intuition by the characters.
I'm still holding my tongue on specifics but I wish I could just fully elaborate what I mean by all these comments.
Oh, and what is the rhyme or reason of how the walkie operates? Its in linear time in 1 timeline while functioning over decades in the other timeline. And yet, we know it only works at 11:23 (which I think I've figured out why that time) but why not that time every night. I mean many things could be ironed or worked out if the main leads would and could communicate, but the walkie seems to only come alive when the plot wants it too.
But as you talk of "natural" or real being based on European standards, I don't quite agree. There is a natural evolution to art, especially theater. Even by today's standards, if you go to see a play in the west, the type of story , how it's portrayed, and the way performers ACT is very different than what you get in film or television.
Performing on stage, or in a traveling troupe, or live in general requires a very different set of skills than performing on camera. Everything is heightened to be overly dramatic so those even in the back of the theater can see what is happening. More leeway must be given in the social contract that is the suspension of disbelief in plays as sets, props, changes in time, etc...become relative and limited.
This created a problem, and even the WEST did it for a very long time, in which moving to film kept these non-realistic acting standards. Which is the silver screen of Hollywood where musicals, niors, and grand romances owned the day.
Slowly, over time, the medium of the screen took shape and these began to fade. Musicals were left to the stage, niors became gritty crime dramas, and grand romances went to daytime soap operas or realistic stories of everyday people in everyday lives. Everyone didn't have to be super rich, the man the greatest catch in the world, the outfits as if everyone was about to walk down a runway. And then realistic stories of just life began being told in all their dirt, quirks, and imperfections.
On camera you could create realism and realistic fantasy (Marvel anyone). This has become the standard of film and tv. But it was an evolution to get there.
Asian Dramas in general seem to be going through these steps. Their stories are modern and set in today, but are still built and told, and acted like the West in the past. Everyone is rich, or wants to be rich. Everyone is fashionable and beautiful and the archetype of society. Everyone acts as a proper woman or man should act in society. When telling real stories they are exaggerated to become grandiose, and the rough edges rounded to be tame. Etc....but as the stories become repetitive, and the culture shifts and grows...so to does their art.
Japan has already mostly shucked this false husk of storytelling while K-Dramas have not.
China is currently once again clamping down on C-dramas and actors to reign in how their shows are reflecting society in order to keep society from changing. Because they don't want this evolution in society or art.
However, it is not a direct carbon copy of the west. As eastern ideas, histories, and styles still prevail. And again its going through this growth in a different age than the west and in a very different world.
1) You bring up Vincenzo as an example of Netflix Western influence on K-Drama and then do not give a single example of what that influence is or how Vincenzo is different than other K_Drams.
For me, who has downed 140 shows in about 6 months, yes I just ventured into the Asian Drama world this year, I found Vincenzo to be VERY Korean and I only gave it a 7 out of 10.
My examples supporting this statement are as follows:
All the side characters are cartoons and not real people, and mostly there to act like anime characters and bring comic relief, (This is a big problem in K dramas and really Asian dramas overall.) The structure of the show is 1 season completing the entire series with over hour long episodes and a count of 20. COMPLETELY K-Drama structure. It used music ques, songs, and score over and over again and equated classical music to being educated and wealthy...all of these the style of K-dramas to save on soundtrack costs and traditional tropes. It romanticized Western cultures and places, namely Europe. Common in K-Dramas. The story was ultra violent and bloody at times, but the romance was childish and stunted as if we were watching High-schoolers flirt with one another and not mature adults. And as always a single kiss with the highlight, slow motion and all, of their affection. LIKE all K-dramas that violence is okay but human relationships are dirty, stuck in the Western 50's and 60-'s television Donna Reed era where married couples slept in separate beds. Most of the courtroom cases and shenanigans were undeniably unrealistic, not even attempting to appeal to true law, and the story was PLOT driven and NOT character driven, meaning people came and left and failed and succeeded, and were one way and then another way whenever the plot needed them to be and do and work. (This is starting to really get to me with K-Dramas. While this happens in the west frequently, it is normally the sign of poor writing, and low quality goods. But in Korea, these are shows getting 8.6 and 9+ ratings here on MDL and are huge hits in ratings.) The show goes for over-the-top gusto and over-acting instead of realism. (This is one of the single largest differences in Western entertainment vs Korean the lack of realism) And the villian of the show is seriously a cartoon psychopath that is better fit for a cartoon or comic book than a real living breathing enemy. A massive K-drama problem when it comes to creating any type of villain.
So what was the "Western" Netflix influence?
2) You claim K-Dramas are now starting to be multiple seasons....but then say it happens in J-Dramas and even name one you are looking forward to, (After saying you hate waiting for seasons)
Yet, I know of 1 K-drama so far that has more than 1 season, Kingdom. Sweet Home is rumored to have a 2nd but it isn't officially announced. Taxi Driver is getting a second season, but that isn't made by a western company or distributed currently globally and the season 2 isn't actually made yet or known when it will release. All the other Netflix shows (again your example of westernization) are so far single seasons. Even with the cliffhanger ending and number 1 rank on MDL that Move to Heaven has, there still is no official announcement of a 2nd season...this isn't to say there aren't others, but the VAST MAJORITY of K-dramas that I have heard about, watched, have recommended to me, and know are all 1 season.
However I have come across multiple J-Dramas with multiple seasons and or special episodes or completions. Hell the NETFLIX J-drama (Yes Netflix makes Japanese Dramas too) Alice in Borderland is an example of one that is already filming its second season. Ossana's Love has multiple seasons, and of course there is the one you mentioned above, and this is just to name a few.
So how is this a difference between the two sets of content?
3) You claim you do not like fantasy, supernatural, or violence (Which is cutting out and excluding a MASSIVE swath of content if you truly adhere to this) and say J-Dramas offer more than K-Dramas. I cannot argue this, however, I can argue its opposite. That is the BULK of K-dramas I've watched do not have any fantasy supernatural elements...I've actually sought out the ones that do, because I got bored. Violence...yeah, anything Period Piece related gets violent and then there are actually action shows....
However I have found JUST as many J-Dramas that are fantasy, HUGE amounts of Supernatural, and violent you betcha....VERY VIOLENT. Also Japan is more western when it comes to relationships and sex and thus on top nudity and actual mature relationships are easily and readily found in their content. Slow motion kisses from 18 different angles are not the norm climax for a Japanese relationship....THOUGH, they do make those shows as well, for people who want that.
So I feel this is just your biased opinion on what you search for and watch other than what K-Dramas and J-Dramas actually make and put out.
And finally, your claims of Japanese isolationism in media and attitude instead of homogenizing in globalization and becoming western.
This is a complete misunderstanding on your part.
Japan is THE most Westernized Asian nation outside of those that were actually controlled by Western Powers. They globalized half a century ago. Their goods and products are largely the second strongest in the world and have been since the later 70's through the 80's. From Automobiles (Honda/Acura, Toyota/Lexus, etc) to gaming (Nintendo Sony PlayStation, Sega) to Anime and Manga (A world wide multi-billion dollar entertainment phenom) to decor (There is a defined aesthetic used in interior design and furniture making) to even food (How many people eat Sushi worldwide and number of Sushi or Hibachi restaurants exist (Wagyu or Kobe Beef anyone) compared to Korean restaurants or styled food) And Japan has stronger relations with western countries than eastern countries in general. (Hated by both Korea and China).
The entertainment you watch is already the product of the western and Japanese mixing together. This is why you probably actually like Japanese Dramas more. Because they actually appeal more to western styles. They produce a wide variety of entertainment and can run the gamut on childlike to mature audiences, it is not a 1 size fits all unlike traditional K-Drama. They also don't create JUST romantic melodramas.
Korea is relatively new to the scene and yes is currently globalizing their product (IN ALL INDUSTRIES not just entertainment) They have been one of the fastest countries to industrialize and move into the global view. And you are watching their evolution as they do this. If there are any moving changes to their entertainment, (Perceived or real), this is why.
And by the way, Netflix does very very little to influence on a shows creation. It is why so many in the entertainment industry want to work with them. They are a closed platform. The algorithm will decide if you get a second season or not, but season 1 for the most part is whatever you create. And their shows are created by people, and companies, in each of their foreign markets, to appeal to that specific market and gain subscriptions.
Why? Why not just watch everyone chase their tails until the clock ran out and then go laughing into the night free as a bird?
Answer: because the plot needed her to so they could solve it. They didn't write the story in away that the police could get to her otherwise.
Case of Episode 3+4
No one in 26 years ever thought to even ask the Bus driver if he had
a son, let alone look at his situation. And I mean no one, even our current modern team, question him, but never look...seriously. And our main character, who is a modern day profiler, takes an entire backstory from a fellow bus co-worker and gets a call saying the found DNA matches the old man in question, and he stands stupified, no he too old, hes too old, and then the co-worker says he would do anything for his son....WAIT HE HAS A SON??!!!! DUH DUH DUHHHH. Eye roll, as the viewers , or maybe just me, had come to this conclusion long ago and was justy frustrated no one else on screen had.
Our main male lead then makes a call to the Female Lead who is at the hospital about to meet the believed old man suspect and they decide to have a casual chat....No he doesn't open the conversation with, "Hey, its not the old man its his son." But instead they talk about evidence, and stories, and other banal information while the music swells and the female cop tensely searches the room with her gun in her hand...and then...then...ITS THE SON!!!...and she is just in front of him so he can attack her.....
Meanwhile the Old man suspect seeing the police come into the building decides to turn himself in...but not to these police...no. He leaves and goes to their competition to turn himself in while our team is on the elevators on their way up to him. Why would he bother sneaking out of the hospital and to the other police? So the plot could have the big reveal in the press conference later as its more dramatic showing the inept police and their pride.
Back to our main male lead on the walkie with the past and our 2nd Male lead, now devastated that he couldn't save his love, because an entire station of cops were being mean bullys instead of doing work, and he immediately asks, did you get the killer, was it the bus driver? It was the bus driver...and AGAIN OUR MAIN LEAD DECIDES TO TALK ABOUT FEELINGS AND BEING A MONSTER instead of saying AGAIN, No it is his son, so now we get 10 minutes of over-the top crying and screaming with a full 5 minute flashback of finding the dead body, to then the cop leaving the walkie and running out into the night, and ONLY then does our main lead decide to say anything useful...yet still not that it's the son....but instead about a random woman who has been blackmailing killers for the last 20 years...because this is realistic television. Does it matter anyway since no one was there to listen to what he was saying by this point?
Can't even talk about this random woman who was blackmailing a serial killer. HAHA just laughable....but what I can question is why everyone feels like they are the reason for her death, diving into the case and reopening closed wounds, her death is on them.....ya know, not the fact that she had no moral compass and let killers roam free while blackmailing them...that's not the reason.
YET NO ONE HAS ISSUES with the perfectly innocent man who was walking to the bus and got attacked by police, arrested, and then brutalized, only to have a seizure and die. NO ONE THINKS THAT IS ON THEIR HANDS...considering the only reason that happened is because our two main leads changed the past and put the cop in the past at the crime scene as it happened and thus into a chase sequence.
And yeah, just when they needed a break, the dad goes and murders the blackmailing woman and tries to copycat his son's killing. If he was trying to shut her up, WHY THE HELL DID HE TRY AND MAKE IT LOOK LIKE THE SERIAL KILLER? Cause that just linked the murders together...and again ultimately is the reason they were all caught...if he wanted to wack her...why not make it look totally random? So it would be a completely different case ? LOGIC is WHERE?
Answer: Logic is wherever the plot needs it to be for the purpose of the story.
And then a Slow Jam pop song 5 minute interlude to close out the episode with all the characters whaling and crying over their losses.....needed why? I dunno. But, I can say melodramatic much.
SO CLOSE.....SOOO CLOSE....
The brother getting more screen time almost saved it for me.
It became overly melodramatic and sentimental towards the end, much like a Hallmark movie. Without giving any spoilers, to the BIG BAD, and its eye roll inducing resolution, the climactic scene of the show takes place on a Premier Red Carpet with everyone in black tie formal evening ware, as the theme song "You are my Destiny" bellows over the soundtrack for the, maybe literal, thousandth time. I never want to hear that song again. I think it could be used to torture me if someone decides they hate me. In what, is honestly an empty, hollow, shallow, and worse banal finally and final moments that made me happy I resorted to skimming and also sad that I faithfully watched 17 whole episodes beginning to end.
BTW, can anyone answer me who they were talking to in the study. Suddenly about 1/3 to halfway through the series our main male lead starts breaking the 4th wall....I dunno why honesty...to sort of video journal recaps of events and give some ruminations...Then towards the end both our female and male leads start doing this.
Who is interviewing them? Why are they sitting in the secret private study of our main Male Lead and in his chair at his desk. Why is this happening?
How does this have such a high rating? I mean Kim Soo Hyun is an extremely attractive man, I'll give everyone...kinda why I bothered in the first place...but an 8.6 out of 10 for this....Who paid who off? I gave it a 5...at the lower end of average in a best case scenario.
But....there still must be conflict.
Inner struggle, relationship struggle, outward struggle, or simply a goal the character is trying to achieve.....every story told...slice of life or not...has to have a central conflict, as mild as it may be, to create a journey for the characters. It can be small as pin prick, but it must be.
Also, as for what this episode gave and didn't give us.
Our Chef....(main character) what do you know about him? And it can't be he's a chef that owns a restaurant. Anything at all about him, his personality, his goals in life, his past, what slice of his life is he currently in?
There are ONLY 10 episodes in this series and 1 is now gone...and in it you have learned nothing about a main character, the first character seen on screen in the show.
Let alone, any other character....If it isn't going to be a plot driven show (Big conflict stuff), then it MUST be character driven...however....45 minutes and we know nothing about any character except 1...and the 1 we did learn something about was as basic information as we could get without saying we got nothing...
"he grew up around food and his family runs a restaurant out of their house out in the country, but his mother wants more than a cooking life for him so he is in school studying and not following his own passion."
And this one statement is all that can be extracted from that 45 minutes.
There was honestly maybe 15 minutes of story , let alone dialogue in the whole episode.
Actors are very attractive
Sets are very attractive
Production quality is very attractive.
So a lot of pretty things to look at and nothing else.
I see some saying slow burn...no, there is slow burn and there is GLACIAL.
Anyone who knows anything about crafting a teleplay, novel, etc...is that the 1st Chapter (Episode) is the single most important of the story. It has so much heavy lifting to do. Introduce the characters, the plot, the world we will be living in, all while grabbing the viewer/readers attention and making them want to come back for seconds...(Food pun)
There are YouTube channels dedicated to watching the first and last episode only of a series....reviews that punch out their entire view of a series from the first episode...readers who choose to read or not read a book based on the 1st chapter...HELL in the west THE PILOT episode (1st of the series) is what production companies use to decide if they will or will NOT pick up a series...
And this show's first episode is 45 minutes of no plot, minor character development of only the lead (not even the second lead) side characters that are not introduced at all but come in for 1 scene (Pastry chef) and only a hint at the premise of the show...
Is this about a delivery boy becoming a chef and nothing else? Is knowing there will be some type of love story enough to come back because right now all we know is that one character's olfactory abilities are impressing the other? Is watching someone put on an apron for 5 minutes in slow motion a climactic ending to an episode?
When I watched the commercial there seemed to be some type of competition and a soulful finding yourself journey.... none of that was on display here nor even hinted at.
Also is there any conflict in this show? The largest thing this 1st episode omitted was any reason for us to be involved in what was happening. What is the obstacle any of the characters are trying to overcome?
A serious disappointment...I was excited about this...and with all the top notch production values it makes it even more of a let down....Ill see what episode 2 is like, but it really needs to give me a whole lot more.
The Main Female lead has grown on me a lot and I actually really enjoy her. I also wish there were more scenes with her and her brother. I kinda like him and wish they would develop him more. I'd like to spend more time with their brother sister relationship.
The Main Male lead is complete waste of space. He is now so deeply entrenched in cliches that all his thought processes, actions, and the scenarios he finds himself are unbelievable and unrealistic. No one with any logical developed brain would make the decisions he does, let alone do the things he is now doing. He is a daytime soap opera character ripped to prime-time and given massively powerful superpowers that he single-handedly reduces to uselessness. Everything he does at this point is an excuse to extend the plot for the sake of having more episodes instead of actually trying to resolve any issue being presented in any viable manner or with any modicum of realism.
It is rage inducing and simply bad writing and storytelling.....REALLY BAD.
The rest of the cast I am just so very much over. Her mother is honestly my least favorite. I'm finding myself picking up my phone and doing other stuff when the FL isn't on screen anymore...and I have even sinned, and skipped a handful of scenes just because I could care less.
I quit the series twice, with months between viewing, before reaching the 3rd episode...
But it gets better....at least one of the leads does anyway.
Though now I'm on episode 11 and I'm very frustrated.
The male lead, who's somewhere between 400-1000 years old, has multiple degrees from the top schools in the world, is a professor with full knowledge of medicine and law, has also amassed a fortune that marvels Korea's most wealthy, and to top it off lived through the horrors of the Joseon Period...
Let alone he also has super strength, telekinesis, teleportation, heightened hearing, super healing, immunity to poisons, super speed and CAN FREEZE TIME!!!!
Yet, a weasel businessman who laughs like a Disney villain and spins his finger ring while hatching nefarious plans, along with a single henchman, outsmart, outmaneuver, and outmatch him over and over again....
He makes the most inept decisions regarding the main big bad, and constantly fumbles every interaction, and has learned nothing on how to beat an enemy....if he was in GOT, super alien or not, he wouldn't have made it through a single episode with his head....
And it's wearing on me hard, getting really ridiculous, and how hes survived this long while being so ineffectual is the most amazing feat of the series. Biggest waste of super powers maybe ever.
Moo G seemed like a good guy...I wish we could have spent more time with him or made him come in and out of the series in some way...the Reaper in him is an ahole...funny...but an ahole....the ML is great in the role, and brings the character to life...and is sexy while doing it. Though the black outfits and better hairstyle unquestioningly help once he is taken over.
The female lead is driving me crazy tho. I don't know if it's the actress or the character...but she flips from strong and ball busting to fragile and helpless in a split second. Yes, the hair is awful and her outfits even worse, but that is out of the actress's control. She has been stumbling drunk multiple times already and tried to kill herself...not a spoiler...yet she fights with everyone and refuses to help anyone. Still though she wants help from everyone and cries over the hardship that is being her. Agency comes and goes at will and she so far does nothing to help herself and fight against those wronging her...just limp as a wet noodle. The actress cries every episode and three quarters of her lines are wailed or delivered at level 12, and as anyone can tell from this write up, she hasn't been able to create any empathy in me.
The story is fun tho..so far.
Drawback though, can someone repeatedly hit another with a golf club and not send them to the hospital? I mean those weren't love taps. He was being wailed on, and if I understand a golf club that would have made him a bloodied bruised broken boned mess. And why didn't he call the cops after...He already know his brother is trying to sell the company out from under him, while blaming him for its bankruptcy and in the meantime ruining his future. The brother has no love or brotherly affection for him and degrades him constantly and and now he has accosted him with a golf club...and yet, nothing is done...I mean he says buck up I'm gunna save this company with all I got buddy! whatever, so very unrealistic. Hated this whole scene...though there are now a couple scenes that just don't make logical sense like this one.
But unfortunately, there are some flaws in this shows execution and design.
The twist, never came for me. Maybe this was a problem. I was expecting a twist cause commenters...numerous...spoke of the ending being shocking, an incredible final twist, etc.....and so I purposely made sure I didn't get any spoilers and knew nothing more.
Yet, nothing played out outside of my expectations...and I ultimately felt let down...episode 15 was a gut clincher, The entire episode I was like what have I missed, who is gunna betray who, is our lead gunna finally lose it and go full joker holding the town at bomb point, like in the Chris Nolan's Film, and our second male lead is gunna have to suit up and save the day.
Or is our second male lead going to do the ultimate outside the lines art and betray everyone, proving his cold heartedness and self isolation.....
Will our leads die? One maybe...
Who is hiding under the stone not yet turned and what is the surprise???....I was almost giddy.
But episode 15 ended and then 16, and and...and ....
While, I will give the show props for 1 decent diversion just before the final set of episodes, it was a diversion spelled out in flames that had been set-up for quite some time...so it wasn't shocking...and seemed more as payoff than a twist.
Leaving the mystery part behind, I'll talk about the "character development." Back after episode 7, I did my original comment which was focused on the characters and what didn't and did work for me. And it remained true to the end.
I still don't feel our lead was a real person but instead a designed character. His arrogance was more off-putting than his joker grin. And he spends an awkward amount of time staring off in anger with his eyes wide a crazy just for dramatic affect. He also tends to talk towards horizons and not to people. This may be a blocking issue...I joke...but most definitely is a hit to authenticity and realism. When he speaks he delivers his lines like they are asides or monologues instead of conversations looking out at the night, or into a wall, or just nothing, until he gets to a juicy morsel, or rude comment, or agitating accusation, to which he will smile like the joker, or throw is eyes wide, or cackle and then turn towards whatever character he was supposed to be speaking and finally looks at them. This is like an actor on a stage who is constantly attempting dramatic affect and whose every conversation is meant to cause a rise out of someone on stage. This is just not how people behave in life an is more often the design of a cartoon villain. This never changes. In fact the only development this character has, is that in the end, he ends up liking someone who he didn't in the begining...though in honesty he starts liking this other characters pretty early on, just doesn't outwardly show it till the end. Otherwise there is no development or deviation from this caricature.
The second main lead is much much stronger. He does go through major development which I won't spoil here...and is by far the only reason I could stay involved. While he does have his mysophobia which isn't needed, metaphor for his growth and all, it isn't delivered outlandishly and thus he remains believable as a real person. I don't want to give stuff away, so I can't talk about him much without throwing this under a spoiler tag.....so I'm just gunna say..thank the writers for this character to stabilize the narrative and give me someone I can believe and connect.
The other characters don't have any development but are there to serve the plot, and they do so nicely. Again, as stated in my original comment, the side characters are something this show does very well and that holds up to the end.
Structurally the show has a lot of work to do. I've again already highlighted this. But episodes 1-7 and 11-16 are complete series, glued together by episodes 8-10. If this show had season 1, 2 and 3 with each storyline of these groups of episodes explored and turned into bridges from one season to the next for a complete whole series, this narrative structure would work and there is a shot at some greatness and mind bending television. But the show is just 1 season, and thus these changes in story, focus, and mysteries are abrupt, underdeveloped, and come off as slights or hand instead of needed. I can't delve more into this, again, without shuffling this under a spoiler tag. So maybe I'll do a spoiler write up to deconstruct this further.
I've already written a novel here, and yes still have more I can say, but I'm sure very few, if any, are interested. I gave the series a 7. 10 is perfection and 1 is trash. This makes a 5.5 completely average. A 7 is better than average and enjoyable. Is it worth a watch? Yep. Is it amazing? Nope. Did I enjoy myself? Ehh well enough. Will most people like it? I expect so.
Except it's all one season soooo...
Season 2 is just a reset.....months of time passed and the world of all the players have changed....but at the same time hasn't....and ohh here comes our 2 main leads at each other's throats again, on repeat, as frenemies...and the Joker is winding up his crazy grin and evil cackle...everyone trying hard to recapture the essence of season 1...wait..again...we are still in a singular season.....but now our by the rules guy has turned into a color outside the lines guy because... he has too... since everyone else is scribbling all over their coloring books with wild abandon...
and now we are back in a "who done it" story that mixes a fresh kill with our original killer didn't kill ALL the past victims...there's still someone else......
This plot twist better be a doozie and worth all this!!!
Our main character LDS acts like Batman's Joker for 3 to 4 episodes straight, constantly adding gas to the fire of him being a suspected serial killer and marveling at the mess it makes...overacted to an Anime level, complete with long close-ups of one half of his face, or just eye, as it goes bloodshot, trembles, and stares off at nothing maniacally while easy listening music plays in the background..(I mean is this soundtrack supposed to be suspenseful or make us conjure up 60s era summer romances in Rio...cause I'm feeling the latter of the 2 options) Of course, given that there are 16 episodes and this is a "who dun it" story...it's not a spoiler to say this over-the-top pony show by our lead...leads us nowhere and is just a diversion for entertainment purposes, cause he's been acting normal for about 3 episodes now. This has made LDS come off as a character and not a human being let alone a cop...he is an actor playing an unrealistic cop....and you are constantly reminded of it.
Our other lead, HJW, is just very unlikable. He's an asshole...that has not given an inch so far in the 7 episodes to being anything else. Now, I've read comments here that people think he's poorly acted..and I disagree..he comes off arrogant, entitled, and condescending from the start and only wavers in his father's presence..I'm hoping we learn more about this relationship..and Jin Goo's subdued portrayal (though boring compared to our protagonist) is much more real and believable as a human being. His motivations, at least thus far, are clear. And unlike our lead when we are focused on him, I can actually let myself believe I'm with a cop and not a story of a cop.
Weirdly, the side characters are the largest treat. While K dramas have a very bad habit of making side characters walking punchlines, over the top, or just ridiculous...here all the side characters come off as real and authentic and enjoyable to watch...that is until the plot gets bored with our joker main character and wants to throw suspicion on someone else and they suddenly act like a villain until the plot clears them and they go back to being their character. Shrug.
Now a seemingly big shoe just unshockingly dropped by the end of episode 7...was I supposed to be thrilled or surprised by the turn of events? Cause all the characters and, yeah that music from Rio, seemed to tell me I should have been. But didn't they let this cat out of the bag like 3 episodes ago..and the only reason I was having to wait this long was because our Joker main lead was..well....being the Joker and letting everyone else in town get jailed, hunted, and framed for no real reason. Hell, text msgs are being sent from dead people's phones for 2 episodes because...um...well..because...um...drama...no a game...maayybbe because it seems cool.......I see you Pretty Little Liars...
But again 16 episodes.....and this only 7...soooo there's more...I'm just trying to come up with what 9 more episodes of more is and if I care...is the show gonna change it's objective...from "who dun it" to now a "how it was done." Or now it's one of those unpack the killer to find all the bodies...or there's an accomplice...or this is only the murder of some of these victims but not all. People say there's a big twist...Soo I guess I need to stick around for that.
While I like her spirit and her agency and taking the reigns of her own sexual freedom...I also now fully put whatever happens to her on her own shoulders....this was her choice, these are now her actions, she wasn't duped or going in blind...everyone, including Jae Eon himself have now let her know what type of person he is and where he stands and thus I have no sympathy for her moving forward. Which is gunna make the next 5 episodes hard to watch. If she is hurt by Jae Eon it's now on her.
And Song Kang as Jae Eon is too believable...after Navillera, Sweet Home, and Love Alarm 1 & 2 id become a bit of a fan...no lie...but this role has me rethinking my fandom...makes me wonder how close this character is to his true personality...also makes.me wonder why he was drawn to the character and made the choice to want to portray this person... Episode 3 and so far I hate this character...
And after what Nabi just did at the end of episode 2...God how it must have fed Jae Eon's ego. At the minimum it reinforced his predatory behavior and did nothing to make women anything more than objects for play and enjoyment to him....
Does that mean that this is it for our beloved main pair? The movie's ending is the ending we get for Cai and Gav?....
I'm not sure how I feel if this is the case.....
I don't understand the Mean remark...I have only seen him in 1 other program "Love by Chance."... And that character is literally the very example of Night to Day of the one he plays here in The Graduates. In fact, this show impressed upon me his range...
In Love By Chance he is a rich elitest semi-homophobic young man who is reserved, stern, hateful, speaks down to everyone in his path and is almost universally disliked. He looks and acts like a debonair supermodel and his story devolps over the series showing us how broken of a person he his. He was a side character that ended up a fan favorite by the end and the sequel to the series moved him to the main role to focused on his characters journey...
Here he is a lovable geek, middle class, warm, funny, and carries one hell of an inferiority complex...he is silly a lot and overly shy.... He wears jeans and t-shirt and though can't hide his hotness and muscled body he does a good job at turning himself 8nto bumbling everyman....everything about him is completley different....
So I am really shocked he was called out here on being typecast or possible lack of acting skills....cause I'm completely of the opposite opinion on him.