This review may contain spoilers
While it does veer into cliches at times, I'm someone who does enjoy a good cliche every once in a while, when done correctly. I feel like watching this after seeing Unmasked with similar themes from a different perspective puts into mind what works here and what doesn't work there. Obviously both have great leads, but while the side characters were mostly mediocre here and things were way too male-centred, this shines in giving the two female leads most of the screentime. I was pleasantly surprised that Dongjoo was barely a factor here since they usually like to have characters like him left front and centre, even in female-centric dramas. Again, see Unmasked.
Villains are a mixed bag. I think Baek Jaemin is believably awful, and I have to say I really liked all the screen time we got of Eun Chaeryung, but the rest vary. Chairwoman Son I felt was a character that had potential but slowly became more boring over time, which can be said doubly so for Carl Yoon, who I was deeply excited for since Lee Kyungyoung is a known quantity when it comes to giving good villain performances. I wouldn't say his performance is the issue, but the writing for his character is mostly terrible after his first episode. The show would've been better without him.
Seojin sucks but in a normal way that makes her look better than her family, so of course she got the redemption arc. Even if it was tiny and felt shoehorned in. I do not like her still. Nobody is going to remember Seo Minjung after watching this, but wow she's awful. In a good way though, her writing was a little cliched for a "corrupt lying politician" but Jin Kyung elevates the material in a way that looks a little embarassing for the also cliched role that Lee Kyungyoung had to play. Women are truly left front and centre here, I like that.
Like a lot of the time with a certain genre of drama, this is a show that won't stop ending. There is so much fat that could've been trimmed off the finale that you could probably fry an entire field of potatoes in it. I could've also done without the teaser for the Queenmaker Initiative or whatever unless they're actually going to give us a second season where Dohee and Kyungsook actually finally fucking kiss instead of holding eachothers hands and staring at eachother longingly. I heard this show was lesbian coded and people were not lying.
Feminist themes from a male showrunner can often feel a little hollow, and I can't say that they don't feel hollow at times. At times Kyungsook especially feels like she's written as a caricature of a righteous but misguided feminist and she's a little frustrating at times. Not wrong, just frustrating, but I appreciate how the victims here are by no means perfect and yet aren't villainised for also having done "wrong" that by no means erases what's been done to them. It feels like a slightly more honest depiction of assault and abuse that often goes unportrayed, even in the modern day, even if it has work to do and things are often played seemingly for shock value and tension.
Is the shock value and tension for other plotlines horrible though? I definitely wouldn't say so. You certainly have to suspend your disbelief at times, most times really, but I can't say I was ever bored. The show toes a fine line between going full makjang and actually caring about the themes it portrays and yet somehow comes out the other side mostly unscathed on both fronts, which is impressive.
More over, I really do love the story of redemption and revenge that Dohee has throughout this. I truly hated her guts at the end of the first episode and I was wondering how she'd redeem herself, and while the show never strays from it being at least partially in her self interest, it also doesn't condemn her for her self interest either, it's right to experience something awful and decide that things need to change. It doesn't make you a hypocrite, we're all meant to grow and evolve, no matter what. The Christian allegories here feel sometimes so unsubtle that it feels like Garth Marenghi wrote him, ESPECIALLY the scene at the mausoleum. I'm very much not a Christian at this point in my life, and I feel like having those themes without acknowledging that organised religion produces about a thousand Jaemins a day, but I do agree in the value of penance and repentance which is something often forgotten about yet repeated by the followers of religion. Even if you don't believe in a higher power, you can't be living with the burden on your shoulders of evil for your entire life.
This at the end of the day is a show not about politics, capitalism, or feminism. It's about two women who needed each other, and after all is said and done, love each other and improve each other through one another. I usually don't mind seeing a sequel to a drama announced but, really, even with the tease at the end, I fail to see what you'd do with a second season because this sets out to do something and accomplishes it. No need for more.
Villains are a mixed bag. I think Baek Jaemin is believably awful, and I have to say I really liked all the screen time we got of Eun Chaeryung, but the rest vary. Chairwoman Son I felt was a character that had potential but slowly became more boring over time, which can be said doubly so for Carl Yoon, who I was deeply excited for since Lee Kyungyoung is a known quantity when it comes to giving good villain performances. I wouldn't say his performance is the issue, but the writing for his character is mostly terrible after his first episode. The show would've been better without him.
Seojin sucks but in a normal way that makes her look better than her family, so of course she got the redemption arc. Even if it was tiny and felt shoehorned in. I do not like her still. Nobody is going to remember Seo Minjung after watching this, but wow she's awful. In a good way though, her writing was a little cliched for a "corrupt lying politician" but Jin Kyung elevates the material in a way that looks a little embarassing for the also cliched role that Lee Kyungyoung had to play. Women are truly left front and centre here, I like that.
Like a lot of the time with a certain genre of drama, this is a show that won't stop ending. There is so much fat that could've been trimmed off the finale that you could probably fry an entire field of potatoes in it. I could've also done without the teaser for the Queenmaker Initiative or whatever unless they're actually going to give us a second season where Dohee and Kyungsook actually finally fucking kiss instead of holding eachothers hands and staring at eachother longingly. I heard this show was lesbian coded and people were not lying.
Feminist themes from a male showrunner can often feel a little hollow, and I can't say that they don't feel hollow at times. At times Kyungsook especially feels like she's written as a caricature of a righteous but misguided feminist and she's a little frustrating at times. Not wrong, just frustrating, but I appreciate how the victims here are by no means perfect and yet aren't villainised for also having done "wrong" that by no means erases what's been done to them. It feels like a slightly more honest depiction of assault and abuse that often goes unportrayed, even in the modern day, even if it has work to do and things are often played seemingly for shock value and tension.
Is the shock value and tension for other plotlines horrible though? I definitely wouldn't say so. You certainly have to suspend your disbelief at times, most times really, but I can't say I was ever bored. The show toes a fine line between going full makjang and actually caring about the themes it portrays and yet somehow comes out the other side mostly unscathed on both fronts, which is impressive.
More over, I really do love the story of redemption and revenge that Dohee has throughout this. I truly hated her guts at the end of the first episode and I was wondering how she'd redeem herself, and while the show never strays from it being at least partially in her self interest, it also doesn't condemn her for her self interest either, it's right to experience something awful and decide that things need to change. It doesn't make you a hypocrite, we're all meant to grow and evolve, no matter what. The Christian allegories here feel sometimes so unsubtle that it feels like Garth Marenghi wrote him, ESPECIALLY the scene at the mausoleum. I'm very much not a Christian at this point in my life, and I feel like having those themes without acknowledging that organised religion produces about a thousand Jaemins a day, but I do agree in the value of penance and repentance which is something often forgotten about yet repeated by the followers of religion. Even if you don't believe in a higher power, you can't be living with the burden on your shoulders of evil for your entire life.
This at the end of the day is a show not about politics, capitalism, or feminism. It's about two women who needed each other, and after all is said and done, love each other and improve each other through one another. I usually don't mind seeing a sequel to a drama announced but, really, even with the tease at the end, I fail to see what you'd do with a second season because this sets out to do something and accomplishes it. No need for more.
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