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This review may contain spoilers
The PG-13 Chinese Version of Death Games and Why Number 19
Fans of death games are familiar with dramas like the Korean Squid Games and the Japanese Alice in Borderland, and this one is a Chinese version of the death games and a drama adaptation of an award-winning Chinese psychology suspense novel. I wrote the "Chinese version" because every Chinese drama watcher knows how strict Chinese censorship is. Therefore, in contrast to other countries' death games that are R-rated, this one is PG-13: minus profanity, nudity, and violence. I will also explain why the drama title has the number 19 in it.STORY/PLOT:
The MDL synopsis is accurate so I won't add anything to it. "19th Floor" (actually, there are no physical floors, more likely levels) is a drama adaptation of the novel "The Nineteenth Floor of Hell" ((地狱的第十九层), a winner of the 2005 Sina Book of the Year Award, written by Chinese best-selling psychological suspense novelist Cai Jun (蔡骏). In the novel, according to Baidu, "the story aims to express a profound proposition beyond fear. Everyone has the original sin of greed, jealousy, selfishness, or anger in their hearts. Once tempted and the truth is revealed in broad daylight, there will be uncontrollable and unreasonable consequences. One's bizarre behavior, falling into layers of hell is a cruel punishment for the inner demons".
To pass the NRTA review, there are big changes made. Firstly, the word 'hell' is omitted, because CCP is atheist, and hell is a religious word, thus should not be in modern titles (can be added in xianxia's titles that are merely mythical stories). There is a Hong Kong movie adaptation "Naraka 19" with a plot that is true to the novel. Secondly. because the drama's mission is to educate young viewers, since the main characters mainly are university students, the drama focuses on the character growths of the main and important supporting characters who are the game players. Thirdly, there are no real deaths, as stated in the synopsis, the losers fell into a coma in the real world. Fourthly, there is profanity, nudity, and violence, thus making this drama a PG-13 version. Although I don't read the novel, I assume the novel is scarier than the drama. Fifthly, because it's a university setting, a slight romance is added to this drama, and the romance subplot does not take over the mystery plot.
Why Number 19:
It was in the Tang dynasty when the more popular concept of the “18 levels of hell” came to be, circulated by the Buddhist text "Sutra on Questions about Hell", which mentioned 134 worlds of hell that were then simplified to a total of 18 for convenience. Each of the 18 levels contains a specific method of torture for a specific sin. At the end of my review, before the spoiler of the ending, I will list the 18 levels of hell for your convenience.
The novel adds the 19th level of hell on purpose which I won't spoil you what it is, especially since the drama doesn't describe any hell nor do the games symbolize the 18 levels of hell. The number 19 in the drama simply is the number of the abandoned school building where some of the games are played.
Plot-wise I gave this drama a 9.0 because in their real lives, the story is a bit draggy with the character growth process some young characters have to develop. The games themselves are fast-paced, some I even think are too fast since the games end in only one episode. Definitely, they are thriller games, not suspense games (unlike, for example, Spirealm which I'm watching currently in which one game takes several episodes to finish).
Because of the character growth process, some conversations are deep and heart-to-heart. Therefore, is better if viewers understand Chinese either written or spoken. Unfortunately, some of us watched it through the bad translation of MangoTV, so we lost the depth. Fortunately, Viki will pick the subbing up. Hopefully, the late viewers would appreciate this drama more and thus will rate it higher.
CHARACTER/ACTING:
Chun Yu, the Female Lead, is the focus of this drama (also in the novel). She is intelligent, brave, and cute, but she holds a hatred towards someone that later is addressed in this drama.
Gao Xuan, the Male Lead, becomes Chun Yu's companion in solving the mystery and overcoming the game's challenges. This character is somewhat mysterious, because of the nature of Gao Xuan in the original source (I will spoil you about him at the end of the review). Casting Wei Zhe Ming as Gao Xuan is perfect, as I have seen him playing antagonists (or semi-antagonists) in the past.
I won't spoil you with the supporting characters, but the many characters are flawed/three-dimensional. As its original source explores characters with the sin of greed, jealousy, selfishness, or anger in their hearts, so does this drama but with positive outcomes.
Besides acting out greed, jealousy, selfishness, or anger, most actors and actresses did a good job of portraying fear, considering they don't face real monsters but greenscreens. The actors' or actresses' facial expressions befit the characters' confusion or stress when facing horrendous situations or trying to solve (time-ticking) puzzles or mysteries.
VISUALS:
This is a death game theme with monsters, puzzles, and mind games, therefore, props, sets, and CGI depicting the darkness and the intensity of each game are a must. They are pretty much well done and some give you jump scare or suspense without gore or horror. I specifically love the jump scare of the first game with the shadow puppets. I have watched many mystery-genre Chinese dramas in which shadow puppets become mysterious aspects, and in this drama shadow puppets are monstrous aspects.
OST:
The ending OST is "The Last Light" by Wang Mi Ran, a Mongolian-descent singer, with the stage name Miya. Actor Xiao Kai Zhong who played the character Zhang Tian Qiang, sang the male version of this OST as an insert song during the scenes with him in it.
SPOILERS (Scroll down if you want to know about 18 levels of hell according to Buddhism, the character of the Male Lead, and the ending)
18 Levels of Hell (Not mentioned in the drama, because it's considered religious - Buddhism belief or mythical/superstition per NRTA censorship)
1. Hell of Tongue-ripping, where those who gossip and spread trouble with their words will repeatedly have their tongues ripped out.
2. Hell of Scissors, where those who destroy someone else’s marriage will have their fingers repeatedly cut off.
3. Hell of Trees of Knives, where those who sow discord amongst family members will be repeatedly hung from trees made of sharp knives.
4. Hell of Mirrors of Retribution, where those who have managed to escape punishment for their crimes while alive will be repeatedly shown their true horrific selves.
5. Hell of Steamers, where hypocrites and troublemakers will repeatedly be steamed “alive.”
6. Hell of Copper Pillars, where arsonists will be repeatedly chained to red-hot pillars of copper.
7. Hell of the Mountain of Knives, where those who have killed for pleasure or without good reason will repeatedly be made to climb a mountain made of sharp blades sticking out of it.
8. Hell of the Mountain of Ice, where adulterers, deceivers of elders, and schemers will be repeatedly left out on a barren mountain of ice to freeze.
9. Hell of the Cauldrons of Oil, where rapists, thieves, abusers, and false accusers will be repeatedly fried in vats of boiling oil.
10. Hell of the Cattle Pit, where those who have abused animals will repeatedly be hurt by animals in turn.
11. Hell of the Crushing Boulder, where those who have abandoned or killed children will repeatedly be made to hold up heavy boulders, eventually being crushed by their weight.
12. Hell of Mortars and Pestles, where those who voluntarily waste food will repeatedly be force-fed hell fire by demons.
13. Hell of the Blood Pool, where those who disrespect others will be thrown in and submerged into a pool of blood.
14. Hell of the Wrongful Dead, where those who have committed suicide—considered deliberately going against the karmic course of the universe—will be forced to repeatedly wander the realm without a way out, while being pelted constantly by the Winds of Sorrow and the Rains of Pain.
15. Hell of Dismemberment, where tomb raiders will have their bodies repeatedly torn into pieces.
16. Hell of the Mountain of Fire, where thieves, robbers, and the corrupt will be repeatedly thrown into the fiery pits of an active volcano.
17. Hell of Mills, where those who have misused their power to oppress the weak will repeatedly be crushed in a stone mill.
18. Hell of Saws, where those who have engaged in unethical or unfair business practices, or exploited loopholes in the legal system, will be repeatedly sawn in half by demons with saws.
Regarding the Male Lead Gao Xuan:
In the novel, Gao Xuan is an antagonist. In the drama, Gao Xuan is a protagonist
Ending:
Overall a happy ending, EVERYONE is alive and played the final game to fight the villain. Broken relationships are mended. There are two romantic couples formed, Chun Yu and Gao Xun are one of the couples.
The last scene depicting a new death game starting is probably just a tease for the possibility of Season 2. So, the drama doesn't end with a cliffhanger or open ending.
Because of this type of a wholesome happy ending, my final rating is 9.5.
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Derivative script for a so-so movie that put all their budget into the action scenes.
This is one of those movies where it's best to go in and turn off your brain so you can enjoy the ride. If you don't turn off your brain, you'll realize it is one of those stories where there are super powered genetically engineered "special" kids who have been experimented on and thus have violent tendencies. One of them escapes being killed and grows up, then things happen when "the Company" finds her. This is the same old plot done many times in many other movies, like the whole Bourne Series, Hanna, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Unfortunately it fails to add anything new to it or stand out in any way so the story wasn't great.There are 3 other places this film fails. First, it has GAPING plot holes. Many of them. Unrealistically stupid "doctors/researchers" plus ridiculously Overpowered Main Lead plus unforgivably bad employee security / army guys who are nothing more than cannon fodder. If done well, this may have worked (see Jason Bourne series). But somehow it kind of went overboard and strained all bounds of credibility. This is a pity because I really wanted to like it. Maybe it's because Korean cinema is normally so great I guess I was expecting better and ended up disappointed by the excessive Mary Sue nature of the heroine and a deus ex machina plot that leaves everything wide open for a sequel. I mean, as if the words "Part 1: Subversion" in the title weren't obvious enough.
The solution - try to turn off your brain, you'll somewhat enjoy the heroine's story and acting ... and her parents. The secondary male antagonist speaks English wonderfully, he must have had a lot of fun playing the douche bag second best experiment result. His interactions with the heroine are among the best in this movie. The action scenes are very, very well done. There's a ton of blood, a few parts seemed more like CGI video gamey, but the rest of it was hyper violent. I have no complaints about the quality of these scenes and to be honest they're the best reason to watch this movie because the rest is kind of insert "meh" emoji.
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Story
Missing 9 revolves around a plane crash on a deserted island. Effectively the story can be split into 2 parts that are unfolded at the same time as the drama continues. First part, the flashbacks, are centered in the past as we see the aftermath of the plane crush. Part 2 takes place in the present and talks about what happens after a survivor is found. The drama develops as a mystery: “what the hell actually happened on that island?”
Missing 9 is not a drama to be taken seriously. It tried its best to be original and different and while that is a definitely a plus for me, what actually made it stand out was the peculiar combination of mystery and comedy.
The drama doesn’t know what it wants to be, a thriller about 9 people trying to survive while reevaluating their lives or a hilarious comedy about a plane crush. Answer is both, and the faster you embrace it the more fun you will have watching.
I read a lot of comments claiming that the plot is a trainwreck. I sincerely disagree. I could call the plot tryhard, absurd, ridiculous but also quite intriguing and interesting. What I appreciated the most was that even in its completely ridiculous nature, the story was there from start to finish, implicating murders, mystery, questions and twists that will make you keep watching, hence the addictive part. However, there were countless times I rolled my eyes and giggled at how absurd the script was, how convenient and silly. The comedy isn’t for everyone but for me it was golden.
Best thing about it? The transition between comedy and seriousness was nonexistent. The drama throws intense situations at you and then it mocks itself by ridiculing them all the way, without making itself unwatchable at all. It’s amazing how they made it work. I am the first person who dislikes serious situations being made fun of, but here, I loved it. This is the first time I’ve witnessed a drama doing this so, even if the results aren’t perfect, I give points for originality.
The drama doesn't want to be serious, it wants us to have fun. Therefore, it would be advisable for everyone to just dismiss your logic while watching this and just buckle up and enjoy the crazy ride. I understand this is not for everyone, but what i don't understand why we need to blame this drama for its irrationality when we've accepted countless unrealistic and stretched dramas (with less plot than this one), dramas about time travel, mythical creatures, comic characters ect. Either judge them all or accept them all, they all come from the same imaginative place.
Romance wasn’t present in the drama; there is some kind of romance developing between the leads that was not explored and didn’t need to be. Romance, with the heavy sense of the term, would have been redundant. The couple did look great together and had amazing synergy especially in their comedy scenes.
Overall, Missing 9 was immensely entertaining and one of the better dramas for escapism. Completely mind-numbing, but oh-so amusing! It was this distinct characteristic the drama had where it just made fun of itself completely that I found so provoking and creative that I just fell in love with it. The drama knows it’s silly and absurd but instead of trying to avoid facing that, it builds and thrives on it! Commendable! Not a drama one would rewatch but for what it was it was extremely enjoyable.
Acting
I came here for Jung Kyung Ho, and he was flawless, especially acing his comedy scenes like never before, but the actresses that made the drama for me were Baek Jin Hee and Lee Seon Bin.
For… reasons, I had low expectations from Baek Jin Hee even if I had never seen her before. The girl positively surprised me and proved to be a very strong female lead. Her acting was spot-on and tip-top, being funny, cute and emotional when needed. I'm looking forward to her future projects!
Lee Seon Bin is definitely a new favourite for me, not only because she’s certifiably hot but because she’s a very promising young lady with a bright future.
The cast was mostly unknown-at least to me- but I sincerely enjoyed watching them as a whole.
Recommend
Missing 9 sounds amazing from the synopsis but it would be wise to drop your expectations a bit. It is not anything groundbreaking as a drama, but it is unique in terms of script-idea and development. The combination of thriller and comedy and the ridiculousness of the whole thing really clicked perfectly all together for a unique experience. If you are into comedy, want to watch something light and would like some thriller on the side this is not a bad watch at all.
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The game will now begin...
If you're still contemplating whether to watch Alice in Borderland: watch it!I've been waiting for so long to see a high budget Japanese show, and this really is what I've been looking for. So, thanks Netflix, I guess? The camera work, the acting and special effects are all top-notch, hands down. I just wish they went further with the soundtrack, it would have been nice to have a more distinguished background music for the series. (Although I think we can agree that “Good Times” is the bop of the year.)
The plot is very intriguing. The moment I saw that the base plot revolves around Tokyo where people go missing... I was sold already. But it actually managed to keep my attention all the way through thanks to the plot twists and great characters!
I believed prior to watching that the story will be continuously action-packed, but I was relieved to see that they put quite a lot of emphasis on building characters, which made the pacing a little slower at times, but gave a nice chance to get emotionally attached to all the characters.
There are some things in the plot that I will never forgive the writer(s)! But I won’t go into that since that would be a spoiler. (And I have many many other thoughts but all spoilery.)
I really hope many-many people will watch and support this show because
1, I really want to get a second season
2, I'm begging Netflix to pick up more Japanese productions.
P.S.: I can’t believe I didn’t realise it sooner that the name “Arisu” sounds exactly the same as “Alice” in Japanese.
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This review may contain spoilers
This drama is written very well, as the main message in the story is about believing one's self and never giving up. Eva's "disease" is the main thing the holds her back from becoming who she really is. She was traumatized in her past, due to the fact that she was fat and humiliated. But after all her experiences throughout the drama with Ruan Dongsheng, she finally discovers that being fat is not the problem, and she could still achieve her dreams. The final episode definitely shows that she does not care whether she is skinny or fat, as she was willing to become fat, in order to donate blood because she was underweight, to save Dongsheng's mother. Dongsheng also eventually forgives his mother and reconciles with her, due to misunderstandings in the past. The most shocking and best parts of the drama for me are Luo Yiren's parts. She stands out the most in the drama due to her visuals and especially her acting. She is so rigid and tough in the beginning since all she cares about is her job. She has not lived her life fully until she mistakenly discovers she has leukemia. Then she quits her jobs and lives the life she wants. She shows up with purple hair (just a wig) and does all the wild things, and makes Xiao Nan do some romantic "things" with her. This was honestly the most hilarious part of the drama. I loved the way she changes through the drama, from stiff/rigid to a regular person who actually lives her life to the fullest extent. The most important part is she stays strong and independent afterward too. I am hyped to watch more of her dramas.
One thing that threw me off was why Eva was afraid that she might turn big after accepting that being big is a part of her. Other than that, this drama ended pretty well and delivered a pretty good message of accepting who you are.
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Prefer the second lead
Story:The story was started pretty promising, yet after the beginning of the second reincarnation part, the story of the main leads became boring. It's the opposite of the second leads story, which I found more interesting. Though they started their love story at the slow burning pace, however in the end I thought their story was much more suitable as main plot.
Acting:
I also prefer the acting of the second leads. Bamby Zhu has more emotional side in her acting that Dylan Wang. She actually did a good job in her three roles, proof she is not just amateur. On contrary, Dylan Wang was a disappointment. His acting was flat, can not feel his deep love for the female lead.
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Watchable Oatmeal, Where was the love
No spoiler review.So, after a sea of bad writing and horrible endings, the Cdrama industry trolls us with this drama.
Is it watchable? Yes
Worth a rewatch?....nopes
And here's why.
Unconvincing OTP, in the way it should count.
The affection is giving good friends instead, of lovers.
I mean, we got secondary characters pairing up in ways you can feel they, just can't wait to be together.
Even a late entry villain's love line, gives a better "we have to be together" in the few scenes they were given, in comparison.
A story that makes sense without misunderstandings, fight scenes that feel fresh, characters that talk out the problems, breakups and crisis resolutions that aren't overtop...All great..But, how did they still manage to give us nothing while doing it?
Exciting bland, just smeared all over the place. The tone is too calm, maybe the colors didn't help. It needed something to give it the push that would've made it perfect.
I believe the problem was with direction, which you will see the main actors could've given that spark needed for key points. The director just didn't let them.
It sad the drama is borderline forgettable when these were good roles for the actors
I recommend this with the warning that i found myself even skip watching the OTP the last 10 episodes and it is entertaining....enough.
A- for the story, C+ for execution, B- for the roller set ponytail.
We all deserve better!
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LOVE YUMI
Absolutely love it! Yumi's character development along with some of the other characters is done so beautifully that by S2 I felt I knew each of them so well and cared deeply. Hats off to Kim GoEun. Honestly, I started watching show because of her and she did not let us down at all. She is so mesmerizing I felt her all her emotions be it frustration, struggles, happiness, despair. The animation, omg kudos to the entire animation studio. Such a phenomenal job! And especially voice actors! My fav cells Reason, love, foodie and lust. I laughed and cried with all of them. Im sad it ended but the ending was perfect. Subtle and impactful! Don't be persuaded by negative comments about the ending, can't have typical cliche endings so boring. And for that I loved this even more! Congratulations KGE for the award, well deserved and more!!!Was this review helpful to you?
Taiwanese answer to Gameboys was everything I didn’t know I wanted.
SYAQ? features a Japanese love interest, a tiny frantic disaster gay, slow burn pining, and ended with a domestic montage of pure joy. OMG SO CUTE.It’s a marker of Taiwan’s adoration of the crash into me trope (have they ever done a BL without it?) that our boys spend less than 5 minutes of screen time together and still they stumbled into that one. Also, this is Taiwan, so there’s even a bit of high heat. The only thing wrong with this show was how short it was.
Stay all the way through the credits for the most adorable boyfriends ever.
An utterly charming series, all fluff, no drama, and pure warm fuzzies to watch.
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Enough with the dumb FL
30 episodes. It started well though. But I have gradually more and more problem on how they portray FL in Chinese dramas. It’s not a very nice way to show women.They are all clueless, gullible and encouraging bullying. The only positive point is that this FL ha a bit more gumption than her counterparts. At least she holding her grounds, until she falls stupid for Mr. Gu and lose all common sense.
Mr. Gu’s character is no surprise. The typical overbearing boss who doesn’t seem to have any other purpose in life than work or torturing people around him. The actor is handsome but never smiles. Ok we get it he’s a cold one. But this is getting tiring.
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Amnesia? Chaebols? Mean rich guys? Clueless poor girls? Bitchy second leads? Truck of doom? Dead family? Fated meeting? Literally I could list All.Of.Them. And find that this drama almost definitely has it. Throw a pin and you’ll land on a cliche.
But I still liked it?
I’ll be honest, there’s a lot of reasons why ordinarily I wouldn’t. And I can’t say I didn’t get annoyed often watching it - I didn’t like a single character from that office for e.g and Bok-Shil’s passiveness irritated me.
But I still liked it?
Well, I liked it once I stopped thinking too much about it. Simply put, this drama lives only by its leads. They have excellent chemistry, are super charming, so so easy to watch and when they’re together their cuteness literally overrides any bad or boring or cliche problem this drama has. Like, it COMPLETELY overrides it. I skipped through plenty of scenes but not a single Bok-Shil x Louis one. Luckily, the drama also clearly knows that the leads are the stars because the plot doesn’t spend much time away from them and even the traditional kdrama angst moments are pretty short lived.
In the end, despite so many reasons I normally wouldn’t, I still loved this drama. It’s so fun and sweet and wholesome and if you’re like me and just skip all the dead weight, it’s super short too! I would genuinely rewatch just to see Louis being the cutest puppy of all time and Bok Shil smiling so sweetly, she’d make sugar jealous.
I recommend to everyone!!! Just know what you’re going in for first and it’s unlikely you’ll not enjoy yourself with these two being the softest kdrama beings ever put to screen.
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A Real Chinese History Drama
This is the story of Li Chu (Tang Dynasty Emperor Daizong) and it is divided into 2 seasons with 60 and 32 episodes respectively. For this drama, it is during the reign of his grandfather Emperor Xuanzong (712-756 AD) and later the reign of his father Emperor Suzong (756-762 AD). The time was a tumultuous period of Chinese history. There were the An Lushan Rebellion, the loss of Chang’an to the rebels, the escape of the royal family, the capture of Li Chu’s consort by the rebels, power struggle, usurpation, filicides and fratricides. Many of these historical events and important figures are depicted in the drama, and it’s an enthralling watch.The drama romanticizes Li Chu’s and his favorite consort, Shen Zhen Zhu’s love affair and their devotion for each other. Understandably, some of the events may not be true historically but only for dramatic effect. This has been done rather well with few noticeable plot holes. However, there are also many tropes and clichés. Some of the logic seems to be over simplistic and unrealistic. Some historical characters are depicted as villains, cunning and sinister. Li Chu (Ren Jialun) and Shen Zhen Zhu (Sally Jing) are living in a dangerous environment that they both have to tread extremely carefully with every step they move and every word they say. One wrong move or word would immediately lead to their deaths. It is this angst that has captured the viewers attention throughout the drama.
Ren Jialun’s acting is acceptable in this drama. In fact, he’s rather convincing as the character Li Chu, except he may not look his best in armor and helmet (his head looks weird in the helmet). However, I’m not so comfortable with Sally Jing, and not very impressed by the Shen Zhen Zhu character that she plays despite she (Shen Zhen Zhu) is supposed to be very intelligent; time and time again, Shen Zhen Zhu is fooled by her own cleverness and that has created a lot of frustration over the character for viewers. I also find the pairing of Ren Jialun and Sally Jing not ideal as Ren Jialun has a small boyish face whereas Sally Jing (she has a large face) looks very mature with disproportionately large eyes laced with plastic brush-like eye lashes. There’s hardly any chemistry between the duo.
The side couple story is sweet and heart wrenching. Lin Zhi (Jennifer Shu) and Li Tan (Qin Jun Jie) are the saddest couple as Lin Zhi’s experience is very real to many women who have to live through such pain everyday and she is totally relatable. Jennifer Shu’s portrayal is wonderful and very convincing. Qin Jun Jie’s performance portraying Li Tan as an impulsive man is equally laudable. This pair has wonderful chemistry together and their story is painful. Despite Lin Zhi may not have been a real figure historically (Li Tan is real as Li Chu's younger brother), I find the side couple story more compelling.
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The general tone of this drama is somber. Apart from some flaws here and there, there are also some hilarious moments that are really fun to watch. Overall, this is a fine drama based on real events, but the story interjected with too much fantasy may have been a bit overdone. After completing the 60 episodes, I find myself needing a break before continuing on to season 2. I wish the series had not been this long.
This is a good watch for history buff if you don't mind some added fantasy.
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A Laughable and a Hare-Brained Makjang...
“A Man in a veil” is the epitome of the infamously coined “ Makjang” by South-Koreans ( used to describe plot concepts which are equivalent to the reputation of telenovelas - so ridiculous, cliche and unrealistic that they often fall into the “ so bad, it’s good” category). From ‘ pseudoscience’, ‘ revenge’ to ‘ lost family’ cliches, “ A Man in a veil” throws in all the towels to be a ridiculous hundred and five-episode extravaganza of wooden acting , fairly one-dimensional characters and tropes.“ A Man in a Veil ” takes on the typical revenge cliche of a man with an intellectual disability called Tae Poong ( Kang Eun Tak) whose destiny is gradually torn apart by two sisters; the intrinsically “selfish” Yu Ra ( Lee Chae Young) who begins to manipulate and blackmail him throughout the series, and the “ kind-hearted” sister Yu Jung ( Uhm Hyun Kyung) who holds strong feelings towards him. His life changes forever, however, when a tragedy causes a second chance for Tae Poong to extract his revenge on everyone who has wronged him.
Whilst the revenge cliche was possibly the most intriguing of the show, “ A Man in a Veil” didn’t truly use this to either flesh-out nor deepen the characters, with Tae Poong often feeling more like a “ stock male lead” with little interest for viewers or emotional depth behind his actions. ( Apart from Eun Tak’s random screaming matches and “pained “ facial expressions when it was necessary for the “ plot”). Arguably, Yu Jung did have a little more depth than Tae Poong, due to her complicated feelings for both him and the second male lead Seo Jun ( Lee Shi Kang), her later tragedy and motivation towards getting back at her sister and a family revelation as well. On the other hand, considering the emotional and traumatic depth in reality towards this tragic event which took place in the series, Yu Jung not mentioning this again after it was necessary for the “ story” felt both lacklustre and poorly- written in the grand scheme of character- writing.
Ironically , one of the worst-written characters in the show must go towards Yu Ra as both an individual and an antagonist . It was evident from the get-go that screenwriter Lee Jung Dae wasn’t attending to make Yu Ra a “ sympathetic villain”” - she’s inherently a selfish and despicable character who later becomes deluded by her own abilities to outwit others. On the other hand, it’s hard to really understand what makes Yu Ra actually tick or the actual motives behind her thoughts, apart from not wanting to “ be in poverty” and “ survive”. To make matters worse, we very rarely got to see Yu Ra as an actual human being. The several moments which could have offered genuine intrigue into Yu Ra as a character ( such as her past and later events) were entirely written-off to make Yu Ra’s schemes more and more unbelievably ridiculous by each episode. ( Counterpart to the other antagonistic character played by Kim Hee Jung as Joo Hwa Yeon.)
This certainly leads the storyline to take on a dragging and lacklustre focus between the three primary storylines; Tae Poong and his revenge, Yu Ra’s attempt to climb-up the social ladder and the dirty secrets of their associates ( including Yu Jung and Yu Ra’s parents as well as Seo Jun’s mother and father). Whilst arguably each storyline did have some attraction in how they played out, before even the halfway point, the show began to draw itself too much away from the main protagonist’s own ventures into other characters’ lacklustre storylines, which took away many of the twists which were supposed to be “ emotional” and “ shocking” for viewers with little delivering impact for viewers .
Consequently the plot inconsistencies of the show were beyond incoherent - CCTV cameras, criminal investigations and actual forensics are nonexistent , the characters are ridiculously dumb enough to make the same mistakes over and over in favour of “ plot motivation” and later “relevant twists” completely contradict earlier statements made in the show.
Perhaps it is due to the fact that the show is so detached from coherent plot line , or, the fact that the stylist’s choices are so outdated ( including product placement) helps the show to seem older , but, “A Man In A Veil” is a perfect example of a show more than a decade behind recent trends - the characters have no depth or actual intrigue for viewers , the storyline is filled to the brim with more and more ridiculous cliches, and even the ending felt a little lacklustre. ( In particular after building more than 80 episodes of Tae Poong seeking revenge only to be “ miraculously solved” with little sense of conflict or poetic justice for our main lead . )It’s fair to say that “ A Man in a veil” is a typical makjang- certainly not worth watching if you’re looking for something deep, but so laughable, it keeps you watching to see what hare-brained scheme the scriptwriter tried to come up with next.
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