Detention (2020)

Not too scary, political, but more than that, a love story.

Let's start with answering the question, "Can I watch these without watching the movie and playing the game?" - Definitely yes! It can stand on its own because the series had interspersed it with flashbacks (flashbacks that are part of the narrative which for me will not bore you to death).

What I don't like:
1. I started watching this one with the idea that I will be scared... I came out unscathed. But scary-ness is definitely based on individual's scaredy-cat (lol) level. So it might be different from your viewing experience.
2. Supporting characters acting is sometimes off.
3. The political theme made me read on Taiwan's White Terror. I did feel the need to know why they (the characters, specially the villains) acts that way.

What I like:
1. The series did not only focuses on the horror and political theme they touched on. It explored the main characters' struggle and showed how they triumph (and their reward/punishment) for the choices they had made. It is not often to see in horror series those elements.
2. I like the very intelligent use of flashback in this one.
3. This series made me buy and play (in chapter 2 right now) the game.

Read More

Ghosts of the past

I'd just like to preface this by saying that this isn't really a horror drama, it's more gothic, so you may end up disappointed if you're expecting to be scared while watching this drama.

Detention, an adaptation of the game by the same name (you don't need to play it before watching), isn't about scaring the pants off of you, but is more about topics of guilt and trauma. Mainly, how those feelings from the White Terror period in Taiwan still haunts people, with some clinging to that past, while others feel trapped by it (the living and the dead alike). A spotlight is shone on these things by following the main character Liu Yun Xiang and witnessing her own pain and struggles in the present, as it's through her feeling of connection to the ghost of Fang Rui Xin that we learn more about both girls and their past.

There are ghosts in the drama, but they aren't scary at all (though this depends on how good/bad you are with horror imagery in general), and they function more like "the ghosts of our past/our country's past" and the need to face that past and break free. Really, it's people in places of power that are scarier than the ghosts in this drama.

I thought the story was good and the main characters well acted. There are moments I wished I felt more of a connection between Yun Xiang and some of the other side characters in her life, but I think that's just how the story chose to go (probably to drive her to seek company with Rui Xin) and not so much an oversight due to poor writing... so it's just a personal preference.

Even though the topics in the drama can be serious, I liked that the drama still had small moments of joy/hope - it's not setting out to depress you at every turn, but more intends for you to witness, acknowledge, and then carry the information it gives you forward to make a better future, if that makes sense.

It was an interesting watch, and had me looking up more about Taiwan's history, but I can't say it's a drama I'll be sitting down to rewatch often. Still, I'm glad I watched it.

TW for this drama: suicide, grooming, sexual assault.

Read More