Ma Ri
Brazil
As you guys already know, I'm on a Kim Seon Ho's vibe these days, and one of the dramas that I wanted to watch the most was "Catch the ghost". One thing that catches my attention was the fact of this drama don't be in any stream and don't be mentioned in the Dramaland as others. I heard that Netflix will add it soon, but we don't have any date confirmed until now. Considering my first impressions, I thought that maybe some gossip made the drama flopped, but I didn't found anything. I'll start with the fact of this drama doesn't fit any specific gender. If you look toward the posters, you will see that each one has a different perspective and theme. Comedy, action, thriller, romance... We can see everything here, but the comedy keeps stilling the scene. This is a drama for everyone who enjoys a good laughing but also an instigating plot. "Catch the ghost" tells the story of Go Ji Suk (Kim Seon Ho), the chief of the Subway Police, a calm officer that just do what his job tells him to do, and Yoo Ryung (Moon Geun Young), a patrol that dreams with getting a place in the same department. Both of them know each other in the subway, after a mistake made by Ryung, and when the officer applies herself to be Ji Suk's partner in the Subway Police, their lives are shaken by their extremely different personalities. The extreme care and wisdom of Ji Suk and the impulsivity and sense of justice of Ryung are a disturbing combination, but very effective. The officers do their best to solve the cases of their department, including the big mystery of the murders that are happening in the Subway by the criminal known as "Ghost". The main plot spin around the Ghost case, but in the first episodes we can see other small cases that shows up in the day by day of the Subway Police.
Let's talk about the characters:
GO JI SUK, THE SURPRISE BOX
The personality of Ji Suk is one of the high points of this drama to me. The way how he puts the care with your mom as a priority is something very impressive and remarkable, even with all the sadness that this brings to him. Ji Suk is extremely responsible, but because of the need to keep his job, he ends up as a rigid and lazy officer, losing his passion for the purpose of his role and turn into an accommodated civil servant, that doesn't want to get out of your comfort zone. The mother of Ji Suk develops Alzheimer when the detective was close to being promoted into Metro Police, making him chose a place less dangerous and with a flexible schedule to take care of his mom. In the first episodes is hard to see all the nuances of his personality, and only in episode five he starts to show what he really wants and thinks, and this happens because of Ryung's influence in his life. As I mentioned in the beginning, I'm all Kim Seon Ho these days, and I have to mention his performance. You debut too late, baby! I wish that he had all the opportunities that he deserves. Seon Ho is a great actor, and I think that this comic side is the gold for him. His expressions and comic attitudes aren't forced and I always laugh a lot when he does something funny because is so natural. If you don't know this fun side of Seon Ho, I recommend that you watch some videos of "2 days and 1 night". Besides the funny, he also delivers a great emotive performance, mainly when he is interacting with his mother. My heart was broken every time that he shows up all dressed up.
YOO RYUNG, THE NO SENSE
Okay, this character was a little hard for me to accept. The personality of Ryung isn't something that captivates me at the first sight. During the episodes, I started to understand her attitudes, but yet... I think that she acted many times with selfishness and zero trust for anyone. In the first episodes, we found that Ryung had a twin sister with autism and her suspects are that her sister was the first victim of the Ghost (this isn't a spoiler, is in the beginning). Because of that, Ryung passes through the rules and even the people, as Ji Suk, to get what she wants. I get so upset in some moments when the character just messes up everything to her chief and didn't show any regret about it. As I said, the traumas are acceptable, but yet I felt that she has no empathy with Ji Suk's feelings. But some high points of this character is the fact that she is very brave and determined. Her overkill did with Ji Suk got out of his comfort zone, bringing balance to both of them. Moon Geun Young is a remarkable actress in Dramaland, mostly because of her role in "Autumn tale", but I never had seen her perform before. This was her comeback after four years and I liked very much her performance, mainly with her job doing two characters and one with an especial condition. I hope to see her in other projects from now on.
HA MA RI, THE UNWANTED
Okay. Can anyone explain to me this character? Because I gave up on her from the beginning, and I got so mad because I hated a character that had my name. The detective Ha Ma Ri (Jung Yoo Jin) is the ex-girlfriend of Ji Suk and chief of the Metro Police. She was also the partner of Ji Suk when he acted in this department, but when he asked for a transfer to the Subway Police because of his mother, Ma Ri didn't accept this and broke up with him, saying that he was weak and with no ambition. In another hand, Ma Ri didn't have the entire fault because Ji Suk didn't tell her anything about the situation, but even so. Her posture in the episodes was just ridiculous. She didn't take any responsibility for negligence in the missing of Yoo Jin, and starts to act in a very offensive way with Ryung and Ji Suk, being just unbearable many times. We can't see regret in her posture, a change of thoughts... Nothing. She just goes with the road and starts to cooperate in some moments because she didn't have any choice besides that. Anyway, this character was totally unnecessary and terrible for me. Jung Yoo jin is amazing and I wanna see her as a female lead in a great drama soon.
THE DETECTIVE SQUAD
I not gonna mention one by one, but the detective team, Subway and Metro, was very cool for me. The subway officers were very funny and useful to the plot, making the story fluid and soft. I will do an honorable mention to Kim Woo Hyunk (Ki Do Hoon), that even with no chances in the love triangle, was a consistent and interesting character.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
I didn't like some details in the plot, mostly in the ending, but I won't give any spoilers here. If you wanna know about it, I'll let the link of my blog in the next post with this text in Portuguese and with the spoiler part. As I said at the beginning of this text, I thought this drama was underrated considering the story and the development. I don't think it is a perfect drama, but I also think is necessary to exalt the good points. I believe that the success of Kim Seon Ho will push this drama into the middle of Dramaland.
I will put this as a GOOD ONE (★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★)! If you are looking for something fun and at the same time intriguing, you probably gonna like this one.
See you soon!
XOXO, Mari.
Let's talk about the characters:
GO JI SUK, THE SURPRISE BOX
The personality of Ji Suk is one of the high points of this drama to me. The way how he puts the care with your mom as a priority is something very impressive and remarkable, even with all the sadness that this brings to him. Ji Suk is extremely responsible, but because of the need to keep his job, he ends up as a rigid and lazy officer, losing his passion for the purpose of his role and turn into an accommodated civil servant, that doesn't want to get out of your comfort zone. The mother of Ji Suk develops Alzheimer when the detective was close to being promoted into Metro Police, making him chose a place less dangerous and with a flexible schedule to take care of his mom. In the first episodes is hard to see all the nuances of his personality, and only in episode five he starts to show what he really wants and thinks, and this happens because of Ryung's influence in his life. As I mentioned in the beginning, I'm all Kim Seon Ho these days, and I have to mention his performance. You debut too late, baby! I wish that he had all the opportunities that he deserves. Seon Ho is a great actor, and I think that this comic side is the gold for him. His expressions and comic attitudes aren't forced and I always laugh a lot when he does something funny because is so natural. If you don't know this fun side of Seon Ho, I recommend that you watch some videos of "2 days and 1 night". Besides the funny, he also delivers a great emotive performance, mainly when he is interacting with his mother. My heart was broken every time that he shows up all dressed up.
YOO RYUNG, THE NO SENSE
Okay, this character was a little hard for me to accept. The personality of Ryung isn't something that captivates me at the first sight. During the episodes, I started to understand her attitudes, but yet... I think that she acted many times with selfishness and zero trust for anyone. In the first episodes, we found that Ryung had a twin sister with autism and her suspects are that her sister was the first victim of the Ghost (this isn't a spoiler, is in the beginning). Because of that, Ryung passes through the rules and even the people, as Ji Suk, to get what she wants. I get so upset in some moments when the character just messes up everything to her chief and didn't show any regret about it. As I said, the traumas are acceptable, but yet I felt that she has no empathy with Ji Suk's feelings. But some high points of this character is the fact that she is very brave and determined. Her overkill did with Ji Suk got out of his comfort zone, bringing balance to both of them. Moon Geun Young is a remarkable actress in Dramaland, mostly because of her role in "Autumn tale", but I never had seen her perform before. This was her comeback after four years and I liked very much her performance, mainly with her job doing two characters and one with an especial condition. I hope to see her in other projects from now on.
HA MA RI, THE UNWANTED
Okay. Can anyone explain to me this character? Because I gave up on her from the beginning, and I got so mad because I hated a character that had my name. The detective Ha Ma Ri (Jung Yoo Jin) is the ex-girlfriend of Ji Suk and chief of the Metro Police. She was also the partner of Ji Suk when he acted in this department, but when he asked for a transfer to the Subway Police because of his mother, Ma Ri didn't accept this and broke up with him, saying that he was weak and with no ambition. In another hand, Ma Ri didn't have the entire fault because Ji Suk didn't tell her anything about the situation, but even so. Her posture in the episodes was just ridiculous. She didn't take any responsibility for negligence in the missing of Yoo Jin, and starts to act in a very offensive way with Ryung and Ji Suk, being just unbearable many times. We can't see regret in her posture, a change of thoughts... Nothing. She just goes with the road and starts to cooperate in some moments because she didn't have any choice besides that. Anyway, this character was totally unnecessary and terrible for me. Jung Yoo jin is amazing and I wanna see her as a female lead in a great drama soon.
THE DETECTIVE SQUAD
I not gonna mention one by one, but the detective team, Subway and Metro, was very cool for me. The subway officers were very funny and useful to the plot, making the story fluid and soft. I will do an honorable mention to Kim Woo Hyunk (Ki Do Hoon), that even with no chances in the love triangle, was a consistent and interesting character.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
I didn't like some details in the plot, mostly in the ending, but I won't give any spoilers here. If you wanna know about it, I'll let the link of my blog in the next post with this text in Portuguese and with the spoiler part. As I said at the beginning of this text, I thought this drama was underrated considering the story and the development. I don't think it is a perfect drama, but I also think is necessary to exalt the good points. I believe that the success of Kim Seon Ho will push this drama into the middle of Dramaland.
I will put this as a GOOD ONE (★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★)! If you are looking for something fun and at the same time intriguing, you probably gonna like this one.
See you soon!
XOXO, Mari.
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