Cloudini
Up in the clouds
This review may contain spoilers
Overall, it's a solid drama. It's just not what I expected. Maybe I had too high hopes. Perhaps its great potential from the beginning led me to believe its ending would be on par. It was not. I wanted this drama to turn a lot darker than it did.
SKY Castle presents itself as a satire, as a critique on South Korea's educational system and patriarchy. It touches on sensitives subjects (especially for SK), such as, mental health, suicide, and emotional abuse. It shows the lengths parents would go for their children to get into the top universities. It comments on helicopter parenting, the stress it induces on children, and how that pressure affects their impressionable minds. There is manipulation and gaslighting.
The ending's saving grace was the very last scene because it showed all these (in my opinion, easy) resolutions to serious, heavy conflicts that moved into happy, cheery nonsense from episode 19 to 20 was, indeed, idealistic. There will still be copycats of Kim Joo Young. There will still be wealthy families searching for coaches and using their money and power to get ahead solely because they are the one percent and that they can. The cycle continues. I am glad they acknowledged this.
I was disappointed with how they wrapped up these characters' stories. I hoped for greater, realistic consequences for their actions and greed. Am I expected to believe their happy endings after watching all their selfish and stubborn selves for hours and hours? After SO MUCH dialogue. After Lee Soo Im's talking of sense that fell onto deaf ears. These parents have a quick change of heart and want to be better parents. What if it's too late?
Playing my own devil's advocate, I can see why the characters' endings make sense. Only after many, extreme situations, the parents finally realize education does not equal happiness. You never know how precious someone is until you lose them. And these parents almost did. That kind of rude awakening forces their change in mentality, though I roll my eyes at it taking deaths and breakdowns for character development to occur. In fact, I didn't want them to change their ways. I wanted them to suffer from being caught up in the world they live in. I would've preferred the drama to follow its dark course until the very end with these characters.
More often than not, I see dramas, especially Kdramas, end happily ever after because they may be afraid of deterring potential viewerships. I thought SKY Castle would be different. If they wanted to shine a light on such dark themes. If they wanted to hit home to South Koreans for being so relatable, they should have gone all the way and hit a home run. I felt like it was a cop out. Don't shy away. Be bold and give me a sad ending. Even though it's just a drama, you've included realistic issues with South Korea and all over the world. Why not dare take that extra step and put them on full blast?
SKY Castle presents itself as a satire, as a critique on South Korea's educational system and patriarchy. It touches on sensitives subjects (especially for SK), such as, mental health, suicide, and emotional abuse. It shows the lengths parents would go for their children to get into the top universities. It comments on helicopter parenting, the stress it induces on children, and how that pressure affects their impressionable minds. There is manipulation and gaslighting.
The ending's saving grace was the very last scene because it showed all these (in my opinion, easy) resolutions to serious, heavy conflicts that moved into happy, cheery nonsense from episode 19 to 20 was, indeed, idealistic. There will still be copycats of Kim Joo Young. There will still be wealthy families searching for coaches and using their money and power to get ahead solely because they are the one percent and that they can. The cycle continues. I am glad they acknowledged this.
I was disappointed with how they wrapped up these characters' stories. I hoped for greater, realistic consequences for their actions and greed. Am I expected to believe their happy endings after watching all their selfish and stubborn selves for hours and hours? After SO MUCH dialogue. After Lee Soo Im's talking of sense that fell onto deaf ears. These parents have a quick change of heart and want to be better parents. What if it's too late?
Playing my own devil's advocate, I can see why the characters' endings make sense. Only after many, extreme situations, the parents finally realize education does not equal happiness. You never know how precious someone is until you lose them. And these parents almost did. That kind of rude awakening forces their change in mentality, though I roll my eyes at it taking deaths and breakdowns for character development to occur. In fact, I didn't want them to change their ways. I wanted them to suffer from being caught up in the world they live in. I would've preferred the drama to follow its dark course until the very end with these characters.
More often than not, I see dramas, especially Kdramas, end happily ever after because they may be afraid of deterring potential viewerships. I thought SKY Castle would be different. If they wanted to shine a light on such dark themes. If they wanted to hit home to South Koreans for being so relatable, they should have gone all the way and hit a home run. I felt like it was a cop out. Don't shy away. Be bold and give me a sad ending. Even though it's just a drama, you've included realistic issues with South Korea and all over the world. Why not dare take that extra step and put them on full blast?
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