This review may contain spoilers
A Promising Premise with a very weak ending (very light spoilers)
A rider. This series COULD be aimed primarily at female audiences. Thus, showing a weak hero within the premise might be satisfactory to some. Thus, IF you are a woman audience, you might find this drama interesting. This review might not be for you. However I did find the ending most disappointing. In fact it becomes disappointing much before midway. How and why so? Is it cos I am a male? I wouldn't like to think so, cos the philandering male is justly punished and that was satisfactory.
Irrespective of however 'realistic' some might find the drama to be, in real terms any narrative has to fulfil the dramatic needs of drama mechanics. By which one makes a purchase into the drama. The premise is possibly the best part of this drama. A man discovers a message which seems to indicate a ticking time bomb in his otherwise perfect domestic life. It could be true. It could be a misinterpretation. This sets up a novel engrossing story engine which readily propels the narrative forward for at least the first four episodes. However, even in this, the male protagonist, essentially on whom the show is based, comes out as a whimpering pansy. Now, there's nothing to suggest a person CAN'T be a whimpering pansy and will NOT deserve the audience's sympathy. ONLY, such a person is rarely a protagonist. WHY? Cos for the audience to purchase into a tale, the protagonist, whether male or female, HAS to be proactive and willing to take on the curveball life or circumstance throws in his/her way and through that grow from it. This gives the person a character arc. We see this same arc being enacted in VIP, in The World of the Married, etc. You might not like the curveball sent your way, BUT you accept it for what it is and instead of pining for the past, grow, evolve into a better perspective, understanding, change of personal pattern and leaving the past behind, grow from it. None of this happens in this drama. It is essentially a tale of the person slinking back to a past in the future glossing over what happened. One might argue that he evolves to becoming more compassionate and attentive. BUT, an abrasive person becoming attentive and compassionate is a growth curve. A self indulgent wimp becoming 'attentive and compassionate' is degrading from one delusional self aggrandisement to another, without addressing the core factor of wimpiness/indecisiveness. Of being reactive to life instead of embracing change for all its pain and becoming proactive. in THIS factor the drama, despite its very promising set up, gloriously fails.
Most of the Korean Script writers are women. The characters tend to be nuanced and deep, the premise interesting and novel, the story non-linear, the drama involved and intense. The issue is, when the adulter is man, he's invariably cast away or lives to repent AFTER being divorced. In this same drama, the lead story, the guy finally ends up not being able to leave his cheating wife. BUT, if the adulterous one is woman, then the man either can't live without her or goes on to commit a greater crime. In one of the dramas, in the B story, when the guy is the adulter he ends up being discarded, divorced, penniless, repentant...you name it. Take MISTY as an example. I am left wondering, is this some nascent sexism which is evolving?
Irrespective of however 'realistic' some might find the drama to be, in real terms any narrative has to fulfil the dramatic needs of drama mechanics. By which one makes a purchase into the drama. The premise is possibly the best part of this drama. A man discovers a message which seems to indicate a ticking time bomb in his otherwise perfect domestic life. It could be true. It could be a misinterpretation. This sets up a novel engrossing story engine which readily propels the narrative forward for at least the first four episodes. However, even in this, the male protagonist, essentially on whom the show is based, comes out as a whimpering pansy. Now, there's nothing to suggest a person CAN'T be a whimpering pansy and will NOT deserve the audience's sympathy. ONLY, such a person is rarely a protagonist. WHY? Cos for the audience to purchase into a tale, the protagonist, whether male or female, HAS to be proactive and willing to take on the curveball life or circumstance throws in his/her way and through that grow from it. This gives the person a character arc. We see this same arc being enacted in VIP, in The World of the Married, etc. You might not like the curveball sent your way, BUT you accept it for what it is and instead of pining for the past, grow, evolve into a better perspective, understanding, change of personal pattern and leaving the past behind, grow from it. None of this happens in this drama. It is essentially a tale of the person slinking back to a past in the future glossing over what happened. One might argue that he evolves to becoming more compassionate and attentive. BUT, an abrasive person becoming attentive and compassionate is a growth curve. A self indulgent wimp becoming 'attentive and compassionate' is degrading from one delusional self aggrandisement to another, without addressing the core factor of wimpiness/indecisiveness. Of being reactive to life instead of embracing change for all its pain and becoming proactive. in THIS factor the drama, despite its very promising set up, gloriously fails.
Most of the Korean Script writers are women. The characters tend to be nuanced and deep, the premise interesting and novel, the story non-linear, the drama involved and intense. The issue is, when the adulter is man, he's invariably cast away or lives to repent AFTER being divorced. In this same drama, the lead story, the guy finally ends up not being able to leave his cheating wife. BUT, if the adulterous one is woman, then the man either can't live without her or goes on to commit a greater crime. In one of the dramas, in the B story, when the guy is the adulter he ends up being discarded, divorced, penniless, repentant...you name it. Take MISTY as an example. I am left wondering, is this some nascent sexism which is evolving?
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