rainhat
Plus points include a great female lead (and an actor who really stepped up to the role, I thought); strong supporting characters in the other historians -- both rookie and established -- and a really interesting character in the crown prince, played with flourish by Park Ki-woong. But the best thing about the show is that it is above all a sweet and persuasive political plea for equality and fairness, and it completely succeeds in making you care about that.
The romance was the least convincing aspect of the show, but it was also never meant to be its focus; its family intrigues were similarly milquetoast. In keeping with the spirit of the show I think what you end up enjoying and thinking about after it's done are the friendships and intellectual comradeships that it leaves intact. How lovely is that? I'm so pleased with how it developed, and more importantly with its vision of what constitutes a happy ending. So thank you, Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung; thank you, Shin Se Kyung; and thank you, Korean entertainment. :)
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I thought its vision for what happiness would look like for a sad young woman was really sweet and hopeful, though. And I loved the little boy who played the Macguffin prince.
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This review may contain spoilers
If someone put me in an art gallery for 16 hours to do nothing but wander and stare at PBG and Song Hye-kyo's beautiful faces, I'd be into it. Encounter was all atmosphere, and I think that was a bold and admirable choice to make. But it severely underused its leads's talents, and the conflict was so threadbare that I didn't particularly feel like indulging myself in the distractions of Encounter's good points (its music, visuals, its airy, whimsical tone -- as though you've been dropped into the mind of a person who is mid-thought). [minor spoiler]
There was only one moment in which the frisson we're supposed to feel for these two characters, poles apart but drawing closer, really came through for me. She spots him in the hallway of a hotel and asks him why he's wearing a zippered necktie when she gave him a proper, grown-up one. He says he hasn't been able to get the method of wearing it right. So she matter-of-factly takes off the zippered one and makes him stand still while she puts the necktie on for him. It's a hoary old romantic cliché, but in that moment the combined star power of these two, and the choices they made (he's trying to hide a goofy, helpless grin; she's self-consciously holding on to her gravitas) invested it with such sparkle, I got the point of the whole show.
[/spoiler]
If it had had more moments like that, Encounter would have fulfilled its promise, I think. As it is, all the kudos to whoever decided that PBG should capitalise on his stardom by playing a model of hot, supportive, patient masculinity for women of all ages to project their fantasies on. More such choices from the world's leading men, please!
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And then, boom: a knight in shining armour who's also a childhood best friend, and practically perfect in every way? Yet nothing about this was off-putting, seemed like it was going to sacrifice a balance of power on the altar of sweeping romance, or made Dan-yi and Eun-ho transform themselves drastically in the journey of their friendship. Was it realistic? Absolutely not. Was it believable? Strangely, yes.
The most sweepingly romantic thing in this show, in fact, is its love of books and publishing: an old-fashioned, stubborn refusal to see books as anything but the great consolations of our life. Regardless of whether they end up with each other or no, that's who Eun-ho and Dan-yi are to each other, we realise: the book in which you learn yourself anew every time you leave your world and enter its own. As romances go, I can't think of a nicer metaphor.
Props to Lee Jong Suk for being a lovely rest for the eyes and bringing restraint and poise to his role: even his slightly out-of-character methods of pursuing Dan-yi seem rational and in keeping with the character because he doesn't crank it up unnecessarily. The supporting actors were all delightful, and brought such warmth and affection to their roles and interactions with each other. And a shout-out to the set designers who created perhaps the nicest office I've ever seen on TV: an inspiration!
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If there was a single reason I powered through this show, it was because of its uniformly excellent performances; I'm yet to see a drama with three better-looking men competing for attention than PBG, Kwak Dong-yeon and Jinyoung (with that fairytale dimple at the end of his mouth, like Mrs Darling's kiss!) -- all of whom turned out to be good actors too. How did that happen?
I'd mark this down more severely for setting up a really great character in Hong Sam-nom/Ra-on, and then hamstringing her so that the crown prince's character could shine. It's also upsetting that they didn't fully do justice to the second female lead, who deserves a full show of her own. But it's normal for candy to leave you feeling slightly guilty for eating it afterwards, and I'll chalk down the aftertaste of its gender politics to that.
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This would be audacious, if not unthinkable, from any major entertainment industry in the world. And Search WWW knows it, takes pleasure in it, and forces you to think about these role reversals -- all while running a very successful romantic comedy slash workplace drama plot to keep the show moving. Meanwhile, music, clothes, side-plots, supporting characters: everything and everyone comes together to create an array of delightful things to enjoy and relish. The romantic plots never feel relegated to a sideshow, but that's another of the show's successes: you care deeply about each of the (adorable!) men the women become entangled with, yet these relationships never take precedence over the women's own doubts and desires.
I don't think Search WWW is perfect; its pacing is a problem and in spite of its strong writing, I do think it relied too much on great set-pieces, rather than overall dramatic integrity. But in total fairness, it established from the very beginning that it wanted to draw your attention to how its three women protagonists pull off completely breathtaking feats of professional excellence even while they're struggling to achieve some kind of balance in their personal lives and their relationships with each other: and we got that, all the way to the triumphant end.
I've never seen a show that makes me want to smile in delight just thinking about its premise before, but Search WWW was that. I'd recommend it to any single human being with a heart in this world. Big kudos to the actors who made us want to root for them even at their lowest and most conflicted; and all props to the writers who decided to pull off this totally improbable show, and then did it.
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