The Morality of Democracy

You're free to enjoy this as an action with romance and light comedy, but it's really asking the question of what a democratic nation's priorities should be. What it's prime directive should be and how smoke and mirrors can easily fool its citizens, as they don't want to believe complicated plots.

What makes this show work is that it has a good moral story combined with action scenes to keep the pace and light touches of romance and comedy to settle you down. The moral dilemmas visited in this series are the ones we need to solve in the next few decades. If greed motivates a leader is that really worse than some ideology of a great nation. What influences do global conglomerates have on local economics? Can our journalists really uncover or even see all the angles? It forced me to think about these and not all have clear cut answers.

Don't look for realism in the action, don't question whether this is possible. It's not as over the top as some of the McG repertoire such as Charlie's Angels and the Fast & Furious series, but it's still up there in the realm of "just not possible, but looks really cool". But the actions sequences have that feel where you keep rooting for the underdog(s) to make it out alive. Given the constant threat of people with a lot of power and money, that's not always a given and that keeps you worrying.

The show also makes crafty use of hindsight: showing a surprise and then explaining it afterwards. The chemistry between the two leads works well, though the female lead sometimes drops the ball when displaying emotions of loss.

Perhaps the best trait is that the show starts with its ending and by the season finale, you hardly remember it. Then - it's all brought into focus and the realization creeps up, that this whole season was really a setup for season 2. Don't worry, season 1 got tied up pretty neatly, but I am really looking forward to that next season if it comes. It is deserving of one.

Read More

Leave alone if you're a feminist

Much of this series is a reinforcement of traditional roles. At times it feels like psychological warfare by China's ministry of culture or an American after school special, aimed at forming teens in 1950's roles. The commanding male, worshipped by pining females, including his obedient girlfriend. Money, power and good looks are taught as measurements of success and if you don't have them, you should know your place in life.

I honestly do not get the praise this drama has got - the integration with the game is the only thing that I can give points for. Most of the tech added up, which is hardly seen in series. But the bulk of the drama is a bunch of cliche plots and plot devices, such as the much overused "staring at the moon at the same time at night, while being away from each other" scene, backed by the romantic theme song for the lead couple.

The female lead can hold her own, she has her own skills and wit and yet the story is such that the male "allows her from time to time" take care of things herself without his help. Music, lighting, sound effects all support this "magnanimous" gesture. It's really cringing for someone with opposite moral values, especially since not just her character has skills of her own, she is by far his better at acting. The male lead is basically a bland pretty face that has been typecast to walk straight, smile and be arrogant. The story carefully manoeuvres around plots that would require the ML to show some real emotion, which also gives him no depth, no base in reality. His three buddies were much more amusing and needed to provide some comic relief.

A character that is also "seemingly perfect" is Lee Young Joon in "What's wrong with Secretary Kim", but it was done much better. When he was perfect, it was in such an over-the-top way that you just have to laugh at it. Secondly, he had a really good back story and acting to match that showed us the cracks in the armour and characters around him that made fun of him. But none of that here and maybe it's for the better, cause I doubt the actor could've pulled it off.

All in all It was really hard to get through 30 episodes and I only did because I wanted to see if anything changed at the end. That maybe it was all a bad dream and we really are in this century.

Read More

Lacks pace

This could've been done in half the episodes. It drags in the middle and overall there is so much slow motion and repetition that I fast forwarded through half the episodes. What's more is that you are hoping they're going to surprise you positively and that's why they're dragging, but the pleasant surprise does not come.

The three stooges are horrible and cringing, especially since they only look old to teenagers and yet keep getting referred to as old men. And I especially dislike that the fact that Arang becomes so lack of fire after being so spirited at first. It's then about the guy that saves the day and that was totally disappointing.

On the positive note is actually the young master that killed all the women. His story was the most interesting and it is a shame it didn't get developed more.

Read More

Average on all fronts

Watch it when you want something predictable, doesn't require you to think and has enough pace to get through it. I'm guessing the dubbing has been done for the accent, because it doesn't enhance the acting quality - it remains flat. The various villainous laughs are especially cringing, but it also made the chemistry between the male and female lead disappear if there was any to begin with.

The story involves a token named the Xuanwu Order, passed down from the God of War, many many years ago. It should give access to riches beyond a man's dream, yet we never see that treasure and so it's value becomes merely a token of authority. What's somewhat believable is the real plotter behind the scenes - even though it becomes obvious about half way through to the viewer- he does make good use of the various character flaws and the long time feuds between martial families, that he can't be uncovered easily by the characters.
There are some nice visuals during the fights, but the explosions seem to come straight from a 1980's war movie. In fact, they reminded me of Platoon (1986) for some reason.

Overall, everything is average and nothing impresses with few cringe worthy moments (not in a good way). But, after a long day with a beer on the couch and nothing better to do, it's a good way to pass the time.

P.S.: If you want to watch this for Derek Kwok, fair warning: he's only in there for 5 minutes tops of screen time.

Read More

Far too long

In a re-edit, I'd cut at least 4 episodes. There is a lot of repetition in the series, a lot of overstated romance and quite a bit of drag using side plots, slow motions and paused dialogue when you already know how things should be ending.

The acting is good, the feeling of injustice in the first part of the series is so apparent and in your face, that you want to strangle the people through your screen. That feeling stays throughout the series and how the characters combat the injustice without succumbing to revenge is the first anchor of this series. The second is fear of the unknown as the basis of exclusion that is apparent in racism, religion, nationalism and more isms that polarise a society into good and bad people, with all the bad that comes with it. It's a fantasy setting and the male lead is a mythical creature, but he's basically a racial minority and undergoes the same hardships. Or a witch from the middle ages, prosecuted for having evil powers. Or a powerful person that cannot be corrupted by wealth and fame - the bane of those in political power positions.

But overall, with each episode I skipped over minutes and minutes of scenes and I'm pretty used to how some KDrama's can drag. This was just overkill.

Read More

Moral dilemma's in a medical background

There is plenty of medical jargon and surgeries for those that love them, but they are the background music in this story about corruption and moral dilemma's. The central question is the purity of health care: is the medical practice as it should exist for the patient's benefit still attainable in this day and age or do we allow ulterior motives like sustainability of medical care, fear of malpractice suits and skill improvement weigh in on a decision to treat a patient.

The main male lead (Uhm Ki Joon) is the one that takes ulterior motives very far, but from a perspective that everyone of us can understand. It makes you scream "no, stay on the straight and narrow" at every wrong turn he makes and your heart aches for him.

On the other end of the spectrum is Go Soo, who truly puts the patient front and centre and will try his best to rescue each and every one of them, using whatever means necessary and he'll fight people that abuse their power at the expense of the patient. It gets him in trouble with everyone and their mother and you can't help but root for him. You want him to be just a little bit more political, but then again, you have the example of where that leads right there with Uhm Ki Joon's character.

The female lead portrayed by Seo Ji Hye is closely related to Uhm Ki Joon's life changing experience and tries to navigate being a good doctor, being an aristocrat and being a survivor at the cost of someone else. Her acting is sub-par in the series, compared to the other strong performances, even though the story gives her a lot of depth. Her struggle was often met with a blank stare and a reading of lines without the right emotions.

Whereas Uhm Ki Joon has an honourable motive, Jeong Bo Seok is the absolute villain. They guy you want to fail, complete with fake smiles, people sucking up to him and a lot of repressed anger for being the lesser of two brothers. Excellently portrayed, because I'm reluctant to see more dramas with him in it - I ended up hating him to the core.

But the best of the series is probably the team spirit. The relations between the supporting cast and the leads and how people try to support each other. The comic relief provided by father and son Goo in the series is also very welcome.

What I think the story missed out on, was the final editing of the TV show they did a lot of interviews for. I was so curious if the chief made the final cut or not and if so for how many seconds. I truly expected a viewing of the episode in a room with all that participants and their reactions to how they were portrayed. It's cheese they robbed me of, so that's the minus points on the writing.

All in all, the series is underrated and probably for people allergic to medical drama's, it's a tough sell as there definitely is enough medical stuff to trigger hives. But if you can get past that, it's a drama that tugs at your heart and makes you think about what's right and what's doable.

Read More

Love and Appreciation

This is for some (including me) a very recognizable scenario and I've been on both sides. The side where you are in power and can get your way by pushing the other away with hurtful words and disregard of their feelings. And they come back each and every time. Two things gradually will sneak up on you. You start to wonder if this is the one and you get used to getting your way.

Until the other side after the 99th time (in the movie) realizes all his tolerance has been used up a while ago and the power plays have been eating away his love. He goes through a transformation in a final attempt to make things work.

The ending is a bit too pretentious. The way the movie is setup it screams for a happy ending, but they leave things in the realm of possibilities. I had to subtract two points for an otherwise very well written study of this kind of (destructive) relationship, because it was unsatisfying and the "we want to do something else" sauce was dripping all over it.

Overall it was very nice to watch, both the light first half, in which there are already subtle hints of impeding doom. And the second half, where so many things were recognizable. Things you don't anticipate when you are the other.

Read More

Humanity's Mirror

(Review for all of 2019 parts, aka "Season 1")
This isn't a romance. It's not about the ancient setting, the fantasy or the CGI. This tells the story of how different temperaments behave when confronted with adversity, power, wealth, technology, friendship, loss, honour. And it tells it all.

For that to work, you have to have 80 minutes per episode and keep you on its toes throughout. Every episode is much better paced than other Asian drama's where you can easily cut out and ditch a fifth because of repeats and lengthy slow motion zooms.

It's not the case here. Where things are going slow and focus on facial expressions of the characters, you have plenty to think about. You wonder what got this person to that point. How could they have been saved. Was it always in them? You start wondering because you know that the world we live in now, was built on the same foundation of deceit, greed and power. And that the basic fault we still and soon have to correct is the notion of ownership. How many of us think about how odd it case that man can own land, air, animals. And who looks at what that notion of ownership did to our morals, our habitats and our kin. Arthdal Chronicles is humanity's mirror.

Read More

Too little depth, too much background noise

There is a lot of detail in the story, but it doesn't make for a lot of depth. Crucial parts are missing and the relationship between Qin Qing and Zu Yuolin is all background noise and an extremely distracting cacophony towards the end. Part of it is the acting of Yi Daqian - he's not up for a main lead yet and somewhere after a few episodes I suspect the writers tailored more to his style as it became a bit less annoying, but still he can't carry the role. And it makes the depth of the relationship unfounded and unbelievable. I think he can improve, he's just not there yet - he's still at the level he played in Eternal Love of Dream.

Who is ready for a lead role and I would've loved to see more of is Song Luo. I missed the arch in the U.S. and would've loved to see how she adjusted and if something would come of the friendship turning romance or not. Overall the females were more expressive, more vibrant and better in their acting. Dilireba, Zheng Shuijing and Zhu Yin are a pleasure to watch. The elder generation is just oozing acting experience, show for example by the way Zhou Younian supports his wife and also handles her stubbornness with flair and subtlety. It really feels like they've known each other for decades and even when mother Ruhui knows she's being handled by "Old Zhou", she can't help but let a smile of endearment escape her.

Don't kid yourself though. The mothers in this series are extremely overbearing and manipulative. Acted brilliantly, but still getting under your skin, making you bite your fingernails, plead at the screen and beg for them to gain some restriction.

But in the end it is the writing that lacks here. The main story arches could've been done in 24 episodes, maybe less. How it ended up at 51 (45 on DVD and streaming) is mainly because they started to write it as a soap opera. Which is all well and good, but then make a soap opera and don't postpone the ending of a finite series that everyone is waiting for. Writing fillers and product placements that are just far too obvious is not entertainment and I skipped over most of the issues that Qing Qin faces in episodes 38 and beyond cause it was just too hard to bear.

The animosity between Su Yushan and Song Lin is also underdeveloped. Sure - they are competitors, but the hate that Su Yushan displays is truly villain worthy, yet we don't have this big thing that happened between them. Maybe he overplayed his role or the writing just give him too many tools to be evil, but with very little response and background to be justified.

However, the parts that are good, are excellent and that's why it still ends up at a 5.5. Just be ready to skip entire arches if you don't find them interesting.

Read More

The Good in People

This show focuses on how to bring out or see the good in a person. That's the central theme. It's carried by the friendship of the 5 99'ers, who support, challenge and correct each other. This makes the show different, cause there is no villain, not a whole lot of standard plots and plot devices and as a result will have some haters who want more of this or that.

But if you look at the craft put into each episode to show us how to improve on a bad situation or to limit the ripples on its environment, you can't help but gaze in awe. It provides perspective via hindsight. It shows the struggle of parents trying to prevent their children from making a mistake, knowing very well they are as stubborn as themselves. Learning how to communicate, what they would not have believed if an older person would tell them, at the age of their child.

It's also very refreshing to see Kim Kap-su in a roll as a lovable considerate teddy bear with a heart of gold. So many drama's he's been a despicable, scheming person - it must have been a joy for him to play this part and it shows. He does an awesome job and the banter between him and Kim Hae-Sook is one of mutual respect and admiration with a lifetime of experience.

Another very good point of the series is that you can see the couples forming long before they do, but you also understand that it will take time for them to clear the fog between them that prevents them from noticing the inevitable. That is where the true romance lies and for once, we don't have an abundance of 30 second shots full of repeats and slow motions presenting us the first kiss that so many Kdramas are overusing.

Ironically, I skipped over the musical bits - not my cup of tea. And while it's the glue of the series and surely gives an extra dimension for those who can appreciate the music, the series is still very much a pleasure to watch if you can't.

Looking forward to season 2.

Read More

No one to like

I can't finish this one cause I don't like either of the main leads. And not surprising because while they're on opposite ends of the social ladder they're equally rotten inside and I can't root for either to win.
The first episode was nice from the perspective of a magic show, but once the reveal was there and you figured out how it was done, subsequent episodes don't have the same suspense. In fact, we're bombarded with more rotten temperaments.
It's definitely novel for a KDrama, hence the 3 points, but novelty only gets you so far. For reference I gave up on this mid episode 3.

Read More