Alice (2020) Episodes 9 and 10: Families are Hard

At the risk of sounding reductionist, (and with some benefit of hindsight) it feels like every single K drama that I've watched this year is fundamentally about family even if it comes under the guise of time travel or crime or psychothriller. This one is no different. While I wouldn't be recommending my favourites this year under the "family" tag necessarily, the exploration of family and what that looks like seems to be a strong common denominator in all of them including, I would contend, the likes of 365: Repeat the Year. It makes sense on so many levels to insert that kind of emphasis as it is a universal phenomenon that resonates with people everywhere. Whether your birth or adoptive families are roaring successes on one side of the spectrum or whether they're abject failures on the other end, it's a key part of the human condition. Needless to say, there are a wide array of experiences one way or another, with nuances in between. My youngest was rewatching Avengers: Infinity War just the other day and I happened to listen in during the scene in which Thor unexpectedly consoles Gamora about the dysfunctionality of their respective families and then Peter Quill interjects and rants about his father.

On watching the last couple of episodes, I am struck again by how much Alice is fundamentally about family -- the institution as well as the people who form these units. Strip away the time travel mumbo jumbo, the body pile-up and the perpetrator hunt, this show explores family in all its glory and messiness. Space and time be damned... nothing can diminish the pull of family ties. Eventually those who need to find each other... will do so at the right time.

Because of the tyranny of the urgent present, it's easy to forget that Jin-gyeom is a man out of time. His alexithymia should remind us that he is someone that doesn't really belong in our present. It might be true that he's not a man of the future either. Perhaps that's why he's The Chosen One to close the door on time. Not unlike Neo from The Matrix. Born to a single mother who was time hopping, he personifies the cosmic anomaly that is destined to disrupt. While he might not be the second coming Jesus Christ, he might be a saviour of sorts. This would certainly explain why Mother Tae-yi wanted him to live, no matter the cost to her. It could be as she claimed that her maternal instincts kicked into gear. Before that day would come, however, he would be a special needs child that she struggled to raise until the day she died. When she was gone from his lonely existence, it gradually dawned on him what he had lost forever: Family. But it also fuelled an obsession to put the cuffs on her killer. After being adopted by Go Hyeon-seok, a father-figure for a decade of his life, Jin-gyeom begins to see how the "family thing" works. Everyone emphasizes this fact almost to ad nauseum. Jin-gyeom has been noticeably changing. He isn't what he was 10 years ago. During that time they have developed something akin to a father-son relationship which is why he can't bring himself to confront Go Hyeon-seok about what he may or may not have done (despite his stated resolve) or even point the finger at him. Ironically, the changes in Jin-gyeom in his journey to becoming "more human" creates a dilemma he might otherwise not have. Developing familial affection is now a stumbling block to Jin-gyeom's most cherished goal of finding Mum's killer.

The timely intervention of Min-hyuk into this morass of familial confusion is one that I welcome with open arms. Of course it doesn't hurt that he's easy on the eyes and has a voice that's music to the ears. ;) But watching him play out his introspections of late, my heart went out to him. He has all the qualities of the classic tsundere male lead. Far from being the aloof creature people assumed he was, he cares a lot and probably more than a man in his position should. Now that he knows the truth of what happened to his Tae-yi, the woman he loved, the mother of a son he never knew existed, he has much to regret. I appreciated his honesty. He can't even bring himself to blame his colleague, O Si-young, to any great extent because he can see that he was part of the problem. He was angry to the point of resentment and bitterness. At the time he thought only about himself and didn't consider the ramifications for Tae-yi and the child she was carrying. Having now been given the bigger picture, he not only accepts blame but it's finally sunk in what he's lost: Family. He is well aware that he can't just rock up to Jin-gyeom and announce their relationship to him because he had in some fashion lost all rights to him when he abandoned Tae-yi to her own devices. He had lived as if it didn't matter but the truth was... it did. It cut deeply. In bitterness he chose to stay away. When we get down to the brass tacks... he was an absent father. 

Herein lies the crux of the issue. Family is so vital that people are willing to live, die and even kill for family. It's much easier realise all of that when we lose someone we love. Time is really not on our side in that regard. Holding on to grudges means that we lose opportunities that we regret later.

It's difficult to muster any sympathy for O Si-young. Her infatuation for Min-hyuk while understandable doesn't give her the right to withhold crucial information about Jin-gyeom. There was a boy who lost his mother who needed his father. Even if her falsehoods were motivated by jealousy and selfishness, she's still not entirely in the clear with regards to Future Tae-yi's murder in 2010. She mightn't have fired the shot but it doesn't necessarily preclude her from being part of a conspiracy led by the Teacher. How much can we trust her? A drone was present at the night of the murder. Does that denote her presence? What about her cryptic comments to Jin-gyeom about everything being Tae-yi's fault. Did she watch it happen and did nothing? There's a streak of callousness intermingled with resentment accompanying her words. In her eyes, Tae-yi was a nuisance then and continues to be a nuisance now long after her departure.

I maintain (and this last episode really bore that out in clear terms) that Jin-gyeom's relationship with Prof. Tae-yi is familial rather than romantic. I found Do-yeon's conversation with Tae-yi helpful in that regard. Through her the show was articulating in very clear terms that Jin-gyeom's fixation with the good professor was due to her striking resemblance to his mother. She also correctly pointed out (as someone who understands him better than most people give her credit for) that Jin-gyeom has finally had his emotional growth spurt and is now trying to make up for lost time. Do-yeon basically stated everything I have said here and elsewhere about Jin-gyeom's attitude to Professor Tae-yi. Now that Jin-gyeom understands the value of family, warts and and all he is clinging on to what he does have, lest his loses it all again. 

Tae-yi's response to Do-yeon also strongly indicates that her concern for Jin-gyeom is not about romance. I can't imagine that the vast majority of women would be flattered by a man's attention because she was a dead ringer for his mother. It's not exactly Effective Pick-up Strategies 101. On top of that, Tae-yi seems to have matured overnight returning to 2020 much more appreciative of family and what she has.

Part of the problem of why we're having issues with the leads' dynamic has in part to do with the way we watch K dramas. Or have been brainwashed to make sense of the details. There may be an assumption that just because a male and a female are the leads, they automatically have to be in some kind of romantic pairing. I'd like to believe it's not the case here. And it's not the first K drama that doesn't follow the traditional kdrama stereotypes of what constitutes a male or female lead. In all honesty, whether deliberate or unconsciously, the show seems to have opened itself to that kind of interpretation too with its hamfisted and ambiguous use of common rom com cliches. Bad first impressions. Misunderstandings. Cohabitation. Whenever the leads embrace, cue: the emotional ballads. 

The contrast in Jin-gyeom's attitude towards his birth father and his adoptive one was stark. Seeing Min-hyuk next to the body of Lee Se-hoon, he accuses him immediately, strikes quickly and hard. His birth father is a suspicious stranger whose motives can't be trusted. With Go Hyeon-seok, he hesitates and holds back even when he knows the truth of what he's done because of their long-standing relationship. Was all the goodwill on Hyeon-seok's side a lie? I don't think so. The flashback from 2014 is proof of something. Whatever ulterior motives he might have had, Go Hyeon-seok cared for the orphaned Jin-gyeom beyond whatever guilt he might have felt. However, as he himself acknowledges later, when the crunch comes, it seems that Hyeon-seok has other priorities and Jin-gyeom is relegated to the back seat.

I very much doubt that doppelgangers are at play here either. All this rigmarole about all the Tae-yi manifestations being different persons... sounds dubious. If this show is about parallel universes I'll eat my hat. All I'm seeing appear to be causal loops thus far. I know that the characters keep throwing the multiverse concept around but I'm not buying it.  Unless it's a case of...

Plus, without trying to sound self-aggrandizing here, if this is really about parallel universes, the show is doing a ridiculously bad job of it.

Stranger Season 2 (2020) The Insider as Outsider

A question emerges as the story progresses in these recent days. Why is Seo Dong-jae still alive? Why does his abductor go to all the trouble of keeping him alive after all this time? Wouldn't it be easier to finish him off entirely and dump his body somewhere to be found? The effect would, to my mind be the same but without the inconvenience of having to feed the hostage. 

I pose the question not because I don't value Dong-jae's life or his role in this franchise but out of a curiosity regarding the kidnapper's motives for obviously wanting to create a stir and have the law enforcement agencies scramble around like headless hens in search of answers. What does he/she gain by keeping Dong-jae alive? Is the ruffling of sensitive feathers really all that the perpetrator has in mind? The answer to that question is perhaps the key to everything including the impetus behind the second season.

Imagine working for an organisation that you have devoted your entire professional life too. You're onboard with all their stated objectives. So much so that you consistently give it your all because of the belief that it is a cause worth fighting for. And what's more, you're good at what you do and catch the eye of very important people who can... you hope... move mountains.

However, as time goes by you realise, while rising through the ranks, that there are unstated objectives amongst the organization's hierarchy that clash with your cherished principles. Gradually you find yourself wrestling with your own conscience questioning your part in the organisation's agenda/mission -- You start to ask yourself if this is what you signed up for. The job that you love is gradually becoming more onerous with each meeting, with each new order delegated to you.

You're intelligent and competent enough to conclude after a while that you're perhaps little more than a puppet, strung along and dancing to the tune of your superiors. You're given a song sheet with the lyrics and the music but it's so out of tune that only someone who is tone deaf can carry on without too many qualms.

Moreover, you've always believed yourself to be a truth-seeker and now you're being hamstrung by your superiors from digging too deep and worse still you're forced to take sides while putting any kind of objectivity to bed. You're learning to play politics with the best of them.

It was always the case that the police-prosecutors council was a circus performance for media and public consumption. Both sides grudgingly went through the motions as they were obliged to. But the dial of cynicism was turned up a notch or two when Choi Bit and Woo Tae-ha deployed it as a distraction to prevent their underlings from probing further into the Park Gwang-su case. It's not entirely clear if the deceased was just someone who was corrupt during his prosecutor days and his mates in the office covered up for him or if he sank down further into the rabbit hole that he had dug for himself before his untimely death. From Woo Tae-ha's over-the-top reaction it does feel that there's something else going on. Whether DJ's kidnapping has any bearing on this, is still up for grabs. 

For me the most compelling part of this season is the way Yeo-jin and Si-mok grapple with being part of a "side". I've heard it said that politics is the art of compromise and yet it is clear that the political-prosecutor feud is far from being engaged in any kind of compromise. It started off with plenty of posturing and now it's an instrument of what can be rightly called... a cover-up. The potential for the slippery slope was there from the start.

Sergeant Baek Jung-gi who was of the Segok station bribery-suicide fiasco had a telling response when he was cleared from the kidnapping accusation. Surprisingly he showed no anger as one might have expected despite the fact that no formal apologies were offered to him. And yet the interesting part is that his mind flew to that pivotal moment with his team when he should have put a kibosh on the notion of taking bribes. Everything else that followed began from that decision. He acknowledged that. If he could turn back the clock, that would be the moment that he would change to prevent the domino effect which followed. That was a road paved with good intentions that led to hell for all its players. Even when he walked away when he said he would, the others persisted in the bribery as he looked the other way. In hindsight it is a microcosm of what is occurring at the other end of the organization.

The reality is that corruption isn't the work of a single day... just as Rome wasn't. Our institutions aren't necessarily the problem because we do need them. The problem lies, as Solzhenitsyn poignantly reminds us, somewhere in the human heart. The issues arise when men and women in key positions make crucial decisions that trigger a chain of events that undermine not only the integrity of the people involved but the organization they represent. Once trust is lost, it is difficult to regain. While no one committed murder in the Segok incident, serious damage was done on multiple levels. Sgt Baek's realisation is part of the morality tale unfolding. Even though he was innocent of the abduction charge, he was not innocent because it was that fateful decision which eventually led to the false charge. As a cop himself, he understood that his culpability was not so easily erased because he did lead his men astray which inadvertently caused Sgt Song Gi-hyeon's suicide which in turn saw the prosecutors exploit the event for political expediency. There was smoke even if the fire was a small one. It is something Baek Jung-gi will have to live with for the rest of his life. 

Because corruption has a way of mushrooming beyond the original offence, it has a way of coming back to bite the conspirators/participants. Some would call it karma. For me I prefer the biblical expression of "sowing and reaping". It's not even about being caught necessarily. It's about what corruption does to individuals... their conscience, their soul and their relationships with the people around them. I bring up Crime and Punishment as a wonderful study of this. It's no accident that the drama does this too. Dostoevsky did a brilliant job of plumbing a guilty person's headspace and the behaviour that follows. People who carry guilty secrets act in very specific ways and they respond to even the most innocent passing remarks accordingly. Take the jumpy Woo Tae-ha as an example.

Clearly this theme is most strongly played out in Yeo-jin's arc. She feels it most acutely because she was seconded from being a field officer to the reformation unit. It was never about politics for her. As Si-mok points out she was never one to be backwards in coming forward about her real opinions. It's not that I believe she will succumb but her situation illustrates how easy it is for the rot to creep in. It's so insidious because it's the subtle, little things that sees even the most well-intentioned person embarking on that trajectory. First you hold back from pushing back. Then you look the other way. Before you know it, you become complicit in something questionable. Something you never ever thought you would be a party to.

In her case, the egregious tribalism that she's been pushed into compounds the dilemma. Even Jang Geon was stunned by the repetitive back and forth at the council ding dong that he was compelled to comment. There's no incentive for her to be honest, to speak up because she would be perceived as a traitor to the cause just as Si-mok is accused of being so by his superiors. The police as an organization is obviously in need of reformation but the current fixation seems to be narrowly focused on getting investigative rights from the prosecutor's office. There's some serious need to put that house in order first. 

Of course the prosecutor's office haven't got clean hands either. It's a broad church with numerous moving parts or different agendas. But when push comes to shove, they like the house the way it is despite the leaky roof and the rotting floorboards. They too have conveniently forgotten that they are public servants. Their first call isn't to close ranks but to act in public good. They've become so bureaucratized that survival has become the default setting. I almost sound like an idealist when I say this but actually I'm not. I'm a realist. To me all these political games lead to little good in the long run. It sets precedence. It makes things hard for the rank and file to do their job well. It hurts good people. It hurts the organization in the long run because it doesn't reward ethical staff or provide any incentive for anyone to do what is right. Where are the mechanisms for doing the right thing?

I'm not saying that the council is a complete waste of time because good can come out of it. The philosophical underpinnings to the back and forth for the second meeting are hard to disagree with. But the reality is that it isn't about who has the best arguments. They know it. We know it. 

Wherever the show intends to take the leads, surely they are meant to be the stalwarts in an ever changing landscape. Yeo-jin can be open to Si-mok where she can't be elsewhere... even with her old gang at Yongsan station. Even though they are supposedly at opposite ends of the "dispute", their core beliefs are very much the same. They are willing to be collaborative and they are dogged about seeing things through to the bitter end. Even with all the obstacles that have been thrown in their path, they are resolute truth-seekers. They are the quintessential outsiders who instinctively reject being squeezed into the organizational conformist agenda. 

Lawless Lawyer (2018) A Review

After spending 18 years in Seoul biding his time, Bong Sang-pil (Lee Joon-gi) returns to Gisung, the place he spent as a child with his working mother. It is also where he last saw his mother alive. Sang-pil barely escaped with his life and went to live with his gangland boss uncle (Ahn Nae-sang). As soon as the stars align ie. when a series of circumstances come into play, Sang-pil immediately heads back to his hometown in readiness to execute his scheme to take down those who are responsible for his mother’s death. One event includes the suspension and sacking of another lawyer, the hot headed Ha Jae-yi (Seo Yea-ji), also an immigrant from Gisung. Although it isn’t immediately apparent, he’d been observing her for a while. Eventually she becomes embroiled in his big revenge plot.

 

Sang-pil lives up to his appellation as a badge of honour, coming across more as a smooth-talking hustler than a serious trial lawyer. All of that belies a steely resolve and a deep personal anguish to see justice done. He keeps a statue of Lady Justice close-by as a reminder that he will exploit the law as his weapon to do what is necessary to right past wrongs. In their early interactions, Jae-yi is suitably unimpressed with Sang-pil who seems to her more like a trashy gangster who resorts to unethical means to get his way. 

As Lawless Lawyer is less a crime show and more a revenge-political drama, it’s never any mystery who the conspirators are. What we’re privy to is a cat and mouse game initiated by Sang-pil and Co against the Goliaths of the city starting from the bottom feeders of the food chain. Our titular antihero sets up shop where his mother once had her law practice and manages to co-opt the idealistic Jae-yi to be his reluctant office manager as well as a motley crew of former loansharks. They are the show’s unerring comic relief.

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Record of Youth (2020) Thoughts after Episodes 5 and 6

I like this show although I'm not exactly wowed by it. There are things I like about it but there are also things that don't exactly grab me. I don't mind admitting that if it weren't for Park Bo-geum, I'd probably have been more tentative about continuing with it.  I like what he brings to the Sa Hye-jun character and I like his dynamic with Park So-dam's Jeong-ha. While they don't exactly sizzle, I like that they are confidants and are both doing it tough together. In other words, we aren't seeing the usual power dynamics of a rom com. Their blossoming romance is fairly ordinary to say the least, giving off an innocent almost random "first" vibe. It's one of the reasons why I like the piano scene at the end of Ep. 6. One feels that it's strange not to be witness to any major push and pull before the confession. Hye-jun likes what he sees and goes for it. Jeong-ha can't say no to him despite her resolution. So I am absolutely certain that we're in for an ominously rough ride ahead regardless of what third party Hae-ho has in store.

It's not exactly all that surprising that a love triangle has emerged because the show certainly foreshadowed it some time ago. What is puzzling me about this love triangle is why Hae-ho is so eager to jump on board the Jeong-ha bandwagon when the time he's spent with her is largely limited to make-up repartee sessions. My own impression (and that's just my opinion) is that his interest in her seems to stem primarily from the fact that Hye-jun likes her. I could be reading him wrongly because in all honesty, I find him a rather one dimensional character so far. To me he's written as Hye-jun's childhood bestie who grazes on the side where the grass is greener. I haven't warmed up to him but I don't particularly dislike him either. To me he's more window dressing or prop to point us in a certain direction. That could change of course but I'm not exactly eager to care about him or his well-heeled family. 

The other reason why I don't feel especially enthused about Hae-ho's family is that they're so obviously designed to be a contrast to the Sa household. They argue and banter with half-hearted petulance but there's a lack of warmth. Everything feels sterile verging on pretentious virtue signalling. Some of it is due undoubtedly to mother, I-yeong. There are glimpses of authenticity but for me, they are few and far between.

Not all's well with the Sa household either. Dad yells far too much for my liking, as if that actually resolves anything. But then I don't think he's interested in resolution as he is in coercion and holding the moral high ground. At times he borders on being a caricature. It diminishes anything useful that might come out of his mouth. He's a bitterly resentful man who plays sides too much. The Sa family functions as two warring sides mainly because of him. I would appreciate the family dynamic a lot more if he was less prone to flying off the handle. As it is I enjoy the dynamic in spite of his tendency to run Hye-jun and Grandpa to the ground at the first opportunity. The family meeting about Gyeong-jun's desire to move out was hilariously entertaining. Grandpa's implication that Gyeong-jun was a con artist in the making was probably not too far off the mark. 

As far as the Sa household is concerned, my favourite bits have to be between Hye-jun and Grandpa, and any scenes involving mum, Ae-suk. Ae-suk is a character I really like because she feels well-rounded. There's a balance to her that I find relatable. Life isn't easy but she's carved out her own little niche and pleasure in it. Roomies Hye-jun and Grandpa find little moments of joy where they can. The world out there arguably isn't kind to creative, artistic types. Not only is the competition fierce and there's very little room to move in certain industries but there are also the terrible tactics to get ahead which are supposedly par for the course in these industries. 

I thought I had seen the last of agent Lee Tae-su but apparently he's destined to be the thorn of Hye-jun's side for a little while longer as he wreaks petty vengeance without any acknowledgment and recognition of his own failings which led to the exodus from his agency. His attempts to normalize dog eat dog industry behaviour had the odour of an insecure man playing the victim card. 

All of the pile on from external forces experienced by Hye-jun is all part of the struggle either before he hits the big time or goes off to the army. It's meant I'm sure to make us root for him. Which I do. Of course this also has the effect of drawing him closer to her because everything apparently seems to be working against him. She has become another scarce good thing in his life. It does beg the question of whether he will hold on to her if more good things or even bad ones start pouring in.

I suppose what I worry about is that when things get better for the two of them they will start to drift apart. Some of Hye-jun's retrospective internal dialogue portend unpleasant things to come. It doesn't have to come to that but they'll have to cross that bridge when they come to it.

Special Affairs Team TEN (2011-2013) A Review

 TEN is an all-time favourite for many reasons. It’s a well-written, stylish police procedural that delves into complex, puzzling cases working from the template laid down by the likes of Criminal Minds and Wire in the Blood. The atmosphere is often bleak and moody reflecting the deathly content. The action revolves around a criminal investigation team that handles the most violent crimes occurring domestically. The “ten” comes from the fact that these violent crimes usually have less than 10% arrest rate. This elite team comprises of 4 members (rookie in tow) with a variety of detection and profiling skills as well as policing experiences. The main reason why this show has a special place in my heart is because it is the first Korean police drama that I came across in my early days watching K dramas that I didn’t have to urge to throw things at. It became a great comfort to me that South Koreans are capable of producing good crime shows and OCN is where it’s at. From then on I’ve been an avid follower of the cable network’s offerings… for better or worse.

 Like with many other OCN shows, it is pre-requisite that the viewer come with a strong stomach. Violent crimes does mean violence… the whole bloody ball of wax. The team is spearheaded by Yeo Ji-hoon (Joo Sang-wook) a renowned criminologist-profiler (after the manner of Gideon and Hotchner) whose motto is “become a monster to catch a monster”. He has a tragedy in his past that drives him to extremes. Back Do-sik (Kim Sang-ho) is the veteran cop who has a couple of decades of field work under his belt. The other talented profiler in this team is the outwardly cheerful Nam Yi-re (Jo-An), psychology honours graduate who has an uncanny ability to read people accurately. Team Ten’s rookie is Choi Woo-shik’s Park Min-ho who doubles as Ji-hoon’s apprentice.

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Alice (2020) Episodes 7-8: Teasing Tropes or Taboos?

To be honest I'm not entirely certain where the show is going with some of the character threads. Admittedly unpredictability is one of the attractions of this highly ambitious drama. One is never quite sure where the show is taking the audience on this rollercoaster ride. I must confess I'm not a fan of the show's flirtations with Oedipal taboos. I use the word "flirtation" because at this point at time that's all it seems to be. It's clear the show is playing monkey with audience expectations with regard to possible lovelines. ("Are they? Aren't they?" The manipulation of camera angles and the emotional OST plus some of Tae-yi's more pointed questions about Jin-gyeom's feelings for her lend weight to this perspective to some degree.

My own view on Jin-gyeom's dynamic with 2020 Tae-yi is due to her striking resemblance to his mother and the perpetual question that preoccupies him as to whether she is his mother. Based on what we've seen so far, I am also of the opinion that she is his mother's younger self because the mechanics of the temporal device here is not thoroughly explained... at least not to my satisfaction... because of the inconsistencies. But then the whole idea of time travel is problematic whichever way one looks at it. Who knows perhaps in some other parallel universes Jin-gyeom's relationship with Tae-yi is not familial. My problem with that proposition of course is that Jin-gyeom is Future Tae-yi's son with Min-hyuk. So if he's in a romantic relationship with some other Tae-yi somewhere out there, who's son is he? I don't know about anyone else but this throws up another layer of complexity that is begging for answers I'm not sure that the show will be offering. But none of us can be certain about much when there are still 8 episodes to go.

The other thing that troubles me is that Mother-Future Tae-yi and younger Tae-yi both co-existed in the same timeline so it seems that they're two separate selves. But then from time to time younger Tae-yi seems to have vestiges of Mother Tae-yi's memories. Are these sorts of inconsistencies going to be explained later on? 

Jin-gyeom... as far as one is able to read him... is largely fascinated with present Tae-yi because of the guilt that weighs on him for failing to protect his mother not once but twice. Whether or not he can ascertain her identity, many odd, inexplicable and even dangerous occurrences have brought them together  His seeming attachment to her, I believe is about that and a long-felt regret for not having been a more attentive son to his mother while she was around. The early sequences of Episode 8 point to that. Do-yeon's timely/untimely intrusion into the safe house suggests that the show teases out the time honored cohabitation trope and then pulls back. It established early on that Jin-gyeom doesn't have strong connections with many people. Mother Tae-yi was one, Do-yeon is another, Ahjussi and his wife make up the rest of this select group. It took years for them to build the bonds they now share. Even now he still has trouble identifying his emotions and yet there's no doubt he cares for these people more than others. So it's a stretch, to my way of thinking, that he would fall for in love with present day immature Tae-yi with all her unique quirks just because she looks like his mum. Even the ambiguity that surrounds his accommodation of her whims and demands seems to be associated with his memories of Mother Tae-yi.

It's not (just) about the ick factor that I object to a possible romance between Jin-gyeom and 2020 Tae-yi but the internal inconsistencies it creates within the storyline. Okay he hugged her and cried like a baby when he first saw present-day Tae-yi but only because she is a dead ringer for his mother -- the only person in his life he ever wept bitterly for.

Then of course there's the problem of Min-hyuk who's been conducting time travel tourism in Jin-gyeom's timeline. The same Jin-gyeom who is a progeny of his beloved Tae-yi. Jin-gyeom is their offspring and they're interacting. If indeed Min-hyuk is supposedly operating in a parallel universe why does the case file for Lee Se-hoon have his mug shot in it. Is this a fixed event that occurs in every universe? How does this work? Then there's Mother Tae-yi's time card which he took back and is now being looked over by the Alice crowd. 

If there's anyone I root for, it's Min-hyuk. He seems to be much better fleshed out character than first meets the eye and then there's Kwak Si-yang's thoughtful performance. For someone who is supposed to be in charge of such a groundbreaking enterprise, he knows so very little. Despite the bluster he still hasn't moved on and he doesn't even know that he's a dad. He cared much more for her than the early episodes indicated. But he soldiered on nonetheless. And really that's it... he is a soldier in a cause who paid the price for it because he believed that what he was doing was a good thing. He hasn't read the forbidden book so he doesn't know that the time travel project that he's a part of is a pandora's box. 

In Train (2020) at least it was clear to me that the universes were two distinct locations with very different outcomes for just about every single character. The point from which the differentiation occurred was at least defined. There was an event that caused the branching-off that leads to different consequences.

Here my problem with the multiverse theory is about returning to the point of origin. How is that achieved? If there are that many alternate/parallel universes out there that results from all the time travelling that goes on, how does anyone get back to the moment that started it all? It's one thing to create an alternate timeline (as posited by Seok O-won) but it's another thing to leave it and then return to it. If there are so many of them, how do the time travellers know which one to go back to? Does the wormhole principle here work like that of the Stargate franchise?

I need explanations!

As I said last week, I'm not seeing parallel universes here in the same ways as it occurred in Train but an accumulation of paradoxes in the form of causal loops. We have future selves meeting past selves; future selves going back to the past and then having progeny in the past.

My mind is undeniably boggled. I do wonder if the multiverse thesis is just a red-herring or a mistaken assumption on the part of some which is why time travel becomes a complete trainwreck and future Tae-yi  co-opts O-won to put a kibosh in the entire project.

Record of Youth (2020) First Impressions

Finally perhaps I have found a Park Bo-geum drama that I can sink my teeth into. Sadly for me I haven't liked anything he's been in since Hello Monster. None of them have really been my cup of tea but this might be the one to break the PBG drought. And it's conveniently available on Netflix.

I wasn't going to take this one up initially but it has the advantage of being a mid-week drama. (The weekends are overcrowded currently) Plus the added attraction of the PBG factor. It occurred to me after Episode 4 that what I've probably been craving for is a villainous PBG. Let's hope there's much more of that in the offing.

The premise although not exactly original has the benefit of being relatable. I'm of the age now that the family scenario played out here hits close to home. The family conflict has some semblance of authenticity going for it even if the intra-family feud cranked up a few notches for dramatic purposes is rather over-the-top. I don't have difficulties understanding where everyone is coming from and I agree with Dad to some degree that there comes a time when a person needs to come to grips with the harsh realities of life. I myself have been a part of these sorts of conversations minus the unnecessary shouting and hostility. 

Sa Hye-jun (Park Bo-geum) is doing it tough (working multiple gigs as a model and waiter) but he has a dream of hitting the big time in showbiz. I imagine he's not the only one of his generation wondering what the future holds for them. It seems unfair that he has to struggle as much as he does while his childhood buddy, Won Hae-hyo (Byeon Woo-seok) seemingly has everything handed to him on a silver platter because his mother has the time and the resources to work things behind the scenes on his behalf. While Hye-jun longs for his first acting break, he receives his military enlistment notice. Much of the first four episodes see him mulling over this predicament of throwing in the towel and enlist or continue pursuing his lifelong aspiration.

It's not clear if Hae-hyo knows that his mother has been pulling strings behind his back but he can't be so clueless as to not be suspicious that things seem to go so smoothly for him. The message is loud and clear that no one can succeed entirely on their own merits whatever that may be. It's commendable that he wants to be his own man but the reality is that with the way the world works that in order to catch a break, a person needs support from different quarters although the individual has to decide what kind of support they are willing to accept and under what terms as Hye-jun has had to contend with. There are always trade-offs. Always. There is really no such thing as a free lunch. Sponsorships are as much transactional as they are building relationships.

While on one of his jobs he bumps into An Jeong-ha (Park So-dam), a make-up artist who is a fan of his. The two hit off quickly and become friends. They are both drawn to each other partly because the struggle for them is real as they navigate the difficulties of achieving their goals. Moreover they fall naturally into these long honest conversations about how life sucks... for them. Gradually Hye-jun seeks her out and shows increasing preference for her company.

Whether or not romance is on the cards for them (this being a K drama I imagine that would be a given), their friendship has great value and they seem to be a great comfort to each other. Jeong-ha doesn't seem to have much of a support network and she constantly battles the unwanted attentions of an insecure, jealous senior colleague who seems to make it her mission to get on her case. I am often reminded of many a Taiwanese drama while watching this especially when these two people talk to each other but also in the way the show is executed and paced. Long chunks of dialogue, hugely introspective and waxing philosophical. At times it works against the show's interests but in the long run I suspects that it will help the audience get behind their blossoming relationship especially when it goes to the next level. Already in their rapid repartee they feel like kindred spirits. Two lonely souls finding their way to each other during hard times.

Of course a show like this can't be all about romance. Hye-jun still lives at home and shares a room with Grandpa. Fortunately they get on like a house on fire although he doesn't enjoy a lot of privacy. In fact, Hye-jun gets on much better with Grandpa than anyone else in the house. Mum (Ae-suk) tries to play mediator between the warring factions in this divided household but as she struggles as housekeeper under Hae-ho's mother's watchful eye, she comes to the conclusion that she wants better for her son. I also love Hye-jun's relationship with his new manager, Min-jae (Shin Dong-mi) an old colleague from the agency who is now firmly part of his cheerleading squad. Little by little, she's doing what his previous agent failed to do for him, finding small but significant opportunities. One gets the feeling that with all these people around him, barracking for him, maybe just maybe, Hye-jun might have a shot at seeing his elusive dreams come true.

As the show grows from strength to strength, I'm encouraged to press on with it. It's early days yet and things can still go off the rails down the track. But for now, this looks like it could go somewhere.

Chocolate (2019-2020) A Review

There’s no denying that Chocolate ransacks the melodrama pantry with impunity: Unforgettable first love, orphaned children, past trauma, over-the-top chaebol family power struggles, misunderstandings due to noble idiocy etc etc. It’s almost relentless. All these elements would be immediately recognizable by seasoned viewers. Familiar though it seems, the haunting storytelling and the exquisite cinematography is what lifts the material beyond the burden of expectation. The locations are glorious to behold. Moreover, the use of tropes is largely the set-up for the meat of the story: The reality of impending death and how people of different ages and backgrounds find ways of processing mortality and loss.

The leads are two wounded souls who continually find their way to each other despite various attempts to stay out of the other’s way. Theirs is a slow burn romance as they navigate all the obstacles from within and without to finally come full circle. The romance plays out poignantly within the backdrop of a regional hospice. For one reason or another the romantic leads, Cha-young, and Lee Kang end up working there. The location is gorgeous and serene. An ideal setting perhaps for anyone receiving palliative care and putting their house in order before making their exit from among the living. 

Read the rest of the review at JangHaven Forums

The K2 (2016) A Retrospective

This happens to be one of those shows that I caught some time after it aired. I’ve liked Ji Chang-work as an actor since Healer but for one reason or another his drama choices haven’t always aligned with my interests or the timing hasn’t been right. I was leery of getting on board with K2 for some time because it seemed to be surrounded by a storm of controversy while it aired. So a couple of years ago after I had embarked on a Ji Chang-wook marathon, I scratched my head afterwards baffled by all the fuss that was generated. 

The premise of the show is this: A soldier of fortune while working in Iraq not only loses the woman he wants to marry (a local interpreter) but is then framed for her death. He does a runner and eventually returns to South Korea where he becomes embroiled with the head of a prestigious security company and her politician husband. After a series of encounters, he becomes a key member of her security detail in exchange for information that could help him clear his name.

It’s not a bad show. Quite good for the most part, in fact. There are even flashes of brilliance sprinkled about particularly in the first half. What seemed particularly enjoyable to me was the political theatre on display for public consumption and the behind-the-scenes wrangling that flew in the face of what the world was allowed to see. All of that was masterfully written and performed by seasoned veterans of the screen. In the most tangible ways, the machiavellian seniors dominate the story’s landscape with their machinations and under the table shenanigans. Their world is their stage to do what they will, consequences be damned. Onto this seedy platform steps K2, Kim Je-ha, former mercenary who will rock the boat until it overturns.

From what I had read it was largely the romance that people objected to. That was where the controversy arose. Apparently the expectation on the part of some viewers was that Ji Chang-wook should fall for the dubious and far more complicated Choi Yoo-jin (played brilliantly by Song Yoon-a) that he clearly mistrusted. From what the show does and the story it tells, it makes little sense to me that anyone could think that because Ji Chang-wook’s character, Je-ha, has a certain known history to draw on. It isn’t just that he’s attracted to a very specific kind of woman but also his general, undisguised suspicion of the rich and the powerful. There would be no way on God’s green earth a man like him would ever be romantically interested in Choi Yoo-jin, no matter what she felt for him because at the end of the day he could never wholly trust her to do anything unrelated to her self-interest. Anna (Yoona) notwithstanding. As far he was concerned, theirs was a transactional relationship based on mutual expediency. It didn’t matter how sympathetic the audience was to her plight, in his eyes, she was a dubious figure who used her power for her personal gain in all kinds of unsavoury deals. The lady locked up her step-daughter in the wonderful tradition of Grimm’s tales. I don’t doubt she responded to his inherent sincerity but she was his employer, not someone he could ever think of in that fashion. He’s certainly not interested in playing any kind of games that sees Yoo-jin refereeing. In fact, he thumbs his nose at all their antics.

Anna is depicted as an innocent, a particular type. Cloistered away (in effect imprisoned) for most of her life from any family because of a contract between her father and step-mother. There is no guile in her. It does make sense, given Je-ha’s inclinations as to why he is drawn to her. She’s the helpless underdog who has no one. A breath of fresh air in a world where every man, woman and their dog has an agenda. She just wants to be free, to live and to have choices. Now that is something that Je-ha can completely relate to. She’s a pawn like he is. A pawn he can’t help but want to protect. That is in his nature.

With all its obvious fairytale allusions, the drama plants its feet firmly within its melodrama roots. The older generation plots and schemes to build empires (or steal them) because… I don’t know… it’s their vengeance on a cruel world… or is it because they feel entitled to a piece of the action. Their rationale seems irrelevant. Of course if anyone plays that game long enough, there’s no getting out of that unscathed. Je-ha clearly doesn’t belong in that world. He stumbles into inadvertently. He unequivocally doesn’t want to be there. Who can blame him? He is figure that is above the fray untainted by all the hand soiling that goes on behind closed doors. Moreover he is the appointed incorruptible princely character that rescues Snow White from the clutches of Maleficent. 

Choi Yoo-jin is undoubtedly a fascinating character study wonderfully fleshed out in the story and during the performance. It’s not surprising that she elicits some measure of sympathy. But she’s not a figure of romance because power is her default weapon. It was drummed into her by her father from a young age. She craves affection undoubtedly and there might be some suggestion that her bid for power is really a cry for love. Could she have done a U-turn? It’s hard to say. Once a person goes down a particular path, there will be a moment from which there is no going back.

Anna is the obvious contrast. She’s a simple-minded, child-like creature. She has nothing, know nothing about wielding power. All she ever wanted was Daddy’s love and to be loved. In the end, the show does suggest that she and Yoo-jin both really wanted the same thing and they both get it only by giving up everything.

For me this is unabashedly a makjang morality tale. I’m not an avid watcher of the genre as a rule but when well-done it can be hugely entertaining and even addictive.

Maiden Holmes (2020) Early Impressions

While it gets chuckles and laughs out of me, the show doesn't live up to the hype. As far as I'm concerned, it's a rom com masquerading as a whodunit. Which is ironic considering the cross-dressing titular character. It almost seems as if someone took every single leaf out of the cross-dressing rom com playbook and raided the cupboard for every romance cliche ever devised bar the kitchen sink... and that's just in the first 5 episodes. Nothing is meant to tax the brain. The sleuthing is lightweight especially for a hard core fanatic of the genre like myself. It's highly derivative and no wonder comparisons are being made with the likes of Under the Power, Moonlight Drawn by Clouds and Dr Cutie. It breaks no new ground, plays it safe and entertains by playing up every romance trope with glee. In other words, it's pure unadulterated fluff. And I'm in it largely for the laughs as I count the cliches.

Of course there's nothing wrong with a nice bit of light escapism. Even I indulge from time to time. And this one seems to be decently executed. Thankfully the titular female character is at least decently written, lives up to the template from which she gets her street creds and has me grinning every time she recites from the rule book whenever Pei Zhao sends her heart racing.

I would never deny that the male lead is swoony eye candy and he hasn't done too badly as a newcomer. He can certainly pass off as the younger brother of Merxat. He has an elegance which befits the role and seems rather adept at romancing his lady love. Not to mention too that he smirks prettily. In just these first 10 episodes, the two of them have bickered, chained themselves together, almost drowned kissed, drunk confessed, kissed under the influence, nursed her back to health, discovered her secret during an undercover op, fallen asleep together, saved her from a third-rate lecher etc etc. We know the drill. However, he's not really called to do a great deal of heavy lifting here.

Also good for laughs is the other male lead, Xie Beiming whose half-hearted braggadocio and "asides" add to the good-natured cheesiness. That said, he's not completely brawn or comic relief.

The actors do their best with the material and for the most part they succeed. I imagine I'm not part of the demographic that they're aiming for so I'm happy to keep my expectations low and just go along for the ride. At least I don't feel routinely insulted like I do with other ones I've seen this year.

Bad Guys (2014) A Review

It doesn’t seem all that long ago when I caught this high octane, no holds barred blood and guts fest from OCN. Since then it seems to have developed something of a cult following not so much because of the whodunit side of things (which is entertaining enough) but because of the character dynamics. Detective Oh Goo-tak, a known maverick in the force, nicknamed “Mad Dog”, is tasked with grabbing the scummiest of criminal scum after the police chief loses his son to the murderous whims of a serial killer. Much to the chagrin of his “babysitter”, Inspector Yoo Mi-young, Oh Goo-tak scours the local prison(s) for his motley crew: Park Woong-cheol, a former gangbanger; Lee Jung-moon, a genius level psychopath; Jung Tae-su, a slippery ex-contract killer who, for unknown reasons, turned himself in. The cast as a whole is fantastic. It boasts the likes of Kim Sang-joong, Ma Dong-seok, Park Hae-jin, Jo Dong-hyuk and Kang Shin-il who are perfectly cast in their roles. Less impressive is the expressionless Gang Ye-won as the only female crime fighter on the team’s roster.

Read the rest of it at JangHaven Forums

Alice (2020) Episodes 5 and 6 : Of Pandora's box and Paradoxes

The biggest surprise to me about this drama is that it really does want us to take the "science" in science fiction rather more seriously than one might expect it to. One some level the name dropping (eg. Schrodinger's Cat, Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle etc) might just be window dressing... "Attention! Attention! You are watching a time travel-multiverse story" but the fact that the writer is making the effort, is almost commendable. There's almost enough gobbledegook to rival that of an episode of Star Trek: TNG. It's really rare in my experience to see a K drama go to go to all the trouble of analysing and discussing the moral intricacies of playing peek-o-boo with the past. 

By now we're meant to understand that the Alice project is not all that it's cracked up to be. Good intentions are not always matched by reality and outcomes. While Alice might not be an abject failure (yet), it can't entirely live up to its lofty aims of wanting to better the lives of people or alleviate suffering. It also appears, rather worryingly that the people behind the Alice project aren't entirely cognizant of all things time travel, much less about the competing interests within that space. There's talk about parallel universes and other selves in existence but there's no notion of paradoxes of future selves becoming part of the past and integrating their footprint in a single timeline. If there had been (at least) two separate timelines before, they seem to have now collapsed into one apparently because of Tae-yi's decision to remain in 1992. Seok O-won seems to have some awareness of this having the benefit of hindsight taken from the so-called Book of Prophecy. 

Prophetic utterances and oracles within this universe seem to the ramblings and chronicles of time travellers who have witnessed the future firsthand, recorded key events and left them behind for posterity. How the book found its way into Dr Jang Do-shik originally and Seok O-won's hands eventually at various times are still mysteries that need to be revealed in due time. Playing pass the parcel with the book itself seems to imply that there is one timeline at play rather than multiple ones. Unless of course there are multiple ones circulating in parallel worlds.

The contestability of time travel may prove to be the most fascinating aspect of the drama. It's also a new twist to Kdramaland's increasing macabre fixation with serial murders. A good excuse to raise the body count. It isn't just the tourism murders that call into the question the entire enterprise but there are other murders involving rough looking men with long hair and leather jackets who have a thing about dead cats. Who are they taking their orders from? It seemed initially that Seok O-won might be behind this and yet it is possible that there's a third party calling the shots. The contestability of time travel will undoubtedly turn it into the pandora's box that Seok O-won hints darkly at. It's a double-edged sword depending on who's wielding it.

The time card brings Min-hyuk face to face with the woman he loves and is stopped in his tracks. Is she his Tae-yi? According to Schrodinger's thought experiment... the answer is no... and yes. He knows her but not her as she is now but as she will be. But to add insult to injury he thinks she's another Tae-yi from a parallel universe, out of his reach. Are we all sufficiently discombobulated yet?

Min-hyuk is wrestling with the same issues Jin-gyeom does. Who is this woman? Should he care? As long as she doesn't have memories of him, she can't be his Tae-yi. Just as Jin-gyeom has concluded that the professor can't be his mother. Appearances, habits and personality aren't everything if they have no shared memories. According to the premise laid down here, her identity is not necessarily determined by who she thinks she is or what she does alone BUT by how she is perceived by the people who know her best. Tae-yi from 2050 apart from being a scientist was also someone's lover and then someone's mother.

The time card is the key... not just for accessing the temporal mechanism but the key to all those involved in this relationship web to find out the truth about the past. 1992 and 2010.  Min-hyuk's entry at this point in 2020 Tae-yi's existence suggests that the show might be avoiding an icky Oedipal scenario. Although the constant sparring between father and son might indicate otherwise. Certainly on Jin-gyeom's side, his interest in present-day Tae-yi is purely for the fact she resembles his mother in striking ways. He must also feel some responsibility for drawing her into this dragnet of inexplicable danger that grows even more inexplicable as the web of intrigue expands to include a whole assortment of unsavoury characters that have come from nowhere.

Oh Shi-young is a curious and suspicious figure. One wonders about her role and possible presence on the night of Tae-yi's death in 2010... as signalled by the drone. But the really curious thing is why she's been feeding Min-hyuk porkies about Tae-yi moving on and living the good life and the death of their baby. To help him forget and move on so that he would turn his attention to her? That's a likely explanation. And he is undoubtedly walking eye-candy in a suit.

More than that, she must know that Tae-yi left behind a son. His and her son. Whatever she might be trying to convince herself of regarding parallel universes it doesn't change the fact that Park Jin-gyeom is Min-hyuk's son from that particular timeline.

The reality is that Min-hyuk hasn't moved on despite running around busily with a stoic resolve. Neither has Jin-gyeom despite his innate expression of stoicism. The passage of time apparently doesn't heal all wounds. Perhaps this explains Min-hyuk's quiet sympathy for his murderous clients. He himself is only too aware of his own grief that he keeps well-hidden from public gaze. 

However, the use of the past as a psychotherapeutic playground continues to throw up all kinds of troubling ethical questions. For an oligarchy with all their emotional baggage, not matter how well-intentioned, to adjudicate this life and death process, continues to be disturbing.

There's no denying the well-used tropes making their appearances here. It is still a recognizably K drama after all. However, credit should be given to the showrunners for using them in playful, innovative ways as it pertains to the time travel multiverse madness. It may be true that underneath all the other worldly elements beats the heart of a good old fashion K melodrama.