A lackluster drama

Well, this drama was a bit underwhelming, albeit still entertaining. The plot had so much potential, but it's not very well developed and ends up being just average. I wish they had shown more about the realm of the gods and how their society worked, but unfortuntely that remained unexplored, maybe even due to a limited budget, I don't know. The ending is also very predictable and the conflict was resolved in such a simple way I wonder if So Ah really needed to have used her wish for that. Also, the title of the show is barely justified by the story.

I mainly decided to watch this because of Nam Joo Hyuk, but his performance here is not as astounding as in other works I've seen him in, but it's not just his fault as Ha Baek wasn't that deep or compelling. Same for So Ah, not terrible, but not a remarkable character either. I felt they lacked a bit of chemistry, although they do share some nice kiss scenes.

The CGI was terrible and cringe-worthy, which makes me question why they did some swimming scenes with CGI instead of just putting the actors to actually swim.

A pretty forgettable show, I would recommend this only in case you have nothing else to see.

Read More

A pretty solid drama

The drama sets the premise of exploring how an AI can show much more humanity than actual humans, and although it does it well, I feel like it wasted the opportunity to go much deeper with the theme and explore topics of how humanity would react to the incorporation of androids in our socitey and such, but I guess the writers didn't want to make the plot too deep or complicated, which is ok. I have to say there were sertain moments that didn't make sense. The way the robot's mom dies is so stupid, she could've just pushed Nam Shin out of the way and then avoided the barrels. To be honest she didn't even need to save him, he's a robot, I'm pretty sure a bunch of barrels wouldn't have killed him, it's clearly something the writers did just to stirr more drama in the show. Also, the way they portray science in this show is pretty idiotic, almost akin to magic that instantly just solves all of their problems. I must say specially the ending felt like a bit of a let down with a Deus Ex Machina type of solution.

But I think that the actual focus of the drama is actually the character's relationships. The lead couple has a nice chemistry and it's pretty endearing to watch their relationship develop, but I gotta say, if you're going into this for the romance you might end up disappointed. Although cute, the protagonists relationship is more platonic than anything else. The fl is sure of her romantic feelings for the android, but the show makes pretty clear Nam Shin cannot feel actual emotions so although he shows he cares for her, he doesn't really love her, so towards the end their relationship feels a bit stagnant. Still, I think their interactions make the show worth it, along with the android's lovely personality.

As for the other characters, there's not much to say. I was sad they reduced the mom to an egoistic, crazy mother. She was supposed to be a robotics genius but was never portrayed that way. Human Nam Shin was disgusting to watch and I wouldn't mind if he'd died, but kudos to the actor who played well the two polar opposite characters in a very distinct manner. YoungHoon was the only other likable character to me.

Overall, pretty good and entertaining drama, I just wish there had been more romance.

Read More

This movie is trully great and of extremely significance, not just because of the great cinematography, directing and acting, but also for basically raising korean cinema to a worldwide status by being not just the first korean film, but the first foreign film to win the Oscar of best picture, paving the way for other foreign works.

This movie will make you feel all sorts of way, specially considering the huge tone shift halfway through it and an ending that will most likely throw you off and leave you wondering what the hell just happened, but I believe that was intentional and something that sets this movie apart, making you tense, although super engaged in what's going on, with this looming feeling that anything can happen. I honestly praise Joonho for his courage of making such bold decisions for this story.

All the characters are layered and feel human. They are flawed and even do some questionable stuff, but that doesn't stop us from rooting for them, specially the poor family, since the acting and the script allow us to understand their motivations and struggles. The plot revolves around a quite old, but still relevant topic: class conflict, which is aproached in a very nuanced manner. The story is full of symbolisms and does a wonderful job of juxtaposing two opposite points of view, making you question who's the real parasite.

I admit that you might be confused after watching Parasite, but I firmly believe this is one of its charms: it leaves wondering and sticks to you for a very long time. I strongly recommend you watch this film and then try watching videos dissecting it and also interviews with Bong Joonho about it, then you can reflect about its message and form your own conclusions, since I think there are many elements in this movie that are opened to interpretation. If you're not a person that likes a dense, complicated plot that will require you use your brain to decipher it, though, this is definitely not for you.

Read More

Can we just move past this?

It's been a while since I watched such a boring starter episode in a drama. Most of waht is shown in the flashbak is just a big waste of time and it takes the majority of the episode. I don't care about any of the charcaters and the pacing is bad.

Nevertheless, the score I'm giving here it's mainly for the tropes in this drama. Idon't mind cliché in romance, but there are certain things that need to be approached in a new and more refreshing way in need to work, while others should just be left behind. I like Junho as an actor, but his character is so bland. Of course, it's just the first episode, but in one hour there was nothing appealing in the way the character was written or acted. There's no depth besides brooding CEO.

The female lead is ok, but not good enough to make me want to stay, Look, another woman who is poor but is fighting for her dream and in the end gets the job she is definitely not qualified for! Her friendship with the other girls is cute, but that's about it.

What pissed me off the most was the depiction of the male lead's sister. I felt the drama was trying to set her up as villain, although I don't understand why exactly? I guess South Korea just loves to put down strong, independent womem. This woman has been running the family business successfully for years, but sure, let's put the man who has no experience in this type of business whatsoever and got fired as an intern on his first day to compete against her and probably take over the company for reasons. And we are supposed to root for him because he is a man! And he is hot! Please, just spare me. I'm sure the drama is going to try to justify making the sister a villain in order for us to root for the male lead, but I just don't care. Like please, let's just stop demonizing women in positions of power.

I just think we have evolved as a society enough in order to leave these certain tropes in the past. King the Land simply doesn't bring anything interesting to the table in order for these clichés to feel fun, it's just boring and the bare minimum.

Read More