Complete Waste of a Good Franchise
After a totally engrossing Season 1 and a very strong Season 2 and a Tragic (with much room to be re written) Season 3; and my strong affinity with 'Kang Center' ; Season 4 is a Flop.I have never felt so let down with a season which i was waiting to catch with high anticipation.
Main Reason: Logic Failure. The Scriptwriter's apparent and disappointing effort to write a script to grovel and fawn after the 'American LAPD' plot angle. How are American Cops allowed to Run Rampant threatening local Koreans with their Guns & LAPD badges? Giving it a chance and deciding to soldier on to 4 episodes; i really started wishing this LAPD Derek Cho would just get shot in the head to end this series early. Dumb Character by a mediocre actor given a shallow and irrational character. I still like Lee HaNa's Kang KwonJoo. One of the better characters ever developed.
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Family matters
There's a dark side to everything and the Voice series has been unabashedly exploring it for the past 3 seasons. It is continuously probing and reaching depths that are prevalent everywhere around us, no matter the country or city, but that we conveniently overlook in favour of viewing the world as being full of roses and peaches. The fourth installment in this series pushes our limits to the maximum in yet another aspect- family. In a way, this is a look at the other side of the coin to, "Anyone would do anything for their family." Because some would rather their family didn't do anything.The location this time around intelligently shifts to the Vimo Island and the head of the Vimo PD states in her first conversation with Director Kang that the island has its own rules. It sets the tone for the entire series- Director Kang and her merry men of the GTT have to now play by those new, unfamiliar and at times irrational norms and try to look for a win with the odds stacked so high against them. If they manage to survive that is. If they can manage to fight the demons both internal and external, that is.
It's interesting how the writers included the concept of family as a running theme across the episodes. All the emergency cases the GTT solves have family involved in one way or another. After half the season passes by, this underlying theme is pulled up to the forefront and is neatly incorporated into the cases to be more prominent, helping them build the foundation for the final showdown. Stitched into this delicate fabric are a village and a cult as dark as the show itself and vaguely reminiscent of Save Me. It's masterfully done and as far as the main plot of Judgement Hour is concerned, it was impeccable. For once, I'm even glad the show takes a route onto the sunny side.
Yet, the show has its fair share of problems. It doesn't get rid of any of its clichés- Director Kang still faces opposition from her superiors wherever she goes and her relationship with her ML partner starts off rocky and rough. Perhaps there are other better ways of showing the internal conflicts arising from a new member in a well established team? Then comes the cyber guy embodying all the tech nerd stereotypes and filling in for the second resident vacant position on the team. He is given his idiosyncrasies, alright. Only, they are too similar to what we've seen in the previous seasons in those who held the same post. Let's say these are necessary evils and changing this basic framework would be too difficult for both the writers and viewers. Why were all the emergency cases so long and complicated? They spawned across at least two episodes and sometimes made us lose the thread of the plot. What I find the most inexcusable, however, is that the villain here is yet another lunatic. This is a subjective opinion because I've grown tired of mental illnesses (specifically the one the villain here has) being the reason for a social evil. Why couldn't he be a simple psychopath instead of being a mad one? Why should a mental illness cause a social evil in the first place? The said illness is not even depicted properly. Since this season was based on a real incident, even this part can be reasoned out.
However, I'm dissatisfied by how Director Kang and Derek Cho's trauma was dealt- I don't recall it appearing anywhere except when either or both of them had to be put on backfoot. Healing from it was somewhat better. We are leaving out the technicalities of an American working in the Korean police. That's what the show did too and that creative liberty can be accepted.
In spite of these pitfalls, Voice 4 is incredible. Song Seung Heon is good as Derek Cho even if he is less grumpy and more irritable than the previous male leads. His acting surprisingly falls flat in the emotional scenes which makes it difficult to connect with his relationship with his sister. Also, they could have done away with his English accent. Baek Sung Hyun shines as a struggling and conflicted Shim Dae Shik making his comeback to the force. Han James is impressive as Chad- his Korean-American accent is scarily sexy. Director Kang and Park Eun Soo's excellent camaraderie continues. It's always delightful to see the two women support each other. All other seasoned actors do their parts well. The star of the show, however, is Lee Kyu Hyung. The emotions he makes his range of expressions convey are endlessly beautiful. There is no one more perfect for the role, which is easily his second best, only next to Looney in Prison Playbook.
OST is suitable and cinematography is good. Voice 4 has much less gore compared to the other seasons and was therefore more bearable. I won't strictly recommend this unless someone specifically asks for dark thrillers. There's no reason why you shouldn't watch it, though. It is racy and nail biting and delivers the punch it promised it packed.
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Thrilling
I watched season 1-3 and already like it.. and now, season 4 is coming... Excited, you can feel the tense since eps 1, want to watch more, I feel bad for Kang Center. Huhuhu.. I wonder why the villains were called themselves as Circus Man. Why did they choose clowns? This movie really got me so much goosebumps. Poor all of ICs who haven’t watched thriller dramas before.. HAHA... Recommend this movie for all Thriller Movie Lover. This is really good ??I think it’s okay if you haven’t watched season 1 till season 3, you still can understand and enjoy the drama, because this drama is about Derek Jo and Kang Kwon Joo.Was this review helpful to you?
Essa temporada foi diferente em relação ao assassino, nas outras sua revelação era mais demorada, eles focaram nos casos, ou no detalhamentos dos assassinatos. Alguém disse “Acho que alguns espectadores preferem as temporadas anteriores porque houve cenas mais violentas, mas esta se concentra mais nos aspectos psicológicos dos crimes nos outros casos, o que é único”. Queria que o assassino tivesse tido mais poder, que fosse mais manipulador com as pessoas da ilha, mas perto do fim ele me surpreendeu positivamente. Uma curiosidade, a casa do assassino é muito parecida com a usada em Parasita, ou foi inspirada ou é a mesma com modificações. Para não deixar de constar, parabenizo a atuação de Lee Kyu Hyung.
Estavam reclamando do misticismo, em como estava fugindo do estilo, mas é algo que já vem acontecendo desde a terceira temporada. Sinto falta do estilo da primeira. Enquanto relia as resenhas das temporadas anteriores, alguns pontos se destacaram, como a falta de casos aleatórios, um melhor desenvolvimento da Park é claro como o autor tenta mudar sempre os vilões, gosto disso, porém ainda acho falho em relação às personagens femininas, mais ainda na quantidade e na ação. Sobre casos impactantes, acho que foram do homem com licantropia e do episódio sete.
Vi pessoas falando mal da Kang e em como ela não é tão mais rápida e assertiva como antes, mas esquecem como ela quase ficou surda na outra temporada, claro que sua audição não é mais a mesma. O fato de ela continuar tentando a faz forte. E também não estavam gostando da relação da Kang com Mamba, mas eu gosto, prefiro brigam e serem às vezes secos, mas que dê para sentir que há uma parceria tanto nos casos como com a busca dos assassinos principais, que também ocorria com Jin Hyuk do que a relação que ela tinha com Do Kang Woo. Parecia muito agridoce, a qualquer momento só faltava ela colocar uma chupeta na boca dele, ela não agia como superior, isso no caso a terceira temporada. No começo, Mamba me lembra o Cachorro louco da primeira temporada, mas ele não é tão indiferente a psicológica das pessoas e entende de medicina, mas ainda há o fato emocional, cabeça quente, que todos parceiros da Kang tem, gosto disso, porém deve se mostrar mais ou ficará apagado em relação aos anteriores.
E não, Kang não precisa de romance, entenda que não faz sentido no universo Voice, a menos que a pessoa morra assassinado, ok. É muito frustrante ver como quase sempre que temos uma mulher principal, forte, sensível, amorosa, mas tão normal, queiram empurrar um romance. Digo isso para os que querem toda temporada um romance. Entendo que cada um tem sua preferência, mas não há necessidade de romance em tudo.
Em resumo, há muitas coisas para melhorar, tenho esperança já que da primeira para segunda em diante muito mudou, um exemplo, eu odiava o som de respiração da Kang na primeira temporada, mas a partir da segunda ela não estava mais presente. Se me perguntar se acho que seria legal outra temporada, direi que sim e que assistiria, mas deve ser bem arrasadora ou Voice se afundará.
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This review may contain spoilers
Pronta pra próxima temporada
Foi um drama que a princípio estava intenso tanto quanto as outras temporadas mas teve uns episódios que meio que se perderam um pouco porque estava tendo muitos fatos e poucas explicações. Mas ainda assim segurou o ponto principal de Voice que é ter a equipe Golden Time lidando com um caso de serial killer, isso é o que mais segura a história, porém o assassino não é tão esperto como os das outras temporadas (esse chegava a ser burro as vezes kkkk)As atuações foram boas, temos de novidade na equipe Golden Time o Derek, o detetive que acaba se juntando a eles depois de perder um familiar.
A Kang continua sendo a chefe de equipe e fazendo um ótimo trabalho. A única personagem que eu acho que caiu um pouco de nível foi a Park depois que mudou pra trabalho de campo, achei que sua personagem perdeu o destaque que tinha.
Talvez eu tenha me decepcionado um pouquinho porque as expectativas estavam altíssimas.
Agora depois de concluir creio que essa temporada foi uma introdução para a quinta que possivelmente terá, até porque não aprofundou tanto na história de vida do assassino e até mesmo do detetive que tanto luta com seus monstros internos, além de que deu uma introdução sobre como realmente a Kang conseguiu essa capacidade auditiva.
Os dois últimos episódios me deixaram com muita vontade de ver uma quinta temporada.
Ah! Senti falta da ost “Voice - Kim Yuna” nesta temporada, esta já era uma música que super definia o drama.
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