They don't have enough content for 16 episodes. I wish this show was 12 episodes instead like other well written…
Penthouse is not a drama to be taken at first degree. Or at least, not only. It is dark comedy and self-parody of makjang. Hence the characters screaming, or destroying tables and objects at the slightest opportunity, which is part of the fun. This is a completely different drama from Sky Castle in spirit. Sky Castle is dark and realistic, not really funny. But one can appreciate the sharp dialogues and the cruel repartees, the social satire.
If I compare Sisyphus and MOTA, I observe that the comedy is never overwhelming in MOTA. It's circumscribed in a natural way. In fact, the story is much more serious and dramatic. No matter that there are also things that are not very explainable (I still haven't understood everything in the last episode), the immersion is better and the audience believes more in what they see. So, we feel much more suspense, thrill and the emotional scenes have a stronger impact. Song Jae-Jung remains my favorite scriptwriter because she exploits the strength of Korean dramas, but accompanied by original high-concept. Added to that is the ingenuity of the script, the fast pace, the depth, a cerebral side (mind-blowing) and many other qualities.
If you enjoyed W, I advise you to check my profile, there is a link to my blog and the script of season 2. I have very little feedback on it. It will be of interest to fans of the drama, that's why I offer the link upon meeting someone. And also why my nickname is like this. It's close to a screenplay, and if you've read some fan-fiction about the drama, you can expect something radically different. Very close to the original drama (well, it was my goal to find a sequel as exciting or even more). The story took months of preparation before writing a single line. The first episodes are in photo-drama format, to reproduce the illusion of TV.
They don't have enough content for 16 episodes. I wish this show was 12 episodes instead like other well written…
A lot of interesting content had to be removed because it's a lot of 4 episodes. It's a bit too much to really condense. I suspect some real omissions. So it doesn't necessarily have an effect of speeding up the pace of the story. On the contrary, it may require some scenes to be lengthened to make the length of an episode stick. I have already seen this kind of problem, with W, written by Song Jae Jung (the drama that was an inspiration to so many others since then, in terms of script). The script is in 17 episodes, but the drama is 16 episodes. Here on the other hand, the script has been condensed, there are no subplots that have been removed. This accelerates the pace of the story. There is the problem of cliffhangers. The cliffhangers in the script are different from those in the drama. Fortunately, there are so many twists and turns in the story that finding an alternate cliffhanger is very easy. The director did a great job. I prefer the final drama version. There were certainly some difficult discussions that broke down between the writer and the production (to get the right to do 17 episodes instead of the planned 16). In fact, the writer became very cautious. On her next drama Memories of the Alhambra, the pace is slightly slower (to my regret). She also develops more the secondary characters, who are useful to catch time when needed, but for some of them nothing great. She has created safety nets for herself. In Sisyphus, the secondary characters are well used, the time given to each is well balanced. If you look closely, there are still a lot of characters. Too much, but as the script is succesfull for making us easely keep track of them, I'm ok.
Viewers often think about certain details of a story, or feel if it's going fast or not, but rarely think about how incredibly difficult it is to keep to the format and length of an episode. And even people who write (novels or fan fiction), they don't have to worry about that. It's specific to screenplay. So, there are certainly several methods of writing.
The "simplified planning" method. Here, the writer defines themes, characters, main plots. And he defines in stone what an episode will contain. Then, they just has to fill the episode! I think a lot of writers do this, and I never completely like the result. From what I can see, it's satisfying for the audience in general and geared towards more character development. But I prefer plot-driven stories, where character development is built into the plots.
There are writers who take more risks. So, less dependent on the general planning. There, the story can be told like a real movie. It need more preliminary work. Only the useful and exciting content is written into the story. This is risky because over the duration of an episode, how can you be sure that you will get a cliffhanger? Moreover, you still have to plan a little bit per episode. Let's say, see what are the key scenes that we would like to have as a cliffhanger during the whole drama. But it's easy to be wrong. - I once estimated events to be 20 minutes long. In reality, it was one hour. That was the biggest mistake I ever made. I had a list of the main events in those 20 minutes, with bits of dialogue beforehand and an idea of the scenes. However, I had no idea that the sequencing necessary to make this possible would produce so many additional scenes. No unnecessary content added to reach one hour, just logic of the plot. - And the opposite mistake happens too. We estimate something like half an hour of screen time, but that's less than 15 minutes. I have 60 minutes that should be condensed into 40 minutes somewhere. So either you have to pad out a bit (in a drama, you could put in flashbacks and a song). But since I don't like to pad out, I'll just have to fix it and do it in 40 minutes. But then you have to shift the rest. Or figure out what to add that was missing afterwards. Or reduce everything by one episode. As an amateur I can do that, but a professional writer can't do that, because the drama was sold in 16 episodes for example. - Finally there is the mistake of writing the right portion of the script for the length, however, in the realization, it may not be the right length. What's on paper has the right number of lines, but it needs to be slower on screen, for example, for a scene that's a bit introspective (with a song added). Or it's something long to describe (typically an action scene), but which in reality is very fast on screen. If we are faithful to our philosophy, we will only go on with dense content. Then you have to tamper with the episode a bit. Bring forward scenes from the next episode, for example. Or you can skip over a situation very quickly and explain it in a later flashback. You can also end the episode without a real cliffhanger. Either take a scene and tinker with it a bit to give it a cliffhanger feel, or even nothing special. There have been episode endings a bit like that in Sisyphus. That's a pretty good sign for me, although a cliffhanger is better.
Since you watch Sky Castle, I have a comment. I'm watching Penthouse, which has some similar themes, but in an over-the-top, dark comedy version. The pace of the drama is frenetic. Here I admire the miracle of the writer in proposing a dense content, where every scene counts, and able to finish the episodes so brilliantly.
LOL.... are you for real or just being sarcastic? :))) But somehow, I kind of agree with your alternative look…
Parody of a large number of "toxic" comments you see everywhere for any random drama. ;-) There maybe some truth about Ga Jin too, but definitively, she won't make me throw up. ^^
I've watched him in Doctor Prisoner, and I'm currently watching him in Sky Castle. He's phenomenal.
So you just started to watch ? You will enjoy it. I remember having problem with first episode because there was too much characters, and it was a classic exposition. So, no real pleasure during this episode. Then, when there is the first death, things get smother and it's easy to know who is who. Ending of the drama is great. For sure I will rewatch it I don't know when.
i think there could have been a happy ending with new future if taesul’s plan of going against sigma alone worked…
It make me feel all will fail too. Because of Sun!!! But it could be an open ending or a fast ending showing next loop will be more sucessfull ? It's like Tae Sul actual plan is to make things work well, but not now, only next loop.
Episode 14 was very good too. With another plot-twist from the future. Seo Hae training future scenes was short and nice. We see how Sun could be a unexpected problem here. The guy making things more complicated or just making things ending badly.
You've all noticed how Logan Lee has weird hair. Like there is a thin layer of white or green dust. And his clothes…
Still, my idea is not supernatural. ;-) It could really happens. ^^ I need to mark this comment, then I will come back later if it's true. Then I could piss off the world and say "hey! I said it ! ahah !". The proof here ! ahah!
Prisons are not in big citys. Look at this example : Ilsan prison.
Front seats is because they are in CB headquarter, not prison. By the way, there is something unclear, I don't know if these politicians are the ones of actual world or was in advanced team, then become politicians during their new life. I need to rewatch.
My heart sinks for secretary Cho. He is beaten in every ecene he appears. Poor "sole". I have no idea why he took…
He respects and obeys his boss, because Joo Dan tae is the most rich, the most powerful, the most intelligent, in a word, the best! Without him, secretary Do would be a poor dog wandering in the street, not knowing which post to piss on. It is normal that he accepts to be punished and beaten for all the mistakes he makes! Everyone is satisfied like that: Secretary Do, Joo Dan Tae, and even us spectators. What an idyllic world. ꒰๑͒•௰•๑͒꒱ℒℴѵℯ❤
1 
If I compare Sisyphus and MOTA, I observe that the comedy is never overwhelming in MOTA. It's circumscribed in a natural way. In fact, the story is much more serious and dramatic. No matter that there are also things that are not very explainable (I still haven't understood everything in the last episode), the immersion is better and the audience believes more in what they see. So, we feel much more suspense, thrill and the emotional scenes have a stronger impact. Song Jae-Jung remains my favorite scriptwriter because she exploits the strength of Korean dramas, but accompanied by original high-concept. Added to that is the ingenuity of the script, the fast pace, the depth, a cerebral side (mind-blowing) and many other qualities.
If you enjoyed W, I advise you to check my profile, there is a link to my blog and the script of season 2. I have very little feedback on it. It will be of interest to fans of the drama, that's why I offer the link upon meeting someone. And also why my nickname is like this. It's close to a screenplay, and if you've read some fan-fiction about the drama, you can expect something radically different. Very close to the original drama (well, it was my goal to find a sequel as exciting or even more). The story took months of preparation before writing a single line. The first episodes are in photo-drama format, to reproduce the illusion of TV.
I have already seen this kind of problem, with W, written by Song Jae Jung (the drama that was an inspiration to so many others since then, in terms of script). The script is in 17 episodes, but the drama is 16 episodes. Here on the other hand, the script has been condensed, there are no subplots that have been removed. This accelerates the pace of the story. There is the problem of cliffhangers. The cliffhangers in the script are different from those in the drama. Fortunately, there are so many twists and turns in the story that finding an alternate cliffhanger is very easy. The director did a great job. I prefer the final drama version. There were certainly some difficult discussions that broke down between the writer and the production (to get the right to do 17 episodes instead of the planned 16). In fact, the writer became very cautious. On her next drama Memories of the Alhambra, the pace is slightly slower (to my regret). She also develops more the secondary characters, who are useful to catch time when needed, but for some of them nothing great. She has created safety nets for herself.
In Sisyphus, the secondary characters are well used, the time given to each is well balanced. If you look closely, there are still a lot of characters. Too much, but as the script is succesfull for making us easely keep track of them, I'm ok.
Viewers often think about certain details of a story, or feel if it's going fast or not, but rarely think about how incredibly difficult it is to keep to the format and length of an episode. And even people who write (novels or fan fiction), they don't have to worry about that. It's specific to screenplay.
So, there are certainly several methods of writing.
The "simplified planning" method. Here, the writer defines themes, characters, main plots. And he defines in stone what an episode will contain. Then, they just has to fill the episode! I think a lot of writers do this, and I never completely like the result. From what I can see, it's satisfying for the audience in general and geared towards more character development. But I prefer plot-driven stories, where character development is built into the plots.
There are writers who take more risks. So, less dependent on the general planning. There, the story can be told like a real movie. It need more preliminary work. Only the useful and exciting content is written into the story. This is risky because over the duration of an episode, how can you be sure that you will get a cliffhanger? Moreover, you still have to plan a little bit per episode. Let's say, see what are the key scenes that we would like to have as a cliffhanger during the whole drama. But it's easy to be wrong.
- I once estimated events to be 20 minutes long. In reality, it was one hour. That was the biggest mistake I ever made. I had a list of the main events in those 20 minutes, with bits of dialogue beforehand and an idea of the scenes. However, I had no idea that the sequencing necessary to make this possible would produce so many additional scenes. No unnecessary content added to reach one hour, just logic of the plot.
- And the opposite mistake happens too. We estimate something like half an hour of screen time, but that's less than 15 minutes. I have 60 minutes that should be condensed into 40 minutes somewhere. So either you have to pad out a bit (in a drama, you could put in flashbacks and a song). But since I don't like to pad out, I'll just have to fix it and do it in 40 minutes. But then you have to shift the rest. Or figure out what to add that was missing afterwards. Or reduce everything by one episode. As an amateur I can do that, but a professional writer can't do that, because the drama was sold in 16 episodes for example.
- Finally there is the mistake of writing the right portion of the script for the length, however, in the realization, it may not be the right length. What's on paper has the right number of lines, but it needs to be slower on screen, for example, for a scene that's a bit introspective (with a song added). Or it's something long to describe (typically an action scene), but which in reality is very fast on screen.
If we are faithful to our philosophy, we will only go on with dense content. Then you have to tamper with the episode a bit. Bring forward scenes from the next episode, for example. Or you can skip over a situation very quickly and explain it in a later flashback. You can also end the episode without a real cliffhanger. Either take a scene and tinker with it a bit to give it a cliffhanger feel, or even nothing special. There have been episode endings a bit like that in Sisyphus. That's a pretty good sign for me, although a cliffhanger is better.
Since you watch Sky Castle, I have a comment. I'm watching Penthouse, which has some similar themes, but in an over-the-top, dark comedy version. The pace of the drama is frenetic. Here I admire the miracle of the writer in proposing a dense content, where every scene counts, and able to finish the episodes so brilliantly.
There maybe some truth about Ga Jin too, but definitively, she won't make me throw up. ^^
But it could be an open ending or a fast ending showing next loop will be more sucessfull ?
It's like Tae Sul actual plan is to make things work well, but not now, only next loop.
Seo Hae training future scenes was short and nice.
We see how Sun could be a unexpected problem here.
The guy making things more complicated or just making things ending badly.
It could really happens. ^^
I need to mark this comment, then I will come back later if it's true. Then I could piss off the world and say "hey! I said it ! ahah !". The proof here ! ahah!
By the way, there is something unclear, I don't know if these politicians are the ones of actual world or was in advanced team, then become politicians during their new life. I need to rewatch.
Everyone is satisfied like that: Secretary Do, Joo Dan Tae, and even us spectators.
What an idyllic world. ꒰๑͒•௰•๑͒꒱ℒℴѵℯ❤