21
35
7
WandereR
Borneo
Experimental Science
Intriguing plot… innovative concept… poor execution… but great music. This sums up for me the entire experience of watching this drama and why I rated it a 7. For more details, please read on…
LUCA: The Beginning is based on the premise of scientists creating a new species of mankind by integrating the DNA of several different animals that makes this breed of humans stronger, faster, more resilient to the ravages of time and nature, along with superpowers to boot. These experiments are backed by a shadowy entity, called “The Establishment”, with seemingly unlimited resources and broad influence that stretches far and wide into the upper echelons of government and subsidiaries in various industries. One such subsidiary fronts itself as a “Church” where its mysterious cult following is headed by a villainous woman who styles herself as the prophet for the second coming of “Messiah” – the new human hybrid. Enter Zi-O, the first of such hybrids.
The drama chronicles Zi-O’s journey from being a lab experiment to escaping the clutches of this cult while adapting and finally learning what it truly means to be human. Along the way, he encounters the intrepid policewoman Gu Reum, with whom he shares a connection to their past. Armed with the knowledge of the synopsis and having seen the captivating trailer, I started this show fully expecting a similar approach to Scarlett Johansson’s Lucy. It turned out rather differently, with mixed results.
The drama is decently-produced, reasonably well acted for the most part, but the plot and characters are quite inconsistently and illogically written. The special effects are nothing to write home about but generally well-rendered, in a minimalist manner, and mainly used to depict Zi-O’s electricity-charged superpower, and pyrotechnics for certain scenes. The production team is led by the hugely experienced director Kim Hong Seon, no stranger to dark thrillers, who helmed notable shows such as The Guest, Pied Piper, and Voice. The screenplay is written by Chun Sung Il, who mainly specialises in comedy with Chuno being the sole non-comedy tagged production in his repertoire of works. The cast contains a number of familiar faces the likes of Kim Rae Won, Kim Sung Oh, Kim Sang Ho, Park Hyuk Kwon, Ahn Nae Sang, and Jin Kyung. Look out for memorable guest appearances in the form of Lee Won Jong at the very beginning and Jung Eun Chae who had a more prominent role towards the end.
The drama starts out brightly at an engaging pace that’s filled with sporadic moments of thrills and intensity. Both leads’ backstories and shared connection are revealed little by little in every episode via numerous flashbacks. The tags for this show are spot on, where here we have mystery, melodrama, and romance in addition to the science-fiction and action. Watching this turned out to be quite an attritional viewing experience from around episode 3 onward and a pretty wild ride overall in what has been an emotional roller coaster, beyond what I had initially anticipated. It’s the kind of show where the good guys persistently get outwitted, take the (numerous) hits, fall down, get back up and repeat. Over and over again, like the wash cycle of a washing machine.
The scenario of our leads being incessantly chased by the same team of bad guys and the FL consistently getting beaten up and having her head bashed against the wall does get tedious up to the halfway point. As it turns out, for a normal female human without the additional exotic DNA, her skeletal structure is in no way less durable compared to the human hybrids because she emerges unscathed every time with nothing more than superficial wounds. As for the ML, given his inexperience in combat and lack of control over his superpowers, he ends up being constantly overpowered by the battle-hardened and ruthless professionally trained villains.
The pace slows down for three quarters of an episode just past the midway point where the FL temporarily ceases to suffer needlessly and, together with the ML, attain some much-deserved rest, among other questionable events that transpired. The momentum picks up again soon after and reached its zenith in the business end of the show where action, tragedy and more plot twists blended to produce the impetus for a thrillingly breath-taking and bitter conclusion to Zi-O and Gu Reum’s story arc as well as the overarching plot. Many viewers felt that the ending is an open one with a possibility of a second season but personally for me, it represented adequate closure where we allow ourselves to write our own epilogue to this whole affair.
I feel that the storytelling would have been more compelling with less episodes. The backstories and the plot set up dragged out more than was necessary, and included too much of the ceaseless running around and fighting (getting beaten up, more like) and meaningless sub-plots with unfulfilled romance undertones. Even with 12 episodes, certain character arcs remained unexplained and plot holes were littered throughout.
As far as the acting is concerned, Kim Rae Won and Lee Da Hee each gave a commendable portrayal of the main characters which were quite poorly conceived, in my opinion. The individual character development, (excessive) pain, and agony along with superfluous misunderstandings between them were frustrating. In particular the FL Ha Neul Ae Gu Reum (why they came up with such a long fictional name in the first place is beyond me) was written to be infuriatingly lacking in any common sense, or even the street-smarts as befits a police detective of her experience. This character continuously places her life and the lives of others in danger, and favours brawn over brains. The depiction of her taking on swarms of villains alone in unarmed combat throughout the entire show is utter nonsense and unrealistic.
The villains are an eclectic mix of characters. For me, Park Hyuk Kwon nailed it with his version of the unscrupulous and conniving NIS official Kim Cheol Soo. Whether as a protagonist or antagonist, he’s always enjoyable to watch due to his versatility and range. The award-winning Kim Sang Ho, as usual, is one of the best supporting actors in the industry. His characters are always layered and brilliantly portrayed, as is the case recently in Sweet Home and now here in this drama as the conflicted cop, Choi Jin Hwan. Jin Kyung’s cold blooded false prophet, Hwang Jung Ah, is rather theatrical and OTT at times but quite convincing especially when spouting sermons from the pulpit. Ahn Nae Sang’s role this time is a little more understated, as the lead scientist Ryu Joong Kwon. Kim Sung Oh’s Lee Son is largely one-dimensional with the stoic and cold exterior, except for that singular moment of tragic loss, a clichéd plot device, that he experiences towards the tail end of the show. Other than that, his main role is simply to inflict physical pain on others. Jung Eun Chae’s Attorney Jung is a scene-stealer, despite her limited guest role, and is actually rather fun to watch.
One of the very few pleasing aspects of this show which is done right, is the soundtrack. I thoroughly enjoyed every song in the album, in particular both the original and acoustic versions of the hauntingly evocative song, Your Eyes. Track listing as follows:
1. Sun Woo Jung A - Your Eyes
2. Jemma - LUCA
3. Lee Da Hee - Your Eyes (Acoustic)
4. KLANG - Gone
This show had so much potential to begin with, being based on a concept that is both innovative and refreshing. The entertaining and riveting start was unfortunately proven to be a false dawn. The production is hampered by the lack of quality screenplay and the resulting downward spiral of the storytelling finally culminated in a hugely incredulous and dissatisfying end.
LUCA: The Beginning is based on the premise of scientists creating a new species of mankind by integrating the DNA of several different animals that makes this breed of humans stronger, faster, more resilient to the ravages of time and nature, along with superpowers to boot. These experiments are backed by a shadowy entity, called “The Establishment”, with seemingly unlimited resources and broad influence that stretches far and wide into the upper echelons of government and subsidiaries in various industries. One such subsidiary fronts itself as a “Church” where its mysterious cult following is headed by a villainous woman who styles herself as the prophet for the second coming of “Messiah” – the new human hybrid. Enter Zi-O, the first of such hybrids.
The drama chronicles Zi-O’s journey from being a lab experiment to escaping the clutches of this cult while adapting and finally learning what it truly means to be human. Along the way, he encounters the intrepid policewoman Gu Reum, with whom he shares a connection to their past. Armed with the knowledge of the synopsis and having seen the captivating trailer, I started this show fully expecting a similar approach to Scarlett Johansson’s Lucy. It turned out rather differently, with mixed results.
The drama is decently-produced, reasonably well acted for the most part, but the plot and characters are quite inconsistently and illogically written. The special effects are nothing to write home about but generally well-rendered, in a minimalist manner, and mainly used to depict Zi-O’s electricity-charged superpower, and pyrotechnics for certain scenes. The production team is led by the hugely experienced director Kim Hong Seon, no stranger to dark thrillers, who helmed notable shows such as The Guest, Pied Piper, and Voice. The screenplay is written by Chun Sung Il, who mainly specialises in comedy with Chuno being the sole non-comedy tagged production in his repertoire of works. The cast contains a number of familiar faces the likes of Kim Rae Won, Kim Sung Oh, Kim Sang Ho, Park Hyuk Kwon, Ahn Nae Sang, and Jin Kyung. Look out for memorable guest appearances in the form of Lee Won Jong at the very beginning and Jung Eun Chae who had a more prominent role towards the end.
The drama starts out brightly at an engaging pace that’s filled with sporadic moments of thrills and intensity. Both leads’ backstories and shared connection are revealed little by little in every episode via numerous flashbacks. The tags for this show are spot on, where here we have mystery, melodrama, and romance in addition to the science-fiction and action. Watching this turned out to be quite an attritional viewing experience from around episode 3 onward and a pretty wild ride overall in what has been an emotional roller coaster, beyond what I had initially anticipated. It’s the kind of show where the good guys persistently get outwitted, take the (numerous) hits, fall down, get back up and repeat. Over and over again, like the wash cycle of a washing machine.
The scenario of our leads being incessantly chased by the same team of bad guys and the FL consistently getting beaten up and having her head bashed against the wall does get tedious up to the halfway point. As it turns out, for a normal female human without the additional exotic DNA, her skeletal structure is in no way less durable compared to the human hybrids because she emerges unscathed every time with nothing more than superficial wounds. As for the ML, given his inexperience in combat and lack of control over his superpowers, he ends up being constantly overpowered by the battle-hardened and ruthless professionally trained villains.
The pace slows down for three quarters of an episode just past the midway point where the FL temporarily ceases to suffer needlessly and, together with the ML, attain some much-deserved rest, among other questionable events that transpired. The momentum picks up again soon after and reached its zenith in the business end of the show where action, tragedy and more plot twists blended to produce the impetus for a thrillingly breath-taking and bitter conclusion to Zi-O and Gu Reum’s story arc as well as the overarching plot. Many viewers felt that the ending is an open one with a possibility of a second season but personally for me, it represented adequate closure where we allow ourselves to write our own epilogue to this whole affair.
I feel that the storytelling would have been more compelling with less episodes. The backstories and the plot set up dragged out more than was necessary, and included too much of the ceaseless running around and fighting (getting beaten up, more like) and meaningless sub-plots with unfulfilled romance undertones. Even with 12 episodes, certain character arcs remained unexplained and plot holes were littered throughout.
As far as the acting is concerned, Kim Rae Won and Lee Da Hee each gave a commendable portrayal of the main characters which were quite poorly conceived, in my opinion. The individual character development, (excessive) pain, and agony along with superfluous misunderstandings between them were frustrating. In particular the FL Ha Neul Ae Gu Reum (why they came up with such a long fictional name in the first place is beyond me) was written to be infuriatingly lacking in any common sense, or even the street-smarts as befits a police detective of her experience. This character continuously places her life and the lives of others in danger, and favours brawn over brains. The depiction of her taking on swarms of villains alone in unarmed combat throughout the entire show is utter nonsense and unrealistic.
The villains are an eclectic mix of characters. For me, Park Hyuk Kwon nailed it with his version of the unscrupulous and conniving NIS official Kim Cheol Soo. Whether as a protagonist or antagonist, he’s always enjoyable to watch due to his versatility and range. The award-winning Kim Sang Ho, as usual, is one of the best supporting actors in the industry. His characters are always layered and brilliantly portrayed, as is the case recently in Sweet Home and now here in this drama as the conflicted cop, Choi Jin Hwan. Jin Kyung’s cold blooded false prophet, Hwang Jung Ah, is rather theatrical and OTT at times but quite convincing especially when spouting sermons from the pulpit. Ahn Nae Sang’s role this time is a little more understated, as the lead scientist Ryu Joong Kwon. Kim Sung Oh’s Lee Son is largely one-dimensional with the stoic and cold exterior, except for that singular moment of tragic loss, a clichéd plot device, that he experiences towards the tail end of the show. Other than that, his main role is simply to inflict physical pain on others. Jung Eun Chae’s Attorney Jung is a scene-stealer, despite her limited guest role, and is actually rather fun to watch.
One of the very few pleasing aspects of this show which is done right, is the soundtrack. I thoroughly enjoyed every song in the album, in particular both the original and acoustic versions of the hauntingly evocative song, Your Eyes. Track listing as follows:
1. Sun Woo Jung A - Your Eyes
2. Jemma - LUCA
3. Lee Da Hee - Your Eyes (Acoustic)
4. KLANG - Gone
This show had so much potential to begin with, being based on a concept that is both innovative and refreshing. The entertaining and riveting start was unfortunately proven to be a false dawn. The production is hampered by the lack of quality screenplay and the resulting downward spiral of the storytelling finally culminated in a hugely incredulous and dissatisfying end.
Was this review helpful to you?
