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AudienceofOne
This review may contain spoilers
There was a point during Misty's run that it was shaping up to be 2018's Forest of Secrets. An intelligent script, excellent acting, striking cinematography and a haunting, beautiful score all combine into a compelling piece of television about a powerful woman trying to attain her goals in a hyper-patriarchal society: all the while rocking awesome pantsuits and never letting the cracks in her life show in public. Dark, mature and atmospheric with a powerful female lead, this show was amazing until the inevitable Episode 15 slide in quality that condemns it to being ALMOST the best show of 2018.
Go Hye Ran has hit the glass ceiling but instead of quietly disappearing like older women are supposed to, she refuses to go anywhere. Fighting constantly against corruption, discrimination and vicious gossip, she has become cold, driven and untrusting but is fuelled by a strong desire for justice and a determination to win against all odds.
Kim Nam Joo puts in an exceptional performance as the complex, brilliant and uncompromising Go Hye Ran who is charged for a murder and represented by her lawyer husband, Kang Tae Wook (Ji Jin Hee). The rest of the cast also do superb jobs. Full of timeline holes, unreliable narrators, unlikeable characters and deliberate misdirections, this show will have you second-guessing everything you think you know about the characters to the last scene.
Which brings us to the ending...
Like a lot of people, I was very dissatisfied with the ending and found the finale overly-long and self-indulgent. As can sometimes happen, what I thought was the main point of the drama and what the writers thought was the main point of the drama diverged wildly around the end of episode 14. As such, I found the last episodes frustrating, watching time tick down to a finale that I knew wasn't going to contain resolution to the plotlines I cared about. The ending in particular I found depressing in a way the rest of the drama - however moody and dark - wasn't.
Textually, in terms of the shows themes, I personally found the ending contradicted what (I thought) was the point of the show as a whole. In that respect, it negated to an extent the show's message. It is this - the negation of the show's underlying point and a resolution that is ultimately depressing - that makes the ending so bad.
However despite my frustration with the ending, this was a very good piece of television overall.
Go Hye Ran has hit the glass ceiling but instead of quietly disappearing like older women are supposed to, she refuses to go anywhere. Fighting constantly against corruption, discrimination and vicious gossip, she has become cold, driven and untrusting but is fuelled by a strong desire for justice and a determination to win against all odds.
Kim Nam Joo puts in an exceptional performance as the complex, brilliant and uncompromising Go Hye Ran who is charged for a murder and represented by her lawyer husband, Kang Tae Wook (Ji Jin Hee). The rest of the cast also do superb jobs. Full of timeline holes, unreliable narrators, unlikeable characters and deliberate misdirections, this show will have you second-guessing everything you think you know about the characters to the last scene.
Which brings us to the ending...
Like a lot of people, I was very dissatisfied with the ending and found the finale overly-long and self-indulgent. As can sometimes happen, what I thought was the main point of the drama and what the writers thought was the main point of the drama diverged wildly around the end of episode 14. As such, I found the last episodes frustrating, watching time tick down to a finale that I knew wasn't going to contain resolution to the plotlines I cared about. The ending in particular I found depressing in a way the rest of the drama - however moody and dark - wasn't.
Textually, in terms of the shows themes, I personally found the ending contradicted what (I thought) was the point of the show as a whole. In that respect, it negated to an extent the show's message. It is this - the negation of the show's underlying point and a resolution that is ultimately depressing - that makes the ending so bad.
However despite my frustration with the ending, this was a very good piece of television overall.
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