Infinite Mystery
This review may contain spoilers
Could have been a masterpiece with just a few writing tweaks; but as it is...
I really, really wish I could have given this a 10 (as some parts/elements certainly deserved it); however, there were unfortunately several character-/plot-writing problems that kept it well below that rating. (WARNING: FULL SPOILERS AHEAD)
* Problem #1: One of the side couples had a really annoying conflict reason (the show is really asking me to believe that in *SEVEN whole years (!),* neither party ever even thought to bring up to each other what they'd like to see in a long-term relationship in regards to kids/marriage/etc.? And Ho Rang's friends know all about her hopes/plans about these subjects in perfect detail, yet she never once talks about them properly at all with her actual partner over the course of those 7 years? Seriously?? 🤨 And then to top it all off, despite the guy trying his darndest to be extremely good to her and give her whatever he believes she wants even if he has to sacrifice to do it, yet she somehow wants the poor man to be a mind-reader as well and treats him really badly when he obviously can't read her freaking mind when she is the one making the choice to literally not communicate at all??? 🤦♀️).
* Problem #2: The fake-out with the supposed 'stalker' subplot was a bit overdone. They should have either stuck with it to the end as him really being one, or made his character just a stereotypical rival instead. Trying to have it both ways and then finally revealing his 'innocence' after (rather cartoonishly) building it up so hard didn't really work that well, IMO. Worst of all, the writing seemed to just brush off his actual behavior as fine and gave him no consequences (because even though he was innocent of the criminal stalking, he *did* still just do whatever he wanted and continued to go after Ji Ho even after she tried to set boundaries *and* informed him that she was getting uncomfortable-- multiple times!-- which is definitely NOT okay, yet that ended up not being addressed at all. 😕 {Which is even weirder because one of the main threads of the show is about calling out sexist/harassment crap, so for his pushiness and unwillingness to accept a no as a no to just be brushed off isn't even internally consistent with the show's own narrative in the first place...})
* And Problem #3: Main female character Ji Ho's actions/reasoning in the last 2 episodes. I do get that she wanted to see who she was on her own first (because she never had), and to break the old contract so that the two of them could start fresh on completely equal footing and build up the relationship on love instead of business/etc.; and that's all perfectly valid, of course. However, the way she went about it (with no communication of most of that info to the other party, especially when she actually knew his feelings beforehand and still did it that way on purpose, totally disregarding any thought of what he might feel/go through) was rather cruel for Se Hee, IMO. 😕 The way she handled that was honestly pretty bad and very, very selfish, and she didn't even really feel any remorse about what it did to Se Hee (in fact, she was... happy about it?? 🤨 Yikes! 😬). This makes her surprisingly unlikable for a while right at the very end of the show (when up until then she was very likable), for literally no logical reason whatsoever.
Those are some rather large writing problems, unfortunately (that last one being particularly egregious).
On the positive side:
* The acting itself (regardless of the script quality they have to work with) is excellent.
* While there is a little bit of physical slapstick comedy a few times, I was pleasantly surprised that the show incorporated themes of the societal 'expectations'/pressure, sexual harassment/violence, and overt sexism in general the characters have to deal with on a daily basis into its very fabric and actually treated those topics seriously/with due respect (most of the time), rather than for 'comedic' value or somesuch.
* I also like how consistent the character writing for main male lead Se Hee was (for example, the mini-'reveal' that he actually wasn't dense at all about Ji Ho liking him, rather in fact he pretty much knew all along, and was just purposefully deflecting it for a while instead, was brilliant because that makes *so* much more sense for a character as intensely observant as he was always shown to be than the stereotypical 'dense' alternative would have been 👍). (Too bad they didn't have had the same quality and consistency of character writing for Ji Ho... 🤦♀️)
Overall, I'm glad I watched it; however, the writing was definitely frustrating and inconsistent at a few points, and had they only fixed those issues this could have been a certified masterpiece-- which of course just makes those missed opportunities even more frustrating. 🤷♀️
* Problem #1: One of the side couples had a really annoying conflict reason (the show is really asking me to believe that in *SEVEN whole years (!),* neither party ever even thought to bring up to each other what they'd like to see in a long-term relationship in regards to kids/marriage/etc.? And Ho Rang's friends know all about her hopes/plans about these subjects in perfect detail, yet she never once talks about them properly at all with her actual partner over the course of those 7 years? Seriously?? 🤨 And then to top it all off, despite the guy trying his darndest to be extremely good to her and give her whatever he believes she wants even if he has to sacrifice to do it, yet she somehow wants the poor man to be a mind-reader as well and treats him really badly when he obviously can't read her freaking mind when she is the one making the choice to literally not communicate at all??? 🤦♀️).
* Problem #2: The fake-out with the supposed 'stalker' subplot was a bit overdone. They should have either stuck with it to the end as him really being one, or made his character just a stereotypical rival instead. Trying to have it both ways and then finally revealing his 'innocence' after (rather cartoonishly) building it up so hard didn't really work that well, IMO. Worst of all, the writing seemed to just brush off his actual behavior as fine and gave him no consequences (because even though he was innocent of the criminal stalking, he *did* still just do whatever he wanted and continued to go after Ji Ho even after she tried to set boundaries *and* informed him that she was getting uncomfortable-- multiple times!-- which is definitely NOT okay, yet that ended up not being addressed at all. 😕 {Which is even weirder because one of the main threads of the show is about calling out sexist/harassment crap, so for his pushiness and unwillingness to accept a no as a no to just be brushed off isn't even internally consistent with the show's own narrative in the first place...})
* And Problem #3: Main female character Ji Ho's actions/reasoning in the last 2 episodes. I do get that she wanted to see who she was on her own first (because she never had), and to break the old contract so that the two of them could start fresh on completely equal footing and build up the relationship on love instead of business/etc.; and that's all perfectly valid, of course. However, the way she went about it (with no communication of most of that info to the other party, especially when she actually knew his feelings beforehand and still did it that way on purpose, totally disregarding any thought of what he might feel/go through) was rather cruel for Se Hee, IMO. 😕 The way she handled that was honestly pretty bad and very, very selfish, and she didn't even really feel any remorse about what it did to Se Hee (in fact, she was... happy about it?? 🤨 Yikes! 😬). This makes her surprisingly unlikable for a while right at the very end of the show (when up until then she was very likable), for literally no logical reason whatsoever.
Those are some rather large writing problems, unfortunately (that last one being particularly egregious).
On the positive side:
* The acting itself (regardless of the script quality they have to work with) is excellent.
* While there is a little bit of physical slapstick comedy a few times, I was pleasantly surprised that the show incorporated themes of the societal 'expectations'/pressure, sexual harassment/violence, and overt sexism in general the characters have to deal with on a daily basis into its very fabric and actually treated those topics seriously/with due respect (most of the time), rather than for 'comedic' value or somesuch.
* I also like how consistent the character writing for main male lead Se Hee was (for example, the mini-'reveal' that he actually wasn't dense at all about Ji Ho liking him, rather in fact he pretty much knew all along, and was just purposefully deflecting it for a while instead, was brilliant because that makes *so* much more sense for a character as intensely observant as he was always shown to be than the stereotypical 'dense' alternative would have been 👍). (Too bad they didn't have had the same quality and consistency of character writing for Ji Ho... 🤦♀️)
Overall, I'm glad I watched it; however, the writing was definitely frustrating and inconsistent at a few points, and had they only fixed those issues this could have been a certified masterpiece-- which of course just makes those missed opportunities even more frustrating. 🤷♀️
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