A masterpiece who's wings were clipped

I was very excited about The Sound of Magic because it was a musical and also it would be my first Ji Chang Wook drama.

Under it's magnificent exterior Sound of Magic actually tells a grim story of teenagers succumbing to societal standards of conformity, killing all and any personal desires.

The show could've been a masterpiece but a lot of it felt abrupt and rushed. Right from the beginning there was lack of context setting, so I had no understanding on any of the characters. I couldn't predict how the characters would react, or even fully empathise with their woes. It almost felt like this show was designed for regular 16 episodes but someone told the makers to manage it in 6. As if, someone clipped the wings of this show before it could truly fly.

But it wasn't all bad. The show has some great moments, as the characters dwell into what it is being an adult and the futility of it. The show also weaved symbolism well, the flower, butterfly, asphalt and band aid being my favourite.

I won't suggest skipping this one, but I wished it could've been better. Maybe spending more time craving the characters especially because it's such a dark topic.

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If you've worked in corporate Misaeng will be relatable

Misaeng is such a mirror in the life of an everyday corporate worker, right from not figuring out how to operate a printer, getting screamed at by a boss to closing a project that seemed impossible.

All the characters are so well crafted, every single character will remind you of someone you've worked with. The good the bad and the ones you're not really sure where they fall.

It's a slow burn but not boring, gets into technicalities of a sales job but doesn't really alienates. It almost seems like not much really happened but so much has happened and we've lived it together with the characters

There is no love story, no romance but it celebrates the pure platonic bonds and comraderrie you share when you suffer and celebrate together.

Jang Gure's the central character pretty well summed up a millennial new jobber, all we wanted to do was learn how to give our best even if it meant bending backwards, it was always efforts more important than skills. Ofcourse things have changed now.

Last 20 minutes of the show was such an acid trip though, so far away from the slice of life tone that all the other episodes had, but I'm not complaining.

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Simplicity of a complex topic

There are a lot of shows on criminal profilers who try to understand the psyche of a criminal and their brutal acts. Through The Darkness has a very diffrent approach to crime solving without making the crime or criminal a point of entertainment.

The show is a journey of two of Korea's first ever criminal profilers and how over time through different cases they refine their profiling techniques.

It also does a great job showing two different point of views of crime solving, one being that of a profiler which goes beyond the crime scene while other of on ground detectives which reel in all the available evidence to solve a crime, both very different but important nevertheless.

The cases dealt are horrific to say the least but as it goes with any crime profiling drama you do not talk with a criminal to 'humanise' them but rather understand the demon within, to avoid similar crimes happening in future.

The show does a good job instead of humanising the detectives that work on these cases . Their stressors, the contast exposure to these twisted criminals, the guilt that they carry everytime they fail to catch someone.

Kim NamGil, the main lead is a superbly versitle actor to think that the last show I saw of his was the dumbest action comedy and here he is the most stoic criminal profiler whi smiles probably 3 times in 20 episodes and spends his free time trying to comfort the surviving family members of the victims.

The only thing that bothered me were how it seemed almost rushed towards the end. I wish there was one or two more eps just to close a few open ends.

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