Ophanin

Same director as Flower of Evil, and it suffers from the same flaws. The show repeats the identical information far too often (and overuses flashbacks) without adding anything meaningful to the plot. And so we end up with a hollow, boring Episode 8, while Episode 6 (packed with unexpected twists) is, on the other hand, particularly cool. Visually, it's a well-made TV production, with some good shots here and there, but they don't necessarily serve the narrative, they seem a bit pointless.

However, for quite a while, you find yourself wondering who's in charge of these people. Who decides on these contracts ? Why does executing strangers pose no moral dilemma for them ? These are aspects of the story we should know right away, but we aren't given them ; so they must come up later to shake up the main plot, right ? No. Of course not, we’ll never know. It's just like that, period. Who cares about understanding the logic of this world ? And in the end, they just go back to their assassination business as if nothing happened. The whole thing suffers from a lack of lore and world-building. I can't understand why everybody seem to accept this poor writing. Anyway.

Just like in Flower of Evil, the show plays on the closeness between two characters who are searching for each other and think they know one another. And things don't really move forward, or move very slowly. We're just not given the information. It was done well enough that I binge-watched the series. (Skipping tons of pointless scenes, of course. Especially the ones with the cops ! Please get those stupid characters out of your shows.) The intense stress I'm navigating due to personal problems has greatly contributed to this quick viewing.