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Alice, the Final Weapon korean drama review
Completed
Alice, the Final Weapon
12 people found this review helpful
by Salatheel Flower Award1
Aug 26, 2022
8 of 8 episodes seen
Completed 4
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.0

Not your usual twisted thriller...

This is complete fantasy, not in the sense of a fantasy world, but fantasy as in phantasmagorical. It’s a sort of teenage dream sequence and I like it. (Thanks Skitc for the recommendation) It couples total teenage angst with savage violence. This isn’t about reality, but the balancing out of intense impulses, living at the extremes. An allegory for the raging torrent/torment of hormones that just about allows you to hang in there by your fingertips and survive, somehow appearing almost normal on the surface.

Just don’t try and make rational sense of it. Don’t look for credible motives or realistic psychology, simply immerse yourself and enjoy the ride. There are lots of lol moments, gory moments, weird moments, surreal moments and, strangely, smile moments.

There are also clunky moments with the script and a few convenient tropes like the obligatory memory loss and some clumsy plot structure. It’s also pretty clear what’s going to happen in the end. But overall it holds up without being unnecessarily complicated, probably due to the short length.

I like the cinematography for the fight scenes, which is not coherent, but messy, just like the fights themselves. I also appreciated the soundtrack which doesn’t necessarily take the obvious path.

The best of it are the scenes between Park Se Won and Song Geon Hee as the central couple. They had a great dynamic and their relationship was the glue that held everything together. The other cast is quirky-weird with great performances by Yang Yang (Cha Joo Young ) and her sidekick Jang Hyeon Min (actor not listed on MDL, cast list needs filling out, sorry can’t do it don’t read hangul). Also in the mix is an OTT drug induced psychotic villain who twitches his way through the series and a creepy sadist who does, well, creepy sadist things. And yes, it’s pretty violent and twisted.

What my rating means: 8+ A great drama with interesting content and good writing, direction, acting, OST, cinematography. But didn’t quite have the requisite sparkle to bump it into my all-time fave list. Worth watching.
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