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We finally get to see a little bit more of the supporting characters, Mo Jae In still stays as a mystery. As for now, I fail to see how she fits into the picture, but with 16 episodes, I'm sure she will play rather significant role. While the dynamics between the characters are fun to watch and I'm rather curious about the past case and explanation about the foundation Lee Ro Um was in, I cannot say the same about the side cases the leads get themselves involved in. Breaking the 4th wall still annoys me - it just always feels extremely out of place. Personally I prefer the more serious scenes, compared the comedic bits, especially these more "in your face".
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I feel like the strength of this show was especially evident in this last episode - it feels both hyper realistic and strangely eccentric and dream-like. It might have been the musical score that did the trick this time. Or how the episode kept coming back and forth between past and present - creating visual connections as if Park Ha Kyung was stuck in that moment in the past, reliving it, following the steps she took with her friend. Added blur effect, the shots being not quite sharp, slightly distorted. Exactly like our memories are.
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Surprisingly good mix. I could sense how proud Koreans are about their bread and bakeries. I also liked how this time Park Ha Kyung was not the main character, but rather joined us as a viewer and the focus shifted to a little adorable girl and her search for the bread. Soft and relaxing story. I appreciated the dramas take on a controlled freedom of kids - teaching them how to be proactive and responsible while make sure they are safe.
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Rather than a specific topic, this episode made me think about different issues with simple lines of dialogues and scenes. How we are so used to working, it's not off limit to work even on our days off. How we are never fully sure if we are doing a good job. If our good intentions and good deeds always have positive effects of people we want to help. How adults never consider the happiness of the youth, but rather the plans they made for their "good future". Small questions that can lead to hours of reflections.
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And the time to try something new will never pass. Another great episodes I related to. Sometimes it feels like you should not enjoy life and have fun if you are an adult - everything is not appropriate for your age. There are many social norms and everyone has a clear picture of what a "typical" adult looks like and how they behave. But no one is truly "typical" in all areas of their lives, and it's fine to step out of the line. You are never to old to seek happiness. And sometimes happiness comes to us when we forget the plans, norms and give into contingency.
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The most interesting things about first episode was the drastic shift in tone half way through and the vague motives of the characters. What opened as a slow burn psychological drama thriller showcasing the struggles of the two main characters and their character flaws, turned into a more fun thrilling con plot and childhood connection. As for the motivations of the lead characters - I honestly have little idea what they are. I think they are doing a good job with going against my expectations of what I thought the characters would do based on their set up. Overall, strong first episode that for sure does an amazing job at sparking the curiosity.
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Great follow up after episode one, that invites you to take a look at your life, past goals, dreams and paths you chosen. Episode 2 opens the door for both self-reflection, but also made me wonder what is the role of an educator, how much the adults should dictate the paths of the youth based on their own understanding of the world, and who should take the responsibility for the failed dreams. Should we keep going even if we see no success? What is success? Should we even strive for success, or is just doing what we love enough? All that in the short under 30 minutes episode. Great acting from Han Ye Ri as a struggling artist Yeon Joo was a cherry on top.
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Probably one of the best first episodes I have seen in 2023. Perfect introduction to the character. Even though the motivation for travelling is "vague" it clearly has a direction that the viewers can pick up on. Following her on the trip let me take a moment to just relax and enjoy the views and the scenery. The straightforward and honest personality of Park Ha Kyung adds to the charm. I also appreciate how real the characters are - normal people in normal circumstances, taking a break from the busy and overstimulated world.
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Lost in the Kunlun Mountains Episode 2
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How the making of the episodes probably happened? Everyone suggest the ideas and concepts they like, they all get approved because they are all good individually. No one cares if it makes sense as a whole though. The whole 2nd episode was either fighting in dark places or exposition served in unnatural dialogues. First thing that came to my mind when the episode start was: what is this music? Was the song a bop? Yes. Did it fit the scene and the show? Definitely not. They truly just need to chill with how fancy high tech special effects over the top they want it to look like. You know how it actually looks like? Let me tell you - the team bought new editing software and they just wanted to test all the possible functions in it. Not to mention - they focused so much on the visuals, the sound effects sound like some free stock ones, real bad quality. 1/4th of episode one was watching a fight that was too long, and watching other characters watch said fight. Episode two is the same if not worse. How can you not deliver interesting plot and characters with cast like that? Not even Xu Kai's pretty face can save this one for me. I'm getting myself out before I waste more time.
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Lost in the Kunlun Mountains Episode 1
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When I see people dressed like a mix of Indiana jones and wuxia cultivators, doing wuxia moves... how I should feel about it? So what the first episode presents? Typical exposition with some questionable production quality.The plot seems interesting. It's going to be a full adventure if they will mix the tomb riding and wuxia elements correctly. It will be a whole mess if they won't. Still, messy plot can be saved by interesting characters and great chemistry from the cast so I'm hoping for that. As of now they introduced 3 distinctive groups - Ding Yun Qi, the Penta sect and the police, al having the same goal, finding male lead's father. Random thought, but I can't stop myself from thinking how similar Wu Shuang's styling is to The Untamed's Wuxian. So, how is the action? The fighting scenes were fun - you now - over the top unnecessarily complicated fancy moves and borderline flying. We all love them. As for the production quality, I will never understand trying to add so many special effects when you know you can't make them good. Some motion and lighting was just painfully bad. The green screen bothered me a lot. And the way they filmed some sequences felt like it was meant to be a 3D show, and we are all watching it without the 3D glasses. At the same time, episode one had a lot of beautiful and amazing scenery shots - I took quite a few screenshots! So, what's the verdict? The whole first episode felt rather silly, but Xu Kai does look fine, so they get points for that.
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Rainless Love in a Godless Land Episode 2
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One of the good aspects of this show, which is prominent in this episode, is a smooth blend between the mundane reality and the fantasy elements. The transitions between daily life and either visions or dreams sequences are done in a perfect way. The drama also starts to hint and speak of the "fate" and free will theme and how much can we truly influence our future. As for the characters, honestly love the comedic bits of the God of Wisdom. His low-key eccentric behavior is truly entertaining to watch. Not to mention the quick change in the female lead's perspective on life, which is greatly appreciated by me. On the bad side, I feel like they showed a little bit too much of the main couple's past relationship in this episode. I wish they would keep me in the dark for at least one more episode to build up the tension a little bit more and keep me guessing. Also, the start of their connection in the past in the context of where it led seems a little bit questionable. In episode two we are introduced to yet another amazing piece from ost: Never Ending Rain. How are they improving with music when they had such a perfect start in episode one?For the production and directing: how would I call the camera work? Stationary. While it gives me opportunity for great screenshots, I would appreciate a little bit more movement. And it's not like there is that many stationary shots, but somehow they truly stand out when I watch the episode. But, just like in episode 1, I enjoyed quite a few transitions between scenes. These they are acing.
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Rainless Love in a Godless Land Episode 1
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Quite a nice opening narration and animation - reminded me of all the Chinese wuxia/xianxia. A bit of a basic lore, not sure if "God created us" needs a whole opening intro, but hopefully they will expand on it later. For a first episode they did surprisingly well with introducing and establishing the characters. I feel like I know who they are and what I could potentially expect from them in the future episodes. They also quite effectively set the connection between ML and FL - enough to get me curious about it. Not to mention the trickster like female "soon to be" villain (?). Just from the few scenes I saw, she seems like a fun character to watch. Production wise, I have one question - why was the camera so shaky? It was quite distracting and gave me a university project type of vibes. While the framing of the shots was rather basic, the style felt intentional, looking like the older shows. I liked a few transitions between scenes. One more thing on the production side I liked - the delicate special effects. Sometimes less means more and not everything has to have epic fantasy written all over it. Set design for the dream sequence? Real nice. Another case of less means more. The soundtrack though - oof. The vocals in 成為你的所有 (Be Yours) gave me chills.
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It's neither good introduction to the plot, nor the characters. The reasoning behind Jung Saet Byul character is non-existing and Choi Dae Hyun has more or less zero character. Saet Byul is simply not likable character. While Kim Yoo Jung is doing good job acting wise, the character is simply badly written, or at least introduced. She is not energetic, cute 4D... she is scary. No idea what to think about Choi Dae Hyun, since he does not really have personality, or at least he was presented this way: simply doing what other's expect him to do. The first meeting between FL and ML was neither cute nor romantic. Nothing cute about a teenager flirting with a grown up. I disliked editing and cartoon-ish way it was directed. I'm not the biggest fun of a cheap comedy like that and over-exaggeration to this level. Some scenes were just shot in such an unrealistic and over the top way... I could not relate nor enjoy what I was seeing... Overall, not a strong start. It did not make me excited for episode 2 and if it was not for Yoo Jung, I would drop it.
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