49
165
10
The Butterfly
Res ipsa loquitur
Joseon Attorney 'appealed' to me because it stars Woo Do Hwan and it’s an historical, two of my favorite things. However, at 16 one-hour episodes it could not ‘sustain’ any level of intensity. Uneven performances and storytelling almost made me hold it in ‘contempt’. Woo Do Hwan’s performance ended up being the ‘grounds’ for me to finish it. Oh yeah, going to be law puns in this review!
Han Su and his buddy Dong Chi come to town looking to make money while plotting revenge on the people responsible for killing Han Su’s parents. Along the way he meets an undercover princess and turns enemies into friends.
I almost dropped this drama after the first episode as I 'judged' it to be cringey in the most 'arbitrary' way. Instead, I bit the bullet and was able to finish the 'rest' of the episodes. As the ‘cases’ became more interesting and the revenge plot deepened, I began to enjoy it more. The romance felt unearned and didn’t ‘exhibit’ much chemistry between Han Su and So Won. My chief ‘complaint’ was that So Won’s character wasn’t written very well. She was earnest but despite saying she trusted Han Su, her ‘actions’ constantly countermanded him. Bona had one expression which made her character even more uninteresting. Yoo Ji Sun had a similar emotional 'delivery' 'issue'. The king was largely ‘incompetent’ needing others to help make 'decisions' and couldn’t ‘bail’ anyone out.
The story 'diminished' in the last few episodes. The king 'rendered a decision' based on 'facts not in evidence' that drastically ‘damaged’ Han Su. In almost no time, Han Su ‘waived’ the ‘offense’ and was back to being buddies with the king. The ‘execution’ of alternating between comedy and drama was not well done. Woo Do Hwan ‘demonstrated’ a wide variety of emotions with his usual skill. The ‘issue’ of going from laughter to tears and back again, and not ‘settling’ on a thematic mood made it difficult for me to care about the characters as I find comedic responses to serious problems distancing. The OST lacked in coherency and was ‘liable’ to cause ‘motion’ sickness as it bounced from music inspired by 1970’s television, to rock, to overtly melodramatic tunes. Trying to fit in as many bromances as possible also ‘challenged’ the veracity of the story.
Joseon Attorney didn’t raise the ‘bar’ for historicals, but I don’t hold it ‘in contempt’ either. I’d make the ‘argument’ it could have been more ‘brief’ instead of dragging out the episodes and I ‘penalized’ it for some of the weaker performances. The drama didn’t do Woo Do Hwan’s talents any ‘justice’ either. After ‘examining the evidence’, my ‘verdict’ is that while it was ‘unobjectionable’, it was not ‘effectual’.
7 July 2024
*res ipsa loquitur-the things speaks for itself
Han Su and his buddy Dong Chi come to town looking to make money while plotting revenge on the people responsible for killing Han Su’s parents. Along the way he meets an undercover princess and turns enemies into friends.
I almost dropped this drama after the first episode as I 'judged' it to be cringey in the most 'arbitrary' way. Instead, I bit the bullet and was able to finish the 'rest' of the episodes. As the ‘cases’ became more interesting and the revenge plot deepened, I began to enjoy it more. The romance felt unearned and didn’t ‘exhibit’ much chemistry between Han Su and So Won. My chief ‘complaint’ was that So Won’s character wasn’t written very well. She was earnest but despite saying she trusted Han Su, her ‘actions’ constantly countermanded him. Bona had one expression which made her character even more uninteresting. Yoo Ji Sun had a similar emotional 'delivery' 'issue'. The king was largely ‘incompetent’ needing others to help make 'decisions' and couldn’t ‘bail’ anyone out.
The story 'diminished' in the last few episodes. The king 'rendered a decision' based on 'facts not in evidence' that drastically ‘damaged’ Han Su. In almost no time, Han Su ‘waived’ the ‘offense’ and was back to being buddies with the king. The ‘execution’ of alternating between comedy and drama was not well done. Woo Do Hwan ‘demonstrated’ a wide variety of emotions with his usual skill. The ‘issue’ of going from laughter to tears and back again, and not ‘settling’ on a thematic mood made it difficult for me to care about the characters as I find comedic responses to serious problems distancing. The OST lacked in coherency and was ‘liable’ to cause ‘motion’ sickness as it bounced from music inspired by 1970’s television, to rock, to overtly melodramatic tunes. Trying to fit in as many bromances as possible also ‘challenged’ the veracity of the story.
Joseon Attorney didn’t raise the ‘bar’ for historicals, but I don’t hold it ‘in contempt’ either. I’d make the ‘argument’ it could have been more ‘brief’ instead of dragging out the episodes and I ‘penalized’ it for some of the weaker performances. The drama didn’t do Woo Do Hwan’s talents any ‘justice’ either. After ‘examining the evidence’, my ‘verdict’ is that while it was ‘unobjectionable’, it was not ‘effectual’.
7 July 2024
*res ipsa loquitur-the things speaks for itself
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