TheDireBriar

Confused, but has the spirit.

This is one of the few things coming out of Asia that dares look at their fixation on women's bodies, even in the year 2025. For that, it gets some merit. Does it to it particularly well? Ehh.

This is a passionate project that feels very strongly about its issues, but it also fails to commit itself to carrying through, and it flubs the landing.

200 Pounds Beauty raises the question of women's bodily standards, sexism in the entertainment business, systemic shaming, pretty privilege and plastic surgery...while fat shaming and affirming those same things. It makes for a confused viewing experience.

The story line about Kang Ha Na's career resolves itself, the situation with Han Sang Jun does not. The relationship is the more poignant through line of the movie, Ha Na's love for this man who is kind to her face, but sees her as lesser. At no point is Han Sang Jun ever called upon to radically change his thinking, or to accept culpability for his attitudes and actions which have played across this woman's body like a warzone. He is a wholly undeserving partner for Ha Na, and the series shows its age and bias in the notion that she doesn't totally abandon him as a romantic prospect. He voices the same tired opinions as every other man- a woman must be beautiful to date him, but she can't have had plastic surgery to make herself into a beautiful object.

While this is an upbeat and often funny movie to watch, the undercurrent about female exploitation is quite dark, as is the production's inability to fully condemn it. Ha Na is surrounded by beautiful, untalented women; her talent only becomes worthy of attention and respect once she is beautiful; it is then which she is also no longer subject to being exploited by men around her, which is patently untrue. Beautiful women are at risk of more exploitation, beauty does not solve these problems. This lack of a critical eye and heart fundamentally cripple this movie, through it remains an interesting showcase in mid 2000's attitudes. For that reason, it is worth a watch.

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Sweet Home Season 2 wants to be the Aliens to Sweet Home's Alien.

Think about it; Alien and Sweet Home are primarily Haunted House pieces. Doom is brought upon the everymen when human indifference and greed unleash monsters they themselves have borne. Interpersonal relationships must be balanced while they strive to survive. In expanding that world a la Aliens, we introduce marines and motherhood. Without the nuance.

For me, SH2 is a crushing failure in multiple respects. It really pains me to say it. It totally dispensed with everything I enjoyed about S1 and didn't bother replacing it with something comparable.

There is essentially a three episode arc featuring the S1 cast getting to a sports dome shelter with thousands of others...which is then bombed for reasons too stupid and infuriating to go into. Many plot threads from this three episode mini arc are just left blowing in the wind. It's a shame, since it had to have cost a fricken fortune. All but 6 of the original cast are summarily killed off in stupid ways for no real pay off. The only one I bought was Ryu Jae Hwan's monsterization; considering the shit he pulled in S1, this felt satisfying and a proper conclusion to his story.

This cast cull is not narratively appropriate in any way; it is in service of replacing a bunch of female characters with Interchangeable Army men. I cannot tell you how angry it made me. Not only did we dump these women- which includes the little girl, mind you, who essentially got fridged for her brother's (barely-there)story- but we didn't bother to replace them with equally compelling male characters. Most of them lacked sufficient development beyond their one-note traits. Mad Scientist? Check. Haunted Military Commander? Check. Fresh-Faced Soldier Boy? Yep. Military Asshole? Check, Double Check and Triple Check.

Because we're under the auspices of the military, there is no longer collaboration or egalitarian character interaction. SO all these new characters can only interact in this hierarchy. People are being demoralized, abused and screamed at by soldiers who resent having to protect them. All problems are solved with guns or threats. Most of the Army men are the worst kinds of people. We watch civilians being abused and used for labor, the army constantly going on that this is what they're owed for the protection they offer. There was one line that stuck with me; it was a throw-away by a soldier extra receiving his rations, 'I joined the army because at least I'd eat well'. It was pissy, the implication being that he wasn't getting what he was promised. Like. BRO. THE APOCALYPSE HAPPENED. NO ONE wants to be here. You're still eating better than everyone else, with a side of complete power, so SHUT THE FLIP UP.

I cannot emphasize how much of the season is about Army Shenanigans and How Little I Cared. Again, you can see them aping Aliens with the Crow Platoon being the Colonial Marines. The Crow Platoon, now cut off and on their own, moves the survivors underground, into a...subway system? IDK, there's clearly utility and infrastructure spaces, but most of it gives off a weird dungeon vibe. Chief Ji is the 'facility manager' of whatever the hell this place is, and she allows them to stay, which somehow creates a weird power imbalance between she and the army. This location couldn't be that far from the sports dome, and yet it also seemed to be connected to the Super Sekret Military Base, but also to another character's hide-out. It's one of those shows where you walk for ten minutes and you'll meet a cast member you haven't seen in a year.

Okay, so we're in Shit Bunker, 1 year later. The Army rules the civilians like evil overlords. Essentially, the army guys do whatever they want, and what they want seems to be threatening and abusing the same people they're meant to protect. And getting mad that there's a mortality rate to MONSTER HUNTING. We get a few new civilian characters, most of which are sus or unappealing (Creepy Priest? Check. Selfish Bimbo? Check. Old Woman Who Exists To Die? Check. Worse, there's a mentally disabled man whose story could have been sweet, except you can SEE them just using him to make issues for the sake of complicating the plot. How does his story end? In Bury Your Disabled, of course!)

Every single character's story is somehow a secret- something happened in their past, or they're sneaking around for some reason the audience isn't privy to. Except, if you don't know what anyone is doing or why they're doing it, why should we care? There is no narrative through line like Hyun-Soo's that serves as an anchor. It's just a bunch of fairly awful people doing inscrutable things- most of which there's not much resolution to, unlike, say, Pyeon Sang-wook's S1 revelation that he was hunting a child rapist and murderer.

For a launch of an expanded Sweet Home world, there has been very little world building done. Nothing about how this new society functions, and because there's no basic foundation nothing true can grow or be explored. The civilians do some kind of nebulous 'work', but it's never clear what, since they're not allowed outside much. In the hundreds of people there seem to be zero professionals of any kind, just a lot of filthy people cowering and doing virtually nothing to create a sustainable society. Even in S1 the characters knew their situation was not going to work long term; that food and water were going to be a problem. We're not seeing any solutions to anything here. Have they spent the last year setting up agriculture, getting solar panels doing some underground hydroponics? Naw. But batteries have become currency, even though the facility seems to have electricity, and you don't see people using any electronics, so what are the batteries for, exactly?

Monsterization has also become victim to this lack of focus. Clearly, nobody knows what they want to do with it or what they want to say with it. The intimate process that was the transformation has been lost. Very few characters undergo it, though the threat of it looms large. It seems like no one in Shit Bunker has monsterized in the last year. But, the landscape roams with CG monsters- some are unique, but there's a particular Trash Golem design which they used multiple times. Quantity has overtaken quality, here. They spent a lot of cash on animating way more monsters than I think they really needed. But again, Army guys! Gotta have those big, action set pieces- like Aliens!

The whole curse aspect has gone by the wayside. The Mad Scientist believes that monsters are the vaccine for the plague that is humanity, because of course his nihilistic ass does blah blah blah, who cares?

The first monster is actually good; a momma monster protecting her baby. This set piece is effective; the Momma monster doesn't actually hurt anyone. Hundreds of people die, but it's all from friendly fire because the soldiers are so terrified and gung-ho they just shoot and immolate fleeing civilians. It plays like a tragedy on multiple fronts. They attempt to continue that nuance when Hyun-Soo encounters monsters at The Sekrit Facility, and some mystical woo-woo happens which drives him to be reminded that monsters are, or were, human. They still have feelings, or memories. But that's about all the exploration about the nature of a transformed monster there is.

Unfortunately, you can't do a 'oh, people are just scared because monsters different' with a side of 'Feel guilty for viewing them as inhuman' and expect it to have emotional resonance when most monsters can and do slaughter people indiscriminately and act as the primary in-universe threat. It just fundamentally doesn't work.

But it's still Aliens! Lets talk about motherhood, shall we? We have quite a few mother-child relationships about, starting off with that mother monster on the freeway. Actually, that one's the best. The others are really uncomfortable for non-thematic reasons. The biggest one, of course, is Seo I Gyeong from season 1. She gives birth on a lake of ice while an explosion blazes behind her. It's an arresting image, but also endemic to the issues plaguing the show as a whole; It has replaced intimacy and honesty with spectacle. Nothing here is authentic and I hate it.

Hyun Soo got really downgraded in the character department. Song Kang looks great naked, but doesn't really have a lot to do, unlike his great first season arc. He also completely disappears from the narrative after apparently having been killed, which...just..like...why? When you dispensed with so many other characters, why would you ice the one we all had emotional resonance with?

This was a major disappointment to me. I wouldn't have even minded that this was filler between season 1 and season 2, but in order to do that you'd have to have exposition, world-building and some emotional core. It's bereft. It's a hollow Aliens rip-off that gleefully jettisoned everything that made Sweet Home Season 1 so good without realizing that those very things- compelling characters and human connection- where what made Aliens good. Not the Army.

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When 'Seme' means 'A Block Of Wood'

While Keito Kimura is cute and appealing as the slightly dorky, honest Satoshi Onoe, Yamanaka Jyutaro's Motoharu Kaburagi is D.O.A. He's meant to be the jaded pessimist seme to Satoshi's optimist uke, but he lacks any charm to make his sullen character palatable. This made it difficult to understand why Satoshi would want this downer of a guy who generally treats Satoshi like crap and communicating extremely mixed messages. When he isn't stonewalling, or just being grabby. Like, Satoshi, I would understand it if you were just horny for him, I have eyes, I can see why you'd want to jump his bones, but why are you in luuurrrve?

On the plus side, the show avoids the tropey mess of jealous suitors and disapproving parents by framing each episode around the current article the boys are working on. Granted, the show lacked the bite to really ask questions about the morality and ethics of journalism. Each 'scoop' has the real task of bringing the boys closer together...until there's a story that tears them apart. For the dumbest reasons. It was the crowning jewel in the annoying through-line that it's on Satoshi to discern the intent behind Motoharu's vague gestures and contradictory statements. At no time does the plot hint that it might be Motoharu's responsibility to do his own emotional labor, and to communicate. Not only is it Satoshi's job to figure out what Motoharu wants, it's also his job to BE the version of himself that Motoharu wants. I found this concerning.

I couldn't even watch the sex scene it was so uncomfortable. It reeked of two Actors Not Wanting To Be There and two characters I couldn't fathom the draw between.

Good news! There are no evil anti-queer women to speak of in this show, which was nice... except almost every single woman onscreen is being exploited in some way. So. Add that as background radiation.

While Candy Color Paradox never became actively offensive or rage inducing, it was still a discomforting viewing experience saved by one thing; Keito Kimura. He was doing his best to bring levity and brightness to a dead fish.

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Knock Knock- It's an underage actor and NOTHING ELSE.

What a weird, borderline inappropriate love-letter to a single performer this is.

I have never seen anything quite like it. From the first glimpse of Tar Atiwat Saengtien's juvenile knees I went 'uh-oh'. And it was downhill from there.

There really is no reason to watch 'I Will Knock You' except for Tar Atiwat Saengtien's performance of Noey Watphlu. It's a great performance, for the THEN SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD ACTOR. Which isn't necessarily bad, but ooof. Ooof. He's incredibly charming, bringing life to this passionate, impulsive, sentimental character. Don't mistake, Noey is not a well-written character. Noey's vintage style and earnest romantic heart are interesting, but the writing flinches from deeper examination of his troubled nature. Tar is carrying this on pure charisma.

And he's beautiful. It cannot be understated how much the camera loves him. It's impossible to forget that, particularly because of the way they edited this strange show. Multiple times Noey would say something absolutely bonkers, they'd cut to Thi, he'd do a 'haaa?' face and some voice over and halfway through the voice over they'd cut back to Noey, who'd then have another line. Which is BIZARRE. I cannot stress to you how much I'm like 'THI DIDN'T SAY A FLIP FLAPPIN WORD, THIS IS NOT A CONVERSATION, IT IS A MONOLOGUE.'

Sure, each time I'd be like 'damn he's pretty tho'. But, it did not distract me from what a hot mess of NOTHING this show is. I am somewhat accustomed to uneven writing quality between male and female leads in romantic pairings. Generally speaking, in hetero shows the ML is adequately written, the female lead is underwritten. In BL, there's often a mediocre standard which both leads meet; serviceable, but not remarkable. Nothing could have prepared me for how inconsequential, bland and boring Thi was. If Noey is not well written, Bom Tanawat Uthaikitwanit's Thi is...unwritten. He's negative space. He might as well not exist. We know NOTHING about him, except he's awkward AF and tutors kids. And Bom has all the charisma of a damp sponge.

Considering Thi's lack of anything except setting up clumsy set pieces for Noey to react to, there's no reason for Noey to like him. You could make a drinking game our of the number of times Thi just straight up didn't have dialogue in scenes, yet the scenes persist, perpetuated by some ghastly BL necessity. He'd have voice over along the lines of 'omg this crazy kid' or 'if I don't do this he'll beat me up for sure!' but not actual lines, not actual participation in the scene, not actual agency. He's a complete non-entity. He flounders around, a collegiate do-gooder intimidated by a high school junior, his thoughts and feelings on the courtship ultimately unimportant and insignificant. In fact, nothing happens in this show that Noey does not instigate, and not always for readily apparent reasons. I can only assume that in making Bom a more fleshed out character you'd have to address the age and power differences between the two. Instead, they desperately avoid it at all costs. Which doesn't leave a lot to do.

It can't even go to the familiar well of kissing and sex scenes to bolster itself, since Tar is underage. Which I guess I appreciated, but it highlights an awareness on behalf of production that maybe the age difference is A Thing, making it all the weirder when they don't address The Thing. They also clearly don't want to talk about Tar's issues, either Bom or Tar's goals, or anything remotely sincere or serious.

So the script is a joke, Bom's performance is DOA, there's no chemistry, no intriguing side characters, so? They resort to showcasing the single asset they have; Tar Atiwat Saengtien.

So. Admire him. There's no other reason to watch.

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Paralyzingly dull and inane.

While some of the reviews have indicated that the second couple might be more interesting than Hill and Ter here, I don't give one flying crispy cthulhu. If these four episodes are a measure of the quality of the entire production, count my ass out, I cannot sit through another twelve.

The summary here and on Rakuten Viki says Ter is off to a distant university to help 'get over his past relationship', except, oops his crush is at the same university! The first episode opens with a spicy bit and a love confession which turns out to be a dream. Or a nightmare, considering Ter wakes up wailing about it. You'd probably assume that this is a memory of an ex, right? Right? That would be the sensible way to interpret that.

Leave your sense at the door. The screenwriter did.

Very quickly things become confusing as Ter denies there was anything going on between he and Hill. He's steadfast that Hill wanted his sister. Hill, on the other hand, heart-eyes at Ter any time he can see him. Once he knows Ter is on the same campus he stalks him and comes very close to peeing on him in front of the other boys interested in the pretty twink. Then Hill just out and says he wants to court him. Which sounds like there wasn't a relationship then, but might be now? Did they have a relationship? Didn't they? Why is Ter dubious of Hill's stated desire to date? I have no idea how to feel about their dumb romantic shenanigans consisting of forced car-rides and Hill making stink eyes at other boys. If Hill had broken Ter's heart that might be something, but Ter seems to think his affection was unrequited. Ter doesn't talk about his feelings all that much, and what he does say is repetitive or too vague to be useful.

What are the bulk of these episodes filled with then? Oh, I'm SO glad you asked. Not go to class, obviously. When he isn't having dead-end conversations with his roomie , you'll follow a vacantly smiling Ter roaming around campus and going to club activities, interacting with other students to the tune of goofy slapstick noises. Sometimes they'd even put the noise in even if an actor wasn't telegraphing a response, it was very weird. While some of the other characters are certainly more colorful, I feel like all of these people are too stupid to be in college. All of the interactions are farcical without apparently intending to be.

There are some potentially homophobic parents in there, but I lost track of which people were staring at which guy across the campus with judgement. That's when the narrative wasn't interrupting itself with high school flashbacks which do nothing to elucidate the exact situation with Ter and Hill.

It's boring, tedious, and juvenile. The characters are hollow ciphers who exist to be benign and pretty. If the show has nothing of authenticity or coherency to offer in the almost 4 hours I watched, I don't think it bodes well for the rest.

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