This review may contain spoilers
Eerie and yet I feel indifferent
I finally caught up with the show and have to say it's a weird one. I don't watch psychological shows usually, but I was nonetheless intrigued since Lim Ji Yeon is playing a main role here, and I thought she was great in "The Glory". We have two more episodes left and I am more than curious to find out the truth about Kim Yoon Beom's death as well as Lee Soo Min's. for the latter, things have been revealed, only to be slightly different after all, I don't think we have the full picture yet.
What I found questionable is that the police gave Sang Eun her husband's belongings back, including his phone, concluding his death was suicide, but... did they even check the phone?? Because if they actually checked, they would find the weird pictures he took of Joo Ran as well as all the interior pictures he took of Park Jae Ho's and his family's home. Which would be weird as hell. If they checked his phone, they would have seen the text message sent by Yoon Beom, blackmailing Jae Ho. Which, again, is weird. The phone alone would be reason and evidence (a motive) enough for killing Yoon Beom but the police concluded a suicide, this doesn't make sense to me.
While I understand this is a psychological thriller/mystery, I find all the empty scenes of the characters just looking at me super weird and long. They make the show draggy to me. And I understand Joo Ran's trauma but at the same time, I enjoy the scenes with Sang Eun much more, they flow better in my opinion. The music is a nice addition to the series as it complements the eerie, creepy atmosphere quite perfectly. I was watching the show and was so entranced that when my cat was making some noise outside my room, I got scared lmao. But on a serious note, the music is nice. Another thing I like a lot, unsurprisingly, is the cinematography. Studio Dragon participated in this drama as well, therefore the beautiful camera shots come to no surprise. Visually, the show is very appealing.
But there is something about the show that just leaves me feeling... rather neutral. I am invested enough to watch every new episode but I don't really feel anything watching this show. Now that I am done watching the show, I still don't feel like it had any real impact on me. Episode 7 was a weird, boring one yet I finished it rather quickly. We got some additional information about Joo Ran's sister's death and her troubled relationship with her mother as well as JR and SE plotting Jae Ho's murder (which I thought "huh, that's TOO easy, but okay", which it was because SE was betrayed by JR and nearly killed). The last episode was probably the most dynamic and eventful one since we got some actual physical action. While I thought that JR pulling a Bella by cutting her wrist was dumb (because why would he care, she betrayed him?), I also kind of hated how she did not help SE as the latter was nearly beaten to death. Park Jae Ho was revealed to be a massive narcissistic psycho, and he showed no remorse beating a pregnant woman and literally throwing her across his house (this actually genuinely shocked me) BUT I have to say to action scenes/stunts looked incredible, real, and impactful. I will give the director and choreographers this much! One thing I was thinking throughout the whole show was that none of the characters really had any development (in my opinion), everyone seemingly stayed the same except for SE in the last minute who seemed to live a happier life after all, but you cannot really call that development, we didn't get to see that progression. Also, what exactly was SE reason to follow her husband's footsteps in blackmailing Park Jae Ho? Where did that scammer characteristic come from? Was is general greed for a better life,...?
Overall, the show was... good? The ending was okay, left me thinking. I'm not quite sure what to think. I feel like the longing stares (into nothingness) could have been cut short to tie certain story/plot lines together more neatly; I also think the neighbor lady was underused to be honest. The show is missing something, but all in all it was a visually interesting experience at least and quite intriguing, too.
I'll give this 6/10 MDL stars or 2.5-3 out of 5 regular stars, I think.
What I found questionable is that the police gave Sang Eun her husband's belongings back, including his phone, concluding his death was suicide, but... did they even check the phone?? Because if they actually checked, they would find the weird pictures he took of Joo Ran as well as all the interior pictures he took of Park Jae Ho's and his family's home. Which would be weird as hell. If they checked his phone, they would have seen the text message sent by Yoon Beom, blackmailing Jae Ho. Which, again, is weird. The phone alone would be reason and evidence (a motive) enough for killing Yoon Beom but the police concluded a suicide, this doesn't make sense to me.
While I understand this is a psychological thriller/mystery, I find all the empty scenes of the characters just looking at me super weird and long. They make the show draggy to me. And I understand Joo Ran's trauma but at the same time, I enjoy the scenes with Sang Eun much more, they flow better in my opinion. The music is a nice addition to the series as it complements the eerie, creepy atmosphere quite perfectly. I was watching the show and was so entranced that when my cat was making some noise outside my room, I got scared lmao. But on a serious note, the music is nice. Another thing I like a lot, unsurprisingly, is the cinematography. Studio Dragon participated in this drama as well, therefore the beautiful camera shots come to no surprise. Visually, the show is very appealing.
But there is something about the show that just leaves me feeling... rather neutral. I am invested enough to watch every new episode but I don't really feel anything watching this show. Now that I am done watching the show, I still don't feel like it had any real impact on me. Episode 7 was a weird, boring one yet I finished it rather quickly. We got some additional information about Joo Ran's sister's death and her troubled relationship with her mother as well as JR and SE plotting Jae Ho's murder (which I thought "huh, that's TOO easy, but okay", which it was because SE was betrayed by JR and nearly killed). The last episode was probably the most dynamic and eventful one since we got some actual physical action. While I thought that JR pulling a Bella by cutting her wrist was dumb (because why would he care, she betrayed him?), I also kind of hated how she did not help SE as the latter was nearly beaten to death. Park Jae Ho was revealed to be a massive narcissistic psycho, and he showed no remorse beating a pregnant woman and literally throwing her across his house (this actually genuinely shocked me) BUT I have to say to action scenes/stunts looked incredible, real, and impactful. I will give the director and choreographers this much! One thing I was thinking throughout the whole show was that none of the characters really had any development (in my opinion), everyone seemingly stayed the same except for SE in the last minute who seemed to live a happier life after all, but you cannot really call that development, we didn't get to see that progression. Also, what exactly was SE reason to follow her husband's footsteps in blackmailing Park Jae Ho? Where did that scammer characteristic come from? Was is general greed for a better life,...?
Overall, the show was... good? The ending was okay, left me thinking. I'm not quite sure what to think. I feel like the longing stares (into nothingness) could have been cut short to tie certain story/plot lines together more neatly; I also think the neighbor lady was underused to be honest. The show is missing something, but all in all it was a visually interesting experience at least and quite intriguing, too.
I'll give this 6/10 MDL stars or 2.5-3 out of 5 regular stars, I think.
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