tremoloandwine

I went into this drama with the best faith possible, thinking Hee-ae could do no wrong, and I'm correct that she can do no wrong. She and Han So-hee are the glue that hold the entire thing together, because without them, this would be a terrible terrible mess. And not in a good way.

I know the tradition of makjang is to simply take the most dramatic path possible, but I think this also proves how hard it really is as a genre to get right writing-wise. If there's just one element to rub you the wrong way, it can all go horribly horribly wrong. This would've been an amazing series had it only been six or so episodes long, even at twelve I could see some of the fat being trimmed, but my goodness they really undo some of the good will I came in with at the end.

I don't think this is a controversial opinion, I fucking hate Joon-young. I don't even know if I need to explain why. We get the fun makjang bullshit over with, time skip, and then boom straight into teenage boy family issues. This sounds cruel, because it is, but I straight up to not care about this little shit's issues a few episodes into having to constantly fucking deal with them. We get it, your parents divorced, your mom is a little bit insane, your dad is a lot more insane, feelings or whatever. Do we really have to constantly focus on him like he's the main character now? Wouldn't this have all been more effective if we weren't constantly beaten over the head with it? Could he have possibly, at any point, seen where his mother might be coming from?

I know Sun-woo is a manipulative person, but at the end of the day, she's dealing with an ex who's constantly stalking her and demanding she leave her own community and pitting her entire social circle against her, if anything she's restrained in how she deals with things. Far too restrained, I'd say. I'm aware that teenage boys are stupid, but those two must have really raised him wrong if he thinks his parents at all share equal responsibility for this situation.

Don't even get me started on the last 15 minutes of the series. I'm glad every character got their sweet little wrapup. Don't mind the woman who's son decided to punish her for daring to tend to someone who just attempted suicide. Would he have chosen differently if she just ignored him ? With how he acted throughout the show, probably fucking not! Nothing good can ever come out of a drama that involves a box truck running someone over or almost running someone over. Ever.

Sky Castle veers into bullshit territory at times too, I think all makjang is destined to at some point or another, but at least it knew how and when to wrap things up and let the characters all take natural paths into their closing stages. I don't think it's entirely fair to say K-dramas always have really good beginnings and really bad endings... but this is definitely an argument in that trope's favour.

Frankly, we have a lot of characters, and not a lot of point to many of them. Nothing ever really coalesces like you think it would. You can't just show me Seo Yi-sook and Kim Hee-ae in the same room five years before Queenmaker and not have that relationship be more of a factor. Like many she just fucks off from the plot after scene after scene of teasing something bigger that never happens (remember that politician that gets thrown into the plot like five episodes before the end?) I'm at least more of a fan of that Queenmaker pre-reunion than the other one. I'm beginning to think Lee Kyung-young might have exactly one character in his tank and it's only taken like five movies and two dramas for me to notice. He's been around for a while, you'd think he'd change it up a little.

Not a totally worthless watch, despite the terrible plot decisions in the second half, Hee-ae's performance never falters once. She even made me feel a little bit of emotion at the end that wasn't white hot rage. And I'm even beginning to understand why Korean lesbians rated So-hee higher than Kim Tae-ri in their actress crush ranking they all got together and decided on a couple weeks ago or whatever. Park Hae-joon also makes a real good villain, I really fucking hate his guts, and I'm going to have a difficult time watching Love, Take Two when I get around to that one because of it. I definitely don't want this to come across as too negative, there are moments where this is a really fun show to watch and follow along with, but it is infuriating at times in ways that really make me wonder if it's actually worth recommending to anyone. This show is like cigarettes, it feels real damn good at times, but it will also shorten your lifespan by a third, and the enjoyment fades away quick into something more like having to see things out to the end.

I think I just need to watch Moonlit Winter again or something soon to calm the fuck down. This is what happens when you're heterosexual. Just say no.