v1ya
Big budget kdrama with an identity crisis and terrible soundtrack
Here's the thing. The webtoon is REALLY good, so this had a lot to live up to. I thought the casting was good for what they were going for, and the actors performed really well. I was really happy with changes they made too - eg. adding the firefighter character, changing characters' personalities, etc. Naturally, the source material for the story was also good. The special effects were excellent for a kdrama.
Story, cast and acting: 8.5.
However, the music/OST/soundtrack choices single-handedly ruined this for me. You could not pay me to rewatch this. I do not even understand WHY these choices were made. It was like self-sabotage. Why would you do this to an amazing drama based on a cult classic webtoon?! It was literally a guaranteed success. How did you mess this up???? Subjectively, I like the songs. Hell, I have listened to these songs myself. But objectively? The soundtrack is not at all suitable for Sweet Home. It's literal 'hypebeast' / clubbing / gaming montage music.
They repeatedly used Warriors by Imagine Dragons in almost every episode.
Fighting a terrifying monster? Warriors.
Nearly dying? Warriors.
Walking through the corridors in fear? Warriors.
Tragic death of a beloved character (that REALLY needed a sad OST)? Warriors!
Warriors, warriors, warriors. I am sick of a song I used to like now. It just wasn't suitable, but they used it to death probably because the license cost an extortionate amount. It just messed up the atmosphere and vibe of the whole show. I.e. You should be feeling sad - someone just died brutally - but you're struggling to feel anything about it because 'AS A CHILDDD you would wait! And WATCH FROM FAR AWAYYYY... !' hype League battle music is blasting in your ears during their death scene. The music choices just cheapened the whole show, which is genuinely unfortunate given how much effort was otherwise put into this. Never before have I had such respect for OST/music choices in shows and movies. I didn't realise it had such a huge effect until now. And this isn't just me - it's such a hugely common criticism on Korean and English discussion boards for this kdrama (see below, credit in brackets). WHY did they do this???!?!?!
EN examples: "Can't wait to laugh my ass off at a scene that's meant to make me sad", "Editor must be a huge league of legends fan, which is where this song should have stayed", "The song made me laugh at every scene they had such good graphics but the music f!cked the whole action scene" (-r*ddit)
KR examples: "...어울리지 않고 몰입을 떨어뜨린다..." (-데일리안), "하아... #이매진드래곤스 의 #워리어스 나올때마다 폭소터졌고 손가락 없어지는줄... 개민망." (-필쏘굿).
This drama had the potential to be terrifying and disturbing and deeply emotional but it just sort of fell flat. Like it's GOOD (bar the song choices, please stop, never do this again), but it seemed to suffer an identity crisis. The show didn't focus as much on the monsters. I'm not sure if that was to save on special effects budget or what, but it was a missed opportunity IMO and consequently led to a sort of slice-of-life vibe with too much comedy, before suddenly switching things up in the last two episodes.
Story, cast and acting: 8.5.
However, the music/OST/soundtrack choices single-handedly ruined this for me. You could not pay me to rewatch this. I do not even understand WHY these choices were made. It was like self-sabotage. Why would you do this to an amazing drama based on a cult classic webtoon?! It was literally a guaranteed success. How did you mess this up???? Subjectively, I like the songs. Hell, I have listened to these songs myself. But objectively? The soundtrack is not at all suitable for Sweet Home. It's literal 'hypebeast' / clubbing / gaming montage music.
They repeatedly used Warriors by Imagine Dragons in almost every episode.
Fighting a terrifying monster? Warriors.
Nearly dying? Warriors.
Walking through the corridors in fear? Warriors.
Tragic death of a beloved character (that REALLY needed a sad OST)? Warriors!
Warriors, warriors, warriors. I am sick of a song I used to like now. It just wasn't suitable, but they used it to death probably because the license cost an extortionate amount. It just messed up the atmosphere and vibe of the whole show. I.e. You should be feeling sad - someone just died brutally - but you're struggling to feel anything about it because 'AS A CHILDDD you would wait! And WATCH FROM FAR AWAYYYY... !' hype League battle music is blasting in your ears during their death scene. The music choices just cheapened the whole show, which is genuinely unfortunate given how much effort was otherwise put into this. Never before have I had such respect for OST/music choices in shows and movies. I didn't realise it had such a huge effect until now. And this isn't just me - it's such a hugely common criticism on Korean and English discussion boards for this kdrama (see below, credit in brackets). WHY did they do this???!?!?!
EN examples: "Can't wait to laugh my ass off at a scene that's meant to make me sad", "Editor must be a huge league of legends fan, which is where this song should have stayed", "The song made me laugh at every scene they had such good graphics but the music f!cked the whole action scene" (-r*ddit)
KR examples: "...어울리지 않고 몰입을 떨어뜨린다..." (-데일리안), "하아... #이매진드래곤스 의 #워리어스 나올때마다 폭소터졌고 손가락 없어지는줄... 개민망." (-필쏘굿).
This drama had the potential to be terrifying and disturbing and deeply emotional but it just sort of fell flat. Like it's GOOD (bar the song choices, please stop, never do this again), but it seemed to suffer an identity crisis. The show didn't focus as much on the monsters. I'm not sure if that was to save on special effects budget or what, but it was a missed opportunity IMO and consequently led to a sort of slice-of-life vibe with too much comedy, before suddenly switching things up in the last two episodes.
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