Village Chat Part 5&6: Is That My Sister?

Two more episodes in the bag! I’d like to say that these suckers are going down easy, but that would be a lie, and we don’t lie here at Kchat Jjigae chats–unless of course that lie is somehow entertaining. I’m feeling like we’re as close to figuring out who the killer is the heroine is as close to finally realizing who her sister is. Although let’s hope that the killer’s identity isn’t quite as obvious and we’re not being quite as dumb as the heroine…

Stephanie: I’m going to open up this time by saying, I’m not entirely sure this drama knows what it wants to be, a murder mystery or a paranormal thriller. One of which they do well, and the other? Not so much. (I’ll let you be the judge as to which is which–and watch out this is a trick question!)

Jacqueline: Not only is this drama having an identity crisis, it’s sixteen levels of frustrating because episodes 5 and 6 feel even LESS structured than the last two. I wouldn’t be SO bothered by the genre hopping, if I felt like the damn thing knew where the story was going; so I am because they don’t. Having to put up with the heroine’s hemorrhoid-inducing stupidity in this cast of Too Damn Many Characters, with everybody and their dead third cousin being a suspect…I mean, it’s entertaining but SO…frustrating

Stephanie: I want to say that these two episodes were a lot more plot driven than the others, with the police slowly chipping away at the murder–going through potential suspects, and if this were that sort of drama, it would be successful. But despite that I come out of this round thinking “What happened in this episode?” and I have trouble coming up with anything. Although, now that I try hard, I do like the idea that the dead girl, the pharmacist, and pervy art teacher were up to no good together! That starts to make those characters make sense.

Jacqueline: I agree that, yeah we’re getting more answers, but the ways in which the scenes are constructed make it so the plotting seems forced and disjointed. There’s a disconnect with the story in that the pacing just feels choppy. There’s a distinctive lack of fluidity to the script. That’s just my pompous-ass way of saying that I’m liking what’s happening in the story, I just don’t like the way the story is being told. As such, I’m firming up my theory that dead sister came to town with the objective to ruin Old Mister Cheater and his wife/their family. I bet their company/family/money is linked to what went down with the parent’s car accident all those years ago. And dead-sister’s meddling got her killed by…someone? Everyone? *Sing-songy* It’s a small-town murder after all

Stephanie: HAHAHAHA. The more I think about it, the more I’m okay with the murder mystery part of the story (It could be that I just don’t care about any of these characters, which is why I’m having a hard time attaching) for me it’s more the paranormal stuff that’s shoehorned in and so uuuuhhhh….expected? Oooh the hands going for the necklace–been there, seen that. The threatening note at the church? Yawn. Of course it could just be the writer/director’s hamfisted ways, but it’s not spooky at all.

Jacqueline: I think you’re absolutely right! This writer hasn’t done a great job of creating a connection between character and viewer, so getting an attachment to ANYONE in this thing is…like…the opposite of easy. The only people I’m invested in is Cutie Patootie Beta Police Guy and his boss. Those police dudes are like a Sherlock and Watson duo in using their smarts to sleuth this mystery. You’re ALL of the correct, too, because the attempted creeptastic elements in this show just fail all over the place. It’s just that, like you said, they’re unoriginal…there isn’t believable set-up or tension written into these moments. It’s all wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am-now-pass-the-peanuts.

Stephanie: I will say I did like the effects of the storm and if this were actually a suspenseful drama–that would have been cool. I loved the two policeman in this. No one gives them any credit for the work that they do and yet there they are actually, step by step, solving the case. I can’t help but want to pinch the Beta Police guy on the cheeks whenever he solves a piece of the puzzle. And now he has is formerly disinterested, disbelieving partner invested in the case too! Awww…

Jacqueline: RIGHT?! I mean…Is it just me, or is this drama a wanna-be makjang melo that got bullied into having a dead body thrown into the recipe? Excuse me while I roll my eyes until they pop out  my sockets. My typical complaining aside, the drama isn’t doing itself any favors when the only other non-cliched characters are your child actors. A few episodes ago I was all, “Oooh, the Artist, the Brother, the Pervy Teacher, the Suspicious Pharmacist! They’re all made of potential!” Two episodes later and it’s as though these peeps are slowly turning into stereotypes. Artist mom is going a bit Babies-R-Us obsessed, the brother is playing-it-close-to-the-chest I can’t figure out what his true colors are, and pervy teacher is just…there. In the background. Being pervy. Maybe that’s a good sign since we’re only 6 episodes in, but you’d think by now people would start…I don’t know…doing something?

Stephanie: I think of the men, the pervy art teacher is the most interesting–way more so than the brother especially now that we find he, the pharmacist, and the art teacher were all in cahoots. It brings up some interesting questions. Why? Especially when you take into consideration the pharmacist is the target’s sister in law. I, surprisingly, can’t wait to find out what is going on there. And that pharmacists had better leave that autistic kid alone! Makes me wonder how those kids are tangled all up in here.

Jacqueline: I agree! And I think the only reason that’s the case is because the show has spent so little time on pervy art teacher they haven’t had a chance to bore us with him yet. Good grief, I’m just being a giant grump-butt about this drama, but I’m hoping…oh how I am HOPING they turn it around. As for them being in cahoots, I’m kind of thinking the three of them…maybe…weren’t? Pervy Art Teacher suspects the Pharmacists of killing the victim, the Pharmacist is likely drugging Autistic Boy who probably knows something he shouldn’t, and I still feel like the artist isn’t the killer because we know that’s too easy and too obvious. With the way the story is unraveling, I’m still leaning towards the brother as being the murderer….and if not him, then my money says the sister killed herself and faked her death as a homicide in order to pin the blame on the family, who are likely tied up in her childhood tragedy. I think she came to town with revenge and a plot from day one. It would make sense considering how the drama opens with the adulteress/victim throwing down pictures of her making the beast-with-two-backs with old fuddy-fuddy, plus there’s all the backstory we’ve been given about the adoption shenanigans.

Stephanie: Do you think that perhaps the politician caused the accident? Like maybe he caused it, allowed it to be covered up and then the sister was out to get her revenge for the dead sister and parents? That would be very trite–which is kind of up this drama’s alley. I am also interested in seeing what the brother finds out about who exactly it was who created the circumstances to arrange for the heroine to move back. Someone has to be pulling those strings although I stilll have no idea who that could be or even more importantly–WHY.

Jacqueline: That is actually a good theory, and I think if Old Cheater Dude had a hand in our girl’s death, then it likely wasn’t premeditated. He found out about her attempt at exposing their affair, they tussled, she bumped her head, died, and he covered it up. I think dead-sis was out to get the family for revenge, yes, but I ALSO wanna know who is the incognito Master of Puppets? (Though my money’s on Walnut Guy/Cross Dresser as being the puppeteer.) Plus we still have that mysterious time capsule box thingy the Autistic boy gave to the Pharmacist, which has up and disappeared. Because, dude, really…WHAT’S IN THE BOX?! (I apologize to my friends and family for that bad joke. I was forced, please forgive me.)

Stephanie: Maybe there’s a dick in the box! (Good luck getting that song out of your head for the rest of the time with this post). And now we have the addition of two new characters, the stereotypical big powerful guy that even the politician bows too and the crazy lady who is searching for her missing child. Any time she was on the screen I kept trying to figure out how she fit into the story and storyline. Who could be her baby? What happened 10 years ago in our pre-crazy lady storyline? There aren’t any characters who are 11, so it couldn’t just be an easy swap. Hmm…..

Jacqueline: Wait! How old are the kids in this story? The daughter? The Autistic kid? Crap I’m terrible at analyzing tiny-humans’ years-of-existence. I have no idea if I’m right, or if Crazy Lady is just going to be a new character because the writer got bored, OR if her child is even a key figure in this shindig. Honestly, I mean, the whole adoption/heroine’s family plotline is frustrating in its own stupidity. Family is dead, now the sister is alive, NOW the sister was actually adopted, now there’s an orphanage mystery. Now I’m grumpy.

Stephanie: I thought about that, but she is in middle school, and that has to be older than 10–right? And why would she steal a kid to be a single mom? It’s going to suck for the heroine once she (again FINALLY) realizes just who her sister was. After all these moments this episode, I can’t believe she STILL doesn’t realize it. How many times does she have to be told? And  what’s up with dead girl’s mom’? Could she be in on the con? I thought that scene in the morgue was a bit over the top.

Jacqueline: I don’t think Crazy Lady stole the kid, I think the kid was stolen from her…which makes me wonder if that’s why artist mom is so obsessed with having a kid, because she knows that Problem Child really isn’t her kid at all? As for the dead girl’s “mom,” I feel like she’s not in on the con…at least not the con that the drama is focusing on. Her deal is likely just to keep her daughter’s adoption a secret. (Since we all know the victim IS THE HEROINE’S SISTER. Except the heroine. God what an idiot.) Because, remember, dead-sister was first adopted into the heroine’s family, the parents died, she got sent back to the orphanage, gets adopted again…and like the orphanage worker said suggested, Mrs. Adopted Mom’s big goal is to keep that fact hidden.

Stephanie: Uuuhhh yeah. I didn’t think Crazy Lady stole the baby, she is absolutely a poor unfortunate who has been wronged–unless she is a red herring, but this show doesn’t really seem to be doing a lot of red herrings anymore. They seem to be building more than going for the short reveal. Like Walnut Man–who else was surprised that he was back this episode? I thought he was going to the hospital to get ‘healed’ of his crossdressing? Must have been some wonder cure!

(Side note, looks like the confusion of Jacqueline thinking I thought the Crazy Lady stole the baby is that I wasn’t clear up above. I don’t think it was the artist who stole the baby as that would have made her a single mother. I believe she and the politician got married later and she brought her daughter into the marriage–this is part of the reason why the grandmother hates her so much–and why she is so desperate to have a baby with the politician. A baby between them would cement them (and her place in the family) together in a way that her daughter could not.

Jacqueline: Ah, well that makes sense. Honestly I feel like the show could do backflips around the sun in an attempt to try and make ANYTHING possible at this point. So who knows what or how Crazy Baby Lady is gonna play into the story…I think you’re right in that this drama seems to be building small mysteries, answering them quickly, then moving on. I was indeed shock-and-awed at Walnut Guy being back in action. It makes me think, yet again, that he’s the puller of strings behind the curtain, with him trying to get all the pieces on the board. Like, that camera that was set up in the barn overlooking the field and just happened to be on a timer and just happened to get evidence of the last day of dead-sister before her death? I mean, I know this Dramaland’s largest city is Coincidenceville, but c’mon! He’s been in the game since episode 1, lurking in the background. He’s a character who you feel just knows more than what he’s letting on, “crossdressing habit” miraculously healed or otherwise.

Stephanie: DUUUUUDE! First off with last episodes where he he was all “I’m going to go to the hospital so I can get rid of this pesky cross dressing habit” to this episode, just a few minutes later, where he’s back? Apparently cured? Unless the cross dressing thing was just a ruse–and not a very clever one as everyone already suspects him. (Although I guess the best place to hide can be right out in the open?) They do seem to be setting him up (since the beginning) for a bigger storyline–but he could be just a big fat red herring. I guess we’ll find out in the next episode when he head into the ‘spooky lumber mill’–maybe he’s just there to be our first big character murder.

Jacqueline: Honestly I feel that, if the show is going to make Walnut Crossdresser (now my permanent nickname for him) the master of ceremonies, then I’d assume his cross-dressing modus operandi was to isolate from the community, making himself a pariah and subsequently not deemed as a threat by the bad guys. His plan to get our heroine from Canada back to the village, so everyone is in play. I don’t see this “behind the curtain character” thing they’ve been taunting us with (be it for Walnut Crossdresser or someone else) as being an antagonist. If anything, my gut’s saying this masked character is actually trying to be truth and justice and every other overly corny Dramaland noun in the book.

Stephanie: I’d say the person trying to get her there was dead sister, because the letter came to her from the past, but that doesn’t account for dead grandma (who I still think was murdered) and that guy placing the school brochure at the top of the pile. My vote goes in for the Walnut guy too as he seems to be very tech savvy and can do these things from a distance–although that would make him culpable for grandma’s death. Which, considering what a jerk she was–I think I’m okay with.

Jacqueline: HAHAHA RIGHT?! Sorry, grandma, you were a douche. A dead douche, but still. You shan’t be forgiven, even in death, ‘cause we drama fangirls are rude like that. Bad joking aside, I worry this show is, as I’ve said before, striving to set up all these questions and puzzles, but won’t answer everything in the end. I don’t trust that the drama knows where it’s going, partly because of the tonal shifts, partly because of a lack of character, and partly because the pacing is off. Imma keep watching, though, because I’m a glutton for ouch, AND because…dude. Pervy Teacher? The Police Puppies? Autistic boy? Problem Child? I need to know what happens to them! Everyone else can go sit in a corner for all I care.

Stephanie: And let’s not forget these posts…no backing out now!

Jacqueline: I’m chained to the wall. Feed me crackers.

 

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