We are indeed a little behind on finishing the series, what with the episode delay and then the holiday, but never fear, we are resolved to finishing this dumb drama! (And I say dumb as I think we may have been giving the writer a bit more credit than he/she deserved.)
Stephanie: First, lets start off in the immortal words of Tyra Banks
I wanted first referenced this in honor of the downward-predictable turn our Walnut Guy has taken, but in general, it could also encompass the entire drama. Jacqueline?
Jacqueline: TYRA AIN’T KIDDING. Cause you know a drama ain’t doing the hot diggity dance when right after finishing two new episodes, your first words are “let’s get this shit over with.” Ep 13 and 14 was a whole lot of plotting and reveals, but I’m all out of fucks to give about Achiara’s Village of Boring Secrets. Everybody’s related to everybody, they’re all half cookey, and Tolstoy’s War and Peace was easier to follow than this damn thing.
Stephanie: Everybody is related to everybody and everybody accidentally wants to sleep with a relative. Welcome to Achaira. I really had high hopes for the drama ever since it kicked into high gear a while back, but now, what I thought were big mysteries were exactly what I expected them to be. DUN DUN DUN! Dead Sister is the daughter not a sister! Yawn, been there, deduced that. I’m most disappointed in Walnut Guy though—turns out he is a crazy/probable murderer—he just didn’t actually murder dead sister.
Jacqueline: Apparently Walnut Guy likes to stick people with a happy-drug that makes ‘em not-sad. But the part of my brain not yet violently damaged from this drama says he’s been doing this post-mortem. I’m clinging to the hope that the show is NOT that lazy. Here we’ve spent an ass-ton of time with the off-their-rocker family, and we’re picking the lowest of low hanging fruit?! I don’t know what I’m most rage-faced over…that, this drama being a sadistic exploration in The Maury Show, or Crazy High School Kid getting killed-off on the “Well Somebody’s Gonna Die, Might As Well Be You” alter.
Stephanie: Her death irritated me. Why? Why did she actually need to die? No one murdered her, her secrets were already out (although maybe not to her), of all the people in this drama to die or who almost died in this set of episodes alone, hers was the one that meant the least. Oh, we did also have the death of the big head honcho politician who was basically murdered by the Politician—in the stupidest way possible. Where was all his henchmen who just a scene ago beat up the cop for him? And just leaving him in the woods? It’s like a villain who plots the craziest way possible to kill the super hero and then leaves before making sure the plan actually worked. It was such a gamble as to whether that would be effective or not.
Jacqueline: EXACTLY! There’s a REASON her going night-night meant the least, because the drama made exactly zero effort in establishing the audience’s emotional connection to her as a character. Pair that with her negative screen time, and it was just cheap emotional porn done for the sake of trying to deliver a weightier tone. Drama, look, I know you wanna fit in with the popular dramas…you wanna hang with the edgy supernaturals, the dark mysteries, the family makjangs. You wanna be accepted by the gritty action shows and the suave suspenses…BUT STOP TRYING TO BE EVERYBODY AND JUST BE YOU. Too late. We’re two episodes from the finish line, and you’re every damn drama and failing terribly at ‘em all.
Stephanie: This set of episodes really brought us back to the paranormal. It was like the writer suddenly remembered they made that a part of the show in the beginning. Now though, the spirits aren’t just all “I know what you did last summer” but are actually changing events? I call a technical foul. An irritating technical foul.
Jacqueline: I know what you can get me for Christmas! A permission slip to burn this drama in effigy. See, I’d be FINE with the spooky McSpook ghosties if they didn’t make Casper look like a character study. And, like, please, tell me…am I the only one sliding down Shit Crazy Mountain in trying to figure out the motivations for, I don’t know, ANY of these characters? The biggest offender this round has to be dear ol’ brother. He’s against Mommy Dearest, now he’s not against her, and he goes MIA so often he makes the Spring Groundhog look reliable.
Stephanie: It’s almost like he’s completely forgotten not only all of the information he’s found out about her but also conveniently forgotten how she tanked him with his father, almost telling him that he had come onto her. For the most part, I get why people are doing what they are doing, but I’m more at the point where I don’t care. Boo-hoo artist, you’ve been treated badly by your in-laws and had to suffer to fit in? Umm…you chose that life for yourself. When she went to the heroine to ask her, as a personal favor, to stop looking for her sister’s killer, I laughed. Why would she think she warrants sympathy from anyone at this point?
Jacqueline: Exactly! Everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE in this show irks me with their failure to be entertaining. Except adorable Beta Police Puppy and his Sunbae. If the whole drama was just them investigating as the lead characters in the show, and the rest of Crazytown were simply peeps dotting their detective work as they sleuthed their shiznit out, I’d be singing this dramas praises! Instead of having interesting characters with likable and relatable personalities to carry this plot, oh no, we get to sit with a boring heroine (who I swear every line delivery sounds like she’s whispering her dialogue), Bitch Artist, apparently-problematic Walnut Guy, asshole daddy, money grubby aunt…the list never stops. The only character I’m intrigued by at this point is pervy art teacher, and we get like NO time with him! Excuse me while I go hang myself from a ceiling fan in protest.
Stephanie: The one thing I do wonder about the artist is if she was this cold, calculating, and crazy before her past (where I called it, she was the actual mother of Hye Jin) or if those parts of her past combined to make her that way. She obviously has no room in her heart for anyone and #1 on her protection list is herself—at any cost. There had to have been something that initially lured in her Politician husband. And I have to say, whoever the actress is, must be having an awesome time as in all of this drama, she has got to be the most fun person to play!
Jacqueline: The power of boners is a strong force never to be reckoned with, don’t’cha know? Plus crazy attracts crazy, so I’ve got no doubt she’s been Miss Asshole since day one on planet Earth. I get it, she no doubt got raped, had a craptastic childhood, wah-wah-waaaah. Dramas need to learn that you can’t make me care about a character just because they went through some shit. I’ll say this for Crazy Artist though, at LEAST she’s being written and acted in a way that I’m having an emotional response. Sure, that response is me needing to punch her in the face with a tree, but still, it’s a reaction. Heroine just bores me, and I can’t blame her. She ain’t working with much. Crazy Artist actress though? Bless her funtimes in Whackyville, because you can bet that’s like an actor’s playground. Lord knows nothing else in this drama is fun.
Stephanie: The way her character turns on a dime? Going from wheedling, placating, attempting to be alluring, to frustrated, and finally slightly possible murderous crazy? Fun times. And yes, it may seem like such a fun character to play compared to all of the others ones who seem almost vanilla in comparison. I do continue to like cutie policeman too. I enjoy the relationship he’s building with the seasoned detective, who is no longer belittling him, but is accepting the fact that he has some skills and is willing to teach him the right way to do things. Of course, then our cutie policeman mixes those lessons with the ‘get answers even if you have to break and bend rules’ mentality from his policeman senior. The best of both worlds.
Jacqueline: You know, with the amount of focus they’ve put on Crazy Artist, it makes you wonder why the hell they didn’t just make her the central character to begin with? This drama obviously wants to make us think it’s smarter than it is, so why not just have twisted mofo badgirl be the key player? Or, I don’t know, LET ME HAVE THE BEST POLICE DUO RUNNING THE SHOW! You’re so right that those two are damn perfect, character wise. They’re learning from one another, and it’s the cutest cuteness ever! Plus, thank God the Sunbae is back on the force again. His being fired was so much unnecessary filler. Shame on you drama. Shame on you.
Stephanie: No, you know what’s worse than the unnecessary firing? That would be the unnecessary beat down he received. So random, especially considering the person who ordered it was dead in like the next episode. Actually, while I’m so burned with how they’ve done me wrong with the Walnut Guy, the more I think of it, the more I find characters interesting when you take a deeper look. Pervy artist? How long has he known he’s the son of a rapist? The Pharmacist was right, we know what will happen to him when everyone knows who he is related to—look at the heroine and her shunning after being related to someone who was murdered. Could you imagine this small jerk town finding out he’s the son of a multi-generational rapist? His evolution from the cad we see in the first episode to the man who would stay behind to be shunned by everyone to give a kidney to his discovered sister? Good job man, consider me very proud of you.
Jacqueline: See, I disagree…or at least, somewhat. This is one of those shows that is definitely interesting upon deeper introspection, but NOT in execution. Technically there is a lot of compelling material to the background and makeup with these characters, but the problem is that’s their setup. When the story actually tries to implement these characters in having a direct effect on the story, it falls flat and reads like sandpaper and dust bunnies having a baby together. This writer knows how to create really fascinating characters, but they have no idea what to actually do with them. I do agree that, like you said, Pervy Art Teacher has a lot of interesting realities surrounding him…in theory. But when you reflect upon your active viewing experience while watching him in the show, it’s a whole lot of nothing. At least, to me anyway.
Stephanie: THAT’S IT, WE ARE NO LONGER FRIENDS! I thought it would be the ketchup on chicken nuggets things that would have killed it—but no, it’s this. 😉 Actually, you’re right. What I like is the idea of the characters, the gems of the ideas, but no, it’s the execution that trips it up. I’m not sure if it’s a lack of skill by the writer, or if it’s the sheer amount of characters the show is trying to cram in. Although, it may be the skill. I’m reminded of the movie Gosford Park, where there was like two and a half hours and about a million characters. You got a feel for all of them with just snippets of time.
Jacqueline: I SHALL RULE THE WORLD WITH MY BLASPHEMOUS KETCHUP-CHICKEN-NUGGET CONCOCTION BWAHAHHA…Or not. And, exactly! I’m confident it’s skill, because Downton Abbey had an ensemble cast out the ass and you didn’t need a lot of time to make connections to the characters as the episodes progressed. The pacing in The Village has ALWAYS been off for me too, and while it’s not been as bad in these later episodes, Ep 13 and 14 reminded me not much has been happening, despite a lot of reveals and two dead bodies. Apparently the writer of The Village is the same writer who wrote Que Sera Sera (WHICH I LOVE SO HARD YES MANY GOOD MUCH LIKE!) but this show is like watching a 16 hour-long car wreck.
Stephanie: You know what I think it is? I think they tried to put in too much, tried to be too clever. And it just came off as forced–or false. When I thought this show was smarter than I was? I think it’s more the writer is just willing to change characters at a moments notice to fit what he (or she) wants the story to be. That’s irritating and ultimately unsuccessful. On the podcast we were talking about dramas we would rewrite if we could (I think that may have been a question of yours J) and I think I’d have to add this as one of them. No, I still don’t know who the actual murderer is, but I’m not sure the writer came into the drama knowing either.
Jacqueline: Dude. The nail’s head just got punched in the face by your words, because that is EXACTLY it! I did ask that question, and this drama is DEFINITELY one I’d rewrite and I’d probably change, oh I don’t know…everything! This script has no clue where it’s going and barely can recall where it’s been. People switch sides or change motivations at a moment’s notice, and that’s not clever; it’s lazy. I’m fine with plot twists and unexpected character actions, if a drama can make me believe such was their game plan all along. This thing, though, has got no nuance or subtlet. Everything’s over the top and dry and dull and I want my 14 hours back dammit. Two more episodes…JUST two more…oh God.
Stephanie: I guess we’ll see how this all wraps up–and soon considering the show is already done. So what do you say, Jacqueline? Ready for round two tonight??
Jacqueline: Oh. Yeah. Totally. Just like I’m ready for a Pogo Stick up the ass-butt.
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