The Village Chat: Part 15&16 Final Thoughts

Ding Dong-The Witch Is Dead! Which Old Witch? The Village Witch! Yep, Jacqueline and I, for better or worse, just finished the last two episodes of The Village. And to be completely honest, this discussion is going to be a little bit harder because it will have to encompass, not only the last two episodes, but also the drama as a whole. Either way, I’m sure we’ve got lots of crap (or crappiness? Possibly?) to talk about.

Stephanie: So Jacqueline, how do you feel about this drama?

Jacqueline: No. Just no. That’s how I feel about this drama. Why? Because fuck this village in particular. Where’s my pitchfork? I want my 16 hours back, so somebody call somebody and go make that happen. DAMMIT WHY IS CRAZY MOM AND WALNUT GUY THE CULPRITS I AM SO MAD NO JUST SO MUCH NO I CAN’T SCREAM MY NO ANY LOUDER.

Stephanie: Wellllll….that’s the thing, Crazy Mom is the culprit, but technically? She never did actualllly murder her. When she was chocking Dead Sister it was some sort of flash back or PTSD to what had happened to her in the same room. And essentially, her going in there to get Dead Sister out of the lumber yard, was her trying to protect this girl (whether she internally accepted she was her daughter or not) from the same fate. So was she the bad guy in that instance? No. So I think the writer set us up to have it be exactly who we thought it was, and yet not at the same time.

Jacqueline: No, no, see, I’d be LESS mad over the fact that psycho mama went killer-face just because she’s got a murder itch to scratch and secrets to hide. THIS writer instead plays the, “Okay so she’s kind of a killer but not really but oh it’s all okay because she’s crazy and so feel sorry for her, ‘kay?” I mean, yes, I buy that she’s stocked up on Looney Tunes in the cranium, but I do NOT buy this whole, “Oh, see I’m okay with my daughter dying since I first refused her to offer her a kidney, but I’m totally not okay with my daughter potentially being raped” shtick thrown our way in the final. You pair that with how supposedly important Rainy Wednesday Walnut-Murderer was (despite the fact that his murder spree and motives and victim-choosing would have been FAR more interesting of a sleepy-town murder mystery than old Makjang Crazy Sauce Family) and I’m still a grump ass.

Stephanie: But at what point do we buy what the drama was trying to feed us, that she didn’t actually realize she was her daughter? And oh, wasn’t that handy? No, anyone reading this knows me and my extreme dislike for 11th hour of redeeming characters. (UGH, later let’s talk about the Polititian!) She was crazy throughout this drama, and I don’t want to give her a lot of credit, but I did like how the actual murder was shown to us in stages. Yes, she’s manipulative, pretty evil, a TERRIBLE parent, a horrible user, and general all around narcisit, but she’s not a murderer. (And I will not give the writer any credit at alllll for them trying to redeem her as a mother with the daughter she forced into a mental hospital.)

Jacqueline: See, that’s my biggest complaint in my litany of bitching; I never bought this drama’s menu. Half the time the developments or twists came out half-assed or completely arbitrary. Your words, BLESS ‘EM. On the one hand, yay for the writer not going full-on committal to the “Crazy Mom Is The Murderer” (though I still would have found that more compelling.) I suppose there’s something to be said for her playing a role in what went down (since she WAS the central character in this shindig)…but on the other hand? I juuuuust. Don’t Care. This chick was just a bunch of crazy-sauce and ass-holery. She wasn’t complex. She didn’t have personality or nuance. She was practically one dimensional, and sure she had more angles to her than the heroine did, but she wasn’t compelling. At the end of the day, I didn’t give a shit. That’s my big issue with this show, I felt a bigger emotional reaction when our police guys were being awarded than I did over ANYTHING else in the finale.

Stephanie: Well, here’s the thing, I think they gave her layers–but by that time it was too late, you’re right, by then I just didn’t care or in the immortal words of 2ne1, I don’t ca-a-a-a-a-are! I think they spent so much time building, so much time trying to make it so you couldn’t guess who did what, when, and to whom, that character development suffered. The heroine was a bit of cardboard, who got slightly better as she went along, but I really have no feel for her. And then Walnut Guy? Come on. I wish these interesting bits could have been developed more.

Jacqueline: EXACTLY! They gave the ONE guy in the drama that conveyed emotion, depth, and character the “Yep, he’s the murderer” deal. And dear GOD it was so last minute. I don’t know if that irritates me most, or how nothing the heroine was. I can’t quite say this is necessarily the actress’ fault, since I fangirled hard over a different role of hers in a video review on my channel…BUT! When I compare the two roles (despite knowing she was much younger in the film I reviewed than this drama) I still see a lot of that wide-eye deer-in-the-headlights acting style in both stories. Character development sucked, absolutely, but you know what sucks more? NOT EXPLAINING YOUR SHIZNIT! Politician supposedly got murdered by Crazy Artist’s husband but then big nope, turns out he faked his death…WHAT and WHY?! And what’s more, the hell was up with dead-guy-in-the-meat-processing-plant-relating-to-gun-register-shoe-guy? My brain. It hurts.

Stephanie: Okay, I think I worked the Politician thing out–although I will agree–it is extremely stupid. It was how they redeemed him!  He gets punished for being a douche because, due to is wife’s craziness, he will no longer have a career. His redemption is the fact that, while he may be an asshole, he is not actually a murderer. This is the ONLY reason this plot point is here. Look, if you can lift something out of the script and it still makes perfect sense? Then take it the fudge out. There was no reason for that character to be there at all, and his last minute ‘death’ only to be a fake? Dumb. And I don’t know about the shoe guy. At first I thought it meant that that guy in the meat packing plant wasn’t actually dead, but I”m pretty sure that’s not right. It’s just dumb. All of it. Dumb.

Jacqueline: Yeah, I think you’re right, that dead-politician-not-being-dead was a way to wave the character redeeming wand at the asshole husband, but oh my GOD what a giant waste of time. Thank God I’m not the only one confused about Shoe-Guy because my brain is mush on any given day, but after sitting through this butt-spike of a drama my logic-ing power has evaporated. The plot was shittastically paced, almost all the characters were cardboard, the plot was boring, the genre hopping was insane, the character development was nonexistent, the writing was weak, EVERYTHING WAS TERRIBLE AND I’M NOT HAPPY! When I reflect, yes, there were good pieces in this thing here and there, but holistically the whole drama was just no. No. So much no I won’t. I can’t. I SHAN’T!

Stephanie: You know what was really sucky? How the actual rapist will not actually pay for his crimes. Yes, life is about to get really sucky for him, but that will be the only price he has to pay. He caused a lot of damage and generally ruined generations of women and yet nothing. Politician doesn’t have to pay (for me) horribly for his crimes but really, he’s just a general douche/politician, he didn’t actually murder and/or rape anyone. I know it’s realistic, that this happens, but I like my dramas to be wrapped in a prettier bow in the end.

Jacqueline: That’s EXACTLY it! This rapey McRaperson was such a huge part of the plot and the reason so many of these peeps were sniffing the Crazy Glue YET he walks away with nothing more than his wife being thrown in jail. It’s just all so ugh. Adding to the fact that the drama literally closes on our heroine being like, “Yep, peace out bitches, I’m going back to Canada” with a very much “That’s all folks” vibe in the voice over outro, and I just felt SO unsatisfied with that ending. I want to say the finale sucked because the drama sucked, but that feels like a lazy answer.

Stephanie: Yeah, with the exception of finding who done what, we don’t know where anyone stands. Is the Pharmacist going to leave? What is going to happen to the school? Are the brother and sister going to be sent off to live in America? What the fudge was up with the Politician and why did he help that guy fake his own death? Is anyone really going to buy that he just disappeared? Wait. We did get closure with the Policeman, which, I guess since he is one of the few characters we actually cared about, I’m okay with.

Jacqueline: Well now I’m double-mad because it didn’t even dawn on me that we’re still left in the dark about TOO MANY DAMN THINGS! I said in earlier chats that I feared this drama was going to leave us with unanswered questions, and I wasn’t wrong. The writer/s were great at creating conflicts, but not so good at resolving them. I’m like you, though, that at least the one character I actively had feels for got a resolution, so that makes me happy. But over all? This whole drama was a colossal waste of my time!

Stephanie: Yeah, I think what I’m left with is a waste of possibility. It had some great characters, some great ideas, but the execution was just left wanting. Which is actually kind of weird. This is one of the few dramas out there that was completely written before the drama aired—so the writer does not even have the live shoot, viewer feedback excuse to fall back on.

Jacqueline: WAIT WAIT WAIT STOP THE ASSEMBLY LINE! Are you telling me that this thing was legit done-did-finito written BEFORE filming? Oh that’s just insulting. I could shit out a better script than this when I was 5, for pete’s sake. I’ve always been of the firm opinion that the worst dramas don’t infuriate, they bore, and this ass-crap was the definition of sleep-inducing. The plot went no where, the characters were paperchain weak, the acting was mostly mind-numbing, the story was unimpressive, the climax was uninteresting, EVERYTHING WAS AWFUL AND DULL.

Stephanie: GAH. I am not sure if I agree. Walnut Guy’s acting? I may not like where the story took him, but he was creepy and yet vulnerable at the same time. It was an interesting tight rope—and the crazy Artist? She was a force of crazy and manipulation that was interesting to see from week to week. I don’t know, I guess it just comes back around to I wish it had been better executed. I remember having more points I wanted to discuss (this is a few days after we started this chat) but now most of it is a haze of ‘eh’, which I guess is enough of a tell as to the quality of the drama. Is it the worst thing I’ve seen? Nope. Was it good? Nope. It’s forgettable. Which is probably the worst thing you can say about a drama.

Jacqueline: LOL Note I said “mostly.” Police Beta Puppy was likeable but his acting wasn’t all that impressive, but Crazy Artist Lady? Walnut Guy? THEY deserved all the awards! But, c’mon, how many were cast in this drama? HOW many characters were there? (MyDramaList says a total of twenty) and of 20 only 2 do anything with what they’re given? That’s a no-go in my book. But honestly, I can’t fault the actors TOO heavily. Then there’s the editing and the directing. There was nothing memorable to either, and in some cases they were flatout brain-pain inducing. Camerawork trying to force suspense when there wasn’t any, boring cuts of a scene that did little to nothing. At the end of the day, I agree; being forgettable and boring are two of the biggest sins a drama can commit.

Stephanie: WAAIT! I remember! What I wanted to say. 1) ew with the broken nail. 2) I find that whole line of information creepy, and a super easy cop out to finding the killer 3) after that one scene we NEVER see the ghost again? She’s all up in that shizzel and then nothing??? Who knew I’d need closure for a ghost? and 4) This has got to be the one drama where we were actually rooting for the heroine to die at the end! Remember that, J? We thought, storywise, it would make the most sense.

Jacqueline: I am the biggest cry-baby on planet Earth who hates drama-deaths to an almost phobic-like level, and I WAS LEGIT WANTING HER DEAD! She had absolutely zero personality, to the point that her potential death had no emotional impact on me, so I was all, “Someone shank this glitch in the face.” And logically, it WOULD have made the most sense. My mind’s eye saw the big pie-in-the-sky white light illuminating those girls as the two sisters held hands, reunited in death. Drama you know you done fudged it up when you got the emotional cry-child praying for a dead heroine.

Stephanie: It would have made sense, wouldn’t it? They could have been together again, no longer alone. Plus, it would have made more sense, timing wise, as to why they solved the sister-murder (which was really the driving force in this drama) first over the serial killer one (which I never really cared for). They find out who killed sister, Walnut Guy kidnaps heroine (again) is finally successful in killing her or “making her happy” and then she walks off hand in hand with dead sister. Now that would have been an ending I could get behind.

Jacqueline: But see, in order for that to have happened the writer would have had to, oh I don’t know…BE SMART! I know, my mudslinging is bad. I’m a rude asshole. Sue me. I will never get over the fact that this was the same writer behind Que Sera Sera! The two dramas are like night and day in the quality control department.

Stephanie: That Jacqueline—such an asshole! 😉 No, the writer eh, I want to say is smart, but they are better at set up then plot? It kind of reminds me of Steven King. (Although this might get me murdered) I love the way he creates a world, builds characters and how they relate to others, he just loses me on the execution of the plot—and this is exactly what happens here.

Jacqueline: I’m the asshole, you’re the dead asshole, LOL. No, I definitely see that comparison, which is exactly what this drama was; all set up, no pay off. With all that said, I’m officially out of brain-thoughts for this show. You got any other opinions you wanna share with the class?

Stephanie: Nah, I’m out yo! uhhh….thanks for listening everyone? We hope you liked our chat and we’re thinking about coming back for another round, we’ll keep you updated! Also, if you finished the Village, let us know what you thought.

Jacqueline: What she said! Now excuse me, I have a script I gotta go write for a rant video about this POS. Blood pressure pills, here I come baby.

 

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