A Masterpiece(some quotes from show included as spoilers)

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tl;dr:- Absolute masterpiece, I will not be able to forget this in my life.


The last time I spent these many words on a series review was 4-5 years ago when I was still doing my masters in IIT Bombay, or maybe in my first year of Ph.D. I always put it to lack of time, but now I realize you make time to pen your thoughts down if something really moves you. It is your own way of trying to hold on to the moments in the show, and your own way of letting go and moving on.

Let me begin by stating I put this show in the pantheons of animated shows like Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood and Steins; gate in the emotional roller coaster and healing it provided me. But unlike those two shows I cannot guarantee the same feelings would be felt by most people. Literally all the people around me and my wife who have already watched this show had either dropped it midway or felt it was "okay". But it is precisely due to this reason anecdotal evidence is not considered a good evidence in a debate, because statistically in forums like IMDb and this one the show is an extremely popular and highly rated one. It also has received a lot of awards in Korea. So all I can do in this review is prepare you for what to expect and leave the rest to the reader.

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This line from a youtube comment on one of the show's songs, sums up what I believe about the show.

The story is of how three people, two brothers, one autistic and one who has cared for him since childhood and a girl whose troubled childhood makes her not know what warmth of a family is. She has anti-social personality disorder and writes twisted fairy tales, which are best sellers, but they are actually calls for help and her way of communicating with the world to tell it not to do the things to the kids which were done with her. They have an ill-fated connection from the past and the story is about how they find their own ways to heal and free themselves from their shackles.

This drama has run into some criticisms from various politically correct sections of the society, because the actions of the girl, who in the initial episodes, are questionable. But the thing is in real life you are never politically correct all of the time, you have done questionable things that you regret after you grow and realize what you have done is wrong. This story is about that. A story where everybody does the right thing all the time is a story not of humans but robots, and frankly extremely boring. The story revolved entirely around how the characters come to these realizations about their flaws and become the best versions of themselves. Such character driven story lines are in general slow-burn, and if this was like that, it would have still been a very good series and not a masterpiece.

A good series gives you a few moments to remember across it's entire run, a great series might give you one every episode. Mind you a moment need not be a climax, it can be as mundane as seeing the montage of a camping trip , but it is something that you want to watch over and over again. A masterpiece will have many many such moments, such that you want to watch it over and over again while you wish to forget it completely so that you can start watching it in an empty mind. This one in it's later episodes(from episode 10 almost) has so many such moments that we sometimes marveled at how on earth one can write in such a manner.

Which brings me to the background score and cinematography. The score has 14-15 songs , and each of which packs a power in it's own right, I remember almost all of the songs because of the "moments" they were fit to, some of them even went on to win awards in Korea and deservedly so, Among all the K Dramas I have watched not a single one comes even close to this in it's OSTs. And starting from the close up shots of the faces to the wide angle eagle eye shots the cinematography is beautiful. The transitions, the surrealism to fairy tale world and I can just go on, I thought Run On was beautifully shot, but this just takes one step further, it is a movie quality production.

And now the acting, Park Min Young was my favourite Korean actress till date, but Seo Ye Ji is another level altogether, as such Korean actors have an insanely high level of acting chops but she takes it to a different level. And the scariest part is she is not even the best actor in the show!!. Oh Jung Se who played the autistic brother was out of this world, in fact having seen him in another drama before I could scarcely believe it was him. The male lead Kim Soo Hyun was good too but these two were unreal, and that's why they heavily featured in the awards in Korea as well.

The supporting cast was equally great and the writers gave everyone time to shine and complete their story. It was a comprehensive ending hinting at new beginnings for everybody. Each character served a purpose and not just comic relief, I have seen people talk about how the story is weak etc, but such intertwined character driven stories are incredibly difficult to handle and here the writers handled it will elegance.

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This brings me to the treatment of autism and mental health aspect . It may not be perfect , but in my limited experience of seeing 2 patients closely , one in the autism spectrum and the other having depression I can vouch the portrayal was so real it gave me goosebumps. The innocent simplicity of the autistic brother was endearing and without giving away much I can say he was the MVP of the show. Quotes like the last one from him hit way too close to home, reminding me of how we complicate things when we become adults and forget how simply we can lead our life.

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Now to talk about a premise which I have found rarely in the shows I have watched about mental health, everybody deals with what happens with the person who has mental health, but no one ever thinks about the trials the caregiver has to go through to support the ill person. The person feels trapped and unless someone is there for them as well, possibly can become a victim of mental health. Having seen the caregiver's lives in first person as well, the way the show tackles this struck a chord with me and probably was my favourite aspect. It treated it with such gentleness and care that I cannot imagine it being treated better in any form of media.

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And finally, its about the healing. Healing starts with taking the first step. While what the show shows may not be perfect but it's okay to get lost in the 18 hours of utopia where there was hope beyond the despair. When this show was ending my wife and I were saying how we should have watched this when we were physically together to wrap ourselves together in the warm blanket that is this show. After the end we could not wipe the smile off our phases while feeling sad about it having ended.

Well, now this love letter to the show is getting over too, maybe it is time to move on and find other such gems in K Drama world. Even half as good would do.

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