anopinion
Pittsburgh, PA
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The show is just absurd.
Let's start out by getting the terms of the contract straight. Dong-kyung has terminal cancer and 100 days left to live. She thoughtlessly wishes for the end of the world, after which Doom approached her to enter into a weird contract. The contract stipulates that she has to wish for the destruction of the world in return for a painless 100 days before her death. If she goes back on her end of the deal, her most loved one will die in her place. Oh, and he will also grant her an additional wish on the side, presumably a loophole for her to break out of this conundrum. What are the fine prints? How is this contract enforced? No one knows, perhaps we can just take it for granted. Wait a minute, if the world is doomed, how can she and her loved one survive? Well, good question. From any logical point of view, it seems like this is a dumb contract to enter. In fact, even the truck of doom there to grant her an instant death seemed like a more viable alternative. There is a "reason" for this though, see what happens next.
She figured that she can wriggle around the terms of the contract by finding someone else to love. She also has the perfect target: Doom. She doesn't really care that after she falls in love with that person, she most definitely will not want to wish doom upon him as well. I mean, drama characters have the right to be ultra short-sighted to push plot movement anyway, so we need to accept her rationale behind this for drama sake. She's also dying, and that desperation means that she can't think straight. We should really forgive her even though the decision makes no sense. And who would've guessed? This plays fantastically into Doom's plan because he's tired of being Doom anyway. Brilliant! Now, our leads have motivation to force themselves to fall in love with each other. The writer proceeds to cue all k-drama tropes. *roll eyes* What's the point of the contract did you ask? For them to fall in love of course!
They do so very quickly. That's natural, right? Even though it's forced, even though the relationship build up was skimmed over, it doesn't matter. This is just fan service after all. What now? Huh? Falling in love is not a good idea anymore? Okay. It's a good idea again? Okay. It's time to spend a few episodes deliberating to love or not to love. In the meantime, write some Chicken Soup for the Soul-esque lines and have the characters engaged in intentionally "profound" dialogues about the meaning of life and death, fortune and misfortune, yin and yang, North and South, positive and negative... you get it. It's important to emphasise to our viewers that this drama is not just a frivolous fantasy romance, it's a thought-provoking philosophical drama and we want to send the audience a message. A message that's been told a thousand times over and is nothing novel. *glance*
Follow me. One step forward, one step back, side to side, side to side. Okay, the story is finally done with the flip flop and faux dilemma. Our leads realised that their affection for each other is strong, despite the fact that they've only known each other for a very short time. They confess their love but gets hindered by a god-like being. We don't know what's the reason for that, but there must be a reason, and we'll discover it sooner or later. We do know one thing, that love, not 42, is the answer to life, the universe and everything. We can rest assured that our leads will romance more. Meanwhile, we should not doubt or be perplexed, because this lends to the mysterious vibes of the drama. This is why character motivations are vague. This is a fantasy drama after all, how can you expect answers at the start, even if they have everything to do with understanding why people do the things they do? Of course, the best epic dramas do world building, lay out rules and laws, and leave engaging puzzles. Basic creative writing 101. This drama is different, we're not gonna tell you what are gods, what do gods do and whatnot. This is a departure from normal dramas, this is different, this is how it should be.
Extraordinarily bad.
Satire aside, there are some huge problems with the drama.
1. The premise is weak. We all know that romance dramas need a reason to bring our leads together, but the reason here is too obvious, too lame and too unconvincing.
2. World building is non-existent. The first two episodes should lay down what are the basic laws of this fantasy world that the writer has created, but we got none of that. The writer is treating the laws of the universe as mysteries the viewers should uncover, which isn't good story telling. This means that the drama isn't grounded and viewers are left scratching their heads why people behave in a certain way. Also, because there is no ground work done, these mysteries are not enticing but frustrating.
3. The deliberately cryptic dialogues. Usually, when a drama wants to relay a message, it uses a sub plot to tell a story and let viewers come to the conclusion themselves. DAYS is very peculiar in that its story and scenes contribute very weakly to the sort of message the writer wants to tell. Instead, it tries to emphasise the messages indirectly with the dialogues instead, and then you're left thinking: "Oh, just this? Meh." It doesn't resonate with the audience. It reminds me of the short stories I wrote in middle school with really basic plots and an underlying theme that was executed awkwardly.
4. The story development is slow. In fact, I'm not sure what exactly is the story. If they want to talk about the romance, then our leads have fallen in love too quickly and what's left is separation and reunion on rinse and repeat. If they want to be philosophical, then the script just falls short entirely.
5. The detached side plot is jarring. At the present moment it doesn't contribute to anything (except the tug-o-war between the fans of the actors).
On a personal level, I find the drama extremely pretentious and trying to bite off more than it can chew. I rated it a 1 to balance out the actual ratings, but to judge the drama solely based on its quality it's a 5/10.
EDIT: Also, don't assume that I don't understand what's going on in the drama. I do, I just don't see how it's deep or meaningful in any way. I also understand Korean, so there is nothing lost in translation for me.
She figured that she can wriggle around the terms of the contract by finding someone else to love. She also has the perfect target: Doom. She doesn't really care that after she falls in love with that person, she most definitely will not want to wish doom upon him as well. I mean, drama characters have the right to be ultra short-sighted to push plot movement anyway, so we need to accept her rationale behind this for drama sake. She's also dying, and that desperation means that she can't think straight. We should really forgive her even though the decision makes no sense. And who would've guessed? This plays fantastically into Doom's plan because he's tired of being Doom anyway. Brilliant! Now, our leads have motivation to force themselves to fall in love with each other. The writer proceeds to cue all k-drama tropes. *roll eyes* What's the point of the contract did you ask? For them to fall in love of course!
They do so very quickly. That's natural, right? Even though it's forced, even though the relationship build up was skimmed over, it doesn't matter. This is just fan service after all. What now? Huh? Falling in love is not a good idea anymore? Okay. It's a good idea again? Okay. It's time to spend a few episodes deliberating to love or not to love. In the meantime, write some Chicken Soup for the Soul-esque lines and have the characters engaged in intentionally "profound" dialogues about the meaning of life and death, fortune and misfortune, yin and yang, North and South, positive and negative... you get it. It's important to emphasise to our viewers that this drama is not just a frivolous fantasy romance, it's a thought-provoking philosophical drama and we want to send the audience a message. A message that's been told a thousand times over and is nothing novel. *glance*
Follow me. One step forward, one step back, side to side, side to side. Okay, the story is finally done with the flip flop and faux dilemma. Our leads realised that their affection for each other is strong, despite the fact that they've only known each other for a very short time. They confess their love but gets hindered by a god-like being. We don't know what's the reason for that, but there must be a reason, and we'll discover it sooner or later. We do know one thing, that love, not 42, is the answer to life, the universe and everything. We can rest assured that our leads will romance more. Meanwhile, we should not doubt or be perplexed, because this lends to the mysterious vibes of the drama. This is why character motivations are vague. This is a fantasy drama after all, how can you expect answers at the start, even if they have everything to do with understanding why people do the things they do? Of course, the best epic dramas do world building, lay out rules and laws, and leave engaging puzzles. Basic creative writing 101. This drama is different, we're not gonna tell you what are gods, what do gods do and whatnot. This is a departure from normal dramas, this is different, this is how it should be.
Extraordinarily bad.
Satire aside, there are some huge problems with the drama.
1. The premise is weak. We all know that romance dramas need a reason to bring our leads together, but the reason here is too obvious, too lame and too unconvincing.
2. World building is non-existent. The first two episodes should lay down what are the basic laws of this fantasy world that the writer has created, but we got none of that. The writer is treating the laws of the universe as mysteries the viewers should uncover, which isn't good story telling. This means that the drama isn't grounded and viewers are left scratching their heads why people behave in a certain way. Also, because there is no ground work done, these mysteries are not enticing but frustrating.
3. The deliberately cryptic dialogues. Usually, when a drama wants to relay a message, it uses a sub plot to tell a story and let viewers come to the conclusion themselves. DAYS is very peculiar in that its story and scenes contribute very weakly to the sort of message the writer wants to tell. Instead, it tries to emphasise the messages indirectly with the dialogues instead, and then you're left thinking: "Oh, just this? Meh." It doesn't resonate with the audience. It reminds me of the short stories I wrote in middle school with really basic plots and an underlying theme that was executed awkwardly.
4. The story development is slow. In fact, I'm not sure what exactly is the story. If they want to talk about the romance, then our leads have fallen in love too quickly and what's left is separation and reunion on rinse and repeat. If they want to be philosophical, then the script just falls short entirely.
5. The detached side plot is jarring. At the present moment it doesn't contribute to anything (except the tug-o-war between the fans of the actors).
On a personal level, I find the drama extremely pretentious and trying to bite off more than it can chew. I rated it a 1 to balance out the actual ratings, but to judge the drama solely based on its quality it's a 5/10.
EDIT: Also, don't assume that I don't understand what's going on in the drama. I do, I just don't see how it's deep or meaningful in any way. I also understand Korean, so there is nothing lost in translation for me.
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