Satisfied on a rewatch

To preface this, I knew going into this my expectations would be way too high. I'm a big fan of Choi Wooshik and have been waiting for this show to come out for like two years. I also spent coins to read the webtoon in its entirety when it was finally released in English.

I'll start off with I did enjoy this. And I enjoyed reading the webcomic too.

Edit: im currently rewatching this with someone who didnt read the webcomic and having a pretty good time. I think i judged this harsher than it needed to be. I guess im a hater? Its a pretty fun drama. I liked it the first time I watched it and im liking it even more the second time ^_^

WEBTOON AND ADAPTATION
The part about the story that is both interesting and frustrating is the way it tells itself. Our protagonist isn't really our protagonist. We don't know much about him (who he is as a person, yes we know he's a student and aimless but...) and we don't have a lot of opportunities to connect to him. It's more like the circumstances around him are what make him the protagonist. Instead, our cop ends up being the real protagonist, having a story arch that follows his relationship with his father. Yet... in some ways he feels like he falls short of that role as well. Writing characters in this way is unique and that in itself is interesting.

The show was an overall pretty faithful adaptation of the webcomic. There were some small details that felt important to me that weren't included. For example, I remember that when Lee Tang first encounters Song Chon, eventually Lee Tang tells Ro Bin that he had some sort of instinct that he had to stay away from Song Chon, like he was being hunted. I understand that was told visually in the adaptation, but I was waiting for that line so I was a bit disappointed. Also, the scene where the girl is being felt up in the train, Lee Tang, if I remember correctly, gets mad at the guy. What I though was interesting about how the scene was originally written had more to do with what it revealed about society and how it treated injustice. It was a small detail, but the way they framed the scene changed its impact on the narrative.

[update they rereleased the episodes of the webtoon and my question was answered so i deleted this section of the review]

Something I was hoping would be changed in the adaptation was the portrayal of Ro Bin and Lee Tang. In the webtoon, I remember wishing they were more dynamic characters. Like, if they could have had some more likeable traits to them, or could have been written in a way that made the ending more impactful feeling around these two characters. Ro Bin didn't really change much, but I did end up feeling satisfied. Lee Tang I kinda wanted to see more sides to him though. He's a character that anyone could have played, being super stoic and flat, which ended up feeling kind of disappointing. But he was like that in the webtoon and I can't blame the scriptwriter for preferring to be faithful than risking anything else.

THE ADAPTATION ALONE
I felt like peoples reactions to being murdered were handled in a weird way? I'm not sure if that was a casting problem or a director problem. This probably stands out most in the death of Nan Gam's father. The script literally describes the ways his fathers face changes, but we don't see that reflected on screen. I'm not sure why this was a consistent problem. I felt the reactions were lacking for him, Gyeong-a (Lee Tang's coworker, I might be misremembering her name), and also in the "murderous expression" from Song Chon when he first kills Nan Gam's father.

One thing that stood out to me though was the amount of respect that was visible on screen and in the script. The writing did its best to respect the original story. And the cinematography, parts of the soundtrack, and especially one fight scene stood out as respecting forefathers in the action genre. In particular, Old Boy stood out to me. Song Chon's scene fighting the gangsters, I think you would have to be blind to miss that longshot fight scene. The use of the oboe in the soundtrack... reminds me of something but I can't put my finger on it. An ode to something, but idk what. Someone help me out, what is this reminding me of?

But the soundtrack was somewhat hit or miss for me. I was surprised by that. Sometimes it felt really good (especially in the first half of the series) and then other times I was like, "Ah this sounds like a pretty typical soundtrack piece," which was weird to pair with a story like this... again its a very atypically written story so I expected the soundtrack to feel a little off-kilter overall. Not overly done obviously, as the writing is more like an unnerving pull away from the mainstream instead of something that's off-the-walls-crazy, but still... just something that feels "uncomfortably different from what you're used to" should have been the overall feeling of the soundtrack imho.

Whoever was the editor was having a lot of fun! I loved the way they played with sound, how the soundtrack would suddenly cut-off, how the introduction scene of Nan Gam made his chewing gum sound uncomfortably loud for the first few chews... yeah if anything their sound design and the way soundtracks were edited to build and break tension in a scene was good. Good job editor! Also loved the way they visually transitioned between shots. First episode is a great example of this.

I liked the fun zoom ins, I think it added some character to the camera. The character of the camera could have benefited from being visually messier throughtout the series. It does have its shaky camera, and at least one extreme close up but I wanted more. Thats probably more of a personal preference though. [Edited out some comments after a rewatch]

I LOVED however, the way they played with darkness and shadow. Sometimes it felt like it wasn't in good taste, especially when the cinematography was over-saturated as if in post-production they might have realized they made a mistake. (Watching on a different screen has different results for this though) HOWEVER... omg when Lee Tang is just outside the car, lurking in the shadows... in the warehouse when the lights go on and off... the sudden flash of the taser in the car... a few of those scenes really stood out as good use of lighting.

I thought the leads of the show did a pretty good job in acting. They were both bad at fake yawning haha, but the elements of their acting that were important to their characters were well done. I did feel a bit disappointed in Lee Tang as a character, because he is pretty flat. As I said before, he feels like someone anyone could play because he's so stoic like most Kdrama leads played by idol actors. Choi Wooshik is most interesting in characters that have a wider range of emotions because I find him expressive and charismatic. Still, I do think he played Lee Tang well. He did a good job of portraying the subtle changes in Lee Tang and immersing us in the crumbling life of this character. I was kind of hoping that when Nan Gang finally saw Lee Tang in the warehouse, that for a split second they would show Lee Tang in that convenience store uniform because it is SUCH a striking change in character. The way he has changed his aesthetic into that greasy hair, the weight in his expression, how he carries himself, that split-second emphasis through Nan Gang's perspective would have been interesting. It also allows us to feel a connection between the two characters who know each other. I could go on but this is already too long haha. Nan Gang's actor was also pretty good and I came to respect him for this role.

Beware: harsher than necessary point ahead: I may be wrong but it felt like there was a lot of trust in the team. Like maybe things weren't tested or things weren't critiqued that could have been. I respect a team that trusts itself, but I respect more a team that builds that trust through communicating. I first felt like the show lacked communication when I saw the poster. It felt like someone had to pull together shots into something instead of being able to get the team to work together to make a solid poster. There's a few minor details in the acting, that felt like the crew wasn't communicating when a scene was lacking in some way. Like there was a trust in the overall ability of the show and not enough interest in the details that made the show. This is more of a judgement on my end and obviously I wasn't on set so don't take this part of my critique to heart if you disagree.

FINAL THOUGHTS
So yeah I had a good time watching this. I think I'd like to rewatch this in a few years when I've forgotten some details of the show and webtoon.

I couldn't help but criticize the show just because I'd been waiting for it for so long, but I did enjoy it haha. I think I was afraid of it being terrible so I looked for all its faults. Now that ive done that its easier to actually enjoy it in my rewatch. Again, I like it the first time I watched it and Im liking it even more the second time. It really is creatively made and you can see all the hard work that went into it.

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