Show has a reasonably interesting central story to tell, but unfortunately, tries to stretch it out to fill a longer time slot than it really needs, which makes for a rather uneven, meandering and frustrating watch experience.
We do have a reasonably solid cast, among whom there are some very nice bright spots, but sadly, our cast isn’t quite able to rise above the limitations in the writing.
Promising in concept, but quite underwhelming in execution, in my opinion.
Short, breezy, and polished, Soundtrack #1 is a friends-to-lovers nugget of a drama that should scratch that drama itch nicely, particularly if you:
(a) like Park Hyung Sik &/or Han So Hee;
(b) enjoy friends-to-lovers stories; &/or
(c) just want something quick and easy as a drama snack.
Really quite satisfying, for a short little thing of just 4 episodes of 45 minutes each.
This is the zombie show that I didn’t know I needed, in my life.
Show is basically sharp, thought-provoking social commentary, dressed as a zombie drama, with a healthy dollop of (absolutely delightful!) contract marriage on the side. Not everything makes sense, but just roll with it, because Show’s social commentary feels like the main course, while all the other details that may not add up, feel incidental, almost.
Park Hyung Sik and Han Hyo Joo are absolutely wonderful in this, both individually and together, and just the two of them, make this watch more than worthwhile.
I highly recommend this, even if you’re not typically into zombie shows.
Bubblebathdaisies writes:
Dear kfangurl,
(This is a long intro, so skip it if you wish) Hello! I’ve been a silent reader of your blog for a really long time, since I was thirteen and I just made this account to comment!
I’m sixteen now, and I feel like I’ve grown up with your blog- you introduced me to dramas and k-pop, and I still read your older articles when I feel down, it’s like comfort food for me. So thank you for that!
The question I have is: What do you think of idol actors? I don’t know if it’s just me, but it feels like a lot more idols are starring in dramas nowadays, and they may not always be good at acting. The general consensus among some of my other drama-watching friends is that idol actors take away jobs from better-trained rookie actors, and some think it’s unfair that they get to use a drama as an acting class.
Personally, I think it’s a bit of a gray area, since there’s plenty of perfectly well-trained and decently popular actors who can’t reeeallly act that well, but also it kind of ruins the drama for me if the lead cannot act well (fourteen year old me wasn’t that bothered about acting skills so much as ~swoon~ factor and watched The Great Seducer on repeat, but I watched it last week and had to skip a big big chunk of the scenes because the acting was…not the greatest) What do you think?
(But I think we all know idols are going to keep getting casted anyways, lol. They’re far too popular to miss out on for profit-related purposes, and some of them are really really good!)
Annie writes:
Would be interesting to read your thoughts on idols turned actors/actresses.
If you’ve known me for a while, you’d probably know that I don’t generally do well with legal-themed dramas – even if they are very good.
Case in point: 2016’s The Good Wife, which I started watching, and which I found very good indeed – but which I also never got around to finishing.
So it definitely says something that I not only enjoyed Suits quite well, but I even – gasp! – finished it! And I’m not even that behind the live airing schedule either. Woah, right?
The great thing about running a drama blog, is that I make lots of drama friends (you guys! <3 ), and as my drama friends get to know me, they start pointing me in the direction of shows that they know will likely be up my ally.
Shout-out to big blog supporter and cheerleader sarahlantz, who sent me a link to this short film – thank you m’dear, you do know my taste in shows. 😉
This mini movie turned out to be so much more than a glorified Samsung CF, that I just had to tell you guys about it.
THE SHORT VERDICT:
This show’s upsides: a strong heroine; an appreciative, dreamy hero; an adorable OTP with unreal levels of Cute – and several very feel-good earwormy OST tracks.
This show’s downsides: uneven writing; random-feeling side characters; a disproportionately dark side; an extremely insensitive, crass idea of funny.
The upsides battle the downsides just about all the way through, so.. “Your mileage may vary” about sums it up. The 2 Parks are super-duper cute though.
Ordinarily, I’d be the first to agree with the age-old saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” – or, as the case may be, “Don’t judge a drama by its promos.”
After all, sometimes, the watch experience of a show really doesn’t jive with its promo material.
Some shows have uninteresting promo material but turn out to be excellent watches (I mean, just think about the old-fashioned, ugly poster that belongs to the fantastic Healer), while other shows have amazing promos but turn out to be duds in the watching (Joseon Gunman comes to mind, among many others).
In this instance, though, I really should’ve paid (much more) heed to this show’s low-rent bad wigs and cheesy posters.
On hindsight, I think they were trying to warn me that this show wouldn’t be worth spending hours of my life on, and – silly, foolish me – I didn’t listen.
Which is how I ended up wasting 13 hours of my life trying to make the best of this show, before I realized that Show’s best really, really wasn’t doing it for me.
Let’s put it this way. High Society is pretty much The Drama Who Cried Wolf. Except instead of Wolf, Show was crying stuff like, “I’m interesting! And dramatic! My leads have sparky chemistry! And! I bring hawt kisses!”
Insistently and repeatedly, Show sang its siren song. BUT. Consistently and repeatedly, episode after episode, despite managing to coast by on the faint promise of things to come, ultimately, Show failed to deliver.
Can someone point me to the Time Refund counter in dramaland, please? Coz I’d really like to have my 16 hours back.
THE SHORT VERDICT:
A time travel tale that is engaging, absorbing and tightly written.
It took me a couple of episodes to get completely sucked in, but when I did get sucked in, boy did I get sucked in good.
Serving up twists and turns that literally keep you on the edge of your seat (and perhaps your sense of sanity too), Nine is thought-provoking, intense and really rather addictive. The dramatic tension flags in a few spots, but overall, I’d say this is a solid, worthy watch.
If you like your dramas to keep you on your toes and keep you thinking, and keep you guessing too, this would definitely be up your alley.