I think I am going to have to come to terms with the fact that I am now running out of quality Korean shows and movies to watch on Netflix. I suppose this was an eventuality because after running out of English-language shows and movies that were worth watching it is kind of predictable that the same would be true of a much smaller market like Korean features.
This latest foray into Korean drama was one that was made only because I had run out of things that really seemed interesting to me and it was kind of a "ok, I guess I'll watch that" type situation.
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At first the show seems as though it could be interesting and you'll have to forgive me for not knowing the names of the actors and actresses as well as their character names. I just have a difficult time remembering Korean names because they are so foreign to me and I think that should be acceptable because I am not Korean.
This story is mostly about an exceptionally wealthy Korean family who all, for some reason, live on the same massive housing estate. Their life of opulence is filled with problems that the rest of the world wouldn't really have an easy time relating to. Money is of no consequence to them and the level of luxury that they enjoy is unparalleled to the point where most of the people in the family don't seem to even appreciate the things that they have.
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They are constantly getting into petty squabbles with one another and normally, it is in regards to something that doesn't even matter. They will have these disputes over some insignificant garbage and lose their cool and of course some of the members of the family seriously mistreat their many servants. Having never been exposed to this level of wealth I kind of looked at the series with a sense of jealousy and honestly, it kind of made me feel bad about my own life even though I am relatively well off in the grand scheme of things.
It isn't really easy to determine after two hours of watching who actually is the main character in this series. It kind of seems as though the show is told from the perspective of at least 4 different characters although some of them are featured more prominently than others. There is also the perspective of 2 new staff members who were recently hired as a maid and also a tutor for the youngest child in the family. We are frequently show life on this estate through the eyes of someone that doesn't have the wealth, but is subjected to the often-times horrible attitudes of the masters of the family who treat them like lessor beings.
Normally I appreciate Korean acting but there are more than a few bad apples in this mix. There is a grandmother and lessor-involved auntie who even though I can't understand their native language, I can see that they are over-acting to the max. This explosive hysteria in their scenes doesn't add to the story and actually just kind of makes the whole thing difficult to watch.
There is also the introduction of what I'm guessing is what Koreans perhaps consider to be exceptionally attractive and man oh man, do I not identify with this at all.
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There is one character that is introduced in episode two that is known, at least by me, as "Young Master" and he is presented as being the epitome of good-looking. Maybe I'm just out of touch but I don't really know anyone that would consider this rather effeminate look to be handsome. Maybe it is just the K-Pop influence but I find almost all of this guy's scenes to be laughably bad because he appears to have more makeup on than any of the women he is in scenes with. Of course there is always the very real chance that in my age I don't know what young people consider to be attractive and am totally wrong. I just don't see it.
The shooting and direction is done very well and the location shots inspire the sort of jealousy that I described earlier.
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The main house that the family lives in is actually a museum somewhere in Korea and that makes sense to me now because I thought that the architecture was quite bland for a residence. I guess they needed some water features and a "house" that they could film at for months at at time.
After 2 out of 16 episodes I can say with some level of certainty that there is very little chance that I am going to watch all of this. Thus far it seems like a very expensive daytime soap opera with constantly changing "beefs" that one family member has with another one and these are constantly changing even after just a few viewings. It has become clear to me that the number of episodes necessary was likely determined beforehand and then the writers had to come in and figure out a way to actually fill those episodes. This is to say that an awful lot of the each episode is what I constantly refer to as "filler" and doesn't progress the storyline. Basically all episodes could easily be 15 minutes long or the series could be just a few episodes long. I'll likely give it a few more episodes before I walk away from it.
Should I watch it?
As much as I absolutely love Korean thrillers and even crime drama shows, this one falls flat in a lot of ways and I will admit that much of this has to do with my personal preferences for shows. For someone out that that actually appreciates a Dynasty or Young and the Restless type shows, this might be a winner. I say this just because of the high production value and the fact that some of the actors are quite good. I do believe that for most people that this is going to be far too outrageous and long to stay interesting for the full 16 hours. I don't think I will stick around unless something really amazing happens in the next episode or two.
It's still better than almost all of the English-language series that are currently available on Netflix though.
honestly, if there was a step below maybe on the scale of I have developed I would have use that. I believe that most people will lose interest in this show quite rapidly