Desperto (2020)

Worst drama this year?

ml is like an ex macchina and the only powerful person there , FLs are portrayed as useless af. FL aka seolhyun can't act to save her life, it's actually very unbearable, Jamie aaaah what a waste of Lee chang ah but yeah her character is so badly written that even she can't save it. Definitely would have liked to swap her with 1st fl. For me it's the worst drama or at least in my top 10 but I see some might enjoy it with its flo
aws you just have to skip so much. So really you decide. The best thing about it is that it has come to end. If you are looking for a good solid drama don't waste your time here. Go look somewhere else!

Leia Mais

un grand potentiel, mais visiblement pas pour moi...

Mes dramas préférés sont policiers. J'aime énormément les thrillers et les courses poursuites. En commençant la série, c'est ce que son premier épisode m'avait promis.

Effectivement, j'ai pu avoir mon jeu du chat et de la souris entre les méchants et les gentils, mais je n'ai malheureusement pas été captivée par le drama.

L'histoire est relativement bien écrite et amenée, mais je bloque. Je n'arrive pas à mettre le doigt sur le détail qui a fait que j'ai presque trouvé ça barbant. Je n'étais pas dedans et j'ai plusieurs fois voulu décrocher.

Ce cas de figure ne s'applique visiblement pas à la majorité, et j'en suis rassurée. C'est quelque part frustrant de connaître le potentiel d'une série mais de ne pas y être pleinement investie.

Au-delà de tout ça, je salue la performance de M. Min. Je pense réellement que ce genre de rôle lui sied à merveille (drôle prisonnier).

Leia Mais

Good but lacks some elements that would have made it great

8/10 is my rating. This is a 2020;2021 mystery, action thriller with 16, 70 minute episodes.

First I provide a unique synopsis then review.

Synopsis

28 years ago an odd series of murders happened in a village that were labeled the “white night” incident. They never fully unravelled why people were committing murder in a gleeful melee. It is happening again and Do Jung-woo (Namkoong Min) who leads a special task force of homicide detectives, is determined to unravel the mysterious events unfolding currently and determine how they tie to the past occurrences. Jung woo is brilliant but unconventional and yet has the admiration of those around him for his ability to discern the nearly indiscernible. At times he knows things that FBI profiler, Jamie Leighton (Lee Chung ah) grows to suspect could only be known by the killer. Jamie was born in South Korea but adopted into an American family and only recently returned to South Korea. She is hired to help the special team in investigating and profiling these unusual cases. Not all is as it seems and as the two very different detectives work together they remember a shared connection they had as children.

Review

This is a good addition to this trope and if you are looking for something that focuses more on crime, mystery and action than romance this is it. It is fast paced and kept me interested the whole way through. I would recommend this to someone that likes crime shows with a supernatural component. It ends well and happy.

Spoilers

The start of the series is very complex with a lot happening so that if you can’t focus completely on it you are likely to miss things. It would lose me sometimes just because I am not one that likes to have to focus that intently for such a long period. For some that complexity would be part of the charm.

The former FBI team member from the United States was not entirely credible. She spoke English well but with such a heavy accent it was hard to believe she spent such a significant amount of time in the United States. It may not have been as big of deal but they emphasized her “Americanness” enough that it highlighted t and not in a good way. I think the script would have been fine if they made it so she went to the US but didn’t make it like she was essentially American.

I was a little irritated that Jamie, and other team members, would not let go of their suspicion that Jung Woo was the culprit when virtually every fact pointed away from him. They were like “yeah he wasn’t there but he probably did it remotely.” Based on what? How did they come to believe so strongly that the lucid dreaming could be influenced remotely?

I get that South Korean ‘s are very filial but totally looking away from a parent that commits the murder of hundreds of innocents? I don’t think even a child that lived in a culture where respect of elders is key could forgive and accept that. And they kept saying/implying if you show remorse then things can just be forgiven. No they can’t. Having seen over 300 Asian series at this point I have seen several where the parent has done something so egregious the children write them off. If committing mass murder isn’t one of them I don’t know what is.

They set a bomb or series of bombs to go off at the secret research facility with a timer set for five minutes. Why? They knew their people and others were in there and should have suspected something could go wrong where they couldn’t get out in that timeframe. There was no program kill switch? These people were brilliant and yet they can’t figure out how to abort the bomb detonation? I found that to be not bey believable as the super geniuses from the program should have been smart enough to undo that trigger and/or to foresee that things could go wrong.

So the super genius level scientists can’t figure out that there is no plan to use their work for the betterment of humanity but rather for a few very elite people? If they had just portrayed that they were really super evil and didn’t care at all that would have been one thing but they made it out like they really thought their work would do good. So they tried to make them more sympathetic characters than I felt they deserved.

It did end well and mostly happy but I really wanted to see the young woman detective and our main guy get together. It was so obvious they had feelings for each other but they danced around that possibility with the plot. And, at the end, she sees him and goes chasing after but he is gone. Like smoke. So it is obvious it is being left open for another season. I don’t like that. Make another season or don’t. Holding your viewers hostage or making them decide how things went after, I don’t like that. I don’t think it was enough to say don’t watch it, but I definitely find the more nebulous endings annoying. I don’t want to tel the story myself, I want you to tell it to me screen writers.

#Awaken

#LeeChungAh

#NoomkoongMin

Leia Mais

Ups and downs in an overall decent drama

This drama goes through essentially 3 different stages so it's hard to talk about it as a whole. The first part is the classic murder mystery with a serial killer who seems to be able to do the impossible. It's pretty interesting and I liked how the story was evolving case by case. After about a third of the drama, the story changes and it becomes very fractured. Essentially it's like the table was flipped and now the pieces are all scattered. Characters get moved around and the status quo is broken in order to have some of the characters discover things on their own. Eventually they come all together for the last third of the story in a somewhat solid resolution. The last episode has some issues that trip it up and logically there were different ways for the story to unfold in the finale. Overall I would say that the first half is pretty interesting, second half also has some good plot reveals and twists, and the third half barely is able to make it all wrap up. My biggest critique is that there weren't palpable stakes. The actions of any of the villains were always against a third party or another villain. Very rarely were they actually acting against the main characters and there were very few moments where I felt there was real danger.

Another thing was that I just finished Kill It which had some very similar themes to this drama. That was a mistake in my opinion as I started getting details from both dramas mixed up.

Surprisingly I would say this is one of Nam Goong Min's weaker acting performances. There were moments where he shine or was given room to actually perform. But the moments where he was acting smarter than everyone else started to get boring for me. Seolhyun wasn't amazing but she gave a decent performance. Nothing to noteworthy besides Lee Chung Ha as I thought she has some really unique character traits in the first half of the drama. It got kinda lost as the story started centering mainly around Nam Goong Min's character.

Overall, solid watch and a good drama. Things could have been different or better in my opinion. If you want something that has a little bit more of a punch to it, dramas like Stranger are far superior in mystery and stakes.

Leia Mais

I liked it but it could have been better, Do Jung Woon is a one man army basically

There might be a mild spoiler but I'm not sure. Let me say first that I did enjoy it to a certain extend and that this show had a lot of my favourite genres. I just think it could have more you know? or maybe I have to stop comparing it to many of the other crime/thriller/mystery shows I watched.

Story: The story, for the most part, was quite compelling. I loved the premise and the mystery of the villaige kept me waiting on my toes. It was also one of the main reasons why I kept wathcing it, I just wanted to know what happened in the village. I found myself skipping quite a few parts, especially in the middle (after episode 6) because they felt so draggy. The way they revealed parts was both iteresting and a bit cheap because at one point you just know Do Jung woon probably already knew about it but didn't say anything. I am a bit sad knowing that I was in no rush to watch the next episode, which I had with the show mouse or beyond evil. I just knew I was gonna skip quite a bit, especially when Do Jung Woon wasn't on the screen because he was easily the most interesting and exciting character here.

Acting/Cast/Characters: Namkoong Min you damn genius. I love this mans acting and he was, once again, brilliant in the role of Do Jung Woon even though I am not the biggest fan of the beard he had. He is indeed a very good actor, who understands how the character should be played. He stole my attention everytime he was on screen and I looked forward to see his scenes. Do Jung Woon was the main attraction of the show and one of the reasons why I kept watching it in the first place. The problem is he could have done all of the detective work etc himself, and he basically did. The side characters didn't matter much and didn't do a lot since he is a genius who knows it all. This man is basically a one man army, he knew everything and could do everything. the others looked near useless next and/or without him.

I did not like Gong Hye Won at ALL, especially after episode 7 or so. She was miscasted in my opinion and like the others except maybe Jamie, not really needed at all. She is only there fro basically her dad. I skipped the majority of her "solo" scenes and her scenes with Do Jung Woon because she didn't interest me at all. The story would've still been quite comprehensive without her in there and only changing the story a little bit to get to the dad. It doesn't help that I don't like her acting here that much either, tho she is not a bad actress I just don't think she fits here that much.

Jamie was very interesting for like the first 6-8 Episodes, after that she became a bit of a side character and a plot used to get to Do Jung Woon and it makes me mad. She was a good character that had my interest and I really liked Lee Chung Ah's acting. I hate how they handled her character in the secong half of the show. It was a bit of a waste of her talent as an actor I think.

I am now a fan of Yoon Sun Woo, great acting, he played his character very well and I didn't really expect the twist. I wish to see more of him in roles like this in the future.

Special mention: the old man and his dealer companion were my favourites.

The villains were, well, you're typical "rich and powerful" kdrama villains, nothing too outstanding. They did their role and that was it, tho I rlly did dislike the goddamn scientist and Hye Wons father. Trash people.

Music: I don't remember much but I did like the OST at the end and there was nothing in musical terms disrupting the flow and mood of the show.

Rewatch Value: The rewatch value isn't rlly high for this show in my eyes, I skipped to many uninteresting scenes for this too, to wanting to rewatch it. Additionally, I don't rewatch shows or movies much, especially crime/mystery shows like this because well I already know the outcome etc so I think it's a bit boring. There are very few shows or movies I would and did rewatch like The Merciless.

Leia Mais

Mediocre, Had Some Fun Moments

Lee Shin Young and Woo Hyun's characters took the cake for me: Jang Ji Wan was the ditzy but well-intentioned crybaby sidekick that I find really endearing when juxtaposed with competent female colleagues. I'll admit it helped that he's horribly cute. Meanwhile, Jung Soon Gu was such a silly, over-acted character and I couldn't help but giggle at his facial expressions. The plot was somewhat novel to me, with the whole White Night Village experimentation and lucid dreaming thing.

Besides that, I found a lot of the drama fell flat. The acting from main guy, third child, and American girl were pretty rocky, though a lot of that could be due to bad directing. I didn't find Seolhyun's acting too bad, but that might be my affinity for her in AOA speaking. The characters weren't that interesting nor had much depth, including the villains. Do Jeong Woo was such a cocky, annoying character that I never really cared about him. I felt like the story got convoluted and uninteresting after around the middle. Ending was jarringly unsatisfying, though maybe that was amplified by how they did not leave time for you to take in the emotions of the quiet last scene before blasting full volume right into that cheesy outro song and stills from the show.

Leia Mais

For lovers of genre

I watched "Awaken" based on VIKI's introduction, expecting a crime thriller maybe in the style of "Flower of Evil" or "The Devil", two series I really adored
At the beginning, I followed with good expectations, thanks to a rather impressive incipit and with intriguing subsequent suggestions, even though the typifications of the main characters were not particularly original (the usual typecasting of the variegated team at work always reminds me of certain Japanese robot cartoons of childhood with the leader, the beauty, the clumsy and the nerd, those things, in short...).

However, as the episodes went on, I began to have more than one doubt about the direction of the series with a growing sense of annoyance, a red alert for a scenario completely different from the initial perspective; getting to the point, the expansion to Sci-Fi and things of this nature I had not really planned for and at that point the interest really dropped exponentially...
I mean, it's not that the story is particularly boring, it's reasonably elaborate and repeatedly tries to revive the attention with impactful cliffhangers, but the problem is that 'Awaken' really does come at a very late stage and smashes open doors from so many previous ones...

With everything we ‘ve had, from 'The X-Files' to 'Stranger Things', via 'Dark Angel' and their many epigones with 'special kids', it's a moment's notice to find yourself in such trite situations that you're able to understand much of the unfolding almost immediately.

The usual secret labs, the usual child-guinea-pigs, the usual mad doctors, between Dr. Frankenstein and the many crazed demiurges in a delirium of omnipotence, perhaps even parents of the aforementioned lab subjects
In overall terms, for fans of the same genre, it is certainly something that can intrigue and involve, but at the same time, for the aficionado with a little knowledge of the material, it is impossible not to notice the incredible accumulation of references, clichés and tired stereotypes that make the nose twitch, as well as the usual holes in the logic that often screw up the elaboration and development of many situations...

And it's a pity, because in my opinion the moral dimension of the story should have been highlighted more, thanks to the excellent performance of the main character Namkoong Min, capable of casting for several episodes the classic shadow of doubt on his true nature; it's also a shame for the little in-depth analysis between our super-child and the really disturbing mad scientist-mother, limited to the last episodes; the same goes for the police-daughter/father-scientist relationship, with an always excellent Kim Chang Wan in a role that would have deserved a better deepening, but then the police daughter (who we are told is also of great merit) really knows practically nothing about her father's work, for all those years! ?

The lead character in the guise of a wanted possible multiple homicide who calmly drives around the city, in defiance of roadblocks, checkpoints, camera recordings or phone interceptions (as seen in so many dramas or movies) is inexcusable, as is the Terminator-turn with the relative moving of trucks with his hands (but why?), with sudden and opportune super-powers...

A comic anthology is the three days wasted by Jamie (by the way, she, Lee Chung Ah, really beautiful -nda) and the nosey reporter waiting for the rain to cease so they can go by boat to the island-laboratory, and then the two 'super-boys' who come and go in a flash, at night, and how do they do it, maybe flying!?

It gets to the end rather tiredly due to the too many twists and turns of the drama with a pretty predictable and practically inevitable ending that leaves that inevitable sense of déjà-vu and general discontent quite marked...
Personally my rating is 7/10, fairly generous, more for the first part of the story and for some of the acting performances:
Of course Namkoong Min who certainly doesn't need me to tell him that (he's a class actor!) and something in the minor characterisations but at the end of the whole affair there are no particular desires left for second viewings...

Leia Mais

I enjoyed it but...

The acting carried this drama. Namkoong Min steals the show in this series, delivering a powerful performance that keeps the audience hooked from beginning to end.

The problem with Jamie Leighton, don't live up to their special roles, feeling like regular officers rather than FBI or special agents. On god, she is just a burdened for everyone. The way Do Jung Wo dodges capture doesn't seem realistic. In this world, even thou he is a serial killer, you would think that his face would be everywhere in korea, but nope, he can just go anywhere he wants. And Jae Wong's Arc just sort of fizzles out without a satisfying ending. After his multiple identity merged together, he became nobody, and just a "Third child".

The Glass Fake Hype. I though DJW need that glass to have an insane focus inside his brain. They introduce this mysterious glass thing, and you think it's going to be a big deal. But nope, it's just a virtual reality tool for the bad guys to have the formula. It could have been cooler, especially for Do Jung Wo's plans.

The story is good, but it gets bogged down in places. Trimming about three to four episodes could have kept things moving along without unnecessary stuff getting in the way. The last episode feels rushed, cramming in too much at once. If they had taken a bit more time in the last two episodes, the ending could have been stronger and more satisfying.

Leia Mais

.

It's a decent thriller mystery with an interesting premise and a good performance by the lead. Namkoong brought a lot of character to his character while trying to work with what turned out to be a mediocre flawed script with the usual plot holes. The pacing became problematic halfway through, as it felt sluggish and failed to maintain an engaging momentum. Its length is a contributing factor to that. The village story wasn't big enough to work with. Both female leads were poorly written and their inclusion affected the drama negatively. There was a poor attempt to force a romantic plot line which felt contrived and disrupted the narrative coherence. It would have been fine if they were to commit and go through with it rather than abandoning that. Both female leads lacked chemistry with Namkoong whether it was friendship/professional/romantic. The ending followed a typical and predictable pattern for its genre resulting in an underwhelming and unsatisfying ending. There was clearly a massive bait trying to capitalize on the "multi season" trend.

Leia Mais