Caça ao Javali (2022)

A near perfect mystery miniseries.

First things first.
I enjoyed watching this drama. Yes, it was not almost a perfect, but it was very enjoyable.

This drama is perfect for those who wanted to enjoy a good mystery series At only four episodes long, this doesn't require viewer to invest 16 hours of their time. A perfect series to binge-watch in the weekend.

The series started off with a countryside couple, couple winning a big lottery. What follows is a series of catastrophic events that ends up consuming the lives of the villagers, the friends, and the families. It's the story of betrayal, friendship and revenge. It explores the greed of human and what we are capable of doing.

The writing is very good. The writer managed to wrap up this good and the ending was just excellent. The only reason I didn't give it a perfect star because I still didn't know what happened to Joo-hyub. But that thing set aside, it was intelligently written.

Park Ho San was brilliant throughout the four episodes. I've been his fan since Prison Playbook days and was expecting good acting from him in this mystery series. He clearly didn't disappoint me. I think he might've just won himself Best Actor in a Short Drama award at MBC Awards this year. He was bloody brilliant.
The rest of the cast were good too, particularly the actor who played the role of In-Sung.

BGM was awesome.

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Very so-so...

Produced by ‘Ascendio’, "Hunted (멧돼지사냥: literally Boar-hunting)" is a mystery thriller mini webseries set up in a country village. Written by Jo Bum Ki and directed by Song Yeon Hwa the show was released on MBC.

To Prevent the agricultural damage in the village, the villagers along with the forest rangers decide to hunt down the boar but with that few people go missing and the mysteries of the people start getting unveiled, bringing forward harsh natures of human beings.

Young Soo and Chae Jung are married couples living with their son In Sung, known to be the poorest family while Ok Soon halmione lives in an isolated house with her grandson Hyun Min. In Sung and Hyun Min are childhood buddies.

Plot development is good, not extraordinary or something that you will have you on edge or very unpredictable but the way they lay the background and build the suspense around the core mystery, does intrigue and gives you chill. Its not particularly engaging but still enjoyable as a short watch.

The drama made by rookies did have its effect. I guess the run time being this short (4) helped them and despite being a drama that will no trace, the process would have been fruitful and a medium of learning for both of them. The development and suspense buildup were good though few factors went wary towards the ending. The sound and screen-editing were compelling enough to keep up the intrigue of audiences, I must admit.

The performance is worth the platinum, full of old and experienced actors like Park Ho San, Kim Soo Jin, Ye Soo Jung, Cha Si Won, Lee Ki Hoe, Yoo Soon Woong and Kwak Ja Hyung. The acting is the most giving outcome of the drama.

There is no particular flaw in the show either but the thing that bothered me were the elements in the ep3 which then led to obvious consequences in the finale but much can’t be said in order to avoid the spoilers since the show is already this short. But to express how I felt, all the suspicion buildups went down the drain as soon as things were revealed. I mean that’s one of the possibilities I had guessed as well but the very execution of it went awry which was a huge let down for me as I was kinda expecting big from it.

Portrayal of vicious human natures such as mistrust, jealousy, greed and evilness, was perhaps the intentions of the writer and I guess the delivery was moderately up to par but I would have liked better depth to characters and the Elaboration on how and where they were induced in each of them. The organization of the scenarios influencing the final revelations were somewhat lame and lousy, could have been better. Nevertheless, it wasn’t realistic or astounding as a fiction plotline.

Final Remarks… Admittedly, HUNTED is a short and intensively entertaining watch despite being short with no element that stood out. If you are into suspense thrillers and have enough time on your plate, it won’t hurt to try this approx. 4.5 hours thing. The content isn’t that sumptuous to be exactly critiqued in a positive or negative way, imo but all I can say it’s pretty average.

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Short and rather simple story about how secrets, greediness and distrust can turn into a tragedy

Story 6/10
Even though this series is really short having only 4 episodes, it feels draggy while being predictable. While I understand that it focuses mainly on psychological/emotional side of things, I think it would definitely work better as a movie. A lot of unresolved tropes and a metaphorical (kinda open) ending that will make people either love it or hate it. While I get it why it was done in that manner, I wish we got the answer to the main mystery but it never happened (other than a vague hint). The same goes for unresolved tropes. For example, I do not know why we got so many scenes with the detective.

Characters 7/10
Characters were mostly well written and even though in the end all people from the village played a part in all of this, you could still sympathize with stories of Ok Soon, Jin Kuk, In Seong or even Hyun Min. Sadly it cannot be said about In Seong's parents and their actions. What bother me the most is the fact that Ok Soon did not really feel like a main character. For me, In Seong who was gone for almost 2 episodes felt more of a main character. Expected a bigger role of Ok Soon in the story, especially when you compare it to the role Young Soo played in the story.

Acting/Cast 9/10
A lot of veterans as well as young actors that did well job.

Music 9/10
Not much to say about music. The main soundtrack helped keeping the suspense and mystery feeling even when it was all already obvious. While nothing expectional in that aspect I would not change anything regarding music, hence my high rate.

Overall 7/10
I think it is worth watching if you like psychological/emotional stuff since this series focuses on those aspects.

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Boar Grunting

The drama managed to deliver a decent mystery in a short time without making big compromises. The unique premise provided a good hook to get you quickly into the story. Accompanied with a good selection of cast consisting of a wild group of people as they tackle both the challenges of nature and their own personal demons. The drama also had a good production value for its short format. The drama was decent in all regards but it never did anything exceptionally well or had elements that stood out. Something about it felt missing to give it the needed spark. The school related parts weren't good.

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