I've been watching the weekly Cafe Minamdang. Meanwhile, I felt the urge to watch the suspenseful Hometown K-Drama. No, not Hometown Cha Cha Cha but this psychological thriller that's best not watched late at night. Yup, I watched this late and night and wasn't able to sleep. It's not just because of the suspense factor but also because of the thick plot.
As much as it's a modern series - it's nice to throw back to 1999. I could remember the nostalgia whenever I see those obsolete devices. It was also back then when DNA testing was a more costly procedure (but still could've saved an innocent man's life). The series throws back in between 1989 and 1999. 1989 was when the terrorist attack happened.
Yoo Jae Myung (who was aged up for Itaewon Class) is actually only 49 years old. Yet, he does a good job acting like a senior. Aging him up has managed to work wonders such as in Stranger (I'm yet to watch Season 2 and not having Shin Hye Sun around just feels empty IMHO) where "Samael" was its main villain. I think the age is more appropriate if the guy would be 39 in 1989 and 49 by 2009. Trying to see his misery unfold was an interesting thing. In fact, he does a lot of questionable stuff as it went on. He can't get over his wife's murder and continuously blames himself for it.
Han Ye Ri's character Jo Jung Hyun is the sister of the murderer Jo Kyung Ho (Um Tae Goo). Her character is a victim of getting guilty only by association. It reminds me of how Flower of Evil has its main protagonist vilified for being the son of a serial killer. She has the struggle to find her niece who is the daughter of her older brother.
Various scary scenes start to take place. I have a feeling that tVN's Director Park Hyun Sook and writer Joo Jin decided to get a real-life incident. Sure, this is just fiction but much fiction is based on real events. I feel like almost every crime-based K-Drama has a real story behind it. For example, I think Partners for Justice really modified real-life cases from Forensic Files. I even found this comparison from a review by K-Drama Banter of the said series:
It suddenly occurred to me that this drama's storytelling has elements from the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack of 1995, orchestrated by a cult under the leadership of a guru. I wonder why I didn't realize it until now. It makes sense then that I didn't realize that the issue wasn't only a few people in Saju, but the whole hometown. I mean, the name of the drama practically gave it away, but that's what happens when you have such excellent scriptwriting, that tangles you up in the finer detail when you should focus on the bigger picture.
Yup, that terrible accident that caused Choriki Sentai Ohranger to shift tones TOO FAST. It was also that year when Japan really had some crazy cult that released a sarin gas cult. The cult scenes get more and more horrible. The beginning scene of some hints of supernatural horror. The use of mixtapes and other footage seems to be based on the urban legend of subliminal messages. A recording tape containing footages of a murder is also used. This "disappointment" almost reminded me of when I watched Awaken hoping to get just another realistic cop drama. Instead, Awaken was a sci-fi police story where children were exploited to create a youth serum. Still, I felt it was sort of fascinating how an urban legend can make a good plot.
I think the drama is very hard to follow. Maybe, it's not best to binge-watch it. It's also rather scary so watch with discretion. Worse, I watched it while I had my mild case of the Legacy Virus Omicron variant. I guess I might need to watch it again when I'm healthier. I'd recommend this for those who like suspense. Otherwise, avoid it if you're too squeamish. But if you've survived watching adult movies with moderate gore then go ahead. Then again, it's not as heavy as those gory torture movies that I'd rather avoid.
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