Progress Report: 검사 프린세스

Progress Report provides ongoing impressions of serials or sets I view them.

---

I started watching Prosecutor Princess on a whim and almost gave up on it after the first two episodes, because it took a little bit to get going and featured a couple directorial and production pet peeves of mine. Still, after a couple more episodes, I realized that Prosecutor Princess actually also happens to have some of my favorite elements of storytelling and in spades: character development, complex characters, and tough decisions, along with being able to capture these story elements both episodically in the titular character's cases as well as in the greater story arc. And while, I can't fully embrace Prosecutor Princess simply because it contains a few elements that I hate, I still love what it manages to do in terms of writing and plotting, as well as in terms of performance.

The titular character is Ma Hyeri (Kim Soyeon), a fashion-obsessed woman, who also happens to be intelligent enough to get through law school and get into service as a government prosecutor (which is a noteworthy task in Korea). However, she's much less interested in her work and more interested in clothes and accessories, which results in conflict at the office, including with her senior prosecutor (and developing crush) Yoon Sejoon (Han Jungsoo). All the while, Hyeri keeps coincidentally running into the mysterious lawyer Suh Inwoo (Park Shihoo) who offers his help. As the show progresses, we watch as the naive prosecutor Ma learns a thing or two about justice and love through her cases, her love life, and the secret agenda of Suh Inwoo.

The thing I love about Prosecutor Princess the most is that it features heavy character development, not just for Ma Hyeri, but all the supporting characters as well as the love interests. The story has the characters deal with the situations, both in work and social life (which blends together frequently) and they actually come out learning from their experiences and having to consider the baggage that they carry. And the show does it so naturally that it never seems forced and the characters never act unusually in order to advance the plot. And that's the second highlight--the show is not only a hybrid romantic-comedy/procedural, but thanks to the secret agenda of Suh Inwoo, it actually encapsulates mystery and revenge drama plotlines as well and incorporates them seamlessly into one immaculately organized whole. That's gush-worthy! The only serious issues with storytelling is that the show starts off a little slow in the first half and suffers from having more flashblacks than necessary, slowing the pace and adding unnecessary redundancy.

Of course stories so focused on characters and development require strong nuanced acting and Prosecutor Princess delivers here too, with Kim, Han, Park and company all giving solid performances with special note to Kim, for crafting all the nuances necessary to capture Ma Hyeri's growth and give her life. In terms of direction and production, however, I feel it's a mixed bag. The show looks good, so the production values are all in the right place, but some of the stylistic choices are frustrating. The show is often a little too heavy-handed, especially in emotional scenes, drowning the acting in a sea of rac-focusing, post-production filters and flashy transitions. The show, like many Korean dramas suffers from music video angst syndrome, frequently devolving into points where characters are staring off into space in angst (or flashing back to various previous scenes) all set to one of the show's three or four pop songs. And goodness, the music on the show almost drove me insane. Not only are the pop songs either too obvious or melodramatic (and insipid), but the score itself is ear-bleedingly unsubtle, hammering down on pianos and keyboards like the acting isn't able to convey the emotion.

But for all of those production/directorial elements that drive me crazy, I have to admit, as eye-gouging as Hyeri's sense of fashion is, the art teams did well in creating looks that actually subtly highlight what's going on with the character and the director/producer recognized this and did well to point out things like Hyeri's choice of shoes. And even with these strong reservations I have against the heavy-handedness of the direction and producing (especially with writing and acting so strong that a subtler approach would have easily worked), the story and acting were so strong, full of all the things that can make a series truly fulfilling to watch: seeing a character start in one place, encounter the struggles in her life, and become someone better for it, while learning about both love and justice. And that's actually enough for me to forgive the show's mis-steps and give it praise. Recommended viewing! 9/10.

Links:

• Series website
• Watch for free at Hulu and DramaFever
• Available at Amazon and YesAsia

Inbox:Replay: 12 Monkeys

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

Replay revisits moving pictures that I have seen in the past.

---

Based on La Jetée, a critically respected French short film from the 1960's, 12 Monkeys expands the premise into a longer film, adding a layer of personal internal conflict, a bit more mystery and thriller while retaining the science fiction, which, as presented, highlights the trademark stylings of director Terry Gilliam.

In the film, humanity has been nearly wiped out by a viral plague that was released in 1996, forcing the remnants of humanity to flee underground. James Cole (Bruce Willis), a convict, is volunteered into going back into the past to track down the virus so the scientists of the future can potentially resolve a cure, in exchange for a pardon. Dropping into 1990 (rather than 1996), he finds himself captured by the police and transferred to an institute for the mentally unsound, under the supervision of Dr. Kathryn Reilly (Madeleine Stowe), with only the mentally unstable Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt) as his "ally". Of course, no one will believe him.

The story itself is a rather well written science-fiction enhanced mystery-thriller, broken into two sections--the first third of the film being James' term in the institution, where we meet the characters and the latter two-third of the film as James heads to 1996, finding himself encountering many familiar faces. This split-act storytelling works well, even if I think the film would've been quite strong simply as a sci-fi drama/mystery set solely in the mental institution. I like the unraveling the mystery--but there are a couple points that are rather unclear in the film, especially part of Dr. Reilly's point of view: we get the Stockholm Syndrome dimension, especially as it connects her own unraveling Cole's mystery--but it's never clarified why she was so drawn to him in particular.

Gilliam, even if not reaching the degree of stylistic immersion as in many of his notable prior films, still manages to inject much of the "future" segments with his strong baroque visual identity, which is immediately noticeable for these scenes. But, the film retains many of his stylistic tendencies even when stripped of his science-fiction settings, including his close-up framing and almost-surreal art direction. And the production team does well with crafting a visual world where this story takes place, clearly establishing an aesthetic, which even when strong in the future, still creeps into the present. The actors all do convincing jobs, with Brad Pitt's Jeffrey being the most immediately noticeable because of his manic approach and change of pace from the actors usual characters, but Stowe handles her character's internal conflict and bewilderment well and Willis shows both his cool and his breaking resolve well.

12 Monkeys is a well conceived and executed film and perhaps the most grounded in Gilliam's oeuvre, even if the film's story is derived from another film. I do think it misses a golden opportunity at dealing with a reality screwing drama in the first third in exchange for the more standard science fiction time travel mystery of the rest of the film and there are some elements of the film which go a little unexplained and, arguably, possibly unmotivated, just to keep in form to the source of La Jetée and the likely captivating circular imagery. Still, it's a compelling mystery that handles its twists and turns well and does so with the kind of style that you can only find from the hands of Terry Gilliam. 8/10.

Links:

• Available at Amazon (Blu Ray) / (DVD) / (Instant) and iTunes

Progress Report: 검사 프린세스, Episodes 13-16

Progress Report provides ongoing impressions of serials or sets I view them.

---

Some of the things that irked me about this drama irked me until the end:

• The overbearing score and soundtrack.
• The over-reliance on montages, both flashback, musical and angst-laden brooding, often a combination of two or all three of these.
• The heavy-handed direction that, at times, caused me to burst out laughing.

But, I have to admit that it'd been a while since I saw so much wonderful character development and plotting that both led to character development and told an interesting story. For those two reasons alone, Prosecutor Princess jumps leaps and bounds beyond many of the Korean dramas I've seen and a great number of television serials I've seen anywhere.

The final batch of episodes, even while having a few angst heavy moments, never seems to drag it on. Every episode has a focal point--a mission, which all the pieces move to achieve in the "big plot". Our leads both take turns dealing with conflicts, both internal as well as between themselves and other characters. They both get to realize things about themselves. In fact, the secondary characters even get some great moments of development and manage to provide a bit of levity as much of the plot becomes very serious.

And the series really ends in a satisfactory manner. I love how apparent the growth is in Ma Hyeri as a human being--clearly having come a long way from who she was when we first met her in this series, but all of it is earned from the story and so it didn't feel cheap. I love that the series toyed with some of the cliché decisions that many of these protagonists play in dramas and yet help them find other options--smarter, wiser, and surprising options. And I love that the drama largely swerves from those maximum angst plot points, even as it toys with our expectations regarding them.

Still, I might want to implode my eardrums if I have to hear any of the musical themes or even the blunt piano score themes to this series any more. And, there were still a few moments that came across a little cheesy (like in episode 12, there's another distant hand-reach in this batch). But, I was so sold on the character development that there's no doubt I'll write a positive overall review on this after chewing on it a little more.

• Watch for free at Dramafever

Inbox: 茶母

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

---

Growing up, my experiences with sageuk (Korean historical dramas) had left a strong impression of sageuk being full of lots of difficult language (using a level of honorific speech that's no longer commonly used in Korea) and a whole lot of regal-robed men and women sitting and talking about stuff that I didn't understand. Still, in 2003, one sageuk would come out that would reinvigorate the genre by combining the period drama with asian martial arts fantasy combat as well as the crime investigation procedural and taking on a much looser interpretation of history (and historical setting).

Throwing in a (probably tragic) love story, Damo would send its star, Ha Jiwon, into the spotlight for her portrayal of the titular badass tea servant/crime investigator. Having seem a number of Korean period films and with Damo highly regarded among the sageuk revival, I'm looking forward to giving this series a chance.

The US release of the series comes on multiple discs with two episodes to each disc. With that generous space given to each one-hour episode, you expect an amazing visual presentation, and while the video looks pretty good for what it is, it's a 4:3 letterbox, rather than 1:85 anamorphic, meaning that on the average widescreen 16:9 television, you're going to have an ugly box around the entire image. Not cool. On the other hand, each disc does come with an English language reference guide that will help those unfamiliar with the cultural aspects of the series that some viewers might be unfamiliar with. All the same, I do think that Damo would greatly benefit from a high definition update for home video.

Disc List:

• Disc 1: Episodes 1-2
• Disc 2: Episodes 3-4
• Disc 3: Episodes 5-6
• Disc 4: Episodes 7-8
• Disc 5: Episodes 9-10
• Disc 6: Episodes 11-12
• Disc 7: Episodes 13-14

Links:

• Series review
• Series website
• Watch for free at Crunchyroll and Drama Fever
• Available at Amazon and YesAsia

Progress Report: 검사 프린세스, Episodes 9-12

Progress Report provides ongoing impressions of serials or sets I view them.

---

Prosecutor Princess just past the halfway point becomes a rather push-pull kind of force on me. As the main story arc really hits, both with Suh Inwoo's secret agenda as well as the love quadrilateral firing on all cylinders, there's a lot to like. I like watching Ma Hyeri come to understand herself better and develop some degree of wisdom as well as watching the secondary characters develop and grow as well (you go Jin Jungsoon!).

Still, the show also punches my face with a couple of my pet peeves: the music video brooding montage, which continues to happen here, what with all the angst that's going on. There's also the endless flashback montages, which I'm not a fan of. Frustrating moments for me, who would rather see more storytelling to get those points across (like Sun Inwoo's drunken stupor and argument with his best friend, Jenny Ahn). I feel like montages cheapen the story and Korean dramas abuse them when they should be used sparingly and only when absolutely necessary.

But, one thing I've really come to appreciate about the series is the costume design and choice--Ma Hyeri wears how she's feeling (most of the time) and so seeing little things, like her wearing flats as she becomes concerned with Suh Inwoo's distance from her, does a lot to convince. Likewise, watching Jin Jungsoon's wardrobe change as she becomes more confident in herself (even if she never ends up dressing like Ma Hyeri) is also a treat. By the twelfth episode, the once hidden plot hits full force--for some reason, it doesn't feel super compelling anymore, but it does raise enormous questions as to the viability of the OTP and I'm looking forward to see how the drama resolves the major dramatic issues raised here, while still managing to fill four more episodes without filler (please don't let episodes 15 and 16 be a coda).

• Watch for free at Dramafever

Inbox:Replay: Beauty and the Beast

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

Replay revisits moving pictures that I have seen in the past.

---

The strange thing is that I didn't find Beauty and the Beast quite as impressive when I first saw it in theaters, perhaps because I was becoming jaded towards the Disney machine as a brooding teenager. Yet, watching it as an adult now, I've come to like it more, even while finding some problems with it, in particular the Stockholm Syndrome like story of Belle, but the story of love taming a beast and winning a beauty still has what it takes to convince and perhaps that's why I've come to like it more.

The story surprisingly follows much of the classic tale, with some alterations to take it away from its fairytale roots, like getting rid of the mean stepsisters and making Belle the typical headstrong Disney heroine. Still, as the story goes, Belle's father goes on a trip, get caught in the woods in a bit of trouble, finds shelter in the Beast's mysterious castle and eventually becomes his prisoner. Belle comes looking after him and the Beast exchanges his freedom for hers--with an ulterior motive: if he can love someone and get someone to love him, he's freed from his curse.

Storywise, it's very simple and the villain, Gaston, is about as villain-like as you'd expect from a Disney cartoon. The Beast is slowly tamed by trying to win over Belle and she by his small acts of compassion. The falling in love part is a little hard to believe, barring Stockholm Syndrome, as she is his prisoner, but I suppose I can let that go as part of the fairytale. The most compelling part of the story are the mutual demonstrations of love and sacrifice, which, even if from the fairytale, is convincingly done here.

Like most Disney features from this era, Beauty and the Beast is gorgeously drawn and smoothly animated and, as a new element for Disney, includes some computer generated imagery, like in the famous ballroom dance scene. Stylistically, the film doesn't break any real boundaries, beyond the combination of CGI and hand-drawn animation in a feature film, but is classic Disney in style. The voice actors also do a good job of delivering the lines and all the songs are pretty memorable.

I'm not surprised that Beauty and the Beast earned a spot on the Best Picture Oscar list as it was popular, well rendered, well regarded and with largely good reason. For a child oriented film, it's exceptional and plenty enjoyable for most adults as well. Quite possibly the pinnacle of the Disney musical revival of the late 80's and early 90's. 9/10.

Links:

• Available at Amazon (Blu Ray) / (DVD) and iTunes

Progress Report: 검사 프린세스, Episodes 5-8

Progress Report provides ongoing impressions of serials or sets I view them.

---

This next quartet of episodes both started to lose me and also caught me again towards the end. A few personal Korean drama pet peeves show up in this batch: the brooding music video montage set to one of the show's more dramatic k-pop theme songs. It happens multiple times and becomes increasingly grating each time, but I think was particularly egregious because a couple of the times that it happens, it's connected with a discovery about Ma Hyeri's past that goes on for too long and feels kind of like a waste of an episode as far as storytelling space goes. We only need maybe five minutes of this story for it to achieve it's purpose, but we're put through almost an entire hour of high-school/college Hyeri and I largely wonder if it's actually going to have any larger impact on the story.

On the other hand, the greater story here finally starts picking up steam, starting with episode seven and while it doesn't really pay off the investment of some of the earlier episodes, it's still a treat to watch as smart, but naive, Ma Hyeri grows as a person through her interactions with both of her love interests as well as watching her develop professionally and learns a thing or two about being a prosecutor. And, for me, that character development is strong enough, and Ma Hyeri, interesting enough, that I continue to be compelled to watch the next episode. This isn't an addicting drama and the episodes don't really end on "have to watch the next one cliffhangers" for the most part, but I do want to see what's going to push our fashionable prosecutor into becoming a wiser, tougher, yet more compassionate woman.

• Watch for free at Dramafever

Inbox:Replay: 七人の侍

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

Replay revisits moving pictures that I have seen in the past.

---

In one of my film history classes, one of the eras of world cinema history that we looked at was post-war Japanese cinema, which is a period where filmmaking was restricted in order to avoid nationalist sentiment. One of the results of this restriction was a flourishing of the jidaigeki (period film) through which director Akira Kurosawa, by way of his art-house hit Rashomon, became known. While Kurosawa's filmography contains a number of dramas and thrillers set in times contemporary to their filming, he's largely become known internationally for his jidaigeki works and, of them, one of the most renowned is Seven Samurai.

The titular samurai are ronin (masterless samurai), who are sought and hired by an impoverished farming village to help defend them against a group of bandits that plan on taking their harvest. The story first follows the farmers and their plight, searching for the samurai, then the preparation for the defense, followed by the combat. Meanwhile, we get to know a bit more about the farmers and the samurai, their internal and interpersonal conflicts and see how these dynamics interact once the raiders comes.

In some ways the story for Seven Samurai is simple as there are no real twists, except towards the end--but war is never predictable. Yet, the story is also incredibly expansive, in some ways birthing and restoring multiple genres, thanks to the diverse lot of samurai. Four of the samurai in particular really have their own stories and, in some way, the way that these four samurai interact with both each other and the villagers is the most impressive part of this film, because we get to watch as these different stories interact with each other and become further revealed under the duress of combat.

And goodness, what amazing combat. While it's not technically impressive like a martial arts film, Kurosawa manages to create tension and release it spectacularly over the combat scenes, while building the expectation early on, and, having become invested in both the samurai and the farmers, there's a lot riding on every skirmish. From this film, stars were born, like through Toshiro Mifune's emotional and disarming blunt Kikuchiyo who would continue to collaborate with Kurosawa as well as lead many other famous jidaigeki films later. While some of the supporting characters are rather one note (amusingly so), the various leads actually all shine well. Combined with bravura filmmaking from Kurosawa and a noticeable, even if not quite iconic score, Seven Samurai is easily a kind of film that would crash into cinema history.

The legacy of Seven Samurai is pretty wide, including the all star Western remake in The Magnificent Seven, as well as helping to spawn multiple kinds of jidaigeki films. But, even despite its reputation, the film somehow makes three hours pass by quickly, entertaining from start to finish, packing in comedy, drama, thrills and, yes, even character development and astute observations about class, human nature and courage. Yes, Seven Samurai is one of those films that you can point to, to show just what cinema is capable of. 10/10.

Links:

• Available at Amazon (Blu Ray) / (DVD)

Progress Report: 검사 프린세스, Episodes 1-4

Progress Report provides ongoing impressions of serials or sets I view them.

---

I started watching Prosecutor Princess simply because I had a very fashionable friend who is planning on going to law school. I know it's not a strong reason to start watching it and while I was immediately repulsed by the show's theme song, "Fly High", as mundane a K-Pop tune as I've ever heard, I somehow still got drawn into the series with relative ease, albeit the series is a little slow going in the early episodes, opting to go more for character development than to focus on the greater story arc of the 16 episode series.

However, I think I frequently find myself liking stories that feature a lot of character development and the titular protagonist Ma Hyeri is definitely a woman that needs a lot of growing, having a sharp mind and a great love of fashion, but lacking human empathy. It's crazy alien-esque characters like this that always draw me in as I look forward to watching them grow as they become entangled with other human beings (and in Korean dramas, usually love interests).

The drama doesn't really avoid many of the standard setups of Korean dramas, but I like that there's an interesting twist in having the male lead Suh Inwoo have a number of secrets and a hidden agenda that might throw him against the female lead in the future, in addition to positioning him as both an ally and antagonist lawyer. The mystery element here adds a nice dimension to what might have otherwise been a more straightforward character development drama, that, in some sense has some elements in common with the character development story of Legally Blonde.

A surprising amount happens in these first four episodes as Hyeri encounters her first challenges and while the episode endings aren't quite cliffhangers, they still do a good job of drawing interest in the following episode. Overall, the series' tone this early is rather fun, with a couple of serious moments, especially as Hyeri encounters her first serious case as a prosecutor. Loving the character development, again, but I do hope that more fleshing out of the supporting characters (and male lead) happens and that we enter the greater story arc soon as to keep this show from seeming too episodic and losing steam.

• Watch for free at Dramafever

Inbox: Yojimbo/Sanjuro

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

---

Akira Kurosawa has obviously had a tremendous impact on cinematic history overall, inspiring and influencing countless other directors, many of whom directly borrow elements of his films for their own. While George Lucas' use of the plot device of The Hidden Fortress might be the most visible of these borrowings, it's Italian filmmaker of Westerns, Sergio Leone's wholesale copying of Yojimbo into the popular and classic Western A Fistful of Dollars that might be the most notable. Leone basically copied the film from start to finish, even taking of number of the photographic compositions, making some adjustments for the setting and manages to create a film that's almost as fun (although Clint Eastwood's the Man with No Name would go on to star in a few other notable Leone films).

When I first saw Yojimbo, I was thrilled. It was a fun romp and while the film didn't have any of the gravity of Kurosawa's more dramatic works, it did introduce one of the most badass heroes of cinematic history, the ronin, Sanjuro. Wanting more of this jidaigeki fun, I then watched Sanjuro, which continues the tale of the samurai, although, to some extent, he does feel kind of forced into the story--but the story and plot are pretty fun nonetheless and this pair of films will always remain some of my favorite action films of all time. And, now, I'm glad to be able to watch them over and over in high definition!

The set is pretty simple, using a cardboard box to house the two regular releases of these movies from Criterion. The bonus is that its MSRP is about $10 less than the two normally combined. As such, this is probably the best way to get both movies, but it would have been nice to make it more than just merely a box around the two movies. 8/10.

Disc List:

• Disc 1: Yojimbo
• Disc 2: Sanjuro

Links:

• Available at Amazon (Blu Ray) / (DVD)

Progress Report: 내 생애 마지막 스캔들

Progress Report provides ongoing impressions of serials or sets I view them.

---

Having gifted Last Scandal to my mother and sister for them to watch, I was surprised when they came back to me, raving about how great a drama it was: they claimed it was the best that I'd sent them so far (that they've seen). That's pretty high marks considering that I'd sent them some theoretically high quality dramas so far. I think it especially made an impact for them because the male members of the cast resemble my brother and myself, in that we are both pursuing careers in entertainment, but the semblance really ends there. However, they sent it to me urging me to watch it, so I did and I found Last Scandal to be a fun ride, although a little slow and pretty light.

Last Scandal is an ajumma drama, which means that it focuses on the plight and love life of a middle aged woman. In this case, it's the beleaguered, naive and stubborn Hong Sunhee (the late Choi Jinshil), who turns 39 to find that she's undergoing menopause, whose husband is rarely around because of his business ventures and whose daughter is likewise willful. Sunhee lives a rough life, having to work as a maid (to her sister-in-law) as well as a dozen side jobs, often as an extra on television and film projects, to get by. Sunhee collides with immature big shot actor Song Jebin (Jung Joonho) when she discovers that her truant daughter Jimin (Han Bobae),a big fan of Jebin, and begins developing an antagonism with him, while noticing that he resembles her high school sweetheart Chang Donghcul. Eventually, they discover each other and through a series of misunderstandings and desperate situations, Sunhee becomes their maid, and she and her daughter come to live with Jebin, his manager/brother Chang Donghwa (Jung Woongin) and Donghwa's son Hoon (Lee Insung). Meanwhile, Sunhee's husband, Ahn Yooshik (Kim Byungse) ends up in prison in need of bail and begins causing trouble for the every-faithful Sunny and superstar actress Lee Nayoon (Byun Jungsoo), who has a connection to the Chang brothers, comes back for something she lost.

Overall, the story of the series follows the standard Cinderella story, except aging up the characters to mid-life. Consequently, there's very little that's surprising about the plot, although the writers/producers do a good job of raising the stakes at the end of most of the episodes. The comedic aspect of the series is primarily bred from Sunhee and Jebin's bickering friendship (and, obviously, unknowingly developing romance), but the side players do both add levity and gravity in turns to the story as well. However, I found that the larger arc of the story took far too long to develop and especially found that the end internal conflicts for both Sunhee and Jebin to be a little stale, which really took the punch out of much of the drama. Furthermore, the main characters don't really see serious development until almost 2/3 through the series. However, there is a bit of gradual development which is appreciable--I just (surprisingly) wished that there was more drama, because the series really started feeling long in the middle. It might have also better helped if Ahn Yooshik wasn't drawn as such an unlikable cad--because that makes Sunhee seem a bit stupid and takes away from her own internal conflict. It would've also helped if Byun Jungsoo's character was better developed as her actions and motivations seemed rather unbelievable at times and therefore, some of the drama felt contrived.

The show is shot with all the elements of mainstream Korean dramas, so it looks and sounds good (although clearly shot on video) and the production values are pretty strong, although I feel like some of the early flights of fancy were really pushing it too hard (the Matrix-type action from Sunhee especially). Fortunately, this was toned down except for the too-Cinderella star filters at the inevitable happy ending. The acting, especially from the leads was great, as they definitely show strong chemistry, but most of the side players excel as well, with the exception of the somewhat limited Byun Jungsoo.

Interestingly enough, while the bickering lead relationship was definitely a highlight, I actually really liked a lot of the interactions the love quadrilateral had with the two children. I can't fully love this show because it really doesn't fulfill my desire to see character development through conquering intra-and-interpersonal conflicts as some of the weightier conflicts seems contrived or are hard sells. However, the charms of the drama were certainly enough to keep me coming back for more, especially the enjoyable performances by the leads and the generally fun atmosphere. As such, I found Last Scandal to be an enjoyable, though lightweight, drama that could've used better attention to the deeper workings of the character, conflict and plot, as well as pacing it all better. 8/10.

Links:

• Series website
• Watch for free at Crunchyroll and Drama Fever
• Available at Amazon and YesAsia

Inbox: Toy Story 3

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

---

Toy Story 3 surprised me by somehow providing a new and interesting entry into the Toy Story mythos. However, I only got to watch it on a tiny airplane screen, interrupted by flight announcements and crying babies, listening to it on cheap airplane headphones. Definitely not an optimal viewing environment, especially for such a visual/aural film. So, given an opportunity to buy the combo pack for cheap and watch it on my nice home theater setup, I jumped on it and look forward to spending another round with Buzz, Woody and the gang.

Progress Report: 내생애 마지막 스캔들, Episodes 13-16

Progress Report provides ongoing impressions of serials or sets I view them.

---

The most interesting episodes of the series, in my opinion were 13 and 14--being the emotional climax of the film and having the greatest points of drama. Perhaps they weren't the funniest, although seeing Song Jebin being "handled" by an ajumma while pretending to be asleep was pretty amusing. Still, they had the most dramatic tension in the series and this is a series that really didn't have a notable amount of moments for characters to make serious decisions. And, so, I was glad to see it happen, even though, ultimately, this series was so predictable that I probably didn't need to watch it to know what was going to happen. What, I think, kept me coming back was the comedic aspects.

Unfortunately, following the climax of the series, it actually kind of goes flat with a two-episode denouement which is rather weak in conflict and dramatic tension, even if it has a couple minor points of comedy and cuteness to appreciate. All that probably should have been squished into a 30-minute segment, or even just in the last episode, because it felt far too drawn out--but perhaps the story outpaced the episode order and that's all that they could do.

In the end, although my sister and mother praised this series as the best that I'd sent them so far, I don't think I was as impressed, just because the degree of personal conflict (both in between characters and within characters) felt rather weak and the series kind of seemed like it was on auto-pilot as far as the story was concerned. Everyone knows what's going to happen and probably can make accurate guesses as to how it's going to happen. I think what kept it interesting for most is the comedic aspects, the mostly strong performances (Byung Jungsoo's Lee Nayoon was a little stale--possibly because her character was also rather incomprehensible and distant), fun atmosphere, addictive setup (complete with female-fantasy cinderella story) and strong production values. I'll go more in depth on my issues with the overall story in my coming review, but it was a fun enough ride, I suppose. I can see how it gained its following and after seeing Last Scandal, it saddens me more to know that Choi Jinshil took her own life so shortly after its success and her career's resurgence.

• Watch for free at DramaFever

Inbox:Replay: Office Space

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

Replay revisits moving pictures that I have seen in the past.

---

Never having been much of a fan of Beavis and Butt-Head, I didn't watch writer-director Mike Judge's Office Space with any considerable expectations, but by the time the credits rolled, I found that I had rather enjoyed Office Space quite a bit, even without having yet firsthand experienced life in the corporate work world.

Office Space revolves around the life of one Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston), a software engineer at Inintech, one of the many faceless companies that make computer software for the corporate world. He hates his job, but, like many of his fellow coworkers, he continues on due to the fear of losing his only source of steady income. Then, one day, he receives a partially aborted hypnotic suggestion that results in him no longer having any fear of losing his job and proceeds to slack off without fear of the repercussions and to pursue the waitress he likes at Chotchkies, Joanna (Jennifer Aniston). But, when the changes at the company stir up Peter's sense of justice, he and his coworkers, Michael Bolton (David Herman) and Samir Nagheenanajar (Ajay Naidu) decide to take matters into their own hands.

A lot of the comedy in Office Space, like the comic strip Dilbert, is based on observations of working life, in particular, working in the corporate world, all exaggerated just enough to be insane--however, because so much of it is relate-able, from the bumper-to-bumper stop-and-go commute to having to deal with insufferable bosses, that most of the jokes strike home easily. The story itself isn't necessarily anything special, but its the astute sense of comedy that keeps it engaging. While not every joke is workplace related (Michael Bolton's unfortunate name), they all hit much more than they miss and there are definitely some truly cathartic moments that many an office drone would relish, from a gangster-like beatdown of an ornery printer to giddy vicarious enjoyment of Peter's completely carefree attitude at work after hypotherapy.

The film, like its setting, is shot kind of drably. There's a distinctly rough feel to the film and it's clearly not a high budget spectacle. The direction itself is surprisingly competent, even if a little rough at times. The actors, for the most part, do a decent job, although, like the rest of the film, it does feel rough at times--I'm not sure whether it's the direction or the acting. The soundtrack, on the other hand, really captures the comedic nature of the film well and also plays a bit into the parody of the film by incorporating some serious gangster rap into the film, which has an impressively comedic effect thanks to the juxtaposition with the mundane workplace.

I think the film doesn't quite stay as fresh on later viewings, just because the production values become a little more obvious, as well as the somewhat rough nature of the direction and acting. However, the jokes, especially because they are so familiar, never really get old, at least as long as the modern corporate workplace stays the way that it's been for the last century. And, in that sense, this comedy delivers and will probably stay a mainstay of the work-centric comedy for a long time. 8/10.

Links:

• Available at Amazon (Blu Ray) / (DVD) / (Instant) and iTunes

Progress Report: 내생애 마지막 스캔들, Episodes 9-12

Progress Report provides ongoing impressions of serials or sets I view them.

---

While there's still much to enjoy about Last Scandal, I think towards the end of episodes seven and eight and up to episode twelve, the pacing of the show really slowed down. With both plot and character development moving slowly, a lot of time was spent on the bicker/quarrel aspect of the relationship between the leads and, well, it's getting old. Granted, there were some developments, especially around Sunny's discovery of what her husband has been up to, but all the same, since we could all see it coming from a mile away, I kind of feel like it took all the air out of her internal conflict about all this--and it doesn't help that her husband, Ahn Yushik is pretty much a cad from the start and there's no sympathy for him, which results in a weakened sympathy for Sunny--we see her more from Jebin/Dongchul's perspective of a foolish woman who stuck with an asshole for no good reason.

And I think the blockheaded immaturity of the two characters is getting a touch tiresome, so it's with great relief that, in the twelfth episode we actually see some personal development. And I thought I'd never be glad to see some genuine angst on a Korean drama, but I think it really helped break the tedium, even if the plot point was telegraphed from the moment Lee Nayoon showed up on the show. Last Scandal spent the first 3/4 of its run getting to this point and it does feel long, especially since there wasn't much dynamism in the first 3/4--but it still got me invested in the characters, so I'm curious to see where this all goes. I just hope we don't drop deep into mopey-angst-ville complete with five minute musical brooding montages.

• Watch for free at DramaFever