Train (2020)

"Everything is connected". A perfect example of Butterfly Effect. Our life choices are our own fate.

Train was an astounding drama. Every episode is like a literal roller coaster that builds up momentum until the end of each episode, at the end of each ride (episode), you will be wanting more! The acting, the cinematography, engrossing story, amazing soundtracks that added depth to every scenes and the big to tiny pieces of details that are connected and made a lot of sense.

The story is consistent and logical. Every scenes are well connected to each other; to main plot and to what the show is trying to convey. There are no filler episodes; the plot is tightly packed. It may seem the story is focused on serial killer but it's actually not. The show dealt crime and investigation but in its core, it tackles how our life choices affect us and the others around us without even knowing, and how our choices become our fate that mold our life to who and what we are in the present. That one's choice will not only affect you, but also of countless of other people around you. The two worlds perfectly demonstrated this effect. The "what ifs" of World A were perfectly mirrored and manifested to World B. The characters of both worlds are basically the same but were differently molded by life experiences because of one's choice.

The parallel world execution is one of the best I've seen. Switching between worlds are crystal clear and so clean. You can easily distinguish each worlds by their transitions and color tones. The actors also did really well differentiating their characters from both worlds.

One thing that I wish they were able to do was to explore more of supporting characters backstories especially Do Won B. I was fascinated by the character that I keep wanting to see him more. Sadly, this was only a 12 episode drama that is already tight as it could be and there was no room for more backstories that could potentially slow down an already great pace of the drama.

The acting was very commendable. Everyone did excelllent job portraying their parts. I was completely pulled in especially during emotional scenes. I never ever cried in a heavy thriller drama but Yoon Si-Yoon made me teared up numerous times. His emotions will just draw you in. Portraying parallel characters in this drama is extra difficult because the characters are the same but with different life experiences. So the actors need to simultaneously show similarities and differences which they pulled off really well.

The full soundtrack was amazing. The high bass mid tempo sounds, the revealing deep violin sounds that incorporated in suspenseful events, the combinations of different instruments that are exhilarating, the use of actual voice to create haunted whistlings. Also, the songs "With You" for emotional scenes and flashbacks and superhero-themed like "I Will Never" song that was played at the end of each episode are the best! All of these plus the acting, the gripping story, the cinematography have come all together to create a wonderful drama!

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What could be cooler than the idea of a murderer killing people in one world and dumping their bodies in the other?! This crime thriller with two parallel worlds looked like something I’d absolutely enjoy, and It did satisfy my thrill trash self a good deal!

Train is a super intriguing, intense, carefully crafted, and well-executed drama. It successfully avoids straying into side stories and gives all of its writing power to the main mystery aka finding the real serial killer, hence focused and very consistent in its storytelling. All characters and murder cases are connected, with every new ep, writers throw a new thread to catch on, every detail is purposed & noteworthy, nothing sounds irrelevant, nothing to waste screentime on. I’m sure such a thing would be even more rewarding to binge-watchers.

Also in terms of production quality, Train didn’t fail expectations!! That chilling dark vibe OCN always sends is clearly there. Cinematography is neat and somehow depressing, with a warm yellow tone for world A and a blue cold one for world B (each similar to their perspective characters!). Editors really did a brilliant job seamlessly switching from world A to B to the past to flashbacks. Music was also on point. Lyrics “I’m gonna find you”, playing at the end of each episode, make you look forward to the coming one, and another soft melody singing “I want to stay with you” makes emotional scenes a bit more felt.

On the other hand, Train is quite predictable, which is not necessarily a bad thing as I was still eager to watch and see if my theory was right or wrong, and everything was built up well with no apparent holes. But I found it cheap that certain characters had suspicion written all over their faces!! I have to admit, it made the resolution a bit underwhelming. I wished if writers would bring another twist but everything was foreseen at the end.

Another thing that bothered me was how I failed to connect with characters and their emotional scars. Although it could be only me, I think they could have chosen a better cast tbh. Most of the time, It felt like YSY was carrying the whole show on his shoulders. He totally lived his character and showed diverse emotions either playing the workaholic detective who lives to care&protect or the discontented inspector who lives with hate&shame. I rooted for him but it felt hella frustrating that no one was responding!

The FL was rather weak (in terms of performance); she had that one angry/sad expression on her face that I was absolutely numb towards. I’m not trying to undermine the actress’s effort, but in my eyes, they had little to no chemistry and it always felt one-sided. That shouldn’t be much of a problem for a thriller really but It’d have been much better if the story was more seasoned and I could feel the desperation to save someone or catch someone, yet clearly the mystery element was my only driver. That’s in part a problem with writing too; ‘cause most characters lacked personality and development, the main culprit’s character is so cliche, and many were merely running the story, I could see no problem if one of them was replaced :( If there’s anyone I loved, it’d be Jung min (the forensic doctor)& Jinwoo (junior detective).

Regardless, Train was an experience I enjoyed and anticipated every week. I recommend it and I’m pretty sure many will like it :)

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