A Very Well Crafted Drama

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this series. I have huge respect for series that are written well with a clear vision for its characters, its story and what it’s trying to say. Even more so when these aspects are executed to a high degree.

At the start of this series, it had a really ominous ‘Stepford Wives’ feel to it. I thought there might be a supernatural or Twilight Zone element to it. Every character was suspicious to me and I couldn’t shake the feeling that all was not as it seemed. The series does really well at sustaining this feeling of mistrust and second guessing. It adds to the mystery and intrigue of the school and it’s characters.

The actress who plays Ha Rin has the most incredible micro-expressions. Figuring out what her deal was kept me on my toes as a viewer.

I come away after completing this series thinking of that famous speech by Charlie Chaplin about oppressive regimes. He talks about how the power that is taken from the people can be returned to the people through revolution. These lines come to mind,

“dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people…don’t give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think….don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts……don’t fight for slavery…fight for liberty….you the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful….let us use that power - let us all unite!”

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It’s Got It All & It Achieves It All. Highly Recommend!

This was akin to the old epics. Magnificent and beautifully told in every possible way. I sobbed. Man, I sobbed. Not every drama conveys the depths of emotions so that you can feel it in a scene even when the characters themselves are not being emotional. Even more so, not every drama can convey the depths of sadness in someone’s soul, even as they are smiling. It’s a skill when a drama can get you to feel and not just feel, but REALLY feel. Feel it like it was your own. That they are you and you are them. It’s that sobering of emotion that you get in a once in a lifetime drama. It leaves something with you that you never ever forget. A profound feeling that will stay with you forever.

The first time I watched this drama, I binged it in two days. All 50 episodes. And that surprised no one more than me. It’s like a good book you can’t put down. Can you imagine that? It’s such a long series and yet it never feels long. Although 40 minutes long, each episode is over in the blink of an eye. They are that gripping and entrancing. The story is told in such a way that all the right storytelling devices come at all the right times. Nothing overstays it’s welcome and everything is utilised in the most effective ways. Scenes flow expertly, one into the other and even the non-cliffhanger endings are as enticing as the cliffhanger ones. I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next each time. So much so, I started at 11am on the first day and was surprised to see that it was 4am by the time I looked up again. After getting some rest, I resumed watching and again, did not stop until I completed the entire series at 1am that night.

My words can never do enough justice to convey just how good this truly is. They are not enough to paint the merits of the incredible feat of this drama. Some dramas are to be experienced and this is one of them. Some dramas are just special and you feel it as soon as you start watching. I will forever recommend this drama. Far and wide. I will shout it from the rooftops and never stop singing its praises.

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It’s A Nice Series

This drama has a lot of things going for it. The great performances by the leads is its strongest selling point. No matter what, I cannot fault their acting. Overall it’s a pretty solid and capable drama.

However, the screenwriters’ voice/views are at odds with the story throughout. There’s a fair bit of revisionism that frames things in a particular way, which the audience knows not to be the case. Or, they try to introduce things that were not developed adequately or shown at all to the audience. We’re just supposed to take their word for it.

Plus, when I look at how all the relationships are portrayed; they tend to contradict whatever views the screenwriters have on relationships, compatibility and the conflicts partners have, which leads me to believe the screenwriters have an odd view of the kinds of relationships they wish to portray. Surprising, it was this way for EVERY romantic relationship in the drama. And you know it’s a creative choice because the comments on the main page point out how different these things are to the novel.

The actual portrayals by the actors themselves tell a different story to whatever the screenwriters were selling and they were definitely trying to sell a viewpoint. It’s a shame the story didn’t align with it. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it; I’ll buy whatever a writer tries to sell me, as long as they know how to sell it and do it convincingly enough.

After a certain point, I wasn’t getting as much enjoyment out of the series as with the earlier episodes. I felt like the viewpoint/voice of the screenwriters was getting louder than the story’s premise by the halfway point and they just seemed to be at odds with each other. I did enjoy the last three episodes the most. I felt like all the different aspects were mostly on the same page.

Final verdict is that this series is a good watch. Somewhere between average and above average. You won’t regret watching.

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As Close As You’ll Get To A Chinese BL

Let’s address the elephant in the room. There are no overt love confessions or overt intimate contact due to Chinese censorship rules for the entertainment industry. Therefore, all Chinese bls produced in China have to be packaged as ‘bromances’. Saying that, this is the closest I’ve seen a Chinese bl come to being ‘overtly bl’ since the implementation of the censorship rules. This drama walks the tight rope between adhering to the censorship rules and portraying a couple in love onscreen. You’re able to see them be more intimate in the latter episodes and we are promised an uncut version once season 2 is out.

What this show does well is that it’s able to do so much with sub-text and emotional undertones. The emotions are strong and the performances are compelling. Like its predecessor, it has relatable down to earth characters and plenty of heart. It does manage to set itself apart from Addicted/Heroin and find its own voice and story along the way. I thoroughly enjoyed it and think future Chinese bls should follow its blueprint.

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Tension Filled - Well Shot - Keeps You On The Edge of Your Seat

Absolutely fantastic! I had seen this last year but forgot to put it on my watched list. I also just realised that Ryu Seung Ryong is in two of my top 10 rated dramas, playing two very tonally different characters. He’s truly a masterful actor.

The camera angles remind me of Pride & Prejudice and Zombies (in the best way). That too was a very well shot film. The long shots and closeups were chosen wisely but like with PP&Z, it’s the mid-shots that are used very well. It makes the viewer feel like the camera is them as the camera moves through the scene. And as this creates a feeling of being right in the thick of the action, it goes a long way to ensuring that the viewer’s heart keeps pumping throughout.

Also, I’d like to highlight how well the story unfolds. This, along with the pacing ensures that it never loses momentum and the dramatic scenes and revelations are timed right.

If you’re a fan of zombie or apocalyptic movies or if you’ve not already seen this before, you need to watch it. It’s highly entertaining and gripping. The tension holds you throughout and the TWIST!!! What a twist! I haven’t finished watching the sequel yet so I’m off to watch that now that I have re-watched this one.

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It’s A Heartfelt And Emotional Series In All The Best Ways.

This was a really strong series. The acting was some of the best I’ve seen in a k-drama. The blend of emotional, comedic and dramatic scenes were balanced really well. This balanced tone is often difficult to achieve or sustain in a drama but it’s done to a high quality here. The presentation of mental health, therapy and recovery were explored in a heartfelt and accessible way. I also liked the dark fantasy/supernatural fairytale element to it. The illustrations and narrative metaphors were woven quite expertly throughout. I don’t often comment on cinematography but not only was this shot beautifully (lighting, camera angles etc), but the artistic vision of the director shone through. I noticed whenever a character was in a solitary shot, it’s juxtaposed with the wider background/atmosphere which not only helps to create the feeling of loneliness but it also allows the story to breathe. In the close up shots, the use of the wider lens allows it to feel intimate without feeling claustrophobic.

The twist…because it was somewhat revealed in episode 4, I didn’t realise they were trying to hide it from the audience or have it be a twist until episode 13. I spent the majority of the series knowing who it was. This affected how I followed the story (in a good way) as I interpreted the actions in real time how they were meant to be interpreted later on after the reveal.

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Didn’t Fulfil It’s Own Potential But It’s Still A Decent Series

The first four or five episodes were well paced, intriguing and had strong storytelling. The plot and the explanations were believable and exciting. I really thought it was going to be a 9 or a 9.5 drama. Unfortunately, after episode 5, what I can only describe as plot-holes everywhere, brought the story and execution down to an 8.5 and at times an 8. The intrigue was still there but if you have to dumb down your smartest character just for the plot; then you are doing something wrong. This pretty much remains the issue for the rest of the series. Although the intrigue remains and the premise continues to be smart-ish with a few twists and turns; it gets harder and harder to overlook the things that don’t make sense or that are allowed to be sloppy for the sake of moving the plot forward.

Though I will still rate this an 8.5, I’m disappointed that the creators fumbled this one when it could have been a 9.5 or even a 10/10 show.

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HEAVY IS THE HEAD THAT WEARS THE CROWN

This is one of those classics that I never got around to watching when it first aired and after watching I realise it’s a classic for a reason. It’s perhaps the best romance k-drama I’ve ever seen. It has all the feels of the genre but the craftsmanship of the more serious k-drama offerings.

I’m one to avoid sad endings typically as they are rarely done enough justice and are usually used for shock value or angst. I’ve seen few dramas with a sad ending that I thought were beautifully done or that left me feeling like that was the only possible outcome. Although the ending of The Red Sleeve made me cry buckets, I do think it was a well done ending and overall the drama was near immaculate in execution.

That said; so many scenes broke my heart. I’d never felt the weight of the crown of a king in a k-drama quite like I felt it in this one. The scene with the old king’s heart breaking explaining to the prince how much he loved him was so emotional because it was tinged with the feeling of suspicion, paranoia, betrayal and guilt he had for his own son that was heightened by his confused dementia state. What a performance! So much hurt, so much pain, so much regret, wrapped up in so much disappointment. The vulnerability he showed in that scene highlights how being the King comes with a toll. It foreshadow how the crown too will change the young prince.

This series was not at all what I expected and it is so much better for it. When his grandfather died and he begged him to come back, my heart broke. The complicated feelings he had for his grandfather amidst his turmoil of sadness was too much to bear. He was like a child again and in that one scene you could see how much his grandfather meant to him. Not the king but the man who was his father figure and the man who was also responsible for taking his own father away from him. Just wow.

Still, by far the crowing grace of this series was how it portrayed the struggles and powerlessness of the women of that period. They weren't afraid to show the harsh realities and to balance the romantic fantasy of the romance genre with the very real historical story.
Yes it’s true the FL lead a tragic life to say the least. Many decisions were made for her and she struggled to maintain autonomy of her own life. In many ways her outcome was a sad one but I’d also like to think that she lead a rich life. She found love and happiness and was lucky enough to experience true friendship. The bond between the four female friends was so wonderfully illustrated, it served as the second great love story in this drama. This may be Lee Se Young’s best role. She commanded the screen and gave the character so much life.

The story is perhaps too sweet to be bitter and too bitter to be sweet. It will have you smiling in the first half and bawling in the second half. It's really a well written and well acted piece of drama.

On a final note: Episode 17 was made just to rip your heart out. Some people only watch up until episode 16 and consider that the ending. Honestly, I understand why they would do that. It’s a very sad episode. However, I’m glad I watched the entire thing because it completes the story and I found some beauty in that tragic ending. This is another drama that will stay with me for a long time.

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When a 10/10 Drama becomes a 7-8

This had the potential to be a very powerful story, however the level of angst pile on is akin to torture p*rn. Granted, the Japanese are one of the best at film noir and striking heavy tones, but at times it can be overdone. It seems to me that this story was made as bleak as possible just so it can seem tortured. Sometimes this works but in the case of this drama, the better story or the better direction would have been to rein in the tortured narrative somewhat as it didn’t fit the overall direction of the things that had been established about the story and also it needed a bit more in-depth backstory and time to sit with the secondary characters in order to make it work. We needed to have more of an emotional connection with the secondary characters in order to see them as grey, complicated humans instead of one dimensional antagonists. It would have made their outcome feel like the only possible ending for them instead of it feeling very disconnected from the narrative and their only function being to be the catalyst for a climax/obstacle/angsty vibes. Essentially we were missing the pay-off for the emotionally tortured ending to resonate with the viewer. I know the ending is supposed to be bittersweet with an optimistic outlook but that’s not what you get from it. That’s why I say there’s very little pay-off.

I can’t fault the acting and I think they had a good premise with the story. It’s just the pile on of the bleakness (there’s a time and a place for this), and some of the story direction that lets the narrative down, but quality-wise it’s not a badly written or executed story. If not for these things (which unfortunately dragged the score down substantially) this could have been at the top of my drama list with a 9.5 or a 10. Because this movie is technically well made, I couldn’t give it lower than an 8. It’s a proper movie, filmed artistically and professionally.

*Please be advised this review is based on me watching this movie three times over a 2 year period in order to give it as much of a chance as possible.

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It's Very Depressing But That's Not Necessarily A Bad Thing

It’s very depressing and it never lets up. Even the small moments of fun/bonding between the two main characters does not lift the tone. This is ok if you are not put off by heavy, sad and depressing topics that don’t sugar-coat things. Me saying that it’s depressing isn't necessarily a bad thing. A lot of satisfaction can be gotten from watching a character go through hardship after hardship and come out on the other side. For me, I don’t regret watching it. I did find some satisfaction, narratively. It was an interesting enough story and the acting was decent. It also had a good message and it didn’t feel like suicide propaganda. In fact, it felt sincere in its message. The last 30 or so minutes at the end of the film are it’s best. You’ll see why.

And for once, they referenced a country with darker skinned people without being derogatory. I particularly liked that the Yun character didn’t look to go there to satisfy some sort of saviour complex or to ‘civilise’ the population. Instead, he went there to be with them. To be with the people who reminded him of himself. He also had lovely things to say about the community there. He didn’t patronise their sense of care and community towards raising the orphan children. Rather, it sounded like he was talking about people he held in high esteem. Listen up Asian film makers…this is how it’s done. This is how you include other non-western countries without being a-holes about it.

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The Drama Is Actually A Heartfelt Slice-of-Life Coming of Age Story

This is an unexpected one. Despite the timeline being confusing at times and choppy in places, some plot holes/continuity issues and slight sound issues; the story is quite heartfelt. I fell in love with the character portrayals and the homely (I don’t know if that is the right word - maybe nostalgic) feel of the cinematography.

The acting capabilities were a bit of everything but each character portrayal felt genuine. So much so that the less polished acting was never an issue. It even had a slight charm to it.

I especially liked the sister character, Name’s mother, Em’s mother and Champ’s grandfather. Additionally, each of the main leads had moments throughout the series where they shone. I was taken with Gun’s character especially when he started interacting with Golf at university. His acting seemed to step up in those scenes. The actor who played Name did some powerful acting with just his face and nothing else in the first half of the series but they under-utilised him in the second half imo. I’m surprised I haven’t seen him around much in other BLs.

All the child actors did well but I particularly liked Nan’s child version. The turmoil his older self had when he found out the girl he liked was in a wheelchair, was his character’s shining moment for me. He showed a lot of sensitivity, and seeing him grapple with that stigma vs his genuine feelings for her was portrayed quite well.

I’m not sure if I liked or disliked that they only revealed what Champ’s issue was towards the end of the series, in regards to why he always pressured himself to succeed when no one else was pressuring him. I did have a few guesses as to why he was that way but since it could have been any one of those reasons, I was waiting for them to shed some light on it.

The way they portrayed the two queer relationships was also one of the series' strengths. When Golf asked Gun to marry him as he was getting the last of his stuff post break-up and Gun immediately said yes, I was getting ready to curse at how quickly they glossed over the reason they broke up but thankfully; they had the much needed conversation straight after and it made my heart so happy. I also found Em and Name’s romantic dynamic so refreshing. As we neared the last couple of episodes, I was getting worried they wouldn’t give us a satisfying enough conclusion for their love story but I was worried for nothing. The conclusion suited their dynamic and the kiss was very satisfying for me.

This is one of those odd dramas where even though it had as much things that needed improvement as things that were good; the good still carried it ahead as opposed to the bad dragging it down. Any other drama and this would be squarely a 6/10 or a 7/10 drama, but with such a good story with a slice of life/coming of age feel; it’s easily an 8/10 drama. It’s got heart (you’ll tear up at the emotional and heartwarming bits), you’ll fall hook line and sinker for the characters' lives and you’ll actually be taken in by the charming cinematography - even with the low budget feel and the slight sound and editing issues. It has the makings of a Thai classic and if not for the mentioned issues, this would be a 9/10 or a 10/10 drama.

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A High Quality Drama But The Emotional Weight Is Not As Consistently Strong As You Would Hope.

I’ll start by saying I put off watching this one. I purposely did not watch it while it was airing. There are certain dramas that I know I won’t get the most out of them if I don’t watch them at a time I am most receptive to them.

Disclaimer * I don’t think this was the most receptive time either, even though I enjoyed watching it. I plan to watch it again in the future to see if I can get more out of it.

That said, for now I think it is a 9/10 drama and not a 9.5 or a 10/10 drama. The positives for me are what makes it a 9/10 and not the usual 8.5/10 that I give to solid k-dramas is that it is a heartfelt story, the plot is pretty solid and the acting is pretty good. The reason I won’t elaborate on the positives is because I’ll be honest; apart from recognising it as a solid production, this story did not get me as deep as it ought to have. I’ll go into why I think this was.

Starting from episode 2, although I was aware that time travelling was involved, the abrupt introduction of the time traveling element at the end of ep 2 felt like a sharp turn transition wise. It was not smooth at all. It was like being in a race car and suddenly making an extreme turn with little to no preparation, except this was done with the theme. Usually in dramas that include fantasy, they sprinkle a little bit of the fantasy elements in the lead up to the full blown reveal of the fantastical part of the drama. With this one, it was almost two full hours of a slice of life family drama that seemed rudely interrupted by the fantasy element suddenly being dropped in. And this was my reaction as someone who WAS waiting and expecting the fantasy element.

Another thing was, I couldn’t help but feel like this drama was an amalgamation of several movies, music and popular culture storylines and references, all pieced together. It made a huge chunk of the drama feel like a knock-off, ensuring that I could never really get into it as all I could think was, “they’re copying so and so”. I don’t mind things serving as an inspiration for others but you really have to make it your own and create something new with it, but with this drama, a lot of the concepts and scenes seemed borrowed. Whenever I was drawn into the drama, I’d notice that a scene or concept resembled something else and it would immediately take me out of the scene.

I have a minor point to make about the way the scenes were cut/edited together. It didn’t affect the majority of the drama much, as it fit that youth-indie style type of visual aesthetic but when it came to the emotional scenes, it felt somewhat choppy aka not-so-smooth transitions. It meant that the emotions didn’t hit fully 100% because the viewers weren’t able to sit with those scenes and absorb the depths of emotions before it suddenly changed to another scene. Typically for emotional scenes to work best, there needs to be a build up of emotional tension that is finally released and the cameras should not cut away in the middle of that emotion being expressed. For example, the cameras should not cut away in the middle of someone’s heartbreaking crying scene as it’s like cutting off the climax of emotion right at the top, which results in an immediate plateauing of the emotional weight built up when our focus is shifted to another scene. Instead it should be like a hill with a slow rise to the climatic top and a smooth decent to the other side of that intense emotion. This must be done in order to properly build and sustain the emotional weight of what the characters are experiencing and their plight, to help forge the bond between the viewer and the character and to allow the viewer to really connect to what the character is feeling.

This fourth reason was the most jarring for me. I have to preface this by saying I’m not trying to assume what’s best for the hearing impaired community, I’m coming at this solely from the perspective of someone who knows what storytelling mechanisms resonate with an audience. That being said, the thing about this drama that made it the hardest for me to get into it was the fact that they dubbed the deaf characters. I can understand from a practical pov why this was done but surely someone in the creative chair should have known how much of the connection and the power of the performances of the actors playing the deaf characters would have been lost by doing this. If you don’t understand what I mean, go watch CODA and tell me that by having the focus of communication solely on the deaf characters’ facial expressions, the movements of their hands and only the silence to convey their ‘lines’; you didn’t feel everything they signed just a little more deeply. That you didn’t feel the frantic and the hard hitting angry signing or the soft signing in tender moments that much more. That you couldn’t feel the frustration of the characters through their hands more than with a dubbed voice overlayed on top to explain what they are saying. I’m sure it was useful for Korean viewers to not have to read subtitles but I’d argue they lost some of the power of the performance by doing this. Of course, I’m not saying you shouldn’t have dubbing. I understand that having dubbed dramas makes it more accessible for different types of audiences such as vision impaired viewers. I’m not saying dubbing should not be available. Just like I’m not saying subtitles should not be available. I know these are both very useful features for making dramas more accessible to others. What I’m saying is that these should have been optional and the drama should have been released un-dubbed with the option to select dubbing as needed, as you do with subtitles.

If at the end of this you are wondering why I rated it so highly if I had so many critiques. It’s because of three things. One, this drama had excellent characterisation. Like truly excellent (especially the father and son). Two, I did enjoy watching it. It won’t make it on my favourites list but I really did enjoy it. And three, I like to give dramas and movies their dues. Even if I don’t fall in love with a drama, I still rate them objectively by what they have to offer and what they do well. This drama was a solid, above average and at times, truly above average, drama.

If you ask me what could have made it a 10/10, I’d say, not rushing past the emotional scenes too quickly, not dubbing the deaf characters and finally; trusting the foundation of the story more - which was a story about a boy’s love for his father and vice versa, while grappling with the difficulties of being a CODA. If they did this without trying to borrow from other films, dramas, music or American popular culture; it could have been a 10/10 drama that stayed with me.

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A Mixed Bag

This series should rightly be acknowledged for tackling the subject of autism at a time when it was still pretty much a ‘hidden’ neurodivergence. Another plus is that the story is heartwarming, there is a decent character journey and the autistic ML is more than a two-dimensional portrayal.

However, that’s where the positives end. The patients’ stories are often tone deaf in their attempt to portray sentimentality. At times it seemed like they were doing their best approximation of ‘feel good’ stories that inevitably came across as clunky and clumsy. On their portrayal of autism, I can only speak as a non-autistic person and my perspective of this show is through the lens of a neurotypical person. So I am sure there are things that I cannot say subjectively whether they are portrayed well or not.

Still, I think it’s safe to say that the views of autism in this show both sociologically and medically were questionable to say the least. The science just wasn’t science-ing and even the ‘progressive’ views that were supposed to serve as the righteous ‘voice of the show’ made me cringe to know that there was a time that this was the ‘academic’ view of autism in Korea (I’m assuming the creators of this series researched Korean academia regarding autism, but I might be giving them too much credit).

What stuck out to me the most, was the notion that autism could be cured. The excessive use of the words ‘normal’, ‘stupid’, ‘crazy’, ‘mentally weak’ etc, coming from a show representing the medical profession was quite jarring. Surely, even ten years ago Korean doctors weren’t this inept in their understanding of autism, the behaviours associated with autism and whether it was something that could just go away. I expected this from the general public as they are less knowledgeable. If these misinformation were mainly being voiced by the characters that were not doctors, I could understand but the prejudice and pseudoscience was coming mostly from the ‘doctors’. I can just imagine well meaning Korean viewers, with very little knowledge of autism, watching this show in 2013 thinking they were actually learning something and gaining an understanding of autism.

Whether that was more damaging than the positives of having autism representation at the time of this release, is something I cannot say either way. But it’s a good question to ask. Of course, portrayals of people with autism have come leaps and bounds since this series was aired. Extraordinary Attorney Woo and Move To Heaven are two such examples.

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Another Nostalgic Blast From The Past

When I say I have searched high and low for this movie for YEARS, I’m not exaggerating. I watched this in either 2013 or 2014 and I’m not good at remembering movie names so all I could remember were parts of the plot. This movie, after The Suspicious Housekeeper, set me on my k-drama journey. This drama has stuck in my mind because of the (explicit for it’s time) r*pe scene. It wasn’t implied like the scenes I’d seen in k-drama rom-coms up to that point, it was brutal. There’s also this one scene with the umbrella after the child versions had been kidnapped and that scene will stay forever in my memory. It’s what lead me to finally find this series again after all these years.

It is a product of its time. I remember the picture quality being smoother/crisper (which is to be expected), this makes it harder to watch and gain the full quality this many years later but the heart of the story is still very compelling.

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