A brutal reflection on reality

Despite what others are saying, this is exactly how I would've expected season 2 to go. In fact I predicted it, in conversation with friends that it would be an eerily similar story. The action sequences were exciting, although I do admit there were some dull moments that dragged on and on so I just sped up the video a little.

Gi Hun goes to such lengths to prevent repeats of season 1, begging people to leave the games, pleading on his knees, but no one listens. He tries to save people in that first game, but to no avail, the deaths playing out in parallel to the first games. I couldn't see any other way for it to play out.

These games are supposed to reflect capitalism, how the rich look down on the struggles of the poor, and see their battle for survival as some form of entertainment. They promise riches for the 1/456 who manage to succeed. Preying on desperation.

The side quest with Jun Ho was also rather necessary, despite others thoughts. He's trying to bring to justice these people, but they're always two steps forward, prepared for every move by planting one of their own in Jun Ho's midst. It is reflective of the real world, how the rich and powerful often evade being brought to justice by the common folk, by killing witnesses and whistleblowers, or by simply foiling their plans by planting moles.

The presence of moles paints a direct parallel with the games and the real world, as Hwang In Ho takes up the identity of Oh Young Il, destroying Gi Hun's last chance to reach the control room. There is some dramatic irony in this as we the audience obviously know the identity of player 001, but Gi Hun doesn't and we are left to despair as he comes to trust 001 all over again, not putting two and two together. (Could've been avoided if Jun Ho had just shown him a picture but where's the fun in that lol)

However this season also brought to light who the soldiers are and what they do. The fact that these soldiers are likely in similar positions to the participants if No Eul is anything to go by. They are however offered a different job, thereby becoming class traitors. This is backed up by the recruiter saying he had come face to face with his father in the games, before shooting him.

All in all season 2 was rather enjoyable, with rather tense moments that had my heart racing. Many of the characters were rather lovable, even Thanos was rather amusing to watch. I admit I don't know what to expect for season 3 now, and the direction it will take, but I look forward to the final act.

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No forgiveness

I like the premise with The Glory being that Dong-Eun refuses to forgive any of her bullies. Recently there's been too much of a narrative in pop culture that victims have to forgive their bullies, and that they can't tear their bullies lives apart, all with the narrative of "they were kids they didn't know what they were doing".

Each and every character is complex with many nuances in each story, they all have hopes and dreams, all ready to be destroyed. Most of the characters you can somewhat sympathise for, but some that are such class-a assholes that you cheer for every horrible thing that happens to them. All the actors did a wonderful job especially Lee Do Hyun, but I am a bit biased. It was the first time I had watched a lot of the actors, save three or four, and I was thoroughly impressed with each and every performance, so I will likely check out some of their other works.

The story was refreshing and satisfying, Dong-Eun was an anti-hero for every victim to look up to and project themselves onto. The plot is cleverly laced with social context that you wouldn't notice immediately such as the differing social classes of the friend group of antagonists and how it affects them.

Overall, The Glory is just a good old revenge drama to indulge in and enjoy. I am anticipating the second season and hope that it brings about the much deserved justice for Dong-Eun and delve deeper into Yeo-Jung's story.

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The characters are relatable

The most important thing with shows like I Told Sunset About You, is that the characters are relatable. No one wants to spend a couple hours watching a show with unrelatable characters and no violence.

Both Teh and Oh-aew have colourful, fleshed-out personalities, and are in situations many others are in, have been through, or will experience at some points in their lives. That helps bring the audience in and gives them that feeling of relatability.
Teh is ambitious and outgoing, it's obvious that he makes friends and conversation easy. However his actions are harsh and affect everyone around him.
Oh-aew, on the other hand, is reserved and observant so he tends to stick to people he knows and environments he knows, but is the most vibrant amongst his friends.

It's obvious that they're teenagers who do dumb things and make decisions that they'll look back on and cringe, and that's the most refreshing part about I Told Sunset About You, neither Teh or Oh-aew are perfect or smart about what to do, making them relatable.

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Excellent world building and character development

Despite what I've seen a lot of people saying, I found this of sweet home quite interesting.
Personally I feel as though they're laying the groundworks for season 3, as they're diverging from the source material it's quite important for them to do this.
There are points where it kinda drags on a bit and you just ask if it was really necessary but overall looking back I can see how important some of these scenes are, in terms of world building and character development.
Honestly I feel like a lot of people these days seem to be complaining about necessary scenes of world building in favour of fast-paced action, so I'm quite grateful that Sweet Home season has got that vital bit of world building otherwise I'd be completely lost.

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This is what JB Priestley must have envisioned when he wrote an inspector calls

For those of us who have studied the text for our GCSEs I'm sure we can all agree just how accurate this movie is, and how true to the original text.

I did some research after watching this film and found out that in some of Priestley's notes he had written about Yvonne Kwon, but had decided that she was too much for the 1940's audience he was producing it for. So I'm glad that this version included her.

Anyone who has read the play would know just how comedic it is, which a lot of adaptations tend to miss out, so again I'm happy this film kept to the original plot.

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