A drama of peaks and troughs, in that there was a slower pace during scenes of plotting and vulgar celebrations while ordinary people suffered. The pace accelerated quickly during trials and action scenes. Excellent portrayal of threat, corruption and suffering in a dystopian world.
There were actually references to the realities of the inconsistent S.Korean laws and punishment for crimes, where, for example, sentences for GBH and sexual assault, are vastly different when they involve alcohol. Someone abusing, or causing grievous bodily harm to another person, whilst under the influence, is not deemed to be in their right mind and so gets a lesser sentence. Yet someone using drugs, who doesn't affect anyone else by doing so, gets a hugely inconsistent sentence in comparison. Drunks even get away with murder. It is farcical and sickening.
The dystopian society setting for this story is multi layered. There are the filthy rich and country's most powerful, who abuse the poor, their position and are covered in bribery and greed; the ordinary, blue collar, working, middle class who are largely unaware of, or unaffected by, the abuse of power (apathy); and the poor, who bear the brunt, as usual.
There are horrendous examples of what it might be like if the wealthy ended up with total control.
The ex-actor President figure, with his OTT cheap rhetoric, greed, nationalist diatribe against foreigners and zero conscience, was like a cross between Trump and Hitler. The types in society who latch on to that and use it as an excuse to maim and murder, are portrayed excellently. Cowards and thugs.
An excellent, amoral, mentally unhinged, inferiority complex ridden and purely evil female character, who is a great puppet master, is portrayed really well by Kim Min Jung. The times I wanted to climb into my TV and punch her!...
The whole cast were great, with neither Ji Sung nor Jin-young overacting, although there were times scenes of grief were stretched out too far, for me personally ~ but that's down to direction, not acting.
The pivotal story of a fire years before, is always in the background. Ji Sung's cold, menacing and detached character of Kang Yo Han is really good.
I honestly wasn't sure about him until a lot further into the drama.
The dynamic between Ji Sung and Jin-young's characters was brought to life by the actors, who I thought worked really well together.
There's a little romance, but I never felt sparks between Jin-young and Park Gyu-young ~ a kiss was decidedly mediocre, considering it was between 2 people that had avoided their attraction to one another for years, over fears of wrecking their friendship, and were no longer teenagers. Their chemistry as the closest of friends, however, was really good.
There was a scene where Elijah was alone with Soo-hyun on Ga-on's rooftop apartment terrace and when they left, I immediately wondered how the hell they got up there (never mind down again), with a wheelchair (no lift). That to me is lazy directing. There were several occasions the story veered a little too far away from what would actually be possible.
Overall I enjoyed this drama a lot though. It felt great when Yo-han found loop holes to exact punishment on criminals, that those he was ultimately after, were trying to protect.
The power of the media (but also the need for it to be independent), of spin and of how it is more than possible to frame someone by manipulating facts, should be watched with a huge dose of caution about the realities of such things, which are prevalent in today's societies throughout the world.
Dictatorships brainwash and control their citizens. Those of us lucky enough to live in democracies, should fight to ensure life stays that way and be thankful for it.
It also spotlights the realities of baying for blood, when it's others who will carry out and have responsibility for taking that person's life ~ regardless of why.
Some scenes are difficult to watch, but fit perfectly, are not done purely for effect and carry a heavy message, if looked at as more than just another action/thriller drama.
The OST is near perfect too.... Huckleberry Finn and more, were a genius choice.