For some strange reason, I really love the concept, the idea, the actors, the CGI....but there's something inherently wrong with the script, pacing, music choice, or maybe it was the direction. I am a simple movie-goer, a consumer, not a producer but that's the feeling I got when watching, sometimes impatiently, this mini series.
It is trying to tell a story in an unconventional way, it's still odd. Off. Weird. Off kilter.
I love Jung Yu Mi, and she is known to make the strange choices when it comes to characters and stories. I guess this aligns right up with her although I am not sure who convinced Nam Joo Hyuk to take up this role.
Jung Yu Mi delivered as expected...in her own in-your-face way and I thought Nam Joo Hyuk did a rather fine job here too. Heck, even the students did really well! I can't imagine the kind of imaginative world they all had to live in in order to do the weird things they were told to do for the series. LOL.
The show made almost zero attempt to explain anything, leaving it for us to imagine or conjure or explain on our own. Its almost pop-culture style and rhythm left me blindingly confused.
Some shots were so dragged out I could count the actors' breaths before they spoke.
In the middle of the 6-episode series, I had to stop watching it just to re-orientate myself back with reality. I came out of my room whining, "OMG, that was some weird, disorientating shite I was unpacking while watching a show about cute, bubbly, colorful alien jellies."
It's a shame so much time was spent on silence, senseless out-of-place music, long slow scenes into darkness, witless conversations, and unnecessary pauses. To keep people like me interested, pacing and a certain level of logic is important.
Halfway through, I knew not to expect any answers to questions and had stopped expecting anything. I was merely watching because of I refused to give up...just yet.
I was waiting for something unique to happen but nothing did. The ending was, in fact, so disconnected it felt like a different movie or storyline. I couldn't help feeling like someone should have clued me in earlier instead of jumping on me like that.
What I liked, though, was that the Eun-Yong (the nurse) was quite unabashed in her weirdness. From the time she started seeing jellies that others don't, she's accepted the fact that this was her life. She made no excuses and did not bother explaining. In fact, she was empathetic towards those around her. Like it was just a fact of life.
In Pyo (the male lead) also did not ask for an explanation. He also didn't need proof when Eun Yong went off tangent. He simply trusted and asked for guidance.
Was it entertaining, at least? Yes, at least it was a show that was trying to break the mold. It's refreshing. Does it make sense or make you want to watch it again. Nope. At the end of the day, I felt like I had more questions than answers. Till this day, I still don't get it.
But then again, I am not sure if the intention of the show was to showcase anything intellectual. Blasting off in one too many directions, it was a smorgasbord of everything a person can conjure in a single night of drinking.
3.5 / 5 Stars
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