Life on Mars

Life on Mars

7.5/10

Life on Mars

Genre:                                                  Episodes: 16                                       Year: 2018

Mystery

Thriller

Synopsis:

Han Tae Joo is a detective who believes in facts and follows procedure. While investigating a case, Tae Joo is involved in an accident and wakes up 30 years in the past.

Cast:

Jung Kyung Ho (Han Tae Joo)

Park Sung Woong (Kang Dong Cheol)

Go Ah Sung (Yoon Na Young)

Oh Dae Hwan (Lee Yong Ki)

Noh Jong Hyun (Cho Nam Shik)

Jeon Suk Ho (Han Chong Ho)

Jeon Hye Bin (Jung Seo Hyun)

Kwak Jung Wook (Kim Hyun Suk)

General Thoughts:

Just to start with, I have never seen the original British show. I’d heard about it, knew the general premise, and remembered seeing ads for it on TV when it was first released, but I have never ever watched the show or heard about its finer details. So unfortunately, I won’t be able to compare this remake to its original.

Beginnings of bromance

That being said, I really enjoyed this drama. You definitely didn’t need to have any knowledge of the British version in order to understand and enjoy this Korean remake. OCN has pretty much got the monopoly on crime and thriller dramas in Korea, and for good reason. The channel is willing to make dramas a little bit darker than others are, and that makes for some darn good thriller watching.

Maybe I'm morbid, but I like a bit of blood

There are certain similarities between ‘Life on Mars’ and another OCN time travel-crime drama that aired last year (‘Tunnel’), but the two had enough differences that it didn’t feel like the station was putting a new face on an old show and releasing it again. ‘Life on Mars’ was a little bit darker than ‘Tunnel’, with more attacks and crimes being shown on screen. Anyone who’s watched a K-Drama knows that they tend to err away from actually showing any sort of violence on screen. And then when they do, it’s usually pretty heavily censored. I cannot forget how annoyed I was with the drama ‘Voice’ because they censored virtually everything, so I wondered why they even bothered filming it at all. The writer and PD behind ‘Life on Mars’ seemed to have a much better understanding of what was likely to be blurred out, and so they managed to create scenes that were confronting and gave you the chills, without snapping you out of the moment by having a big blurry blob across a weapon or a wound or a victim. In fact, the directing of the show was pretty brilliant overall- particularly when it came to traces of Tae Joo’s present leaking into the past.

Jung Kyung Ho acted the crazy really well

The interruptions from Tae Joo’s doctors or family never felt random or unfitting. In fact, the way the show brought snippets of 2018 into the 1988 world was one of my favourite things about the drama. It was unsettling and unnerving, and helped add a sense of urgency to the drama.

First guy to treat her like an actual officer- no wonder she likes him

These moments of breakthrough never distracted from the crimes or relationships that were developing in 1988, but they definitely created an atmosphere of uncertainty around our hero, Tae Joo. Because Tae Joo’s life was never really threatened all that much in 1988, it was nice (in a adrenaline-inducing way) to have these reminders sneak in every now and then telling us that Tae Joo was in a very precarious position. The writing of the show overall was very good- and that’s something the show can boast for itself- because even as it’s a remake, it doesn’t stick exactly to the source material, and created situations and characters that were utterly unique. Tae Joo was a brilliant character to have as our lead- cold, but not completely emotionless, and somehow oddly displaced in both 2018 and 1988. Jung Kyung Ho acted the character to perfection, having a great strait-face and doing a brilliant job at creating a sort of emotional barrier between himself and other characters without ever cutting the audience off.

They suit each other perfectly

Despite Tae Joo’s actions sometimes causing confusion and misunderstandings with other characters, we as viewers pretty much always knew what was going through Tae Joo’s mind thanks to Jung Kyung Ho’s subtle and nuanced performance. Park Sung Woong also delivered a brilliant performance (as usual) as the gruff, fists-first ‘80s detective.

So cute you two

Seriously, this role fit him perfectly. While at times I did find Dong Cheol a little bit too fists-first, Park Sung Woong made it easy to like him despite his tendency to beat up suspects before they’re even proven guilty. He has a great comedic streak, and he really used that here to bring out Dong Cheol’s more endearing side. Go Ah Sung really blew me away with her portrayal of the sweet and encouraging Na Young. I think she was perfectly cast, as not only did she bring out Na Young’s intelligent and uplifting nature, but there was something about her voice that just really sold me on her character. Na Young was a quiet and understated character, but Go Ah Sung played her with such impact that she really became one of the most pivotal aspects of the show. Casting these three main characters so perfectly did the show wonders. Even though the writing and directing of the show was brilliant on its own, having these three characters so well cast, and have such great chemistry with each other really elevated the drama to the next level.

Gotta love a solid squad

As I already mentioned, the writing behind this drama was really excellent. As this show was a crime drama, as most crime dramas have there were a fair few crimes sprinkled throughout the show for our heroes to solve. What made the writing feel better than other dramas is that no smaller conflict was dragged on for too long.

Though it did bug me how long it took Tae Joo to realise his Dad was shady

While some crime dramas stretch a case for three-four episodes, ‘Life on Mars’ only gave each smaller plot line enough screen time for it to be concluded, which kept the momentum high and prevented the storyline from dragging. Not only this, but each smaller plot in some way contributed to developing our main story. There were no redundant or unnecessary scenes, and it always felt like what we were seeing on screen was important or relevant to the show’s main plot. Most of the crimes that the squad were solving were related to the mystery of the manicure murders- the case Tae Joo was working on when he was snapped back in time/fell into his coma. The crimes that weren’t related to our main murder duo’s past tended to be cases that developed the relationships between our main trio. With the smaller plot-lines working to develop either the modus operandi of our murderer or fostering Tae Joo’s sense of belonging in 1988, every episode was important and necessary for the development of the story’s main plot. 

What Was Great:

Cohesive: 

Everything in this drama fit together really well. Given that it’s based off some strong source materiel it’s not really a big surprise, but it’s still worth commending. Time travel dramas can be pretty tricky with making the two timelines flow smoothly and making them both seem as important as each other.

Admittedly, 1988 did feel slightly more important

The time travel (or whatever it was) here was done brilliantly. The elements of 2018 that managed to sneak into 1988 reminded us that there was another timeline out there somewhere, and kept us from getting too wrapped up in the 1988 universe. Once Tae Joo was back in 2018, the ghost-like apparitions of the 1988 squad were a great way to keep us pining for what had been left behind,

I mean, no one in 2018 can make Tae Joo smile like that

and make us want some way for our hero to return and save the people we had come to care about so much. Which was also done really smoothly. Tae Joo had no existing connection with the officers in 1988, so it was a hard sell to have this stoic, emotionless man come to love this team. However, as Tae Joo gradually learned about the others through each case in 1988, he came to appreciate their talents, dedication, and most importantly their good intentions. Their 1988 gruffness had a way of getting through Tae Joo’s walls that 2018 politeness just couldn’t. It didn’t feel unrealistic that Tae Joo would come to care about these people as much as he did, as they are the first to really trust him and stand on his side. Tae Joo’s relationship with Na Young was so sweet, and was developed so beautifully. Her soft, caring nature is exactly what Tae Joo needed during his most turbulent time. While I adore the two of them together, I appreciate that the show didn’t push the romance too hard. There were hints of growing romantic interest, and while some small baby steps were taken, there were no big declarations of love or grand gestures- which I think suited 1988 and Tae Joo perfectly. 

Nothing builds romance quite like respect and understanding

Brilliant Remake:

Remakes are nothing new in K-Drama, with there being a pretty wide selection of Japanese to Korean remakes, and even some Taiwanese and Chinese ones. K-Drama also takes its source material from books, manhwas and webtoons. In the past year though I have heard more about K-Dramas taking on some Western materiel.

I've a feeling we're not in England anymore

I haven’t actually watched any of them, but I know they’re out there. This takes on a slightly different tone, as American series tend to have waaaaaaaay more than a single season. In this case, the British version had 2 seasons of 8 episodes each- so that’s the same amount as the Korean remake. Despite not knowing much about the original, I have heard that the Korean version stays pretty in tune with tone of the original. However, it also isn’t simply a copy-paste scenario. The drama took the tone, themes, and heart of the British show, and wrapped it up in pretty Korean packaging. The characters and their environment do not feel British. At all. The show takes place in 1988, which is a pretty memorable year for Korea, what with the Seoul Olympics and all. The cases in the Korean version felt much more geared toward a Korean audience, with one of them even being based on an actual hostage situation that took place in Korea.

So I doubt that case is in the BBC version

The way the 1988 detectives were more brawn than brain, and the way their very competent female officer was constantly overlooked made the 1988 characters fell very real, and most importantly very Korean. While the drama probably would have still been very enjoyable if it had followed the script of the original exactly, where the real magic of this show came was taking a great idea that had worked previously and giving it a fresh new coating.

And I must say, I like this coating

The two shows felt the same, and had some very similar ideas, but as far as I’m aware they were very different shows. The Korean version definitely made a space of its own beside a very well loved and well regarded show. 

What Wasn’t:

More Questions Than Answers:

As this drama went on and I got more and more invested in the story, I did start to wonder if it was going to end in a way that I found intellectually satisfying. Arrogant and obnoxious as that might sound (particularly as I’m not outstandingly bright), I do prefer it when dramas don’t treat me like a complete idiot

This mystery wrapped up pretty well

and actually have a conclusion to the mystery that makes logical sense. I adored all the different questions the show was throwing out there, and there were so many ways the show could have wrapped up. Overall I am satisfied with the way the drama was concluded, but I must say that it didn’t exactly answer all the questions that were raised throughout its 16 episodes. The big main mystery of who the serial murderer was and who was helping him was wrapped up pretty perfectly, and I can’t really fault how the show got to its conclusion on that front- it all made sense, and I was happy with how both the brothers were arrested in 2018. But to me, the mystery that was far more compelling was whether or not Tae Joo had actually gone back in time, or if the whole 1988 world was actually just a big dream while Tae Joo was in his coma. There’s evidence to support either way. Tae Joo was looking at the files of cold cases that included the murder of our 1988 squad, so it’s possible that Tae Joo’s brain turned the stories in those files into a detailed world for him to live in.

But I so desperately want these guys to be real

There’s also the whole thing where Tae Joo’s family and doctors were communicating with his coma-body and that was leaking through to 1988 Tae Joo. But on the other hand, these were cold cases, and 1988 Tae Joo was able to solve some of them while he was there. Being a cold case, the information to solve the cases wouldn’t have been in the files,

I feel like he'd notice if the detective chasing him hadn't aged

so there was no way that Tae Joo’s brain could have incorporated an accurate solving of cases into a dream. Also, the squad was an actual group of people that did exist in 1988. But on the other, other hand, no one who Tae Joo interacted with in 1988 seemed to remember him being there. Like I’m pretty sure his Mum might have noticed if her son grew up to look exactly like the detective that was investigating her husband who had the exact same name as her son. But nope, nothing from Mum. So what is really going on here? We’ll never know, because the show never decided to tell us. It left it all open for people to wonder and be confused and debate over what was real and what wasn’t. And I can kinda, sorta see the fun in that. But I also really don’t like open endings and generally prefer when dramas actually tell me what is happening. Or at least give pretty big, decisive hints.

Come on show, I want to know if these people are real or not and if they're dead or not

With Tae Joo jumping of a building to get back to 1988 and save the lives of his squad, I am hoping that it was a time-travel or alternate reality sort of thing, because otherwise he just tried to kill himself in order to get back to a dream that isn’t even real, and all his family have to suffer through him being comatose or dead in the real world. And that’s pretty bloody grim. 

Recommend:
Yes- if you’ve seen the original series and what to watch the remake, or if you just enjoy a good crime drama I definitely recommend giving this one a go.

This picture sums the squad up pretty well

Radiant Office

Radiant Office

7/10

Radiant Office

Genre:                                 Episodes: 16                           Year: 2017

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Three young adults who struggle finding full-time employment meet in a hospital after all three of them are rescued from suicide attempts. They overhear the doctor saying that one of them has a terminal illness, but must sneak out before finding out more, as they can’t pay their hospital bills. Later, the three of them are hired as temporary employees at the same company.

Cast:

Go Ah Sung (Eun Ho Won)

Ha Suk Jin (Seo Woo Jin)

Lee Dong Hwi (Do ki Taek)

Hoya (Jang Kang Do)

Kim Dong Wook (Seo Hyun)

Han Sun Hwa (Ha Ji Na)

Kwon Hae Hyo (Park Sang Man)

Jang Shin Young (Jo Suk Kyung)

Oh Dae Hwan (Lee Yong Jae)

Kim Byung Choon (Heo Goo Dong)

General Thoughts:

This drama surprised me in many ways. I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I did, and I certainly didn’t expect to love the hero, Woo Jin. I’ve yet to watch an office romance that really sucks me in the way other rom-coms can, but ‘Radiant Office’ has probably come the closest.

Office politics just aren't as fun as love shenanigans 

There were times were I felt the plot could stand to move a little quicker, most often being when it came to the office politics. As someone who doesn’t work in Korea, it can be hard at times to relate to the way the everyman worker has to act in the workplace- it’s one of those scenarios that highlights culture differences. If a superior was forcing a new young female employee to drink, it would be the superior getting dark looks- not the new hire for trying to refuse.

This guy made me want to barf

While *ss-kissing definitely happens in Western culture as well, its much more obvious in Korean media. It also seems to be much more frowned upon and seen as a slimy thing to do in Western society, whereas it’s almost expected in Korea. It doesn’t seem like a big deal but it did prevent me from connecting with some of the characters and it made some of the office workers pretty dislikable. I will give the show props for showing how difficult it can be for a woman to succeed professionally in Korea. The drama made a real point of showing how Suk Kyung was constantly overlooked for promotions simply because she was a woman. It also made our main man so much more endearing, as by the end of the series, one of his main goals was to make Hauline a company that doesn’t discriminate against women. I loved how Woo Jin not only saw Suk Kyung’s promotion as Suk Kyung’s own success, but also as a positive step forward for Ji Na, Ho Won and all the other women in the company. Although the company politics didn’t tend to be all that interesting, it was the effect of those politics on the employee relationships that was the draw of the drama. The three temporary employees always supported each other and looked out for each other no matter what mistake they might have made.

Suicide Squad

These three brought a lot of warmth to the show, and were one of the truest, nicest depictions of friendship I’ve seen on TV in a while. I adored that the two who were hired as permanent employees weren’t even happy on the day they were promoted simply because they were too busy feeling sad for Ki Taek who had failed. The three were just lovely to watch on screen, and had a nice easy chemistry between them.

You might not be a nice guy but my goodness you're a cutie 

The way their characters drew together after their failed suicide attempt and sudden hiring felt natural, and they really felt like one team. It would have been an easy plot option to have the three temporary employees fight each other for the permanent positions, so it was nice that the writer took the less obvious route. The friends never tried to pull one over on each other just to get a leg up in their career (except Kang Ho that one time early on). Instead most of our conflict arose because of Hyun. Who was…confusing to say the least. Early on he was super sweet and super likeable. My first experience with Ha Suk Jin wasn’t exactly a nice one- I hated his stuck up, I’m-better-than-you character in ‘Drinking Solo’, and it looked like he was going to be playing a similar sort of character here. I was all ready to be feeling some serious second lead syndrome. And for a while, I did. Kim Dong Wook is a good looking man, and his smile is just too adorable. Next to the cold, unsmiling Ha Suk Jin he seemed really cool and really swoony. But as the show progressed, his character became more and more confusing. While Hyun had definitely always had an air of mystery about him, once he closed his hospital and started getting involved in the company, he became downright incomprehensible.

Not even Hyun knows what Hyun is doing

It wasn’t clear if he had a nice character that he was covering up in order to do well in business or if he was just a straight-up mean dude who would use anyone and everyone to get ahead. Hyun seemed genuinely interested in Ho Won (he put a lot of effort into their ‘friendship’ and didn’t really interact with the other two boys), yet when he joined the company he didn’t seem to care about her at all. It wasn’t obvious if this was because Hyun just didn’t understand how his actions hurt Ho Won or if he was just uninterested in her now that he had gotten all he needed from her. In the end, his character just became a big question mark, which is a shame as he could have added a lot of uniqueness to the show. Also on a side note, Feeldog is a total scene-stealer and I adored him as the younger brother of our leading lady. I wanted to see so much more of him- and his adorable Busan accent!

Why couldn't you have been in all the episodes?

What Was Great:

Likeable Leads:

I adored both of these leads. Eun Ho Won was just so loveable and relatable. All twenty-something adults can relate to that awkward time when you come out of school or collage and have to enter the real world and you have no idea how the hell to do so. Ho Won may bumble and stumble along, but she always gave her best at everything.

No one wants to be an adult

Her despair was easy to understand as she constantly gave her everything, yet the working world was constantly telling her it wasn’t good enough. Go Ah Sung embraced the everyday, average character and gave her a life of her own. It would have been easy to have Ho Won fall into boring territory as she’s literally characterised as one of millions of young job-seekers. Go Ah Sung nailed Ho Won’s quiet discontent- and then her not so quiet discontent. While Ho Won thought she had a terminal illness, her upbeat attitude about aiming to be happy each day just made her so loveable. Go Ah Sung was excellent in the more emotional beats of the show (even though I never actually believed Ho Won was dying). She was believable without seeming over the top- Ho Won actually cried quite a lot in this drama, and yet she never came across as a total crybaby. What was more surprising is that I adored Woo Jin. He’s a bit of an unlikeable hard*ss at the start, but he actually softens up in a nice believable way. It made sense that even though the leads didn’t like each other at the start, that they eventually fell for each other.

They were unexpectedly adorable

Sometimes I can find hate-to-love relationships a little forced, but the relationship development between Ho Won and Woo Jin was so natural and so lovely to watch. Rather than instantly falling for each other or having one issue that made them see each other in a positive light, their relationship dynamic was a nice slow burn.

But I still want you to try a different character type next

Because they disliked each other so much they were hyper aware of each other. That intense awareness of course meant that they were taking close note of what the other was doing, and that eventually lead to understanding. Even when they understood each other they didn’t dive in straight away. It was nice to watch them develop a strong friendship that stemmed from a deep respect for each other. Ho Won respected Woo Jin’s abilities and skill at work, and Woo Jin respected Ho Won’s dedication, determination and unwillingness to conform to a system she didn’t believe in. Each step they took towards each other was so delightful to watch, and it was this nice gradual drawing together that made the show so exciting to watch. While I do wish Ho Won had been given a chance to be supportive of Woo Jin the way he was always encouraging her, I didn’t mind too much that Woo Jin put in a bit more effort as he had to make up for being such a weenie at the beginning of the series.

What Wasn’t:

Fast Finish:

As soon as Episode 15 ended I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to love the way the drama concluded itself- and I was right. While I adored our leads and their relationship, the end of the drama really highlighted the aspects of the show that weren’t developed as well as they should have been. When you have a drama filled with such loveable characters, viewers start to imagine their lives and how their story and relationships are going to progress.

We know what we want for these guys from ep 1

I had so much excitement for these characters and where they were headed that I was pretty disappointed when none of it played out on screen. It was hinted at that Ki Taek was the one with the terminal illness, and it was confirmed right at the end. His relationship with Ji Na was wonderful to watch mend and grow, and it was beautiful the way Ji Na realised that she loved Ki Taek for who he was and was willing to forgo financial security to be with him.

And suddenly you're seriously sick

It would have been interesting to watch their newly rekindled romance be rocked again by the news that Ki Taek might not even live for another year- but we are left to imagine, as the show ended before it really got into any of Ki Taek’s illness. It was also confusing as to what stupid doctor told him that he was perfectly fine when in actuality he was DYING. It was also hinted that Kang Ho was developing a cute little crush on Suk Kyung, but that was another thing that got completely ignored. It seemed that the show was going to go somewhere with that plot line as it even introduced her daughter and threw out that she was divorced. But instead that love line just went nowhere and we were left to imagine what could have been. Hyun was another character that got completely shafted at the end. Ho Won suddenly just told him he was a nice guy underneath (pretty sure he’s not though) and Hyun’s invisible older brother stepped in to right all the wrongs Hyun had done and ship Hyun off to an American branch. And seeing that all of those things were ignored, you’d at least think we’d get a satisfying end to our romance, right? Not right. While the slow burn of the main leads was wonderful, I was still hoping that after 16 episodes we’d get a nice snog. But instead we got a small peck that lasted for like a millisecond.

Blink and you'll miss it

Not only was the kiss not great, but the scene in which it happened also felt strangely forced when the rest of their relationship had been so natural. The show had aaaaaaall this time to develop its characters and their relationships, but by the end it felt like the things it should have been focusing on were ignored in favour of office politics and the nasty office bosses. The drama is still super enjoyable, but it’s always a bit of a bummer when a great series finishes on a whimper.

Recommend?

Yeah, for sure. It’s a cute little series with an endearing hero and heroine. The romance is lovely to watch develop- just don’t expect it to be smoking hot.

I wish it gave a little more, but what it gave is still great