Ping Pong Ball

Ping Pong Ball

7/10

Ping Pong Ball

Genre:                                                      Episodes: 2                                     Year: 2018

Mystery

Melodrama

Synopsis:

Kim Young Joon is a university student who is having trouble with the girl he is interested in. Despite the heat of summer, Young Joon jogs to keep his mind off his issues. After fainting from heatstroke, Young Joon is rescued by Kim Deuk Hwan, a homeless man who lives under a bridge by Young Joon’s apartment complex.

Cast:

Ji Soo (Kim Young Joon)

Yoo Jae Myung (Kim Deuk Hwan)

Na Hae Ryung (In Ha)

Choi Klang Il (Pub Boss)

General Thoughts:

I’m just going to start this off by saying that this is definitely not going to be a drama for everyone. I wouldn’t describe a lot of Korean dramas as being ‘arthouse’ but I can’t really think of a better word for ‘Ping Pong Ball’.

Very pretty, and pretty moody

It’s 100% not a show that aims to please the vast majority of viewers, but that’s okay. As a small show with a short runtime, this is the perfect sort of drama for writers and actors to take part in a story with unique themes that they find personally interesting. Shows like this are always nice to have around, because it seems like everyone who participated in it really wanted to be here for the story it had to tell-

I feel like I missed a lot of what was going on in this drama

not for fame (because this drama was never going to be a smash hit), and not for money (because I doubt they got paid much for it). As a result, the drama itself felt very high in quality, as everyone who was involved was putting their whole into creating something that they enjoyed and could take pride in. My biggest issue with short K-Dramas is that they usually feel like they are low-budget due to the less than stellar quality of the shows, but that’s not something that can be said about ‘Ping Pong Ball’. A lot of effort went into making the atmosphere moody and mysterious, and into making the characters veiled and intriguing. PD Kim Sang Ho who was behind this drama is no rookie, having directed some big shows (such as ‘Arang and the Magistrate’), and you could really feel his experience come through. The atmosphere set up was one of the best parts about this show, drawing you in and piquing your interest about all the characters that inhabited this strange part of the city.

I want to know all the secrets (Spoiler Alert: you do not get to learn all the secrets)

The PD was great at giving you just enough information for viewers to start drawing their own conclusions and try and piece together what was going on, but never actually gave any concrete evidence- so there was never any clear right or wrong answers, it was pretty much all down to interpretation.

There was a lot going on even when there wasn't a lot going on

The acting was all phenomenal. I’ve been a huge fan of Ji Soo ever since seeing him in ‘Angry Mom’, and I have seen every single drama he’s been in since (exceeeeeept ‘Bad Guys 2’). And have not once been disappointed in his acting. Ji Soo has taken on a variety of roles, but his role here in ‘Ping Pong Ball’ fit him much more than any of his previous roles. He slipped right into the role of Young Joon, this awkward, isolated kid who was a bit lost in life. K-Dramas tend to have a lot of dialogue going on (both internal and external) to let us know what’s going on and how our characters are feeling, but ‘Ping Pong Ball’ was rather light on dialogue, leaving us to infer a lot of what was going on in our characters’ minds through expression alone. Both Ji Soo and Yoo Jae Myung did this very well, particularly Yoo Jae Myung, who was somehow able to express only tiny snippets of his character at a time, while still keeping his history in the dark. All the elements of this drama were of a very high quality and pulled together to form an interesting and professional little show.

What Was Great:

Intelligent:

This show never assumed its audience was dumb. It never went out of its way to explain its themes and ideas, and even when it did explain them it did so in a smooth an natural way- usually as a conversation between Deuk Hwan and Young Joon as the two men swapped and shared ideologies.

This show low-key made me want to read up on some philosophy 

Regardless of whether you agreed with the philosophies and ideas that were being discussed, it was still an enjoyable experience to partake in the intelligent conversation between these two characters. Not that there’s anything wrong with dramas that have a simple approach, or characters with simple goals and ideas, it’s just nice for a change to have some discussion on a deeper level.

What Wasn’t:

What Happened?:

While I understand that this drama is all introspective and its primary function is to comment of the ambiguity of life and relationships, I do maybe wish that the show had given us a few more solid answers (I'm usually not a fan of open endings, though it did make sense here).

All these mysteries we'll never solve

I was satisfied enough with the ending between Deuk Hwan and Young Joon, with the homeless man disappearing from Young Joon’s life as suddenly as he’s appeared in it. I even liked the way his wife missed that last chance to reconnect with Deuk Hwan after lying to Young Joon that she didn’t know him. I appreciated the nuanced moments and the subtleties in the story. But I still kinda want to know what the deal was with the dead guys. Perhaps I’m missing something, or perhaps this was further continuation on the drama’s commentary that we never have the full picture and can never answer all the questions in life. But I can’t deny that I kind of what to know why the seemingly quiet, calm barman (at least I assume it was the barman) was killing people.  

Recommend?

It’s only two episodes so it’s probably worth a go. You’ll either like it which is nice, or you won’t, in which case it was only two hours.

Ah, the meaning and meaninglessness of life