L-FILMS, TV-SERIES reviews
Nevertheless9/18/2021 Nevertheless and The Road, The Tragedy of One (SK, 2021-) South Korean screenwriters and directors are including more and more lesbian characters into their 'new wave' of modern romance and drama. Their latest attempt is TV series Nevertheless with the characters Sol and Ji Wan and The Road, The Tragedy of One with characters Cha and Kwon. Nevertheless is a bit better than other series like Dracula and Mine since Sol and Ji Wan openly show and share affection in front of the others and between them. Their love story unfolds like any other story and it is a standard love story when both female characters come to terms from being really good friends to slowly but surely become a couple. Despite holding hands and occasionally hugging we still haven't seen any kiss. I don't know when the time is going to be right that lesbians can kiss and have sex onscreen in SK. However, perhaps Sol and Wan could be more relaxed towards displaying their affection because it is a different environment and surroundings from series like Dracula and Mine. The first was about the family relations, (a rather homophobic) mother and daughter who finally, sort out their relationship mother accepting her lesbian daughter and second it was about the most powerful business family in Korea where one of the character-lesbian could finally live her love life after 20 years of denying her feelings for her first love – both of the aforementioned had to deal with lots of social-historical straining ties, whereas Nevertheless is suited in the student environment, into the classroom and social-private life where everything revolves around the students' artwork and love life. Well, anyway the story of Sol and Ji Wan is a side and not the main story. The Road: The Tragedy of One got my attention twofold: first we have a lesbian affair between Cha Seo Young (Kim Hye-Eun) and Kwon Yeo-jin (Baek Ji-won), and second, the leading character Seo Eun Soo is played by one of my top S-Korean actress's Yun Se-Ah. Baek Soo Hyun (Ji Jin-hee) is a popular and respected anchorman for a broadcast station. He is known as a journalist with strong beliefs. When he states something on camera, viewers take his words as the truth. Yet, Baek Soo Hyun has another side. He is cold-hearted. When he wants something, he gets it no matter what. He is married to Seo Eun Soo (Yun Se-ah) and they have a child. Seo Eun Soo is the daughter of the chairman of the Jegang Group and married to Anchorman Baek Soo Hyun. Her father is powerful enough that he wields heavy influence in the political and economic worlds. Seo Eun Soo is herself a popular miniature artist. Both Baek and Seo have their own secrets that put a heavyweight on their marriage and relationship. And everything becomes complicated when Cha Seo Young's (Kim Hye-Eun) the child is abducted and killed while at first, we thought it was Baek and Seo's child who was abducted for a ransom. However, the child that was abducted and killed was Baek's child too since he cheated on Seo with Cha. Yun Se-ah's performance is not as strong and outstanding as in previous series because the script itself doesn't bring anything outstanding as Hyun's wife. However, what is new in her role is that she cheats on her husband and shows her jealous side which leads her to be a cold-hearted woman who partially contributed to the killing of the Cha's child. In this sense, she is not as morally chaste as in previous roles of the silent, obedient, strong wife who puts up with all sorts of moodiness, quirkiness and ambitions of her husbands, like in Stranger (2017-2020) or Sky Castle (2019). She has her own life and secrets as her husband. However, for us it is more interesting Cha Seo Young (Kim Hye-Eun) and Kwon Yeo-jin (Baek Ji-won) story. Young is a very ambitious announcer for a broadcast station who wants to replace a popular and respected Baek Soo Hyun as an anchorman. She has a prestigious job, exemplary educational background, respected husband but she also has an extramarital lesbian affair with her boss as the news editor, single Kwon Yeo-jin (Baek Ji-won). However, it seems that Cha mainly uses Kwon more like friends with benefits than anything else while Kwon knowingly does that. But the other way around is true as well. Both women are very ambitious who help their careers while having sex with each other but they are not prepared to help each other if it could harm any of the careers as is revealed at the end of the series when Cha asks Kwon for her help. In this series is finally hinted at two women clearly having sex with each other, more so than in any other series, but this is not shown yet as well. Maybe kisses and sex are going to be shown in 2022 – it would be about time!
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AuthorPhilosopher, publicist, editor, screenwriter with passion for LL-films and TV-shows. Archives
November 2021
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