Week in Review (Dec 27, 2020 – Jan 2, 2021)

Happy New Year! This past year has been an eventful year filled with lots of new show, movies and books. I’m hoping to be able to have just as much fun this year with lots of new media and hopefully some good insights, too.

What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:

*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*

TV

Lovestruck in the City (2020) – Ep 1-4

Lovestruck in the City is a strange take on the mockumentary format, blending interview footage with flashbacks and cutting clips in a way that makes it seem like the characters are having conversations with one another despite being in different locations and perhaps shooting at different times. It also seems like at moments we get to see the characters inner thoughts, and it seems unlikely that there would be a camera around in those situations. I feel like the show is going to slowly diverge away from having the mockumentary style, and eventually we’re only going to be left with a few remnants of interview footage.

As far as the characters are concerned, I’m finding it a bit difficult to connect to them. I picked this show up as a fan of Kim Ji-won, who I loved in The Heirs and was fascinated with in Decendants of the Sun. However, Lee Eun-oh doesn’t seem to have been written with as much depth. Her leading man Jae-won (Ji Chang-wook), isn’t much different. I’d been hearing people rave about Ji as an actor, but his performance here is a little underwhelming. I’m not sure if it’s an issue with the portrayal or the writing, but as things stand, I don’t understand the appeal.

To be fair, the story is only now starting to find its feet, in Episode 4, and I hope we’re going to start to see the it develop more clearly now that the set-up is done – and hopefully pick up the pace too. I’m curious how everyone is going to come together, and what the previous connection between all the character will mean for them going forward.

Graphic Novels

Paper Girls (Issue #16-20)

It’s exposition time! We got a lot of dialogue in these five issues, and the motivations of both sides are becoming clearer, if not more logical. Y2K madness was sweeping the town of Stony Stream, as they arrive on New Year’s Day 2000. Not only are the local citizens panicking, but this is also the time where the Old-timers and the Teenagers have decided to have a robot death-battle. The girls get caught in the cross-fire and as usual have to navigate through the danger until they can find a way out; either to the future, or back home to the past.

I was rather surprised to find out that the Grand Father that seems to be running the show was Jahpo, the child that the girls ended up saving in prehistoric times, and I’m looking forward to his story unfolding as we understand the circumstances that led him to where he is now. I’m also curious how Future Tiffany is going to tie into the group, now that they’ve brought her along for the ride, and if that’s going to affect her timeline as a child.

There are a lot of question that still remain unanswered, and I’m hoping that we’ll see them covered in the final third of the series.