Week in Review (Jul 18 – 24, 2021)

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

Loki (2021)

I’m glad I waited to watch Loki in one sitting once it had finished airing, because I felt that not a lot actually happened over the course of the show. Most of the action occurred in the final episode, with the first five mostly just long expositions and a chance to explore the scenery.

While Tom Hiddleston is very good at delivering a complex monologue, it felt like that was just about all he had to do. The entire first episode was exposition and rather than pulling me into the world of the TVA, it actually pulled me out. It made the show feel a little bit flat, despite the grandness of its settings.

That being said, I did enjoy the final episode of the show, which was essentially a battle of wits between the mysterious figure beyond the void (Jonathan Majors), and Loki and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino). Majors adds a calmness to the age-old character that could very easily have been over the top and campy, bringing a much needed weight to the show.

The debate between thinking you are the best version of yourself and doubting that you may not be was captured quite well, with a literal battle between two different versions of the same entity. I did not like the incestuous narcissistic take that the show had on Loki and Sylvie’s relationship, the clash of ideologies was well conveyed.

The idea of multiverses is definitely nothing new in the comic book world, but seeing it manifested in such a fun way is always delightful. I’m looking forward to seeing how the show takes things forward in that direction. I also want to see more of Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Loki together, since the two of them had incredible chemistry on screen.

Hospital Playlist 2 (2021) – Ep 5-6

It was an interesting two weeks on HP, with Episode 5 setting up the time jump and Episode 6 showing us how everyone has changed (or stayed the same) in the past year. For the most part, not much seems to be different for our main 5. Jun-wan (Jung Kyoung-ho) still can’t seem to move on from his relationship. Song-hwa (Jeon Mi-do) and Ik-joon (Jo Jeong-seok) are still comfortable with one another, with just the tiniest hint of tension under the surface. Seok-hyung (Kim Dae-myung) has decided to open himself up to the possibility of dating Min-ha (Ahn Eun-jin). And Jeong-won (Yoo Yeon-seok) is still keeping his relationship with Gyeo-ul (Shin Hyun-bin) under wraps; although it definitely feels like she wants more out of it.

Now that Song-hwa is back for good, I think that the writes will start to establish a more concrete arc for her future relationship with Ik-joon. With only half the season left, it seems very likely that we will get to the point of a confession by the end of the season, with actual dating happening in the next one. I hope that if that is where the show is heading, we don’t just get the two of them in an isolated bubble, but rather get to see the effects of it in their existing lives, especially how it might impact U-joo (Kim Jun).

Jun-wan is definitely being written as the most tragic of the characters. All his friends seems to have something else to do or somewhere else to be. Even his devoted resident Jae-hak (Jung Moon-sung) hasn’t got the time to spend with him, and it’s really taking a toll on him. While he isn’t showing it outwardly yet, I feel that the hints about expressing your emotions this episode will apply most aptly to him, and he’s going to have a breakdown soon. Even though his friends will be there for him, it seems that the show is hinting that he isn’t complete without a partner. While I dislike this line of thinking, I do understand that Jun-wan’s prickly exterior often makes him unapproachable and therefore harder to befriend.

Seok-hyung and Jeong-won seem to have the least amount of change in their immediate environment the past year, but I feel like the more interesting changes are going to unfold in the latter half for the two of them. Both seem to have marriage in the periphery, Seok-hyung because of his mother and Jeong-won potentially from Gyeo-ul.

We seem to be getting a few more scenes of the friends interacting with one another, which is by far my favourite part of the show. The actors really pull off that decades-long-friendship vibe, and they feel comfortable and homey in those moments. Their band practices are only getting better and better, and I can’t wait to see the uproar when they finally have to let Song-hwa sing for her birthday.