Synopsis:
Inspector Koo is a crime mystery drama about a recluse woman obsessed with online gaming who works as an insurance fraud inspector. She is incredibly observant and intuitive. She finds herself on a long journey to find a serial killer who has travelled throughout Korea to exact seemingly random murders on people who aren't in the least good people.
One the woman is about a woman who was a victim of a car accident leaving her with temporary amnesia. When she wakes up she is then swept away by people who claim to be her family. She is quickly swept up into a crazy world where she so obviously does not belong. Soon a revenge plot takes place as she tries her best to exact judgment on these awful beings who claim to be family.
Review:
Hello dear reader! For those of you who may get confused Detective Koo and One the Woman are two different dramas. I decided to lump them in one post since I unfortunately didn't get around to writing about them during the school year and I feel like that is an injustice to these two dramas.
I rate my dramas on mainly two categories, storytelling, and direction. Under Storytelling, I take into account not just the acting, but the writing, and music as well. It is usually presented as a percentage. Under the category direction, I consider both editing and direction, editing counts for 2 points while direction counts for 3. It'll be out 5. I call them my sticky notes because that tends to be what I write my thoughts on when I'm watching. On my sticky notes I gave the series a 95% on story telling and a 5/5 for direction.
Fist, I'll start with Inspector Koo, the main character itself was absolutely
fascinating. She was like a grungy Sherlock Holmes. She was cranky, difficult to be around, didn't like outsiders, exacting, and didn't care what she said or did. Yet, the actress, Lee Young Ae, was able to pull off a softer side to those the inspector pretends not to care about. Lee Young Ae could have easily made the character annoying and implicitly dislikable, but she managed to express a softer side through her non verbal actions. Her facial expressions when no one is looking, the side glances, the decision to intervene in situations she wouldn't normally take action. Lee Young Ae, brought a duality to the inspector. I honestly don't think anyone could have done a better job. I though it was similar to how Benedict Cumberbatch and Tony Shalhoub in their respective roles as Sherlock and Monk, it seemed as the characters were tailor made for them.
The main vileness, Song Yi Kyung, in Inspector Koo was also another work of pure art. She was maniacal, brilliant, cruel, she had a backwards idea of justice, and yet had a child like innocence. I couldn't help but admire how complex this character was and how seamlessly the actress pulled it off. She was a joy to watch on screen. She was indeed a great "Moriarty" to Lee Young Ae's "Sherlock." Kim Hee Jun" did an amazing job in her role.
On my sticky notes, I gave it a 98 in storytelling and a 5/5 in direction. I thought the series was hilarious and well written. I had very little to be annoyed about. They story flowed well, it had some slow parts, but over was entertaining. Aside from the two kick-ass performances by two great actresses, I highly recommend this series. All the actors did a marvelous job at creating a world and laying out a story that I was effectively sucked into.
Now, onto One the Woman. This series, dear reader, was unique and interesting to
me. The plot that was initially set was intriguing and it was well performed. I had never seen lead actress Lee Na Here in a series before but I was not disappointed. She did well in acting out a person who is suffering from temporary amnesia and even pulling up on the softer moments, even though there weren't many of those moments.
On my sticky notes, I gave One the Woman an 85% on storytelling and a 3/5 on direction. Here's the reason why: this series is an interesting one. It is definitely a show where the bad guys are flat out bastards and the good guys are just and good. The one thing I'll say for the "good guys" though is that main female lead does sort of take a dip into questionable waters. Meaning, she makes decisions that not completely morally north. For example she tends to deal with former and even active criminals and makes shady deals all for the sake of justice. She is what people would characterize as a chaotic good persona.
The female lead also leaned more toward classic narratives where more independent
women tend to be less feminine and rough around the sharp edges. It's the "she's not like other girls" trope. Thus, she tends to come off as crude, butch, and unkempt. I didn't necessarily appreciate this aspect of the series but it was bearable.
The love story was a bit stressed and in my humble opinion could have been better. The main lead is initially in love with someone else and continues to love that person who he thinks she is. Then suddenly he has a flashback to when he first meets said love and remembers she acts just like the lady presented before him then decides,
"Oh, it's been this one all along." Is that really love then? How could you not notice the difference in personality? Yeah, they're identical but personality wise vastly different. Whereas the second male lead has been with her this through the whole journey and process knows her ins and out yet still loves her. He recognizes the differences.
Another problem I had with this series was the plot. It was not sustainable. If the two main character's were left as twins and there was not that weird plot twist at the very end of the series I think this would have had a better impact. Also, dear reader, we never actually get an answer to why the main female lead and the woman she replaces look so similar. The story never reveals with definitiveness that they are twins or how things came to be. As an audience we understand there is an that they are identical but other than looks nothing remains similar. That's it though, that is all we are told. There is no answer to where the main lead is from.
Finally I will end with the story tends to veer from let me fix this situation so that it's more bearable for this person when they return to their role, then shifts to let's make this permanent. Let's take this match and set fire to the whole damned thing and try to put me in it's place. There is no way someone can be that untraceable. If all this stuff is happening and these are public figures you'd best bet that other person is keeping tabs. They'd want to keep and eye out.
Anyway, I enjoyed both series. I would say I enjoyed Inspector Koo more than One the Woman but both were interesting. I hop you give one or even both a try. If you do, please let me know your thoughts I love to hear from you dear reader. Goodbye and until next time!