KBS Drama Specials 2020

Hooray! After last year, in which only four episodes were made available with subtitles, I was worried about whether I would be able to watch the KBS Drama Specials at all this year. Luckily, Kocowa has stepped in to sub them! I've really missed watching these, and I've missed reviewing them. This year is a good one - rife with unique stories, complicated protagonists and really interesting themes - so without further ado, here are my thoughts on this year's specials!

Modern Girl

Looked down on by her cheating husband, Shim-deuk decides to go to school and become the perfect modern girl! Aided by her faithful handmaid Yeong-yi, Shim-deuk starts a journey of self-discovery.

What a great start! I think this is one of the best uses of the fusion sageuk genre I've seen - they tend to start fun, but descend into classic sageuk melodrama by the second half. Modern Girl (while touching on classic themes of resistance and equality and freedom) is consistently plotted and ends just as upbeat as it begins. It avoids embracing historical accuracy too tightly; the time period serves more as a fitting backdrop to explore Shim-deuk's struggle to make peace with her own class and privilege. I love that her story wasn't about romance, but female friendship and emancipation. It was a bait-and-switch I'm not mad about. Modern Girl is a lovely way to spend an hour and I happily recommend it!

Crevasse

Soo-min is a stranger to her own husband and son. When she reassesses her relationship with an old friend, the fortresses she built to keep her life together come tumbling down.

I don't even know where to start in talking about this. It's art. It's incredible. Crevasse seizes you by the throat in the first minute and never lets you go, managing to create a tension that it holds all the way until the climax. I ought to avoid spoiling anything because I seriously enjoyed going into this completely blind, but I can't do it justice without a few words on the heroine. Yoon Se-ah is always absolutely phenomenal. She perfectly conveys the complete madness that threatened to swallow Soo-min whole. The despair of not being needed is so palpable in her performance. To be vague, I love the visual cue of the shirt, the evidence that Soo-min was hungry to become someone else, steal someone else's life. It was maddening and utterly heart-breaking to watch her sink lower and lower into her chasm of despair. Masterfully told, Crevasse is a darkly psychological thriller that rocked my world. It's also easily a new favourite of mine. 

To My Assailant

Song Jin-woo, a teacher, finds himself face-to-face with Yoo Seong-pil, who bullied him in high school. Now, they are competitors for a full-time teaching position at the same school.

I'm warning you now, this story will make you sick to your stomach. The first half is as horrific as any horror film, playing out like a Shakespearean tragedy - Jin-woo, blackmailed by a student into turning a blind eye to her own violence, almost became the same evil that allowed Yoo Seong-pil to terrorise him once. You watch the roles reverse and reverse again, power given and taken away. The fact I can liken it to a Shakespearean work is a testament to the immersive theatrical nature of the special. I was captivated by this dark world and the naked honesty of it. This special is also incredible because the characters feel expertly crafted and masterfully performed. Character-driven specials must be difficult to make, but the successful ones are always something amazing - I've only known Song Jin-woo for an hour, but I love him with my whole heart. With the assurance that the ending is perfectly satisfying, I ask you to please please please go and watch To My Assailant. It is poetry in motion.

The Joys and Sorrows of Work

This special follows Anna, an administrator for a small start-up company Udon Market. After meeting Turtle Egg, a top user of their app, she learns some valuable lessons about how to approach her work.

I have to say, I enjoyed this far more than I expected to. The beginning of the special is messy - the setting is rich, so there's a lot to introduce in a short space of time, and a lot of moving parts to follow. It was overwhelming. Perhaps it would have made more sense for this to be a two episode special? Yet, by the halfway point the story had really found its flow! As it concluded, I realised I'd had a great time. It is a story told mostly through dialogue and narration, unsubtle but thoroughly charming. I think this special has the most universally applicable message of any on this list: work is just work, it does not have to be a source of stress that follows you outside the office. If you want something involved but still feel-good, go for this.

Trip

An elderly lady and a middle-aged fruit merchant, both estranged from their children, form a bond after taking an impromptu trip to Wonju together. 

I'm going to struggle to talk about this one, because I'm more sensitive to stories about mothers than most people. They strike me somewhere vulnerable. I probably won't be re-watching Trip, in spite of the lovely themes of intergenerational friendships and compassion, because it was very difficult to watch. Nevertheless, I think you should watch it. Watching dramas like this is so important. Son Sook is a delightful actress - you might recognise her from My Ahjussi, one of the most affecting dramas ever written - and I love to see her play a heroine who has already lived her life, but whose story is still valued. To see a woman like my Mum represented in a drama fills me with feelings akin to gratitude. Despite how difficult it was to watch, I liked this special a lot, so please give it a try if you can. 

The Lilac I Left There

Graced with an identical face to famous trot singer Ra Il-rak, Ra Jin-sung has made a career out of imitating him. Jin-sung's daughter has always despised this, and they have a difficult relationship as a result. 

I have to admit, I'm getting quite bored of this format. KBS Drama Specials love this story structure - "there's something in my life I'm deeply ashamed of, so I lie, but then it backfires and ultimately I improve as a person". From Yeon-woo's Summer to last year's House of the Universe, this kind of story is everywhere. Although I think it's a little oversaturated, that doesn't mean I didn't like this special. I thought the subject was inventive, and I liked how flawed Shin-hye was as a character. I also liked the message: that imitation isn't necessarily a shameless thing and that everyone can take art and make it their own, a very postmodernist and (I think) mature sentiment. Not my favourite on this list by far, but an easy breezy watch.

While You're Away

Hong-joo, who is broke and homeless, finds herself living with her ex-boyfriend temporarily. The two come to understand why they broke up. 

I didn't like this one. I wanted to like it because the conceit was cute and the cast is great, but I hated Hong-joo. In While You're Away's defence, Hong-joo isn't unlikeable by accident - the special is aware of the fact that Hong-joo is a difficult character, and her character flaws are crucial to the story. The thing is... I get that she's desperate, and I don't want to be that person who hates on the desperate homeless girl, but letting herself into her ex-boyfriend's flat without him knowing, eating all his food and sleeping in his bed? For several days? Nope, I can't like her. I think someone else might adore this special - as you can see from the picture, it is gorgeously shot, and the actors are doing their best - but the way the story played out just didn't agree with me, and I was left feeling cold instead of warmed.

Traces of Love

Joo-young and Ji-sub broke up three years ago - although Ji-young thinks she's moved on with her life, his sudden reappearance in her workplace makes her re-assess why their relationship failed.

Out of all the specials, this was the one I was most excited for - it's Lee Yoo-young and Lee Sang-yeob, after all - and I was not disappointed! This isn't stirring like Crevasse or epic like To My Assailant, but its understated warmth is a different (not inferior) kind of wonderful. It is intimate. This is what While You're Away should have been - firstly, in that I understand in a deeper sense why this couple loved each other, why they broke up, and why they should get back together. Secondly, because it makes a far more successful attempt at a flawed heroine. Lee Yoo-young grounded her and made me like her in spite of her short-sightedness to the thoughts and feelings of others. I loved that one of Traces of Love's main messages is that dating in the workplace is a bad idea - I was anxious it would succumb to the trappings of the workplace romance subgenre, which I often don't enjoy, and relieved when it did it well. There hasn't been a special so effortlessly romantic since 2017, so I highly recommend it!

One Night

After a dangerous misunderstanding, Lee Dong-shik winds up with a bag full of money and gangsters on his tail. Can he resolve everything and still make it to his exam in the morning?

This one was... fine. Although describing itself as a black comedy, I would argue it was not particularly dark or comedic. The themes were predictable but nice - "everything looks dark now but it'll all look better in the morning", with the end of their one night symbolising the future and new hope. The trouble is, I don't know these characters well enough to care about their desperation. I think they were very well-written, but this is just a limitation of trying to tell a plot-driven story in an hour. Something has to be cut, which in this case is Gi-jun's story. That's a shame, because I find it more interesting than Dong-shik and Joo-young's stories. His relationship with his dying mother could have and should have been better explored. This story didn't strike a chord with me basically, but One Night is still a high-energy, easy watch that might be right for you.