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peter_devito
Reviews
Extracurricular (2020)
Tragedy dressed as comedy
I'm so impressed by this series. It's unlike any K-drama or any episodic TV I've seen. At first it's bouyant, transgressive -- in regimented S. Korea high school, these kids get away with so much & do it in style. But as the episodes click by, the real gravity & sadness of things they do to & with each other emerge starkly. This is a fun with a real edge: kids playing at crime & getting badly hurt.
There are memorable characters here. My favorites are the teen prostitute (Da-bin Jung) who at first seems trivial, then deepens into a vulnerable, wounded young woman (she acts w/eyes & face as well as any actor alive); and Mr. Lee, the enforcer (Min-su Choi) who combines menace with zen-like directness & an aura of personal mystery. The relationship/non-relationship of these 2 characters is a central mystery of the plot.
I can't recommend this one highly enough.
The Valhalla Murders (2019)
A slow-burning Icelandic police procedural
This one really snuck up on me. It started low & slow, then built, built some more, then exploded into high tension & unpredictability in episodes 7 & 8. The ending really nailed it IMO.
I've never seen any of these actors before--but would love to see them again, particularly the 2 leads, whose acting here was rather amazing.
I'm a big fan of police procedurals in general, and this is one of the better ones around.