news: Teen Girl Detective drama series

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I have no idea who Nam Ji Hyun is, but I'm on-board this series just because it has the words 'mystery' and 'teen detective' in it. It's called Girl Detective Park Hae Sol and centers around the young teenage girl getting caught up in an investigation involving her father's death years prior. Her father, in turn, had been caught up in another more serious crime involving a politician and some shady business. He is killed because of that and everything sort of gets buried until the taped evidence he had had surfaces again.

While I'm all for the teen mystery detective bit, I'm also hoping that we get to see more than just the one criminal case being investigated. Or if all we get to see is that one case, we get a sense that there are possibilities for an extension or a sequel. For instance, build up the nice little girl detective team with her police officer and prosecutor teammates and set them off on a wonderful collaboration.

I have always been a sucker for mystery and crime type story lines, especially the mystery part: Nancy Drew, The Boxcar Children... anything mystery case-like has always been up my alley. So hopefully this will be a fun one as well as one with great substance. A lot of crime and mystery projects lately have been rather disappointing -- no suspense or thrill of being the detective in the audience along with the character roles.

thoughts: Special Affairs Team TEN (Korean) -- first impression follow up

To finish off my thoughts for Episode One of this series, here is a short and sweet rambling of what came to be.

There will be few SPOILERS, but to ruin the entire experience with ANY form of big giveaway would be cruel, in my opinion. So proceed with caution, but I assure that the ultimate conclusion to this first murder case will NOT be discussed in this article. This is assuming that I give anything away at all.

It's beyond my own expertise or even my own abilities as a blogger to even start forming my opinions about how ingenious this entire first episode fell together by the end. So this is a fairly crude throw-together of some thoughts I managed to come up with.

I'm under the assumption that this will be a one case per episode type of series. So, for one, I'm glad that there will be multiple criminal mysteries to follow through; and secondly, I'm at the edge of my seat in anticipation for the next episode and its accompanying crime thriller mystery. Oh... here's a plead to those who can make things happen to have English subtitles for this series appear quickly for my own excited pleasure! Because after polishing off the rest of Episode One's murder mystery, I'm just taken aback by the insanely gripping, edge-of-my-seat excitement that the rest of the series is promising.

There's little I can really mention about this particular murder case without completely giving it away (which would be cruel even for spoiler standards). But I will say that it was a truly thrilling and wonderful experience for me to be able to guess and think as the entire case unfolded itself before my eyes.

The story opens up (to add onto what I've mentioned already in the first impression article) with two murders and a missing persons case.

Case #1:
A man has taken a dive off a cliff where a sign stating "Suicide Prohibited" hangs ominously (and uselessly, I might add since, really, what's the government gonna do to someone already dead if they break that law?) as police crowd around to work the scene. Detective Baek Do Sik immediately clues in that this was not a suicide, but a homicide and so let the investigations begin.

Case #2:
A woman is found dead in her own apartment, a murder mimicking a case that had taken place nearly seven years prior. Her hands and her face has been taped by common industrial-use green tape and her fingers have been cute off as she lays in a gory pool of her own blood. This case is being reviewed by a board of law enforcement as it brings into play what they have dubbed the Tape Murder Case. Yeo Ji Heon, an expert professor who used to be a detective with undeniable ability has been brought in to help investigate the case, partnered up with rookie Park Min Ho.

Case #3
A woman has gone missing, reported in by her fiance. Detective Nam Yeri is brought in to find this woman, and using her expertise in psychology, begins her investigation. What she learns is that things haven't been going too smoothly for the engaged couple and that the missing woman has been conducting some secret activities out of character from her normal dealings.

When all three cases begin to converge together into one, and all three sides realize that they might be looking for the exact same person, the ultimate intrigue begins to unfold. The murderer of victim number one, the murderer of victim number two, as well as the missing woman from the third case... all the evidence starts pointing at an obvious connection between the three cases.

What's going on with this scenario? Where is this new evidence leading me? Maybe this is what happened? Each new truth had me dropping gasps and excited deductions about the murder case. And then there was the deeper emotional stigma of what had been going on behind both the victim's and the murderer's eyes. One sister dead, one sister missing; a set of twins separated after being adopted into two different families. A darker secret about their origins than would have been expected. There were lost speculations about motive and even new, heartbreaking discoveries about the sisters themselves.

The dead woman in Case #2 turns out to be twin sister to the missing woman from Case #3. The dead man from Case #1 happened to be the step-brother-slash-sexual-partner of the dead woman in Case #2. Everything starts to fall together and we start to wonder what might have happened to the missing woman from Case #3. Is this really part of a serial murder case of the Tape Murder from years before? Could it be a copy cat case? Did the other twin sister kill both victims?

How does the death of the step-brother come into play? And what about the scene of the sister's murder? Why doesn't the re-enactment add up? What are we missing? And what kind of darker secrets does she hold that might have propelled the entire mystery in the first place?

How could a simple, two-hour episode touch upon something so delicate, and make you feel so much from repulsion, to anger, and even sadness?

As the case developed, I found myself enraptured in the fact that my own speculations might be right. And when they turned out the way I thought they would be, I was so giddy with excitement. However, when the ideas turned out different, I was still amazed at what ended up being the truth.

You know that feeling you get when you're just holding your breath waiting for that new twist to inspire you to keep watching and wondering? And then when a new development occurs, it hits you so hard that you're actually silly ecstatic about how things turned out? And then you sit back and literally clench your fists because you know that this isn't the end and that more secrets are yet to be revealed?

This is how I felt watching the entirety of this first episode, the first murder case. The copy cat Tape Murder Case, if you will, that takes what seemed to be a simple crime mystery and turns it into a much more intriguing psychological battle of reasoning, wits, and deduction.

I'm just sad that I cannot form anymore words on this mystery lest I completely ruin the experience for anyone else.

Nonetheless, the story telling and the criminal case wasn't without its faults; the episode wasn't completely perfect, really. There were moments when enough evidence was given so that you had an idea what was to come in the end even before the characters could find their resolution. And then there were certain aspects that required a bit more suspension of disbelief. There were moments that made you wonder how it contributed to the overall murder mystery or even to the series itself. Each new turn, however, DID manage to keep you guessing.

I had immense fun just watching these first two hours of the series and I hope that the rest of it will follow in kind.

The team will be forming next episode, I assume, and what I love more than a gripping story line is the character relation dynamics. Four completely different types of investigators coming together to solve the most perplexing, brutal cases known. I know I mentioned that I'm not too keen on unnecessary side plots for a series like this (since it would take away from the fascinating criminal mysteries), but now that we've set up a pretty good direction and foundation for the series proper, I wouldn't mind seeing how our team of four, newly formed detectives will go about among each other. If they worked together so well without even meaning to, coming together from three different starting points, how well will these guys work as a unit, focused on one destination?

I am totally, totally excited! (I've no other way to describe this series, sadly.)

Here's crossing my fingers and hoping that things continue as smoothly as they are now.

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Related articles:
first impression: Special Affairs Team TEN

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first impression: Special Affairs Team TEN (Korean)

This series will be finishing up its broadcast with ten episodes soon (according to sources), but very little of it has been subtitled for us non-Korean speaking viewers. So I hadn't been planning on watching it yet until more episodes became available with English subtitles for my own understanding. But when I came across it one more time at Viki, I couldn't help but to give the first episode a go.

First of all... well, I don't even think I'm experienced enough in any type of media story telling (K-drama or not) to give a proper critique of the beauty that totally wow-ed me with just the opening credits. The series opens up with a random musical montage of a random woman (whom all viewers probably suspect will be a murder victim soon), and then immediately dives into two murder cases and a missing persons case. All three cases are tied together and we aren't even given any inkling that this is the reason except that the three investigations are taking place at the same time. A gut feeling (as well as the way the story unfolds) pretty much tells us that we're just waiting for all three investigations and all three of our investigators to fall together by the end of this first episode.

There is no dilly-dallying around with filler detail or random trivial moments. We get right into the main point; there's nothing flashy or distracting to deter our attention either. This is important in mystery crime thrillers because if we start getting complicated side plots and relationships that are unnecessary, then that takes away from the power of following the criminal mystery. This is what I totally loved about the first episode alone (or rather, the first half of the first episode) -- because I walked into it expecting a crime mystery and that is all that I want to see.

Sure, we've got a few side thoughts and some random scenes that aren't related to the criminal cases, but they are incorporated so naturally that you don't really mind. It's a very realistic way of conveying the investigations; once again, none of that CSI flashy and commercialized fun stuff that people have become addicted to in recent years. The facts roll out slowly, we get a lot of interesting problem-solving methods and reasoning, and no one simply looks at a piece of evidence and says "Okay, I know who did it!" It gives us, as viewers, the chance to really think about the mystery along with the story characters. And so I love how the story is unfolding bit-by-bit without some random clairvoyant detective who seems to know exactly what to do and what to look for.

Okay, maybe one guy, Yeo Ji Heon (played by Joo Sang Wook) seems to be moving along with his instincts. But he's investigating a case similar to one that he'd already worked on years ago which was unresolved. There are certain things he knows to look for (which totally shows in experience rather than just luck and intelligence). So I buy it, because it's not like he's pointing fingers at things and retelling the crime scene with a few blood stains and some magical evidence.

It's been a while since I last took my Forensics classes, but I can clearly say that the way that TEN is going about the murder cases is a lot more realistic than I've seen in a lot of other television series. And also, it's kind of refreshing not to see police officers jumping over cars and blowing things up. Despite the series being shot in a very western-ish, movie-like quality, at least the sequences aren't trying to sell nonsensical action. What we've got here is a lot of detective work based on problem solving and reasoning.

I especially liked the little time-line tree that Nam Yeri (played by Jo An) had set up during her investigation of her missing person. A lot of time and effort goes into something like that and it shows that she's not just looking at random papers and making hypothetical yet also magical guesses that work in her favor. She's constantly documenting, taking pictures, shooting videos, highlighting statistics, going through listings... It's just refreshing to see something so much more meticulous than pretty.

And speaking of The Pretty, I wanted to make mention of the resident maknae of the impending team, Park Min Ho (played by Choi Woo Sik). His first impression on me was kind of amusing because he was the young newbie who would follow with the more seasoned now-professor "detective" Yeo Ji Heon who was tasked to take on the Tape Murder Case. Trying to get all chummy with the professor wasn't really working for him, but it was cute nonetheless. The kid's REAL calling came when he was actually doing more reasoning work and questioning a known witness about murder events -- THEN he just seemed even cuter and pretty slick and cool and not simply The Pretty maknae. I'm looking forward to seeing what else he'll impress with in following episodes.

Kim Sang Ho is the only name I'm familiar with in this series so far, as the detective with about 24 years of experience under his belt (as summaries supply), named Baek Do Sik. We are, of course, familiar with his Shik Joong ahjusshi role from the crack-tastic City Hunter earlier in 2011, so there's no refuting his skill as an actor. As a detective, he fine-tunes things really well and I'm glad that we're incorporating a top-notch detective into this team who shows his years of experience rather than just letting the story narrate it.

All-in-all, I think that when I can finally watch the entirety of this series, I'm really going to enjoy it. Unfortunately, I wish there was a way I could understand Korean just a little bit better, because while the subtitles are decent, it still feels like there are a lot of things I'm missing out on just by not knowing the language (the same feeling I had when I was watching the first episode of Joseon X-Files). Already, while I had an inkling of what was going on, there were a few things that I think got lost on me by the end of the first episode (which may require a re-watch if I REALLY want to analyze this series by detail, which I don't, thankfully).

This series has given me a big "Awesome!" factor already. The camera angles are done excellently, the lighting is amazing and natural, and even the background music isn't distracting or trendy, but sets the right mood. It's a very simplistic form of filming for a series and I'm totally digging it.

I guess this might be the beauty of cable channels in Korean television. I know I'm totally buying the murder cases since we are seemingly sparing no forms of conservative shooting: realistic blood pools and corpse deformation and the like really help set the suspension of disbelief.

Finally, the mid-episode "crossing paths" slow-mo (I guess, symbolic) scene wherein our three investigators are in the same place at the same time for the first time in the series was actually done really well. As the police van passes by the other two investigators, I just held my breath. You would think that something as tactless as setting up a "fated encounter" sequence would turn out kind of tacky, but in this case, it really worked. When the scene came to an end, I really just let out a breath and said, "Nice!" And that was as simple as that.

So if the rest of the series follows the same form, direction and telling as the first episode, then I'm totally riding this one until the end. And I'm going to have to update my Favorite K-dramas list too.

As a final note, during the writing of this particular article, I hadn't realized that this series was actually broadcast as two-hour episodes in originality. And so the first episode I ended up watching was actually just the first half of the first episode. Even so, it was still excellently done and had me wanting to continue (I guess since the episode isn't quite finished, but whatever) onto the next. And so that I don't spoil my own thought process, we'll leave this first impression article as is and throw in random thought articles where necessary (especially if I have something to say after actually completely watching the entire Episode One).

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Related articles:
thoughts: Special Affairs Team TEN -- first impression follow up

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first impression: Tree With Deep Roots (Korean)

This article is about fourteen episodes too late; the series has been airing for quite some time now and we've already moved well passed that story line build up of childhood to adulthood. It's all the rave around kdramaland world about the awesome performances and the intriguing story line. So having read so many articles praising Song Joong Ki's excellent performance as the young King Sejong as well as getting positive reactions from netizens about the continuing intrigue of the series' storyline itself, I finally decided to jump into the bandwagon as well. It wasn't like I wasn't entertaining thoughts of watching Tree With Deep Roots -- the summary was interesting enough and the presence of Song Joong Ki is usually a good way of getting me to seriously consider partaking in a genre that I normally wouldn't touch too willingly.

Tree With Deep Roots, while promoted as a mystery/thriller type of story, also involves a lot of political struggle and the like (as is usual with many a sageuk, it seems). And the first few episodes of this series (even though I've only seen the first one) details a battle of power and wits between the young Lee Do (King Sejong) and his father, King Taejong as well as each of their personal supporting cabinet members.

I'm not a fan of political intrigue -- I don't really understand government that well. The only reason I made it through so many Chinese historical series was all due to famed author Jin Yong's wuxia novels and my own father's detailed descriptions of government and Chinese history as they pertain to Jin Yong's wuxia novels. Otherwise, I would have been quite lost -- spending over ten years basking in the excellence of Jin Yong novel adaptations has gotten me quite familiar with the Chinese dynastic history.

But I know little about Korean government and historical Korea; I even suck at understanding modern government, which is why I steer clear of any types of series that have to do with politics (yes, that means I may never touch something like Daemul).

And I'm pretty sure that even after the political struggle between King Daddy and King Son, there will still be political intrigue amongst cabinet members and the king -- this is how almost ALL historical story lines work when it comes to the centering a plot around a king and his subjects and court officials. There will ALWAYS be power struggles. It's typical in Korean sageuk and it's also quite prominent in Chinese wuxia.

And so I'm still hesitant about watching this series despite that magnetic force telling me that I really, really DO want to continue watching.

I jumped into Tree With Deep Roots because of Song Joong Ki; I wanted to see that amazing performance that everyone has been raving about. And I also had a small desire to see this mystery slash thriller that was advertised. And while I didn't much become enraptured with the opening of this series (the imaginary "Kill King Sejong" scene that Jang Hyuk's character frames was kind of amusing) the following intensity of the story line felt like that magnetic force on my consciousness -- I couldn't pull myself away as the first episode progressed.

While I'm not sure WHAT it is that I'm looking forward to, I simply know that there's SOMETHING I'm attracted to about Tree With Deep Roots. (And no, this part has nothing to do with pretty boy Song Joong Ki... although it IS a bonus. And I'm not in it for Jang Hyuk either -- I know little about his acting and have not seen any of his projects outside of the first ten minutes of Chuno, which I haven't been able to go back to after watching the first half of the first episode. I know only that he's a very handsome man, and my knowledge of Jang Hyuk stops there, so he holds no appeal over me.)

Instead, I think it's the atmosphere, the suspense and the progression of this very first episode. The base story line has yet to be revealed, but I'm feeling the need to continue watching just to find out exactly WHAT that base plot will entail. Again, it's this strange feeling wherein I just NEED to continue watching the series for some unknown attractiveness reason -- I'm not even sure how to describe it, but I'm sure it might have to do with the intensity of the entire first episode as well as Song Joong Ki's portrayal of a tortured king.

Coming to him, Joong Ki was absolutely amazing. It was like, he's no longer that playful, adorable, loud and flamboyant Gu Yong Ha I fell in love with in Sunkyunkwan Scandal. Just seeing his eyes and his expressions and the nervous shaking of his shoulders and hands when faced with King Taejong... It's hard to describe outside of... well: "Wow!" In SKK Scandal, he was simply fun and pretty and cutesie (and yes, I fell for that charm), but without the aid of such an attractive character as Gu Yong Ha, Joong Ki could have easily been overlooked as "just another pretty boy." Sure, he did his part and brought Gu Yong Ha to life... but it wasn't like his acting skills were anything beyond that. He did good, but he didn't stand out and instead, Gu Yong Ha was the one who stood out because the character is a memorable one.

However, in this particular series... I'm totally speechless -- I just want to keep watching him as the tortured young king and I can't wait until the moment when he can stand up to his father and show an even more attractive intensity.

Without much that I can say to give justice to how well Tree With Deep Roots has been produced (from scenery, to editing, to atmosphere, to camera angles, and finally the cast and characters...) I can only really give an impressed "Bravo!" If the rest of the series is as thrilling as the first episode, I might remain onboard. Again, I'm not familiar with Jang Hyuk outside of the fact that he's quite handsome. So it's still up in the air for me to decide what to do with Tree With Deep Roots after Joong Ki's last appearance. I'm hoping the series itself will continue to reel me in even without the Song Joong Ki bait.

So far, it's proving its potential, so I'm hopeful. It's based off of an actual written book, so the story line of the series can't possibly veer too far into WTF territory like a lot of other drama series.

Unfortunately, at the same time...

Too many series to watch, too little time to watch them.

Something's gotta give.