Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
In the span of time it takes for a plane to fly from Seoul to Honolulu — approximately nine hours — a psychopath boards an airplane at Incheon International Airport and releases a deadly biological pathogen onboard, which results in passengers getting sick and/or dying (and turning on each other). And, oh yeah, scientists on the ground develop an antigen to combat the virus.
At first glance, “Our Blues” appears to be about a somewhat eccentric community of folks in Jeju-do — South Korea’s largest island. And it is. But it’s also about so much more. Over the course of 20 episodes, the series weaves together the complex stories of more than a dozen characters, creating a larger picture of love, forgiveness, and what it means to truly look out for one another.
Actor Lee Byung-hun told me, “I experienced touching emotions, and found consolation and hope ever since I read the script for ‘Our Blues.’ I hope that this drama will be able to comfort all wounded souls.”
“Squid Game” is not this year’s “Parasite,” so much as it is a satire in the vein of “A Modest Proposal.” Just as Jonathan Swift pointed out the abject brutality of telling the poor to satiate their hunger by eating healthy, plump babies, Hwang depicts the cruelty of lording a huge sum of money – literally – over desperate people’s heads, knowing that most will die as they lived: penniless.
Helmed by writer Kim Eun-Sook and director Lee Eung-Bok — who previously collaborated together on “Descendants of the Sun” and “Goblin: The Lonely and Great God” — the misleadingly named “Mr. Sunshine” does a beautiful job of juggling multiple story lines that are full of suspense, intrigue and achingly quiet romance.