THE GIRL WHO CAN SEE SMELLS - EPISODE 4
In my last review, I praised this show for the perfect blend the writers kept between drama, comedy, and suspense. Perhaps I should have asked if they could keep up the sense of pacing that they showed us in the first three episodes, the ideal balance among these elements. Because they didn't. Not quite. There's a lot of drama, plenty of cute moments, and a completely unrelated case. It also takes a good 20 minutes before the show picks up, and the suspense comes in the form of few second teasers that do little to thrill. To recap:
Cho Rim is roused from her drunken sleep, only to find herself watched by the astonished members of Inspector Kang's team. After recovering from this embarrassing situation, she tells Moo Gak that he's ruined her life and she never wants to see him again. After this, we get a generous helping of character development. Moo Gak gets Cho Rim's job back. When she finds out, Cho Rim apologizes to Moo Gak and their relationship is back on track. Later, Cho Rim is treated by Dr. Chun, the sinister doctor, who, after comparing X-rays, confirms that she is really Choi Eun Seol.
Escaped doggie? Cho Rim to the rescue!
They spend about half the show tracking down a copycat killer who carved a barcode in his victim's arm. It turns out to be Detective Tak's brother who accidentally killed the victim in a fight, and Tak fabricated evidence to try to pin it on someone else. Meanwhile, the investigation gets handed to Inspector Kang, and then quickly back to Lt. Yeom Mi again after Moo Gak nails the real killer thanks to Cho Rim's abilities. At the end, Moo Gak dines with his sunbae Lt. Yeom Mi, and smiles when he gets access to the special case files. A hopeful Cho Rim has pretty much admitted to herself that she likes our hero and gets to the cafe just in time to see Moo Gak and Lt. Yeom Mi together smiling...
Now, before I get all critical, I thought I'd talk about the female lead, Shin Se Kyung. I'd seen her before in 'Queen Seondeok' and 'Iron Man,' and liked her in both. She makes it look easy, able to go from serious to comedic at the drop of a hat. This isn't the funniest show I've ever seen, but wherever she pops up, she can usually coax a smile out of me -- well, in this drama at least. She's engaging and fun to watch and a nice foil to Moo Gak.
And I thought the Inspector Kang thing was annoying. They could have made the authority swap more tense than it was, but they didn't give you time to finish being annoyed by this turn of events before the Lieutenant is re-appointed to head up the investigation again. Too easy? It would have been more effective, perhaps, at the beginning. Besides, would you trust this goober to lead an investigation?
Yeah. Didn't think so.
I think one of the biggest faults is that they tried to pad this episode too much, and I think the pace was off. There were lulls that lasted way too long, and they lingered on scenes just a little longer than they should have while not showing us enough of the good stuff. In padding the show, they may have packed it too full because it ended up as a confused jumble. Instead of being impressed with their mad cop skillz, I was scratching my head, trying to connect the dots. And we hadn't seen enough of Tak to really care if he did it or not. It wasn't even that much of a surprise. With the first three episodes, I sat in rapt attention. Here, I found myself looking at the clock. Still, it's only one episode, and I like most of what I've seen so far. Here's hoping they only fell down for one episode.
In my last review, I praised this show for the perfect blend the writers kept between drama, comedy, and suspense. Perhaps I should have asked if they could keep up the sense of pacing that they showed us in the first three episodes, the ideal balance among these elements. Because they didn't. Not quite. There's a lot of drama, plenty of cute moments, and a completely unrelated case. It also takes a good 20 minutes before the show picks up, and the suspense comes in the form of few second teasers that do little to thrill. To recap:
Cho Rim is roused from her drunken sleep, only to find herself watched by the astonished members of Inspector Kang's team. After recovering from this embarrassing situation, she tells Moo Gak that he's ruined her life and she never wants to see him again. After this, we get a generous helping of character development. Moo Gak gets Cho Rim's job back. When she finds out, Cho Rim apologizes to Moo Gak and their relationship is back on track. Later, Cho Rim is treated by Dr. Chun, the sinister doctor, who, after comparing X-rays, confirms that she is really Choi Eun Seol.
Escaped doggie? Cho Rim to the rescue!
They spend about half the show tracking down a copycat killer who carved a barcode in his victim's arm. It turns out to be Detective Tak's brother who accidentally killed the victim in a fight, and Tak fabricated evidence to try to pin it on someone else. Meanwhile, the investigation gets handed to Inspector Kang, and then quickly back to Lt. Yeom Mi again after Moo Gak nails the real killer thanks to Cho Rim's abilities. At the end, Moo Gak dines with his sunbae Lt. Yeom Mi, and smiles when he gets access to the special case files. A hopeful Cho Rim has pretty much admitted to herself that she likes our hero and gets to the cafe just in time to see Moo Gak and Lt. Yeom Mi together smiling...
Now, before I get all critical, I thought I'd talk about the female lead, Shin Se Kyung. I'd seen her before in 'Queen Seondeok' and 'Iron Man,' and liked her in both. She makes it look easy, able to go from serious to comedic at the drop of a hat. This isn't the funniest show I've ever seen, but wherever she pops up, she can usually coax a smile out of me -- well, in this drama at least. She's engaging and fun to watch and a nice foil to Moo Gak.
And I thought the Inspector Kang thing was annoying. They could have made the authority swap more tense than it was, but they didn't give you time to finish being annoyed by this turn of events before the Lieutenant is re-appointed to head up the investigation again. Too easy? It would have been more effective, perhaps, at the beginning. Besides, would you trust this goober to lead an investigation?
Yeah. Didn't think so.
I think one of the biggest faults is that they tried to pad this episode too much, and I think the pace was off. There were lulls that lasted way too long, and they lingered on scenes just a little longer than they should have while not showing us enough of the good stuff. In padding the show, they may have packed it too full because it ended up as a confused jumble. Instead of being impressed with their mad cop skillz, I was scratching my head, trying to connect the dots. And we hadn't seen enough of Tak to really care if he did it or not. It wasn't even that much of a surprise. With the first three episodes, I sat in rapt attention. Here, I found myself looking at the clock. Still, it's only one episode, and I like most of what I've seen so far. Here's hoping they only fell down for one episode.
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