Started and finished two series on Paramount Plus. In order...
Bargain (2023)
Six ~36 minute episodes.
A remote hotel welcomes guests under the cover of being a brothel, but is actually a cover for a place that harvests and auctions off human organs. A disaster strikes in the first episode leaving the inhabitants trapped in the hotel, fighting for their lives and for an opportunity to escape.
One technical comment. I cannot say this is 100% true. In fact I know it is not in the last episode, but most of the episode is recorded using one camera and one continuous shot. I believe this is true. The only reason I have my doubts is once I noticed it, in episode 2, I would get wrapped up in the story and forget to notice if one shot was cut into another shot. I don't think there are any cuts. Excellent story. Excellent acting.
Korean drama presented in dubbed English.
School Spirits (2023)
A high school girl is missing. Her blood is found in the basement of the school, and she is faced with trying to find out what happened to her, because the only people that she can communicate with and can see her are former student who are dead. Get it? School Spirits. Gotta hold my sides while I laugh. (kidding)
Interesting story as this girl, and a few dead spirits, try to find what happened to her and who was responsible. Lucky for her, she has one life line to the world of the living.
Eight episodes.
Business Proposal (2022)
Episodes 1-5 of 12
This is a wonky, enjoyable romance.
A woman goes on a blind date as a favor to a friend, only to discover her blind date is with the president of the company she works for. She sees him under her friends name and does her best to repel him away, but he decides this is the woman he wants to marry. Spoiler, though it doesn't really spoil anything, he find out she is not who she says she is. Rather than give him her real name, and possibly get fired, she gives him the name of a character in a TV series her parents watch. His grandfather wants to see him get married, and when the wedding is called off, sets up on a years worth of blind dates. He is bored and suffers from the waste of time, so he proposes a deal with the woman with the fake name to be his fake girl friend to make his grandfather happy. Meanwhile, she has run into him and his grandfather many times at the office, always inducing panic and chaos for her. They don't recognize her because she wears her hair different and does not wear makeup at the office. The thing is, she is a valuable employee and he has given compliments about this employee.
One motif that happened, that has happened in other Korean dramas I've watched, is when one character falls back, either down some steps or onto their back, and the person in front of them prevents the fall by grabbing their hand or arm. I was amused by the variations this script introduced. Funny moments. It is as if the writer knows this is a motif in Korean dramas.
I enjoy the physical humor and the cartoon like sound effects.
At the end of episode 4, he finds out that Jin Young-Seo who was suppose to be Kim Geum-hui, but is actually Kim Hye-ji. Kim Hye-ji is her real name, an employee of his company. Jin Young-Seo is her friend's name. Geum-hui is the television character.
So episode five starts with him knowing who she is and trying to find out how far she will go before she tells him the truth.
Eight more episodes to go.
07 Nov 2023, 4:16 pm
