199. Web-Series Reviews – 49

More web-series reviews… All these series released in 2021.

The Squid Game – A story of people who fail at life for various reasons, but suddenly receive a mysterious invitation to participate in a survival game to win more than 38 million US dollars. The game takes place at an isolated island and the participants are locked up until there is a final winner. The story will incorporate popular children's games from the 1970s and 1980s of Korea, such as squid game, literal translation of its Korean name, which is a type of tag where offense and defense use a squid-shaped board drawn in the dirt.

No. 1 series in Netflix till recently😊!

One of the reviews from IMDB...

So, Squid Game has taken over the world these last few weeks and I thought that I had to watch it and I have now finished it and here is my review for it. The premise of the show sees a large group of down on their luck Koreans assembled to play childhood games with a deadly twist for a huge cash prize.

Main Character Lee Jung-Jae plays the lead character Gi-Han on the show and he is fantastic. At first, he seems like this arrogant lowlife, but as you get to know him you see that he has just been really unfortunate and made some poor decisions. As he faces the games his character really starts to grow and he becomes an interesting protagonist and one you can support.

There is a huge cast of people in this show and everybody acts there role really well. Oh Yeong-su really stands out as an old man involved with the game and the relationship between him and Lee Jung-Jae is superb and I really grew to care about this dynamic and for me they were the best characters on the show. There are so many other amazing characters that I think you just need to watch the show and experience them for yourself and the great writing that is done for each person.

The story is fascinating, seeing these different personalities forced into these games causes natural conflict and tension. The different games are really great in their own unique ways and do a really brilliant job of pacing them out really well. The only issue I had was a big twist that happens towards the end of the show, it just didn't work for me and I think it could have been handled better. Also, there are these English-speaking VIP's and they are really bad and took me out of the show for sure.

The script is fantastic, and that is if you watch it in Korean with subtitles. For the love of everything holy don't watch it with English dubbing, it is bad and it is nowhere near as effective and feels unnatural for the performances. There is some nice humour and the drama is ramped up ten-fold, the chemistry between the performers is really good and drives you to keep watching.

The show is really brutal, the violence is graphic but feels appropriate for the show as a whole. It is shot beautifully and feels epic in scale. The pacing is effective and you will want to binge this show for sure with each episode feeling different and great in their own way.

Overall, Squid Game is a truly fantastic show that was so close to getting my 10/10 score. It is a must watch and don't let the language barrier turn you off and get started with it as soon as possible.

My Take – An absolute watchable series😊!

 

Post Mortem – No one dies in Skarnes – Another Norway series😊. Live Hallangen is declared dead. Hours later on the forensic table she suddenly wakes up with a sudden urge for blood. Meanwhile, her brother Odd tries to keep the family driven funeral home afloat, but there simply aren't enough people dying in the small Norwegian town of Skarnes. When Live's bloodthirst keeps intensifying, she soon realizes that this newfound urge can actually solve her brother's problem. Live now has to learn to control her new dark nature and decide if she is willing to sacrifice people's lives for her own survival and the survival of the family business. 

One of the reviews from IMDb...

As this Norwegian series opens, the body of Live Hallangen is found in a field. Her body is collected by the local undertakers, which is run by her father and brother, and taken to the morgue. During the post mortem she suddenly wakes up! Was she never really dead or is there another reason for what happened? Her father certainly doesn't seem happy to have her back, and she finds herself craving blood! Meanwhile the funeral business is in trouble because nobody seems to die in the town.  Will Live's need for blood prove to be a help for the business?

I found this series to be a lot of fun. The humour is pitch black and provides plenty of laughs in every episode. There is a sense of mystery concerning what Live has become; she may crave blood but isn't a classic vampire. The characters are a lot of fun; most obviously Live and her brother Odd and police officers Reinert and Judith. The ordinariness of the location and characters adds to the amusement. The cast does a fine job keeping the characters believable even if what happens is more fantastical. Overall, I'd certainly recommend this to anybody, especially horror fans, wanting a good laugh

These comments are based on watching the series in Norwegian with English subtitles.

My Take – A worthwhile watch!

The Chestnut Man – Another Danish series. The Chestnut Man is set in the quiet suburb of Copenhagen, where the police make a terrible discovery one blustery October morning. A young woman is found brutally murdered in a playground and one of her hands is missing. Above her hangs a small man made of chestnuts. The ambitious young detective Naia Thulin is assigned to the case, along with her new partner, Mark Hess. They soon discover a mysterious piece of evidence on the chestnut man evidence connecting it to a girl who went missing a year earlier and was presumed dead - the daughter of politician Rosa Hartung.

One of the reviews from IMDB...

My wait for a slowly built chilling thriller minus the unnecessary dramatic moments was over with the Danish show the Chestnut Man. This is an old school thriller where the creator invests much time in developing the plot, building the characters and creating a milieu of suspense, ever mounting tension and finally a gripping climax.

The problem with Netflix is that many poorly made, unworthy shoes get undue attention because of tricky marketing strategies whereas some gems remain underrated as they do not conform to the cheeky ambush marketing strategies. The Chestnut Man originally titled Kastanjemanden falls in the second category.

Originally written by Soren Sveistrup, set in the quiet suburbs of Copenhagen, this is a story of a serial killer spanned across three decades. After a violent prelude, the story begins with the gruesome murder of a young mother. Her hands are chopped off and a chestnut man is found beside the corpse. Detective Naia Thulin, herself going through turmoil in life is assigned the task of solving the case. Soon another murder of the same category follows and the mystery gets convoluted. More interestingly, after every murder, a chestnut man is found beside the corpse. The plot gets a twist as the detective and her new partner Hess find a mysterious connection between the serial killings and the sudden disappearance of the daughter of Minister Rosa Hartung. What follows is a classical style of whodunit moviemaking with numerous twists, turnarounds, dejection and redemption.

Danica Crucic as Naia Thulin is brilliant as the workaholic detective who is finding it difficult to strike a balance between her professional and personal commitments. Iben Dorner as the grieving mother and the Minister of the Danish Government is restrained in essaying the emotions the role demanded. But to me, the real star of the show is Mikkel Boe Folsgaard as the Europol veteran Mark Hess. He is superb as the man who wants to make amends for his personal losses through his professional redemption. I am all set to watch his other movies or shows. Other actors, too, justify their roles.

The primal aspect of this brilliantly made thriller is its stunning visual appeal. The cinematography is bleak, chilling and somber true to the undertone of the show. The music too goes along well with the theme. Be warned, this is a gruesome tale of serial killings and there are plenty of gore, violence and brutal murders. The entire show is wrapped up in six episodes each lasting slightly below one hour and there is a hint of a second season towards the end. One aspect I liked is its denial to end an episode with a question to force you to binge-watch it, a common flaw almost all the shows these days suffer from.

Overall, this is a very good thriller with utmost attention to the minute details and if you are a lover of the genre and love the way good ol' thrillers were made, this is just the right show for you. Go for it.

My Take – A worthwhile watch!

Cheers till next time😊!

Daffy Definition

Zoo – A place devised for animals to study the habits of human beings😊!