It’s like you’re watching a volcano about to erupt only for it to let out a tiny sound instead of an explosion at the end. What I mean is, the screenwriter works so hard on establishing a certain plot device and certain points, and she builds up to them so much so that you end up waiting for something to happen, waiting for the reveal, but the way it gets revealed ends up being very timid/lackluster/boring. This could also be potentially an issue with the director. The issue is that the ‘reveal’ of the plot twists was for the most part very lackluster. “Awaken” has a lot of plot twists, to the point that some of them felt so odd. I feel conflicted about screenwriter Shin Yoo Dam, on one hand I am pretty impressed and on the other hand I feel she needs to work more on her writing and let me explain what I mean. If it were me, I’d never make Jae Woong attack Jamie and Jung Woo, and instead consolidate his efforts on hurting those who made him this way it seems like a more valid reason for his existence and definitely one that makes us question our own morality. I know its his other personality but the reveal and the way they went about it was so lackluster.Īdded, he had an adult with him to help him out and he was strong enough to fend for himself, it’s not like he was left all alone without anyone which makes me take it a lot less seriously, especially considering that the other personality is also an adult, if it had been a child persona, I think I would’ve taken it more seriously. The justification behind why Jae Woong wants to hurt Jamie and Jung Woo is was childish and very underwhelming, I expected a very shocking reason as to why he’d want to harm them. Once the identity of the bad guy was revealed, it definitely lost a bit of its edge, it was getting pretty obvious who the bad guy was towards episode 5 especially if you were paying attention but the reveal was so lackluster and it left me feeling empty. The first half was definitely interesting, but the second half felt unnecessarily long, I think 12 episodes would’ve done a lot better because it would’ve condensed a lot of the content we consumed. Other than that, the narrative is about the same like every other crime-related kdrama, the upper hand goes to a bunch of high-ranking officials who are evil to the core and want to control everything, they’re helped by minions who follow orders whether they feel happy about it or not. “Awaken” screenwriter is Shin Yoo Dam, I looked at her profile and she doesn’t have many other credits to her name, this is obviously her most notable work which is pretty impressive, it takes guts to write something like this and to knowingly attempt to trick the audience, I wish more screenwriters would take such chances. The script- good but could’ve been better Misdirection definitely added an edge to the series. The reason is, I watch a lot of OCN dramas, and I watch a lot of crime-related dramas that aren’t Korean, and this in turn has made me desensitized to a degree to the level of violence it exhibits as well as the narrative. The way the director goes about revealing this particular point is also very interesting and it did surprise me, if the screenwriter hadn’t done this, I wouldn’t have stuck around. This is in my opinion one of the strengths of the series, that is subverts expectations and ends up providing a much-more interesting narrative to a repetitive plot that’s been done thousand times already. It’s one of the few kdramas that knowingly attempted to trick their fans into thinking they were watching just another crime drama to surprise them with the ‘super-natural/human experiment’ element. Just like its characters act, “Awaken” has mastered the art of misdirection. The characters- the well-written and the missed opportunities.Justifications and actions- a look at the characters.The script- good but could’ve been better.
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