[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Don't Look Back : The Legend of Orpheus" Episode 8

Crushed by the revelation of the last episode, Hae-Woo spends this episode largely in a sad, nostalgic reverie for bygone days. Akin to I-Soo's usual brooding...well, I can't think of a way to finish that sentence. The trouble with "Don't Look Back : The Legend of Orpheus" is that it really doesn't seem to know when to stop doing stuff. Reviewing the series so far, it seems like all I-Soo does is brood. I'm pretty much out of comments about the brooding. We get why they're doing this- but the extent of the brooding is, by now, completely out of proportion with the stuff worth brooding about.

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All the interesting, emotionally tense character-driven action sequences have been in the first few episodes of the show. Ever since then, characters have been doing very little except reflect on these events emotionally. Now, I like good emotional reflection, and I've been pretty on board with it until now, but my patience is at an end. If the characters are going to get misty-eyed, there needs to be more for them to actually get misty-eyed about.

The camerawork is excellent, as usual. I'm really going to miss Okinawa. It would not surprise me to learn that the Okinawa Tourism Board is a sponsor for this drama- I really can't remember the last time I saw a location renowned for tourism so effectively and beautifully conveyed on screen. Just being able to look at the scenery puts me in a better mood. However, now that the show has moved back to Korea, more is necessary in terms of the actual plot.

There's one worthwhile plot thread ongoing, where I-Soo keeps visiting his sister to buy juice. If that sounds silly, that's part of the point. I-Soo is normally such a serious, dour character that watching him try to concoct excuses for conversation while trying to buy juice really imprints the serious effort he's making. I-Soo seems to have decided that Hae-Woo's emotional pain is a necessary by-product of the plan, but he seems more ambivalent about what to do with his sister.

It's all a fairly strong lesson in how sadness and pining for the past can be well-conveyed in the context of an actual story, rather than just generically going to bygone places and staring at ghosts. Unfortunately, "Don't Look Back : The Legend of Orpheus" seem content to stick largely to the latter right now. I can only hope that more definitive action will get the story, and characters, moving in a more decisive direction soon.

Review by William Schwartz

"Don't Look Back : The Legend of Orpheus" is directed by Park Chan-hong, written by Kim Jee-woo and features Kim Nam-gil, Son Ye-jin, Ha Seok-jin and Lee Hanee.