"It is only with the heart that one sees rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye." - The Little Prince
Kim Je Hyeok has been living the time of his life as a hotshot baseball superstar that is loved and adored by many. However, due to some unforeseen situation, he finds himself thrown in the chaotic and constrained world of prison. Armed with nothing but baseball knowledge, will Je Hyeok be able to survive in this alien world and eventually come back to pitch in the mound?
Gold. If I had to summarize Prison Playbook in just one word, it would be gold. This 2017 South Korean television series penned by Lee Woo Jung and directed by Shin Won Ho has a lot more to it than what is being shown, and although it's a slow burn story that takes quite a time to set the tone, once it hits, it doesn't miss.
❀ RAVES ❀ »•»
1) Heart. I thought this show would be quite dark, given it being set-up in prison. However I was truly glad this hasn't been the case. Prison Playbook turned out to be a very heartwarming drama, as expected from the producer of the Reply Series which continues to be a personal favorite up to this day. The show does an incredibly great job in breaking a lot of prison and prisoner stereotypes, and I never knew I would get vast emotional sucker-punches by watching random prisoners' daily activities while in jail. Prison Playbook's unique story about men who have done bad things in life but have genuinely good hearts was 100% a gratifying watch, and the lessons inserted in their daily life amidst the sea of serious issues sometimes cracked as a joke is one of the show's greatest strengths that I will never ever get tired of.
2) Undermined Expectations. This is something that Prison Playbook plays really really well. Not everything thrown at you is the truth, and I think it was really clever of the show to twist expectations like that. Among my favorites is this:
And this:
3) Fleshed-out Characters. I love how Prison Playbook has put heavy focus on its characters as well as their motivations and their behavior as a person. I love how the show emphasized that these characters were not inately bad. Sure they may be in prison due to some circumstances, but they were genuinely good people, or at least had the potential to change. They just needeed a good push and a great person to do that, and I love that with Je Hyeok in prison and Lieutenant Paeng around, they were able to do just that—change. I also love how us, as viewers, were given access to these prisoners' life, because by revealing the characters' own backstories and giving them their own time to shine, they became all the more relatable. With their stories comes our understanding and empathy for them, and maybe a little bit of admiration too, especially in terms of character growth.
4) Friendship. The friendship that Je Hyeok was able to form with other inmates while in jail was among the most wonderful things to have happened in this show. Je Hyeok might be short tempered, a tad slow and a bit of a dim-wit sometimes especially about things that isn't baseball, but his kindness was definitely out of this world. He has an eye for seeing the good in people, and his genuine concern for others, especially for his prisonmates, transcends in every possible way. Because of this, he gets to earn not just a number of friends but loyal ones at that. Even those whom he used to be enemies with end up becoming his ally, and it was such a wonderful thing to see Prison Playbook hit all the right notes about friendship and what it really means to have each other's back. Now that's what you call real squad goals.
Yet the things I love does not only circle around Je Hyeok being Mr. Congeniality. This right here isn't about him befriending everybody else, but was a stealer nonetheless.
5) Bromance. The dynamics between Je Hyeok and his prisonmates were absolutely great, but his bromance with Joon Ho? It's on a different level of great. I love how these two go out of their way to take care and look after each other. Even if a long time has passed before they got to meet each other again, it was pretty evident that their friendship remained intact. Jung Kyung Ho and Park Hae Soo had amazing chemistry too, and I love more how adorable these two are and how they light up the screen so much whenever they are together.
6) (Re) Discovering Jung Kyung Ho. The only drama I have watched Jung Kyung Ho in was Time Between Dog and Wolf, and that hasn't been a very pleasant experience as I have been really pissed with his character in that show. However, watching him as Lee Joon Ho in this drama felt like a breath of fresh air that finally freed him of the stigma that I had of him, especially since Joon Ho was such an adorable corrections officer, baseball fan and best friend all rolled into one. I absolutely enjoyed how Jung Kyung Ho played the reliable friend Lee Joon Ho. He was a stealer, and I love how he was able to bring Joon Ho's gruff yet ardent character so vividly alive. Jung Kyung Ho was the perfect actor for this role, although I still somehow feel that the show could have drawn a whole lot more from him and that his acting potential hasn't been fully realized.
❀ RANTS ❀ »•»
1) Episode Length. The show probably has the longest stretch I've ever seen in a drama, with episodes panning to at least one and a half hour each. Honestly, this has been one of the reasons I've been putting Prison Playbook on hold for so long. I've heard a lot of great reviews and its rating on drama listings were even higher compared to Signal, which was a favorite. However, I was never sure if sitting through an hour and a half watching prisoners' mundane lives would be worth my time, especially since I don't have much time to spare. Thankfully I had been proven wrong, but thinking about how I could have missed this gem had I not given this a chance because of its episodes' length gives me shudders.
2) Uncomfortable Comedic Instances. I absolutely hated this, specifically this:
3) Hanyang aka Looney's Ending. Looney was such an amusing character, and I've had quite a good laugh in every scene that he's in. He had been struggling because of his addiction, but had also been eager in battling out the urge for drugs the best way he can. Which was why...
4) Je Hyeok and Ji Hoo's Romance. Just to make things clear, nope, this isn't about Krystal, unlike everybody else's gripes. However I just couldn't enjoy Je Hyeok and Ji Hoo's romance completely given the age gap. I usually don't care much about age gaps, especially since most of the time it isn't that much noticeable anyway. However giving that backstory starting from basically when Je Hyeok and Ji Hoo were just kids made the age gap a lot more glaring for me. I mean, Je Hyeok was already in high school and Ji Hoo probably in pre-elementary during the flashbacks, and thinking about how Ji Hoo must have been groomed like that only to be Je Hyeok's love interest felt sort of creepy.
❀ RULING ❀ »•»
Prison Playbook is indeed one dark horse, a gem you never would have expected from something that is set in prison. It's an inspiring and wonderful tale about redemption and second chances, a great reminder that no matter how much you've strayed, you can always find hope and come back into the light, especially if you are very much willing to commit to change. After all, hell is yourself. As Ezra Taft Benson puts it, "Some of the greatest battles are fought within the silent chambers of your own soul." Sure it may be tough, but personal battles are there to be won over. And only when you win will it be gratifying to say, "Bravo, my life!" 😉
0 comments:
Post a Comment