Disney + “Shadow Detective 2” premiered this past week, let us discuss the drama.
If you guys recall, I named “Shadow Detective” one of my favorite kdramas of 2022. It is also one of my favorite Disney+ original kdrama productions to date.
Note: this article is a first-impression review, it doesn’t mean this is the writer’s final thoughts on the drama. This is a spoiler review.
The writing, the cinematography, the editing, the pacing, and the acting were all top-notch.
And after less than a year, the drama came out with season 2, which is quite fast in streaming platforms standards. They knew they had a hit on their hands.
So how were the premiere episodes of “Shadow Detective 2”? let us discuss what I liked and disliked.
When I watched the premiere, I was genuinely confused. It seems like we were meant to also re-watch the 8th episode of the 1st season to understand what happened…. But even when I did that, I still don’t quite understand whats going on…
So, I rewind to my recap of the finale and I can’t find any mention of Chairman Jang dying….
I’ve been very busy these days, so I get notifications when kdramas air to review them but I rarely see video teasers, so I was personally under the impression that we would pick up from where we left off, which was a huge cliffhanger….. but apparently, that was not happening…… this was a frustrating realization….
We pick up a year later, which is quite the confusing way to start the premiere. Very few exposition that attempts to explain what happened in the said period other than he’s back in Juvenile investigation unit after what happened…. But what was ‘what happened…’?
I think the screenwriter is relying on the fact that we’ll be intrigued enough to want to tune in to find out what happened in that year gap… and in a sense, he’s not wrong but it still made for an annoying watching experience in certain scenes. I had to go back, and read the synopsis and its not even been a year later, but the transition between seasons is done so poorly…. I didn’t know what was happening the entirety of episodes 1 and 2 except for the fact that new people seem to have something to do with a development area issue, similar to the 1st season and we now have new players….. which takes me to a realization…. Why wasn’t the drama properly wrapped up in 10 episodes then? It seemed it needed two more to take down that Chairman and avenge Kook Jin-Han’s death but it seems he’s back at square one solely because we need a 2nd season, which feels like cheating…
I get what he was aiming for with this, its like a fish out of water situation where you catch up on what happened to build up on what will happen, but it could have been woven into the story better, much better.
Aside from that, through the premiere episodes I remembered why I liked the show, confusion and frustration aside, I still think the screenwriter has some good ideas on his mind and does a good job constructing a story from start to finish in an enjoyable manner.
However, with the 1st and 2nd episode [THUS FAR], I don’t see the need for season 2. I think Disney + really wants that kdrama HIT and they’ll hammer at that until they get it, but I hope it won’t be on the expense of general good ideas that get diluted because of the streaming model.
We like kdramas because they’re kdramas with all they represent, while streaming services did help bring more eyes to them, they also brought about what makes American series so annoying to watch, the insistence on serializing a production.
I hope I am wrong and that through the coming episodes, we find ample reasons why Taek-Rok revenge was stalled and why he’s been secretly investigating for a year now.
Aside from this, I have some theories and even his old friend seems suspicious, but I hope I am wrong and the screenwriter writing style won’t be predictable. The 1st season story was really great and everything came together just fine so I hope we get a similar thing this time around.
I have some hopes, but I am also slightly worried. Regardless, I will be tuning in next week to see what happens.
So these are my thoughts on “Shadow Detective 2” , so what about you guys? did you like the episodes? let me know what you thought in the comment section below.
