Moving (2023)

moving in all the right directions.

so this k-drama I was hesitant on watching only because I had a hard time finding where to stream it. now that I found my ways I was really missing out from not watching this at the beginning when it first aired… or was I… this show is really that great that I have binge watched when I find a lot of k-dramas hard too because of their lengthy episodes.

this drama proves again my point that I’m capable of enjoying dramas and being so hooked that I don’t feel like time is dragging on. It’s because there are so many different elements put on the table for viewers that I can’t help but be immersed. There are likeable main characters, fast paced action, romance, high school relationships, dealing with anxiety and bullying, and gore.

This drama is such a fresh idea to me. It has been done before with a lot of American superheroes etc. But with this it just feels so new. The budget helps with making this drama a good watch, it’s expensive and each episode feels so cinematic. It’s intense in the right places and has a good pace. I like every plot this drama picks up, and I really like the sets of main characters with the parents and their children.

So this drama is really starting to pick up, and it never was boring at all. It has a good setup and the hook that comes in the middle is thrilling. I definitely will rewatch this and recommend to anyone honestly. I can’t put a name on the genre and that’s what makes it so unique. It’s a 10/10 for me.

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Director Lost Sight of the Story

Hearing about it winning all sorts of awards, I thought this would be sure-win. Turns out, it's yet another K-drama that fell into the same holes as so many others when A-listers are cast in the film.

What I liked:
- the child actors and their character development
- the mystery behind the adult characters
- watching the characters try to survive as ordinary citizens in spite of their superpowers.

Loved, loved, loved Lee Jong Ha's acting.

What made me drop this show:
- the excessive "telling" instead of "showing"
- the excessive flashbacks - not every single little subplot from the past deserves 30+ mins. of a flashback
- disappearing the teenaged characters halfway through the drama
- switching to focus way too much on the adult characters
- too much about a government conspiracy that makes it become just like any other K-drama about Korean gov't conspiracies.

Soundtrack was negligible.

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True Power °8.3° °Excellent°

“You're retired.”

When powered people are “retired,” it's meant to be permanent. Someone is making sure they are gone for good. He has a list. He's checked it more than twice.

M is a 2023 release that is rated 91 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 20 38-58 minute episodes. I've never seen a KDrama open like this… with astral vision, a hard landing, and a harder awakening. The ample budget is showing. It starts in HS. We follow kids with mysterious powers. Before long, we are in the backstory of their parents.

The backstories are /rough/ - Like pull-your-fist-back-and-take-a-moment-to extract-your-opponent’s-teeth-that-got-embedded-under-your-skin-after-a-powered-punch rough. Next, there's a HALL FIGHT!!! Fists of Flame!!! Dooooooood, it's awesome!!! And that episode is titled “The Romanticist”. Then it gets even more violent. It is alittle much- among the most intense I've seen. Clearly, they broke the budget on ep11.

Lee Jung Ha (Nevertheless-7.6, The Auditors, Rookie Historian-7.6) opens the show as the lightweight, Kim Bong “Seok”. Lightweight? More like weightless, at times. He has to wear a weighted backpack to keep himself from floating away like a lost party balloon. This town, that town, new school: To avoid predators, his mother has kept them moving constantly. He's sweet, likable, winsome, and pretty much adorable. Han Hyo Joo (Happiness, W, Blood Free-8.5) is his mother, Lee Mi Hyeon and Zo In Sung (Escape from Mogadishu, That Winter, the Wind Blows-7, It's Okay, That's Love) is his father, Kim Du Sik - He's just killer in the role.

Go Youn Jung (Alchemy of Souls-8.3, Sweet Home-8.4, The School Nurse Files-7.6) is his brand new schoolmate, Jang “Hui” Su. She's a transfer student, and she's pretty, yet she strangely befriends Bong Seok. I just finished watching AoS-2, in which this actress takes over as the FL. M follows a year later, yet she looks 5 years younger. I wouldn't have recognized her if I hadn't checked the credits. The funniest scene, early on, is when he brings her home. His mother's reaction is precious. At first, she's nonplussed. “You're a girl…” is what haltingly comes out. “A girl who's a /friend/…” Hui adds, trying to aid with the processing. “But you're pretty…” Mom is still working on it. When it finally clicks with Mom that her son has brought a pretty girl home, she gets too happy. Too friendly, too. The whole thing is really cute. Ryu Seung Ryong (Portrait of a Family, The Painter of the Wind, Kingdom-8.3) is Hui's father, strongman Jang Ju Won. He is marvelous as well.

Cha Tae Hyun (Team Bulldog: Off-duty Investigation, Brain Works) is the electric Jeon Gye Do. Ryu Seung Beom (No Mercy, Solitude) portrays a very creepy hitman named Frank. Kim Hee Won (Pawn, Han River Police-7.4) is one of the teachers, Choi Il Hwan. Moon Sung Geun (Falsify, Vagabond-8) is the vile governmental department head, Min Yong Jun. The director is Park In Je of Kingdom S2, and the screenwriter is Kang Full from Pain, Love Never Ends.

This production has it all: Love, laughter, warmth, sadness, pain, action, and excitement.
The fight scenes are exceptional and put quite a few Hollywood features to shame. The hitman/hunter is Steven Segal; H2K; Hard to Kill. They do a great job in speeding up the action in places in a way that multiplies the excitement. They are really showing off. The soundtrack is mostly average but not bad. Alone again Naturally, by Gilbert O'Sullivan circa 1972, unexpectedly showed up.

To be different is to be alone. To be normal is to accept the compromise of conformity which can be difficult to distinguish phoniness. That is the theme as well as the nature of power and what is most important.

“Hero? …What do you think power is? Empathy is what real power looks like. Having the ability to care and understand the emotions of others. What kind of hero breaks other people's hearts? …You acted like you were better than him. What you did wasn't admirable at all… a hero has compassion towards others.” Seok had showed off at school and his classmate was hurt when trying to imitate him. His mother is not impressed. Seok has never fit in. He watched a kid jump off the jungle-gym, claiming he could fly. All the kids cheered. Seok couldn't help but go and show them what he could do. But later, the first kid was badly hurt in a fall. His mother is right, but he's just a kid and he wants to fit in. It's a bitter lesson, and it underscores how isolated Seok is. The NK fighters are so sad. They were tortured into what they are. The human brain is terrifying. They are powered, yet still powerless.

M is powerful. It isn't the typical sweet and tame Kdrama. The language is rough (is that Hulu's influence, I wonder? Regardless, it isn't unrealistic) and the violence is jarring at times. This isn't for kids. They are keeping the story moving: S2 is in the works! No early retirement here.

〰QUOTE〰

Crying becomes a habit. A habit becomes a weakness.

〰IMHO〰

RATINGS
Directing 8.3
Writing 8.3
Acting 8.3
Romance 6
Flutters 5
Art 8
Sound & music 7.3
Ending ?
My personal EQ 6.5

LEVELS
Warmth 5
Action/ Excitement 7
Laughs 2
Tears 2
Fright 4
Tension/Anxiety 3
Gore 8
Thought provocation 5.5
Snores 0

Age 15+ Violence - an episode on bullying is very emotional and difficult, gore
Language: R-rated w/ many F💣s

Rated TV-MA: Mature Audience Only.

Re-watch? WOULD

In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

The Legend of the Blue Sea-7.2
Racket Boys-8.3,
Reply 1988-8.6,
The school nurse files-7.6,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Descendants Of The Sun-8.3,
Law School -8,

Period
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy,
Mr. Queen 8.5,
My Sassy Girl 8.5,

Sci-fi / Action
Glitch-8,
Missing: The Other Side-8.3,
Mystic Pop-up Bar-8.2,
K2 8,
Inspector Koo-8.4,
Private Lives 8.1, When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Sisyphus 8,
The Golden Spoon-8.1,
Uncanny counter season-1 only °S1-8.4 S2-4,
Vagabond-8,
Tunnel 8.5,
Signal 8.6, Iris-8,
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9, The Wailing-8.8,
Black 9,
Squid Game 8.4,
Kingdom 8.3,
Sweet Home 8.4

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u can't skip the episodes all is really interesting

All thanks to director,screenwriter, editor to bring this drama fabulous
In this drama shows the individual character stories in episodes its makes more viewable
As usual Han Hyo Joo [ Lee Mi Hyun ] her acting is fantastic she played her character well
Lee Jung Ha [ Kim Bong Seok ] and Go Youn Jung [ Jang Hee Soo ] their chemistry is good in appearance
Cha Tae Hyun [ Jeon Gye Do ] he As usual same presence in screen
And iam looking forward for part 2 moving thank you
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Long but good

That fight scene (if that’s even what you call that) between Joo Won and the big guy in ep19 was trending on ridiculous. Really they were like I will just stand there and you punch me, then the other one will just also stand there and await the return punch. Really what was that scene?. I was mind blown because that scene was so surreal and not in a good way, It left me completely bewildered in an otherwise stellar production effort so far.
Anyways I did enjoy the drama overall. I actually preferred the adults story more than the kids because the kids really didn’t even have a story IMO and their abilities were significantly less than their parents or they were not properly trained, the north attacked because they felt the south were training new generations of talent, they really shouldn’t have bothered because that school was basically useless in training them, anyways as much as I enjoyed the drama at the beginning and midway point, I was ready for it to be over by the last few episodes.
I highly doubt I will be rewatching this but I still recommend if you like this genre because although there were some eye roll moments the drama was overall, really well done.

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Action Action Action

A story about superpowers. At first, I thought it'd be a cheap version of MCU & DC, but it proved me wrong. It has a good plot with a superpower element in it. Parents trying their best to save their children.

I loved the fighting sequence.

Lee Mi Hyun had to do everything to protect Kim Bong Seok from guiding him to control his ability to earn money all by herself.

Laughed how Kim Bong Seok was telling Jang Hee Soo to catch him then to leave him while floating.

Lee Mi Hyun reaction to seeing Kim Bong Seok with Jang Hee Soo is epic.

Loved how calculatively Lee Mi Hyun approached Kim Doo Shik.

I wanted to see scenes between Kim Doo Shik & Kim Bong Seok. I'm disappointed that they didn't show any.

I'm surprised that Han Hyo Joo played the mother role of a teenager in her 30s.

Can't wait for S2.

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Superpowered or not, good parenting is core

I was in Busan when this show was in second week on air. Saw a lot of ads. First few episodes were less interesting to me but I became invested in episode 5 onwards.

What I like:
1) Parenting styles of 3 different families. Lee Mi-hyun is overprotective of her son Kim Bong Seok because of his supernatural powers but she never stops him from experiencing normal adolescence. He goes to public high school and he is allowed to bring friends home. Jang Ju-won becomes a single father after his wife passed away. You can see his dedication in raising his daughter Jang Hee-soo in safe environment. Lee Jae-man is another exemplary father despite his limitations.
2) Espionage - love episodes when Doo-shik, Ju-won & Mi-hyun were completing their missions. Even Frank's missions were thrilling to watch.
3) Acting - great acting by the cast.
4) Ending was just wonderful.
5) Romance stories of two sets of parents.
6) I am intrigued by the mysterious student who was not detected.
7) The battle at school. I love that Bong Seok carried his mum home.

What I dislike:
1) Higher ups at National Intelligence Services especially Director Min Yong-jun. Opening a school to identify and recruit superpowered individuals without being transparent to all parents is just a bad move.
2) I found the earlier episodes were less interesting because too much focus on Bong Seok and Hee-soo. Once the episodes focused on their parents' past, then I became more invested in the series.

Favourite scene
When Doo-shik was captured by NIS at Mi-hyun's residence and the scene at NIS.

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Disappointed and Confused.

By now everyone must already know the show is definitely not a superhuman genre or even a thriller.
The show for me was very very disappointing, it took me a lot of time to decide on watching a different genre than my usual romance/romcom kdramas.
Suprised why i gave it a rating, me too. How i look at it basically is the shoe the emotion and slight thrill portion very well and basically 3 plot levels made it more of a not only character driven but eccentric to realistic approach to problems of superhumans in a society.
Remember my 9/10 rating is solely for me and highly subjective.
But if i were to objectively rate my whole experience not just plot, 7.5/10 at max.
The 3 plot levels where disjointed and were very loose, some characters were just not fitted well but show made excellent remarks with them and used them to propel more of a eccentric focus on the eotional.flow rather than physical appearances of destruction, revenge , attack or war like most superhero related would .


Yet, even with these hiccups, the show kind of found its own groove by diving deep into emotions. It didn't go the usual superhero route of smashing things up or seeking revenge, which gave it this weird but kind of cool charm. It's this mix of stuff that's got me feeling all sorts of ways, like untangling a messy ball of thoughts that goes way beyond just slapping a number on it.

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Não me moveu tanto assim

Moving foi uma desses dramas que demoraram pra me pegar, mas quando o vez, me vi assistindo 3 episódios em seguida (raro pra mim!!!). Achei uma graça os personagens adolescentes, principalmente o Bongseok! Uma pena que da metade para frente o foco sai deles e vai para os adultos. Porém, a história dos pais do Bongseok é tipo muito interessante e eu amei assistir os eps dedicados à ela. Os últimos 2 episódios foram muito difíceis de terminar porque focou muito em violência e na briga (que até hoje eu não entendi nada??? acho que deveriam ter contado ela de forma linear para não deixar duvidas como foi comigo. Motivo pelo qual eu tirei 1 estrela), então perdi muito do interesse no drama :( Infelizmente não fui uma das várias pessoas que amou essa história, uma pena pois sei que é boa.

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