“When I woke up I was a different person: The most despicable louse in the world” He was already an attorney, how much worse could he be☺? Anyway, thus ep1 closes. Big Mouth opens, however, the night before. It was a dark and stormy night…

We get a brief look at our leading couple as they celebrate their anniversary. Just as the ML is getting into a car accident we jump 7 days back to see how things have been unraveling. Lee Jong-Suk (While You Were Sleeping-7.3, Romance is a Bonus Book-7.8, Hymn of Death-8.4) is ML, Park Chang-Ho (Cho). “He's got an exceptional mind, he just doesn't get alot of work.” He's the kind of guy who can never quite clear the bar. His pole will snap, or his laces will come untied. He has no connections. His win rate is less than 10%. He was scammed and lost their money.

A week ago, they lost their court case against scammers that had taken their savings, & Cho was representing the plaintiffs. Another loss. As the defense counsel and judge were changed at the last second, things look as kosher as marinated crab legs. The wife (Lim Yoon-A is Go Mi-Ho) is… displeased…

The “D” word comes up. “Divorce”. “I'd have to choose to live with Chang-Ho,” dad explains. “You're strong. You'll be fine. But he can't survive without me.” ”But you're MY father!” Mi-Ho really can't comprehend the reasoning.

We're lurched back to now; his car is flipping, & by the end of ep2, Cho's life has flipped completely. He was set up to take the fall for the real Big Mouse, and now, he's imprisoned. Everyone thinks he's Big Mouse. Some want to befriend him, more want revenge. He's been beaten several times and almost killed once. He wants to die. Living ain't easy, and sometimes dying isn't either. The crazier he acts, the more the other inmates fear him, and the safer he is. His fortune has always been to live a long and unlucky life. Very long. Very unlucky. He follows the crumbs and eventually decides the safest thing is to live in prison as Big Mouse.

“What!? The LAW!?! It is flowers that look beautiful from afar. But when you get close, they are growing on the edge of a cliff. The moment you grab onto that flower attempting to survive, you'll fall off the cliff to your death. A vicious flower planted by those in power. That's what the law is.” ~Big Mouse ~ BM is a 2022 release that is rated 90 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 16 60(ish)-minute eps. Its charm is in the everyday couple getting yanked into the world of crime and somehow going toe-to-toe with these nefarious masterminds. They've got the everyday problems: Debt, bills, hard jobs, losing cases, tough bosses, and they can't afford to have a child. But when pushed into the corner, they manage to outwit heads of criminal syndicates. BM shows us how people fundamentally want to follow a strong leader. They prefer a good strong leader, but, depending on circumstances, people gravitate toward strength. Power abides where perception resides. Power is basically the result of a group of individuals agreeing (consciously or not) on where and what it is. It's usually 80% illusion.

This show is not issue free, which we'll get into later. If you are a detail oriented left-brainer you may get fed up and jump off the wheel. I'm not, and I came close a few times but felt, in the balance, that BM works. The acting is fine. Some of the performances are right on the line but I could roll with it. The actor who plays Big Mouse did a particularly nice job. Our FL, Lim Yoon-A, is in K2-8.1 - among the 1st Kdramas I've seen. I loved the show and was blown away by Song Yoon-A's performance as the congressman‘s wife. Ms Lim's part is one of the weak points of the show. I thought she was mad or had the mentality of a child, and remember being stunned that the male lead is attracted to her. To be fair, her character had been through alot, and she had every right to be strung out. It just didn't play well in the show. She is fine in BM. Kim Joo-Hun (Castaway Diva) plays Choi Do-Ha (DA). He is very Michael Corleone to his Sonny counterpart, Kong Ji-Hoon, played by Yang Kyung-Won (Crash Landing on You-9.1). Oh Eui-Sik is our ML's aid. I'm a fan. I first saw him in Oh My Ghost-10, a superb show. He plays the guitar and sings beautifully. He has 18 credited works on IMDB. He must be made of pixie dust because they are all good shows. Familiar Wife-8.5 was a particular surprise; if you see his name in the credits, it's going to be a good show, pretty much.

Jeon Gook Hwan (Sisyphus: The Myth-8) - who else could play the CAT, I mean, the elder? The elder is said to be 85, and Mr. Jeon doesn't look a day over his actual age of 74, but he plays the-menace-under-the-controlled-exterior like few others. His voice is marvelous, too. Ok Ja-Yeon, as hospital director, Hyun Joo-Hee, exudes calmness to the point where I settle down alittle just by looking at her, yet she's also a tad scary. She was quite different in Mine-8, to her credit. I like this actress. The tough, older bald inmate is the honorable criminal, like Ehrmantraut (Johnathan Banks from Beverly Hills Cop-8) in Breaking Bad-9.4/Better Call Saul-9.3.

Kraft-cheese-wise, um, craft-wise, BM is solid. There's just a few holes. Director: Oh Choong-Hwan brings us nothing but hits, like Hotel Del Luna-8.4. There's excellent filming of a person driving while drugged & a nice shot reflecting off of a black statue. The final shot of ep7, in the dreaded white hall, is perfection. The current trajectory had slowed significantly by then, & things take a hairpin turn just in time. Ep9 is a blast. It Looks like they used the same abandoned pool in ep14 as the one in The Flower of Evil-8.9. If they did, I love the call out. Midway thru ep15 there's another little tasty twist. The music augments an air of excitement.

The show is a maze. The creatures that are trapped in it scurry and thrash dramatically. Every movement reverberates through the whole system. There's a nice scene where they're underground and disturb a nest of rats who go scurrying. It would have been disappointing to not see any rodents during its full run. The title is a play on words. Our languages don't have the same consonants, so, to the Asian ear, “mouth” and “mouse” sound nearly identical. Cho's nickname is “Big Mouth”, and the notorious crime syndicate ruler’s moniker is “Big Mouse”. Mouse? Who wants to be vermin? A quick goog of mice in Kculture lumps them in with rats. Adjectives used are: intelligent, agile, clever, hardworking, and with the abilities of foresight. 🔜 “They think they are predators as they run at me, but I'm going to chew them up and kill them.“ It is Cho's big mouth that enables him to pose as Big Mouse.

The backdrop for Big Mouth burrows into how Korea developed into a first world country. Though its terrain, independent spirit, and relationship with China has kept Korea mostly independent, Korea was colonized and generally pushed around in & around the 20th century, particularly by Japan (but the West has dirty hands also). Once the Republic of Korea was formally established (15 August 1948), it remained a military dictatorship from 1961 through 1987. During that time human rights were scarce, but prosperity prospered. Plenty of older voters in K long for the old days, because they were never victimized, while the younger voters, who didn't grow up in the abject poverty their elders did, don't fully appreciate the value of a good economy. (Thus is politics - a never ending cycle of imbalance. Both sides are right. Both sides are wrong). The elder made his money the old fashioned way - by trampling on the rights of the poor. By now, he's created a pile of toxic waste that's on the verge of poisoning not only his empire, but the entire country.

It doesn't work like a perfect mousetrap. The bad thing about Big Mouth is how it walks the line between taking itself seriously and not taking itself seriously. I can't accuse it of either one of those things. Therefore, I always felt slightly off balance while watching. Is this toxic☠ or can I digest☘ it? Do they realize they're being silly here, or are we called upon to take that seriously? Nibble. Nibble. Nibble. Thoughts like that kept nibbling at me. The gnawing continued through ep11. In ep12, the show started to be quite a bit of fun. Up until then it wasn't bad, but the nibbling was distracting.

Even so, BM does have a couple wandering moles leaving stinky droppings here and there, but it's all tame. For one example, there's a prison escape attempt that is too feeble (groan) (☘◻☠☑) The evil doctors are so evil it's cartoonish. People like that, just caught up to the point of being consumed with self-satisfaction and unhealthy appetites, exist in reality. (☘☑ ☠◻)

In BigMouse, they created a villain near supernaturally powerful and rich with vast influence and a wide network, yet they believe he's in prison. That makes no sense. They set up a human being that can't possibly exist, so I was waiting to be somewhere between amused and disgusted, but they didn't do such a bad job. It's all implausible, ridiculously so, but for all that, I found it in the range of acceptability. (☘☑ ☠◻)

The granting-of-favors-thing is horrible. It is not a good plot device, and he made no attempt to do anything, even with his outside connections. He was toying with people's pain! Perhaps they are showing that he doesn't know what he's doing and will try anything? Doesn't make for good TV. (☘◻☠☑)

It's doubtful his influence in the prison would stand without outside influence and the ability to smuggle contraband. Prison politics and economy run on contraband and outside influence (including the ability to intimidate loved ones on the outside) as much as muscle. This is not a small logical gap and it's unexplained. (☘◻☠☑)

False choice. Are you/are you not Big Mouse? These highly intelligent characters never seem to consider other options, even when it's obvious that if he's not Big Mouse, he's got to be connected in some way, given what he knows. (☘◻☠☑

The shift mid ep12 is awesome!(☘☑ ☠◻)✨

Whom do you least suspect? One character came to mind & I dismissed the idea too soon with a laugh. In the balance... Another person actually did entirely escape my radar (I top out at average when it comes to figuring things out. I'm usually more focused on artistry. Still, ☘good☘ for them). (☘☑ ☠◻)

One person in the Big Mouth organization has a perplexing life placement, as it nets the organization nothing. Plot-wise, his double life ties alot of bows, but that's some stale prison rolls without enough beverage-of-explanation to get em down without choking. (☘◻☠☑)

Why would Big Mouse go along with Cho's plan? I guess they are painting a picture of a guy who's tired of it all. His life of crime started with heartbreak and nothing he's done made him feel better? ☠/☘?

Is Cho Big Mouse? You know he's not. We saw his previous life. However, the viewer is tempted to wonder. Then we hear a quote: “He might be worse than Big Mouse.” Is he about to pull a Pirate Roberts from Princess Bride-9? Watch and see.

If I make it to ep12 of 16, Ima finish it. Despite legitimate criticisms, BM still holds up well. There is plenty of intelligence to it, and intelligent features don't hand-feed viewers. One must walk the maze for several eps to arrive at answers, & they do answer most questions (☘☑ ☠◻). Big Mouse is cheesy and ridiculous but, on the balance, they are simply having fun. A review of the writer/director resumes bolsters that assessment - they each have a cache of credibility. However, the left and right brain fight for dominance Big Mouse stokes does lower its degree-of-difficulty, and thus, its potential maximum score.

Which brings us to ep16. It's great! Big Mouth closes strong. Not just the final ep, but the last few. It's not all cookie-cutter, either. In the final analysis, if you can just (☘☑ ☠◻) it, Big Mouth is a fun, albeit bumpy, trek through the Habitrail.


QUOTES📢

You gamble based on your instinct, not on human relations.

Do you know where the perfect place to hide lies is? The truth.

Wait until we see the torso. Don't get worked up about seeing the tail.


〰🖍 IMHO

Directing 8
Writing 7.3
Acting 7.5
Warmth 5
Art 7
Excitement 6.5
Sound & music 7
Laughs 3
Tears 6
Fright 5
Tension 4.5
Gore 4.5
Thought provocation 4.5
Snores 0
Ending 8.5


Age 14+ violence, other very dark themes

Rated TV-15

Re-📺? It's worth watching once but for me that's probably it.

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

Mad For Each Other-7.8 ~silly fun~;
Crazy Love-7.8;
Love to Hate You-8.9;
Romance is a bonus book-7.9;
Crash Landing On You-9.1;
Oh My Ghost-10;
Private Lives-8.1;
It's Okay Not To Be Okay-9;
Love Struck in the City-7.3;
When the Camellia Blooms-8;
K2-8;
Tunnel-8.1;
Signal-8.6;
Sisyphus-8;
My Mister-9.5;
Squid Game-8.4;
Kingdom-8.3;
Flower of Evil-8.9;
Hymn of Death-8.4;
D.P.-8.4;
The Man from Nowhere-8.9;
The Cursed-8.3;
Black-9