Poignant and beautiful; it's an artistic (as opposed to mainstream) film

Spoiler alert: This is a touching and intimate character study of Chihiro, a lost individual, and the people who temporarily enter her life. The pacing is slow, and the action and dialogue is minimal. But it’s beautifully filmed, with the landscapes and vistas of her seaside community nicely conveying Chihiro’s sense of isolation and loneliness as she struggles to bond with those around her. The hook, that Chihiro is a former sex worker, is probably a metaphor for her struggles to connect emotionally with others. By the end of the film, we understand what she meant when she imagined that earth is populated by aliens, each of whom came from a different planet. For those who enjoy an artistic-leaning films, this movie is worth checking out.

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Entertaining but problematic ending

This Kdrama is very entertaining; the characters are appealing and the story line is engrossing. But, as explained below, the ending wasn’t just bad, it was offensive.

Recommendation: Watch it, then read the spoilers, not just mine but others. What’s nice about this story is that its the characters are well-developed and memorable. And because of that, the conclusion provokes a powerful reaction. That’s also part of the fun.

Spoiler: Let's talk about the ending. Here's the setup: The endearing Goo Ra-ra befriends, then falls in love with, Sunwoo Joon. Despite his independence, he's actually a much younger runaway high school student. Joon leaves Ra-ra to study abroad. Ra-ra hosts a Christmas party, which is also a homecoming party for Joon. His mom shows up instead and reveals Joon had gone overseas for cancer treatment and sadly passed away. Five years later, the last few minutes of the show, Joon returns to a joyful reunion.

Wait, what? He didn't die? Is this suppose to be a happy ending?

The Problems:

First, it didn’t just undermined a very touching and well-earned reconciliation scene between Joon’s mother and Ra-ra; it perverted it. To tell someone their beloved just died, when it fact that person is alive, is beyond mean - it’s evil.

Second, what does it say about Joon’s character? Again, lying about his death and not keeping in touch for 5 years? It doesn't matter how you spin it (was he saving Ra-ra from the heartache of watching a loved one wither away?), most viewers will come away with negative feelings. What would you prefer? To be told someone you loved one had died and live without him for 5 years. Or be told he is sick and be by his side to provide aid and comfort while enjoying his companionship and hopefully recovering? Basic humanity solves this simple question. What on earth were the writers trying to achieve? Tacking on a crude Hollywood-type happy ending undercut the magic of this show.

So let’s propose a couple of alternative endings.

Alternative 1; He’s dead. Leave it at that. It’s still a sweet love story with a bittersweet ending that mature adults could appreciate.

Alternative 2: Mom arrives at the party, reveals Joon’s illness and that he’s too sick to travel. Ra-ra goes to visit. That sets up two possibilities for the epilogue: Five years later, they’re married with a kid studying the piano and playing their homecoming song on their wedding anniversary. Or five years later, Joon has died, but she had his child who is learning to play the piano, starting with the homecoming song. (And of course, Mimi the Dog is there playing the piano when nobody is looking.)
Your pick, sweet or bittersweet (I like the latter), both work much better.
Also, did anyone else feel Mimi got the short shrift? This charismatic dog was a scene stealer. We needed her in more episodes.

And while we're critiquing the show, one scene in particular was just embarrassingly stupid. Suspecting her father's business associate had committed fraud, Ra-ra tracks him down, finding him in a car at parking lot where she observes him abusing his wife. When Ra-ra confronts him, he informs her he had become an actor and they were, in actuality, just filming a scene.

Really? So you mean to tell me Ra-ra didn't notice a film crew and equipment nearby?

Not buying it.

Having said all this, it was still a great show.

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Fun adventure

This is a great coming of age story about a female fencing student who aims for Olympic glory while navigating peer pressure amidst the backdrop of a society dealing with financial and political upheaval. This well written and acted TV show was cruising for gold, but blew the dismount in spectacular fashion. Still, for Kdrama fans, this is must-see TV. To paraphrase TS Eliot, sometimes it's the journey, not the destination, that matters most.

Spoiler alert

Problems. The main characters, fencer Na Hee-do and Baek Yi-jin (rich boy/poor boy/ then rich boy again) have great chemistry and their characters are well-developed. But both turned dull and listless when the story line moved to the 9/11 terrorist attack and beyond. Further, the concluding story arcs of the delightful secondary characters were trite to the point of embarrassment. For instance, in the last few minutes of the show we learn that Yin jin's brother becomes his chauffeur. Really? What's worse, it's implied that assertive female class president Ji Seung-wan might hit on him? What's that about? The show just rushed the ending, diminishing its characters.

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A clever adaptation of “Chinatown” undercut by unreal storylines

“The Bequeathed” is well worth watching. The acting is fantastic. Its characters are quickly and effectively drawn with compelling backstories. And its production values, with its artistic aspects (cinematography, music, set design, etc.), create the perfect environment for a tense crime drama.

But the script is flawed. Its characters act irrationally, have bizarre motives and possess unrealistic abilities.

I’ll dissect its flaws in the below spoilers’ section. But please don’t read it before watching this drama. The show is relatively short, just 6 episodes. And the journey, with fascinating twists, is incredibly entertaining. But if you know the spoilers, it ruins the experience. (It’s like watching a taped-delayed football game after learning the score.)

Still, analyzing shows is also fun. So enjoy. Then come back to this review to see if my criticisms hold water.

Spoilers/Analysis:
This show is similar to Polanski’s “Chinatown” in style (film noir) and substance (incest, property rights). But, as mentioned, it suffers from unbelievable characters and illogical storylines.

Let’s focus on the main plot and its key characters.

1. Yoon Myung-gil; the property owner. Scheming locals killed Yoon Myung-gil to force the sale of his property, the family burial grounds.
2. Yoon Seo-ha; Myung-gil’s niece. She’s an associate professor whose career is floundering and her marriage is failing. Although she never met Myung-gil, she stands to inherit his property.
3. Kim Young-ho; an emotionally disturbed stranger. He claims to be related to Seo-ha and Myung-gil and seeks title to the property.
4. Yoon Myung-hee; Myung-gil’s sister and Young-ho’s mother. She’s the killer.
5. Choi Tae-song; the hotel owner/mobster. He needs cash to impress his future in-laws.

The problematic issues:

1. The main character, Yoon Seo-ha:
Seo-ha is an Art History assistant professor whose husband is unfaithful and is struggling to navigate the treacherous waters of workplace politics (backstabbing coworkers and an abusive, lecherous boss). A detective provides her with evidence that her husband is cheating on her. When her uncle, Myung-gil, dies intestate, she and her husband stand to inherit his property after the police determine Seo-ha is Myung-gil’s only living relative.

Complications regarding her inheritance arise when a mentally unstable stranger, Young-ho, accosts her at Myung-gil’s funeral, claiming to be the rightful heir. He stalks/terrorizes her.

Seo-ha confronts her husband with evidence of his infidelity and demands a divorce. He demands a share of her inheritance first. He’s killed shortly thereafter.

So, with her life in turmoil, what does Seo-ha do? She considers buying and operating a rundown hotel from a sleazy owner based on the advice of a shifty private eye.

In what universe does this occur? This is simply absurd.

But it gets worse.

2. The hotel owner, Choi Tae-song:
Tae-song needs cash fast. His great money-making scheme is to unload his fleabag hotel at an inflated price to a naïve Seo-ha who will be rich once she inherits Myung-gil’s property.

Really? That’s Tae-song’s solution to his money troubles?

First, why would he think Seo-ha would want the hotel, and would be able to quickly secure the funding? His genius plan to facilitating Seo-ha’s inheritance is – wait for it –to force Young-ho to release his property claim by making him an offer he can’t refuse (beating him up till he signs a quitclaim deed).

How could this plan possibly work? The police are already investigating two murders tied to this property. (Soon there would be three.) Would Tae-song really want to be drawn into a murder investigation?

This gets more outrageous when we learn Tae-song is a mobster with murderous thugs and a crooked lawyer on his payroll. Two things; this revelation means he would be even more motivated to avoid police scrutiny. And second, you don’t have to be a criminologist to know there are simpler ways for a mobster to raise money.

In the end, Tae-song decides to kill both Seo-ha and Young-ho. But with Seo-ha dead he won’t be able to consummate the hotel sale. Sure, the climactic kiln scene was cool, but completely illogical.

Finally, there’s his motivation. Tae-song needs the cash because his daughter is getting married to a doctor and he wants to impress his wealthy in-laws by buying the lad a clinic. Beyond absurd.

3. The killer, Yoon Myung-hee:
This is where the story goes off the rails. Myung-hee is Myung-gil‘s sister. She had an incestuous relationship with their older brother, who is also Seo-ha’s father. Crazy Kim Young-ho is their unregistered/undocumented child.

There are all sorts of problems with this character. In the first episode, the police investigation revealed she was dead. There’s no explanation why they were mistaken?

Second, Myung-hee is a frail septuagenarian weighing no more that 115 pounds soaking wet. This brings into question her feats of strength. How was she able to dump Seo-ha’s husband’s body in the creek? (The coroner stated he was dragged by his collar to that spot.) How did she stuff the hulking detective back in his car? And how did she maneuver an unconscious Seo-ha into her truck, then her cave?

It gets worse. As acknowledged in the show, the person entitled to inherit the property is none other than Myung-hee. That’s right. When Myung-gil dies, as the sole surviving sibling, she gets it all.

Why doesn’t Myung-hee file a claim? Here’s how the show explains it. She suffered humiliation as a child due to disfigurement - a cleft palate. If she revealed her true identity, Young-ho’s illegitimacy would be revealed, subjecting him to ridicule. Apparently killing a few innocent people is preferable to name-calling.

Not only is this a ridiculous calculation, it’s not true. First, revealing her identity would have no impact on Young-ho whatsoever. She could still keep his identity a secret. She gets the property, sells it, and gives him the money. Who would know?

Finally, Even if Myung-hee was successful in her plan to kill Seo-ha and her husband, Young-ho still doesn’t inherit the property. He’s an unacknowledged illegitimate child. He wouldn’t have any claim to a blood relative’s estate beyond that of his biological parents. (Korean Civil Code, 2021.) He has no intestate right any other relative’s property. As such, that land would revert to the state/local village. Myung-hee should have consulted a Korean trust and estates lawyer before going on her meaningless killing spree.

A couple of final problematic issues:

1. The family plot. After being terrorized by estranged family members/lunatics over a parcel of property bequeathed to her by someone she never met, Seo-ha decides to keep it. That makes perfect sense. Because after all, this land holds so much meaning to her – it’s a treasured family legacy; her roots. Apparently, nothing’s more valuable to Seo-ha than those cherished memories of her family and the good times they shared. Yuck.

The underlying message of this show is the exact opposite. When a family is dysfunctional and the relationships are toxic; the best thing to do is to cut all ties. Keeping with the story arc, it should have concluded with Seo-ha dumping the property the second she secured title. (Incidentally, the detective subplot provided the family redemption theme.)

2. The poison. Thallium comes in a medicine bottle. It’s not packaged and shipped in bags that look like sacks of fertilizer, as depicted in the show. And ingesting a gram or two is fatal. The quantity found at the construction site would have killed the entire population of Korea (and cost a fortune).

3. The title. “The Bequeathed” is grammatically incorrect. Bequeath is a verb; e.g. Grandma bequeathed her wedding ring to Mollie.

At a minimum, the show should be renamed “The Bequest.” But that doesn’t really fit either since a bequest is an affirmative act; giving an item to another through a will. Here, Myung-gil didn’t have a will.

The correct title should be, “The Inheritance.”

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A marvelous story diminished by hidden scenes

Kdrama episodes typically end with photo cards - pictures that capture key moments of that episode. If you watch these shows on Netflix, that signals the episode's end, and to click to the next episode.

Shockingly, “Crash” includes key scenes after the photo cards roll. These “hidden scenes” can provide significant character insight and plot development. For instance, in episode 2, the hidden scene reveals Yoon Se-Ri visited a euthanasia clinic in Switzerland to end her life because of severe depression. She’s also seen standing near Ri Jong Hyeok as they both gaze at the paragliders.

This scene adds significant insight to Se-Ri’s character as well as enhancing the notion of fated love. That such material is buried in the credits section is inexplicable (unless the viewing public, beside me, is in on this secret).

And one last comment, the suicide scene mentioned above is offensive. The counselor who rejected Se-Ri for euthanasia suggested she go sightseeing instead. So, a suicidal patient comes to a clinic seeking to end her life and the advice she receives is literally, “Go take a hike?”

This is just sloppy, lazy writing. In the real world, Se-Ri would have received counseling from a suicide prevention specialist, a professional every euthanasia clinic employs.

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