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Bullet Point Review: Chicago Typewriter
Bullet Point Review: Chicago Typewriter
- If you know me well enough, or if you have seen the list of dramas I have watched, you can easily tell that I have an immeasurable love for stories that involve time travel and fantasy. The mystery of the inexplicable, the universe that is created with it, and the rules that come along with it are so thrilling to watch, and even though not all Korean dramas do justice to the said genre, I can?t deny that I haven?t enjoyed watching them; some of my favourites being Signal, Tunnel, The Best Hit, and Goblin.Chicago Typewriter now joins this list. The drama takes place in two separate eras ? the present day and 1930, in Japanese occupied Korea, a period so far untouched in the dramaverse (though overly milked in movies), and the result is a heartwarming story about love, friendship and family, and how widely their meanings differ in the two eras. It also pays homage to the people who had sacrificed their lives to liberate Korea from the Japanese and value the freedom they helped the country to gain.
- In the initial few episodes, until Ko Gyung Po?s character Yoo Jin Oh appears, I really enjoyed the personification of the typewriter as a character of the story. With the characters on screen oblivious to who was causing the problems around them, we, as viewers suspect the typewriter, and that made us view it as a character and not just another object.
- The suspense on the why?s, and the how?s of the magical world is developed smoothly with the past being interwoven in the story as dreams. I also loved how the past played out in a non-linear fashion, keeping in sync with the fragments bits of visions Han Se Ju (Yoo Ah In) and Jeon Seol (Lim Soo Jung) initially see, keeping us and them both, confused.
- Ko Gyung Po has fun playing the ghostwriter, Yoo Jin Oh and I had fun watching him too. I was always looking forward to his interaction with Se Ju, and it was a little disappointing with how little he had to do once the suspense was out, but the show recovers this loss by giving him some meaty scenes as his past counterpart Shin Yul. The interrogation scene towards the end especially left me in tears.
- Yoo Ah In not only brilliantly played the two polar characters ? Han Se Ju and Seo Hwi Young, but also looks like two totally different people! I did really dig the 1930?s look with the side-parted hair, round glasses, tall pants with suspenders?just saying.
- Jo Woo Jin was excellent as the overbearing yet sweet-on-the-inside CEO of the publishing company and the screen really lit up whenever he entered shouting Se Ju ya, Se Ju ya! His special bond and love for Se Ju were reassuring, especially after knowing that Se Ju has no one by his side.
- I didn?t buy the whole bit with the Se Ju?s first novel being plagiarised, and even the bits with Hong So Hee?s (Jo Kyung Sook) grudge against Se Ju and the part with the stalker?s sister. It felt unnecessary and for me, got in the way of developing the major plotline, that of, life in the 1930s.
- One thing that Chicago Typewriter has convinced me for sure is that I really want to watch a full-fledged drama on the Korean struggle for independence during the Japanese occupation, and the two episodes that featured only this timeline cemented this thought for me. It was a completely different experience from watching a saguek or a drama set in contemporary times, and I really hope that we get to watch one soon.
