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IRIS (1), K-Drama Review

Jun19

'Byung- Hun Lee' photo (c) 2013, Eva Rinaldi - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/I just finished the final (20th) episode of the K-drama, IRIS, last night, and it was indeed a roller coaster of a television series. IRIS is a spy thriller with LOTS of violence. Engineer Husband, who heard the show’s soundtrack coming from my Kindle as I watched, commented that there certainly was a lot of gunfire. I could have told him, but didn’t, that there was also a lot of blood, gore, and death in the program. I think as a movie in the U.S. it would get an “R” rating just for the violence.

So why did I continue to watch? Well, the characters were fascinating. Best friends Kim Hyun-Jun (Lee Byung-hun) and Jin Sa-Woo (Jung Joon-ho) are training to become some kind of Special Forces soldiers in the South Korean Army when they are recruited to become part of NSS, a fictional counterpart to American CIA (although Korea does have an NIS, National Intelligence Service which is similar to the NSS portrayed in the TV show). During the recruitment process they both, unbeknownst to the other, meet and fall in love with Choi Seung-Hee (Kim Tae-hee), who is already an NSS agent. Hyun-Jun is the one who finds that his affection is returned by Seung-Hee.

'Kim tae hee 1' photo (c) 2010, Rashaine - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/The remainder of the series finds Hyun-Jun and Seung-Hee and Sa-Woo weaving in and out of alliances and (violent) confrontations as they work within and without NSS to fight against the super-powerful, super-secretive, evil IRIS organization. The three fellow agents encounter traitors within NSS and unusual alliances, specifically with North Korean agent Kim Seon-hwa (Kim So-yeon), outside. There’s also some doubt about whether Hyun-Jun, Seung-Hee, and Sa-Woo are traitors allied with IRIS themselves at any given time during the series.

The themes of the series seem to be enduring love and loyalty, friendship, and the legacy of violence. Hyun-Jun is a conflicted character, believing himself betrayed by his own country, but also in love with Seung-Hee who is a part of the organization that betrayed him. The violence is the series intensifies over the course of the twenty episodes, and Hyun-Jun becomes as much a perpetrator as a victim. All of the characters, in fact, are caught up in a spiral of violence, and Hyun-Jun at least is not sure what it all means or why he does what he does. Is he seeking revenge? Maybe. Is he trying to protect Seung-Hee? To some extent. But he says a couple of times something to the effect, “I didn’t join NSS to do good or to be patriotic. I just wanted to enjoy doing something that I do well.” He’s good at “spy stuff”, so he takes up the invitation to join NSS. In doing so, he places himself in a web of violence and deceit that can only be unravelled or ended by more death and bloodshed.

Matthew 26:52 “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”

I found IRIS fascinating, even though it had a few dropped plot threads and holes. And, warning, the ending is horrid, although maybe appropriate in both its ambiguity and tragedy. The filmography is beautiful, with scenes taking place mostly in Seoul, but also in Japan and in Hungary. There is a second season of IRIS, with different actors for the most part, but I’m not sure it will be worth all the blood and bullets that must be waded through in this series. I would recommend season 1 for those who don’t mind the violence (and some strongly implied premarital cohabitation).

Headmistress, Common Room reviews IRIS and does an episode-by-episode recap.

Code of Silence by Tim Shoemaker

Apr7

Living a Lie Comes With a Price.

This thriller is book with a moral, but it didn’t feel preachy to me, just real. Three teens–Cooper, Hiro, and Gordy—witness a robbery and attempted murder. Because Cooper and his family are threatened by the robbers and because they have reason to believe that at least one of the robbers might be a bad cop, the three decide on a”code of silence.” They won’t tell anyone about what they saw: not their parents, not their teachers, not their other friends, and not the police.

The rest of the story show the outworking and results of this decision. Although the moral of the story is “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”, it’s never presented as an easy option. The truth is that it’s not always easy to tell the truth. And our motives for many of our decisions are often mixed at best. If I lie to protect myself and others, is it mostly for myself or the others? If I tell one lie, will it become easier and easier to tell more lies? Why do people lie, and how hard is it to disentangle oneself from a web of lies? What do lies told to others do to the trust between the friends who share in the deception?

Hiro is a little too hard on Cooper sometimes throughout the book. She rails at him over and over to end the code of silence before it destroys their friendship and puts them in the very danger they’re trying to avoid. But she agreed to the code in the first place, and she can end it anytime. Instead, she blames Cooper and tries to make him feel totally responsible for the trio’s joint decision. That aspect of the relationships in the novel felt wrong to me, somehow.

But overall, Code of Silence was an exciting middle grade novel that asked all the right questions—and gave some solid answers.

Two Thrillers with Punch and Pride

Jan31

The Terrorist by Caroline B. Cooney.
Exciting, plot-driven young adult fiction with little or no sex or gory violence. Why can’t it all be written so well and so cleanly?

Laura and Billy are American ex-pats living in London with their working-in-the-UK parents and having the time of their young lives. Eleven year old Billy, especially, is outgoing, adventurous, and busy, charming everyone he meets as he explores the British culture and landscape in London. Laura is busy, too, mostly assessing the attractiveness of the boys in her international school. Then, Billy is handed a mysterious package in a London Underground station, and their lives are forever changed.

Ms. Cooney did an excellent job of sustaining the suspense in this mystery thriller and also showing us how an older teenage sister might react to terrorism that impinges on her world and her own family. Laura is so typically American, ignorant and oblivious to the danger and the politics swirling around her. I’m just like her in many ways, and certainly most of the teens I know are quite unaware of the political nuances of international enmities and alliances. The Terrorist demonstrates just how gullible we Americans can be, but it doesn’t show scorn for the United States or its people.

If We Survive by Andrew Klavan.
This YA novel, also about terrorism and American teens confronting the world of evil people who want to kill us, is a bit more violent, and there are a few plot holes. (Really, Will could learn to fire a machine gun from a moving truck within a few minutes when he had never even held a gun before?) In the book, high schooler Will Peterson and three friends, along with their youth director from church, go to some unspecified country in Central America to build a school. While they are there, a revolution takes place, and Will and his group are caught up in the violence and politics of the country.

One of the youth group characters, Jim, sympathizes with the socialist rebels who are intent on killing the Americans, and he believes that he can convince the rebels to let them go if he can just talk to them and show them how much he supports their cause. Again with the American naivete. A few bullets convince Jim that the rebels aren’t much interested in his revolutionary bona fides.

Klavan writes good fast-paced fiction for a hard-to-please audience—teen boys. Not that girls wouldn’t also enjoy If We Survive, especially since the real heroine of the story is Meredith, whose courage and faith in God sustain everyone through their ordeal. But boys will enjoy this one just like they did The Homelanders series. I’m looking forward to giving a copy of If We Survive to my fifteen year old, Karate Kid, and watching him rip through it.