Even though it is towards the end of the year, Netflix and South Korea continue to produce new content. Korean programs have exploded in popularity in recent years, and Netflix has become the home of many of the most successful K-dramas in the foreign market. Trolley, a new dark drama series on Netflix, is the newest addition to the Korean offerings, and it carries with it a lot of mystery and some strange family relationships.
The trolley is a television series produced by SBS TV and released internationally via Netflix. Kim Hyun-Joo and Park Hee-soon feature in the series. It follows the story of a married couple who live in their little universe. She has her own antique book restoration company, while he is a member of the National Assembly. They appear to be in love, but there is more to them than meets the eye, and there is a significant secret at the heart of it all.
Trolley follows the basic formula of most Korean dramas nowadays, particularly those that attempt to establish a mystery that would captivate fans from start to finish. Unfortunately, for a 16-episode series, the mystery offered here may not be the most interesting ever given on a TV show. The enigma appears to be one that will not have a proper explanation that will genuinely surprise us. A mystery that loses steam soon can only be saved by showcasing interesting individuals.
So, while Trolley may not have the most engaging mystery, it compensates by presenting a highly compelling group of individuals, and it is those interactions that will make the program an entertaining watch. Our major characters are shrouded in mystery, yet you can see and feel that they are attempting to be decent people under the worst of circumstances. This is fantastic because the characters are simple to root for even when the plot gets too dark areas.
Or, at the very least, it will give you pause knowing that these individuals may be both wonderful and bad. It’s tedious to watch characters that just do one thing and have no one to contrast their actions with. The authors have created a cast of characters that feel very much engineered to create drama through their interactions. This is what we want, and it’s fantastic to see a program that understands that it’s the people, not the solutions to some plot-related problems, that will keep viewers watching every episode.
The directing is good, and it reminds you of some of South Korean cinema’s greatest crime dramas, of which there are many. Writer Ryu Bo-ri and director Kim Mun-Kyo know how to introduce the characters in their natural environment. From there, we dismantled their comfort zone and forced them to accomplish things they and we didn’t think they could do. The pace is crucial in any tale, and in this case, the pacing is deliberate and controlled, with occasional bursts of emotion and even violence.
The directing is good, and it reminds you of some of South Korean cinema’s greatest crime dramas, of which there are many. Writer Ryu Bo-ri and director Kim Mun-Kyo know how to introduce the characters in their natural environment. From there, we dismantled their comfort zone and forced them to accomplish things they and we didn’t think they could do. The pace is crucial in any tale, and in this case, the pacing is deliberate and controlled, with occasional bursts of emotion and even violence.
Kim Hyun-Joo is a well-known actress who has demonstrated in several prior programs and films that she can carry a plot on her own. She is at the core of the drama and intrigue here. You’ll be curious to see what her character is concealing. Not just because you’re looking for answers to the enigma. But since the figure she’s creating here is so intriguing, with so many subtle and specific quirks, you want to know how she got the way she is.
Also read: Spoiler Alert: A love story in all of its beauty and rough edges
Park Hee-soon is similarly impressive in the part, although the character is more known. This isn’t horrible, but there’s something more intriguing about Hyun-joo’s character. At the very least at the beginning. Hee-character soon’s also undergoes significant transformations during the series. It’s quite compelling to witness his stone-cold exterior crumble under the strain of what’s happening to her family and what’s going on in his professional life as a member of the National Assembly.
The prose is serious, and some portions of the narrative require several rewatches to fully grasp. The authors have occasionally chosen to be rather perplexing in how they show information. This contributes to the mystery, but it may also be annoying in the long term. Is the mystery going to be compelling because there is a real riddle to unravel or because the show’s delivery of the information is confusing? These are two distinct things, and at times it appears like the program prefers to be the latter.
In the end, Trolley demonstrates that South Korea is far superior to any other Asian country in terms of producing high-quality television entertainment. Netflix has identified one of the top suppliers in the market, and we will undoubtedly continue to watch their enigmatic and exciting stories for a long time. While the mystery looks odd and some information delivery is confusing, the heart of the plot appears fascinating enough to justify a whole watch.
