Awaken 낮과 밤 [2021]

[abs-oluteM]

6 hours ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

There's definitely enough material so far to warrant some initial interest in the drama at the very least.

Was pretty okay for a 1st episode. Though NGM is hard carrying the drama for me. Hopefully with Lee Chung Ah's introduction at the end, there'll be more depth to the other characters besides his. For now it seems everyone else's personality is predictable and one dimensional. 

 

Nevertheless, what intrigues me is the link between the mass suicide/ deaths in  White Village 28 years ago and what we see now. So the common thing seems to be that all those who died did it willingly but were in some sort of delirious state. What happened in that village/orphanage reminded me very much of what happens in a lot of cult dramas that I have seen. The place is a good cover for politicians & the rich to money launder , and when something goes wrong big tragic incidents like that will be triggered to cover up what is actually going on.  ( I keep thinking of the Children of A Lesser God). We can already see the link of that place to the present. The female police chief is on the take from some rich guy dressed in traditional clothes - the man is some sort of patron to an orphanage that is similar to the one in the White Village.

 

So why would people be willing to take their own lives? Is there some sort of hypnotism or brainwashing going on , or is it because of some sort of drug that they took. But if the latter was the case , that should have come up in autopsy results. If these were murders as opposed to suicides, is the killer carrying out some vigilante justice since all those who died in the present weren't exactly the best of humankind? 

 

From trailers, I think we may come to a point where the fingers will point at Do Jong Woo being responsible. The 1st episode hinted at it when he slept in the holding cell. The guys said that his eyes were disturbing - reminding us of the young boy at the village who said he had caused the chaos to happen.  I am assuming Jamie is also linked to what happened in that village - which is probably the reason for her return.

 

 

[40somethingahjumma]

@abs-oluteM 

I have a couple of theories of my own about the big fire. I was getting science fictiony vibes in the early sequence. (I have watched far too much science fiction probably) From the layout that I saw, the White Night "village" seemed more like a lab to me. Some kind of industrial complex housing all kinds of secret experiments. The perpetrator of the "suicide" murders might have been a victim of that fiasco. 

 

My overactive imagination went immediately to shows dealing with experiments on children for enhancement purposes along the lines of Dark Angel. Not sure if anyone here ever caught that series but in that show children were raised to be super soldiers but a whole group escaped the facility.  

 

I doubt the show will go that far. But highly questionable, illegal pharmaceutical experiments could be possible. Already we see signs of Big Business mixing it up with corrupt law enforcement officials.

 

The suicide murders remind me of the first story of the first series of Sherlock which was adapted from Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet. What's different here is that this suicide murderer obviously thinks of him or herself as a vigilante because the victims are really bad people. I am surprised that they haven't ordered any kind of toxicology testing on the victims already as they seem to be under the influence. Perhaps they will after this more recent case with the railway. 

 

I recognized the actor as Chief Yeom from the woodwork shop in Prison Playbook.

[Darkarcana]

I find that it’s quite chilling how the victims themselves know when they will die (that old pervert) after looking at his watch. In some way, that watch might be linked to something that pronounced their death suggestively its that society based on the photo...Can I also add, I swear to god the first part of the episode, that man holding the stone, I thought it was Namgoong Min, which made me think that could the child be him? It feels like those scenario of being in a dream and “I want to murder my past self.” Kind of thing. Oo so many suspicion...

 

EP 3 looks hot and thrilling  @abs-oluteM @40somethingahjumma Thought haven’t watch EP 2 yet haha

 

Sadly they are not generous to give us a couple of clips on naver 🤣

[ktcjdrama]

Just finished watching ep.1... Tbh, I am still not sure about whether I can get on board this team or not. The chase at the beginning and the end somehow made me rolled my eyes. Putting the rant in spoiler. The chasing of big trucks was something new and exciting. How to go about it? You can't really intercept from the front with the police cars, because the small vehicles will only be smashed and crushed. I would order a helicopter chase. Those big containers cannot just zip here and there to disappear easily.

Spoiler

Anyway, there were three police cars and they gave up chasing just because one got hit. I see that it's not really blocking the road. It was a three-lane road, and the black car and police car only occupying two lanes, so the other two cars can still go on with the chase. Okay, I know it's for dramatic purpose. But then also, the police team blocking the road, near a high-school, did not conduct a prevention by diverting the dismissed high-schoolers away from the road? 

Then at the end, the guy is already on the railroad tracks, and they just stood around stunned. Yes, DJW in the end ran towards him... Well, he should have tried to get to that guy much earlier. Everyone should. The train was not even in view at the beginning. Only LCA character was frantically trying to get him out of the railway, but held back by the two police officers...

Sorry for the rant. I know I may be setting a rather high expectation for the drama production. I will still watch until episode 4 and decide from there. Just that if this sort of things still keep on appearing in future episodes, I know I will not be able to enjoy the drama. Unless there are other aspects engaging enough for me to overlook these stuff. 

 

ETA: That ending made me forget to say that I actually like the premise of the show. There's the serial killer thing, with anonymous coded messages. I kinda like the members of the team as well. Especially of course the quirky main character DJW, and watching his relationship with his superior.

 

Edited December 1, 2020 by ktcjdrama

[abs-oluteM]

@ktcjdrama I agree with what you say in the spoiler!   They had so much time to save the guy who was on the track . They could  have just got him off the rail track 1st ! I really have to overlook that cause I was rolling my eyes quite a bit . 
 

3 hours ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

recognized the actor as Chief Yeom from the woodwork shop in Prison Playbook.

Yes . That was him! He’s good with playing questionable characters . 
 

@Darkarcana let me see if Naver has some spoiler article

 

These were stills from today

[40somethingahjumma]

There are a few things that trouble me about the drama... the juggling act for one seems to be a bit clunky. It's obvious that the show is trying to play around with a few things in this introductory phase but I'm not sure that it's doing it as well as it could. There's the team, police corruption, there's the addition of Jamie, then there's the serial murders plus there's Jamie's connection with Jung-woo as well as his drawings of faces. It's not flowing as smoothly as what I've come to expect from my experience of crime dramas in recent years. Even with Kairos for instance jumping from timeline to timeline, it's doing a far better job holding all the moving parts together.

 

Maybe I'm jumping the gun and I don't want to pre-empt anything but I came pretty much to the same conclusion as Jung-woo about how the "suicides" were being done as soon as they ruled out drugs and there was some mention of counselling. I'm still not 100% that it's hypnotherapy but it's the only thing that came to mind.

 

Although I had the same problems as @ktcjdrama about nobody trying to save the lecherous professor on the train tracks, I didn't want to make any kind of judgment on that until I had seen the second episode. The implication at the end of the episode seemed to be that Jung-woo was deliberately letting the man die and that he's now been pinned as the culprit in these serial "suicides". I also wondered if there's some kind of regulation against stepping onto the tracks. It's possible they or JW more specifically thought the professor was just messing around and once the train came close enough he would reflexively step away to safety. That I think was the point he was trying to make to Hye-won when he did the crazy backflip on the bannister to show that the victims had lost their survival instincts... ie. their reflexes had been inhibited. 

 

Despite the issues that I've identified, I'm not about to write it off just yet. If anything I'll stick with it most probably because it's a police procedural and I'm fond of Namgoong Min who is by far the best thing about it. Whether he alone can make it worth my while remains to be seen. I'm giving the drama time to find its groove. The surprising thing is that I actually enjoyed his dynamic with Lee Chung-ah more than I thought I would. The way he teases her and sends her head into a spin... worked for me. I also rather like the whole Columbo thing that he does, bumbling around pretending he's incompetent or unsure.

 

Moreover like everyone else, my curiosity about the White Night village has been piqued. I'd certainly like to know more about JW's connection to that place and incident... and why he's looking for people that he can remember. There's also a reason I think, why he finds it more comfortable to sleep in a holding cell behind bars than in his own bedroom.

 

With all the Covid restrictions in place during this time, I am surprised that NGM is allowed to to be seen sucking lollipops picked up from the ground or held by someone else. 

 

 

[ktcjdrama]

1 hour ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

That I think was the point he was trying to make to Hye-won when he did the crazy backflip on the bannister to show that the victims had lost their survival instincts... ie. their reflexes had been inhibited. 

Yes, I think he made a valid point there. Ep.2 is a little bit better and I might stick around just because of the character DJW is intriguing enough. And yes, now that you mentioned it, he really does do things like Columbo. One of my favorite detectives. I missed that show! 

 

1 hour ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

I also rather like the whole Columbo thing that he does, bumbling around pretending he's incompetent or unsure.

 

[bluepebbles]

 Moments on Episode 1 

 

• The cultish vibe during the first part is a jump scare I thought the genre is horror. The crow added to that effect of what really happened in White Night Village. 
• Present day-I like how the show maximize drones for police chase scenes, featuring truck of dooms. That part when the camera pans under the wheels ? 
• Nam Goong Min . NAM.GOONG.MIN and his stache. Let me keep happy inventory of him on this look.   . He really is immersed to this new character, creating another persona who is totally different from his previous role(s). 

 

• The Chief Kim x The Fiery Priest reunion, what ? How can I let go of their comedic characters? How can I take them seriously? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• The first encounter. They only stare to each other while chasing the criminal/victim but the tension is so there. 

 

The  moments 

 

• I still have faith with NGM to pull that acting card from Seolhyun. 
• The BGMs heighten the scenes when needed, but I hope it will not be an overkill just to say "this is getting more intense, feel it!" There are certain scenes that are not necessarily to have strong cinematic scores, like the rapist first chase scene in the apartment. The banging of doors for me are enough. 
• I am quite disappointed that the special team of the police department is not special as to their competencies as police/detectives. I hope this is not just to have Mr. CLOY dude to become the jolly person in the room . I hope I won't wait that long to see him as a credible police officer. 

 

[40somethingahjumma]

18 hours ago, bluepebbles said:

 

• I am quite disappointed that the special team of the police department is not special as to their competencies as police/detectives. I hope this is not just to have Mr. CLOY dude to become the jolly person in the room . I hope I won't wait that long to see him as a credible police officer. 

 

 

I think the only thing "special" about the team is Jung-woo. As @abs-oluteM noted earlier, the others seem to be cardboard cutouts of detective stereotypes. 

 

It's unfortunate I think but the humour doesn't quite land for me either.

[bluepebbles]

Episode 2 in summary for me:

 

 

I was confused at first what are they doing, then maybe the slow motion staring contest resonates that all of them will be interconnected with the White Village Massacre? Not sure. Or the obvious reasons will be Jungwoo-Jaime-Jaewoong ?

 

@40somethingahjumma I think after episode 2, nothing much improved with the team's strengths other than Jungwoo's quick sense as default for their profession. Example again is the chase of Jaewoong. That boy runs and climbs fast !

 

Overall episode 2 is like an extension of episode 1 summary of who is the culprit, the only highlight for me would be Jaime and Jungwoo's exchange of awkward but cute english convo, and this one:

 

 

[bluepebbles]

Clip alone without the subs is funny

 

 

 

[abs-oluteM]

On 12/2/2020 at 7:06 PM, 40somethingahjumma said:

Maybe I'm jumping the gun and I don't want to pre-empt anything but I came pretty much to the same conclusion as Jung-woo about how the "suicides" were being done as soon as they ruled out drugs and there was some mention of counselling. I'm still not 100% that it's hypnotherapy but it's the only thing that came to mind.

You could be right. I think it is some rather advance technology that could combine the use of hynotherapy and some bio tech thing.  When Hye Won went back home, they panned over to some photos - her father I believe is working for an  organisation whose boss is that traditionally dressed guy from eps 1 . That man was the patron of the orphanage which I think that Jamie & Jung Woo may have grown up in. Seems that Jamie & JW's connection is linked to that White Village.

Spoiler

I wonder if the person that came up  with this technology or method is doing it to punish these victims. It really could be Hye Won's father . [This actor is too big a veteran actor  just to be playing her father. He often plays grey interesting characters. ]

 

@ktcjdrama I was still so bothered by the train track scene which was repeated at the start of eps 2. There was so much time to save him. Lol! The humor and some of the scenes don't come off so well.  Not sure if it is the acting or what. @bluepebbles, even in eps 2 , NGM carried the drama on his shoulders . The dynamics between him and LCA was decent - I quite like how he messes with her. I don't believe he lost his way  ahahaha felt like he annoyed her on purpose.

 

What was that spectacles that Jung Woo was wearing? It gave some interesting 4D effect

 

[bluepebbles]

@abs-oluteM Yes the glasses ! It’s like VR activated maybe? 
 

instead of the traditional pinned photos and lines , this time he is using VR in order to keep whatever secrets he has.

 

speaking of Jamie-jungwoo 

 

 

 

[NiteWalker]

been some times since i last watch Lee Chung Ah, is she good?

[abs-oluteM]

5 minutes ago, NiteWalker said:

been some times since i last watch Lee Chung Ah, is she good?

Pretty decent. Better than the other actress. 

[40somethingahjumma]

@NiteWalker

Yeah, I quite enjoy Lee Chung-ah's chemistry with NGM. 

I wouldn't mind if they paired him off with her but it's not necessary.

[NiteWalker]

1 minute ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

@NiteWalker

Yeah, I quite enjoy Lee Chung-ah's chemistry with NGM. 

I wouldn't mind if they paired him off with her but it's not necessary.

 

oh well im not picking up any drama yet....and then i saw this one twitter that why i drop in and i find the story 'interesting' lols

 

10 minutes ago, abs-oluteM said:

Pretty decent. Better than the other actress. 

 

hahaha u mean the other one?

[40somethingahjumma]

I'm always up for more Namgoong Min. Two for the price of one.

 

Actually it's a great idea for his next project. Someone should write the script. NGM as identical twins. One of them being a serial killer and the other has nightmares.

[abs-oluteM]

Stills for tonight

Jamie is becoming suspicious of him

Article autotranslated from here: https://entertain.naver.com/read?oid=438&aid=0000031681

 

From the first week of the broadcast, the TVN Mon-Tue drama'Day and Night', which captivated viewers with intense mysteries and turbulent developments, was broadcasted 3 times ahead, Nam Gung-min (as Do Jeong-woo), Kim Seol-hyun (Gong Hye-won), Lee Cheong-ah (Jamie), The stills of the special team meetings of Lee Shin-young (as Jang Ji-wan) and Choi Choi (as Yoon Seok-pil) were released.

In the second episode of'Day and Night', the shocking development of Do Jung-woo being pointed out as a serially predicted killer suspect turned over the home theater. In episode 3, which will be aired today (7th), a special team begins a reasoning to prevent the fifth preliminary murder. In the released still, the appearance of the special team united in one place after receiving the 5th murder notice is caught and attracted attention. There is tension in the eyes of Seolhyun Kim briefing the case.

The production crew of'Day and Night' said, "While Nam Gung-min emerged as a suspected murderer, whether he will be the murderer?
 

Interesting preview for eps 4

 

[40somethingahjumma]

While I still think that this show has pacing issues and cliche characters, I did like Episode 3 more than the first two. I thought there were a number of good things about it. It certainly helped me understand why the so-called "Special" team feels so not-very-special-lacklustre. Because quite frankly, the show isn't really about Jung-woo's investigative team and any kind of sensational investigation that they do (like we're accustomed to with OCN dramas). The rookie, the computer guy and the bad-tempered female team member...  are in actual fact, props for JW's real storyline. I'm hoping desperately against hope that they're not pairing JW off with Hye-won not only because I'm not feeling the actress but their chemistry gives off another kind of vibe... and it's not romantic. If there's any romance to be had... I don't need it, mind you... I'd rather JW end up with Jamie. While I wouldn't go so far as to say that Hye-won's infatuation and jealousy is nauseating, it's not something that I'm enjoying or I believe does anything to enhance the plot or the character. If anything, her infatuation is more of dead weight to the movement of the show.

 

I'm glad the show didn't waste our time in confirming that JW is a survivor of White Night village. It was always a no-brainer. He was looking for people he had fragmentary memories of. He always suspected that the White Night village angle had something to do with the serial deaths. I think he always knew who Jamie was from the facial composite he drew and sent to his mysterious connection. Her mysophobia or OCD tendencies were telling. Probably a traumatic consequence from her time at White Night.

 

The smarmy television shock jock (I wouldn't dignify his occupation with the world "journalist") styles himself as some kind of people's champion and crusader but of course that's just a facade. In reality he is purely a self-aggrandizing ratings hound, as JW accurately identifies him to be. It's fine to be purely pragmatic... but let's have no pretence that he's some kind of truth-seeker. He undoubtedly has his own agenda that's not been revealed. He could well have some link to White Night village too and is deliberately creating waves as part of a revenge plot.

 

It is still the case that Namgoong Min is doing most of heavy lifting here although I am gradually warming up to Lee Chung-ah's Jamie. Also fortunate, I think, is that the White Night story seems to be kicking into gear in a way that could be potentially far more compelling than the first 2 episodes indicated. It feels too that my initial theories weren't far off the mark. Experiments of some sort were occurring. Personally, I don't think it was just about some "wonder" drug either. If the kids rebelled and set fire to the place, I imagine something much more terrible was actually going on. Perhaps my idea of Dark Angel wasn't that far off the mark. At least I think the communal childcare has some parallels with Mantacore.

 

I was hoping that Song Min-ho would be more of a multi-dimensional villain but it seems that he might just be some greedy corporate scoundrel that's hogging all the moolah. But then who knows... that might be someone else who is a bigger scumbag than he is. However, I am guessing that the primary driver or what's traditionally called The Big Bad is the person who started the serial killings. 

 

Apart from doing his best Columbo impersonation, NGM portrays that edgier side to the character with an otherworldly cynicism. He is above it all. He is like a giant towering over petty humans playing their little mind games. He gazes into someone's eyes intently and sounds them out. Perhaps he enjoys watching them feel uneasy or squirm. Perhaps what he wants is for them to be truthful about their own intentions. Particularly if they have an agenda. He knows they don't think much of him and so he says something startling that gets them second-guessing his mental acuity. Or why he knows what he knows. Still, he doesn't have to prove himself nor does he feel obligated to convince them that he's not actually the enemy.

 

Lee Chung-ah's Jamie is obviously on the same kind of trajectory as Jung-woo. She too has to be looking for answers. It is no coincidence that they both became cops as adults because of what happened to them. 

 

I still think that there are inherent weaknesses in the script especially in character interactions and dialogue. That's the part I find most problematic. Of course NGM is a good enough actor to transcend the material and put flesh to a character that's not been given much but that can't be said about everyone in the show. However, from a viewer's perspective, I think there are enough good ideas at play that the deficiencies of the show can be overcome or forgiven. 

[Darkarcana]

Now we know that Jung Woo is addicted drugs, that’s why he made the candy in the lab...

 

I really love this story because of the fact that our ML is also apart of the whole white night village history and not just a character who is not involved in the whole history and just here in the future trying to get to the bottom of the case. In someway this gives me the urges to care more about Jung Woo’s past as the kid from that tragic place.

 

Photos:

 

[abs-oluteM]

3 hours ago, Darkarcana said:

Now we know that Jung Woo is addicted drugs, that’s why he made the candy in the lab...

This was an interesting revelation , making JW's character rather unique as far as drama protagonists are concerned. I was not particularly surprised since all the survivors of the White Night Village needed a way to cope with the trauma. Jamie has OCD tendencies where she cleans things to cope.  Since JW was raised by the drug producer after he escaped the night village, these drugs probably kept him calm.

Spoiler

@40somethingahjumma eps 3 does seem to be better. It will be terribly awkward if he ends up with Hye Won . The show could do without any love triangle as there's enough going on as it is. And I also agree that I'd rather him end up with Jamie if they so think he needs some love in his life. Lol! 

 

But anyhow , do you all think he has some  yet undisclosed reasons to why he chose the team? The older inspector is definitely observant & skilled , the younger kid they call special recruit perhaps has some sort of connection to the higher-ups. With Hye Won , while she seems to excel physically, I do wonder if it is because of her father's link to the White Biotech.  JW puts on a façade of sorts to give people the impression he's sloppy and all, but there's nothing that he does or say that is not calculated.

 

So from eps 3 , we find out that Jamie was brought in by Son Min Ho to supposedly deal with these murders. We can easily see why Son Min Ho would want these solved quickly since his life was at stake. But I do wonder if he has any clue about Jamie's link to the White Village. Since he had ordered his aides to find all the survivors , I wonder if bringing her back was so that he can keep tabs on her. 

 --------------

Stills for tonight

[Darkarcana]

11 minutes ago, abs-oluteM said:

do you all think he has some  yet undisclosed reasons to why he chose the team?

Definitely.
 

Theory has it that he was doing those high fives to Jamie and some weird actions as a way to trigger her memories. He is pretty much the only one on the table currently who has all the memories still intact on him, I wouldn’t be surprised if he decided to get into the team just so that he can investigate and take down the main bad guy, aka his abuser using the right way. 
 

Still though, I know JW probably isn’t the bad guy here, but wow this episode is trying to paint him as suspicious. I’m very curious on ep 4, the part he looks at the mirror in pain....maybe addiction is kicking in and he doesn’t have any candy? He starts to hallucinate....

[abs-oluteM]

I wish TVN was a bit more generous with the YT cuts ...

 

preview for eps 5

 

@Darkarcana any spoilers about what happened?

[Darkarcana]

40 minutes ago, abs-oluteM said:

any spoilers about what happened?

Well cough cough

Spoiler

How Jung Woo got in the hospital:

They waited for 2:00Am to strike and indeed the building that the target is in exploded. Our main girl got blown and pushed into a ditch, woke up and ran to the reporter live on tv asking where is Jung Woo. After the building was blown up, Jung Woo enters (As he is in there, he is super calm idk why, it really reminded me of his case 28 years ago) then the episode ends with the building collapse and he didn’t come out. Jamie on the other hand got kidnaped by a woman (I would believe it’s the same girl who she fought on EP 3)