Early Access: Oh No! Here Comes Trouble [Taiwan] E1, E2

E1. Ok, so I know that this show's trailers didn't really get much of a reaction from everyone here on Patreon, when I posted it on the weekend, but hear me out. 😅

I'd shortlisted The Good Bad Mother as a replacement show for Our Blooming Youth, because I like both Ra Mi Ran and Lee Do Hyun, and I liked the premise, and the trailers had looked promising.

But.. whaddya know, the actual episodes didn't grab me.

There's just something about the writing that isn't popping for me, and feels rather paint by numbers, which my gut tells me would bug me to the very end, if I kept watching.

Also, the contextual story, well.. it isn't what I'd bargained for, in that it feels old-school in a way that feels a little tired to my eyes, and also, melodramatic in a way that's not appealing to me right now.

I did sample a few other shows on my shortlist, but none were grabbing me in the way this show was grabbing me, so this is my pick for coverage here on Patreon.

That's not to say I've written off the other shows completely; I think some may grow on me given some time, and I think others are shows I wouldn't mind watching on the side, but which just don't really need episode notes.

This one, however, grabbed me right away, kinda the way Silent grabbed me almost right away.

Immediately, this one strikes me as a show that's not following any kind of formula; it strikes me as a show that is very much its own thing, and isn't intimidated by the fact that it's different from most other shows out there.

Immediately, this one strikes me as being meaty and special, and worth putting aside time for, even though it's not (yet?) one of the buzzy shows that everyone's talking about.

To be honest, I was very much engaged by the whole of episode 1, but had felt a little uncertain about whether to make this my pick, because it's not currently that buzzy.

But then, AvenueX released a glowing video, where she expressed how much she's enjoyed all the available episodes of this show (8 out of a total of 12), and that gave me the confirmation that I needed, to make this our replacement show.

At least this way, I know that Show's remained extremely solid for almost its entire run, and if the rest of the episodes are as good as what I've seen so far, then we are in for a good ride. 🤩

Because I'm fairly certain that most of you haven't checked out the show yet, let me try to talk about it without getting into spoilers, at least for part of these notes.

Here are a handful of things that I like, right away:

1. Everything feels a little abstract and random in the beginning, but Show does a really good job of setting up our story - without it feeling like obligatory exposition that many shows tend to rush through.

It feels like Show is genuinely interested in telling this story - and is going to tell it in exactly the amount of time that's needed; no more and no less.

2. It's also not hard to conclude that it's a story that carries deeper thoughts, ideas and meaning, and I like that.

In our opening minutes, Show already indicates that these deeper ideas have something to do with preserving our purity and integrity, which feels like a universally relatable theme.

At the same time, Show also indicates that there is something about monsters being born of obsession - which helps to set the tone quickly, without giving much away.

3. This moody, atmospheric tone of Show's, meshes in an interesting way, with the other tones at play - the matter-of-fact, everyday existence of our characters, and the deadpan humor that comes through, particularly from our protagonist Yi Yong.

4. I am loving our protagonist Yi Yong.

I hadn't been sure of what to make of him at first, because he's got this very deadpan look about him all the time, but he's actually a good-hearted, if slightly dim, kid, and the way he reacts to things in his deadpan way, gives us a good chunk of the humor in this show.

5. The humor in this show is working for me really nicely, I have to say.

It's not slapsticky or try-hard or OTT stuff - I don't jive well with those types of humor, most of the time.

The humor in this is deadpan and wry, and I found myself giggling at some of the most unexpected points, during my watch of these first two episodes.

That experience feels like Show's sprinkling little surprises along the way for us, just for some cheeky fun, and I like that a lot.

6. This humor works really well to add some levity to Show's heavier themes, and so, the watch experience doesn't feel difficult, which is great.

7. So far, I feel that there is a nice amount of emotional heft to this one, despite the aforementioned (so far) somewhat abstract ideas at play, and the deadpan humor.

Our characters are growing on me nicely, overall, although I do feel most connected to Yi Yong, our protagonist, so far.

I rationalize that we haven't spent much time yet, with our other main characters, Guang Yan or Chu Ying, so far, and that's why I don't feel any particular way about them right now.

In terms of viewing lens, so far, a light manhua lens is quite useful, I find, because that helps to make all the slightly violent beats land as funny rather than problematic.

When I say slightly violent, I'm referring to things like that highlight reel of Yi Yong regularly doing a volleyball-style smash on all the balls tossed his way during PE classes - and how all those balls all hit his nemesis Guang Yan on the head.

This is exactly the kind of stuff that happens in cartoons, so a manhua lens will help to make this land in a way that's silly-funny instead of violent and problematic.

Show does a nice job of setting that irreverent tone, though, like in the way that teacher waxes lyrical about Guang Yan, that everyone loves him, including non-humans - which is when we see a butterfly landing delicately on Guang Yan's shoulder, to illustrate the point.

As for our supernatural element, I suppose it's fair warning, that the imagery leans a bit dark and bloody, but not in a very graphic or disturbing manner. I've watched Show's first 2 episodes as I type this, and so far, it's all been very manageable.

[SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT]

In terms of potentially useful nuggets of information that I'm only now picking up on, as I revisit the episode for these notes, there are a couple:

1, Yi Yong saying that he's the reincarnation of the demon, which he gets from his grandfather.

2, Perhaps that explains why he and his grandpa can see that apparition, while other people can't.

3, The half-faced female apparition (we don't know if she's a demon, ghost or other spirit) appears to Yi Yong right after the accident, before he passes out - and it's only after the accident, that he appears to start attracting.. well, spirits?

I'm wondering if she gave him that ability, but it's too early to tell, and Show hasn't given us anything more, in terms of clues - I think.

I was actually a little thrown by the severity of the accident, because not only does it put Yi Yong in a coma for 717 days, it also kills his father. I hadn't expected that.

I hadn't expected Dad to die, and I certainly hadn't expected a sudden time skip of almost 2 years - but that works really well, because Yi Yong hadn't expected that either.

Suddenly, he has to learn to walk all over again, and deal with the loss of his father, and the fact that Grandpa's in a coma, and that he's also now 2 years behind all his friends.

Not only that, with his family situation suddenly so drastically different, Yi Yong clearly feels that he can't be true to his dream of becoming a manhua artist, because someone should carry on Grandpa's calligraphy business.

That scene of him crossing out what he'd written in that school questionnaire, about his goals for the future, and then starting to grind the ink on the ink stone, is so poignant to me.

Interestingly, the act of him grinding the ink stone seems to draw all that dark energy towards him.

It's hard on Yi Yong, and it's also hard on Mom, who is turning out to be a character that is really grabbing my heart.

In the twinkling of an eye, Mom's entire family has fallen apart; she's lost her husband, and her father-in-law and only son are in comas.

It's a lot to deal with, out of the blue, and Cheryl Yang, who plays Mom, does a great job of portraying Mom's strength and vulnerability, in one.

Sometimes, she comes across as such a badass, like the way she goes and punches out the airline board of directors, who do nothing more than offer their perfunctory apologies, at the press conference.

And then at other times, you can see, so clearly, how much pain she's holding in, beneath her stoic surface, like when Yi Yong wakes up from his coma and asks about Dad, and she smiles this really pained, sorrowful smile, while she hugs him.

You can just see how close she is to breaking down in hard, heaving sobs, and how hard it is for her to hold it together, just barely. Just really, really well done.

In terms of the way Show's balancing its various tones, here are just a couple of examples that stood out to me, this episode.

It's sad-funny, but rings quite true to life, how Mom ends up having to move their family out of the house they've been living in, because the landlord doesn't want to be associated with their family's bad luck, and then can't find anywhere else to rent, because all the other landlords feel the same way.

And then it's funny-sad, the way Yi Yong asks for money from his doctor, when the doc gives the go-ahead for Yi Yong to leave the hospital on his own, and the first place he goes to, is the cemetery, where he cries for Dad. 😭💔

All in all, this was a very strong first episode that made me feel like this drama could be head and shoulders above its peers.

E2. Last episode, I'd mentioned Yi Yong's ability to see spirits, but it's this episode that makes things a little clearer, that the dead person that he sees, is also visible to other people.

It took me most of the episode to realize that Yi Yong's seeing and interacting with the body of the dead man - and not the ghost of the dead man. How interesting, yes?

I am a little slow on the uptake when it comes to this show, I feel like, coz really, Show introduces the body, by having him bump into a random girl on the street, and leaving a blood stain on her blouse.

Plus, we also see that enough people have had encounters with the dead body, that he even starts trending on social media.

So it's not that Show didn't let me in on the fact that everyone can see him; I was just slow to realize it. Oops. 🙈

On that note, it does occur to me that this show does bear rewatching, because I find that I'm understanding a lot more, going back to these episodes a second time.

I count that as a good thing, because that's also a mark of a richly conceptualized drama.

That little gag where Yi Yong and Chu Ying keep telling the dead body that he's the person in the picture, and the dead body keeps insisting that he's not the person in the picture is kind of funny, but at the same time, introduces this interesting idea, that the soul that's speaking out of the body, is not the soul that belongs to the dead man.

My subs translate it as "kappa" and the dialogue uses the phrase "河童" which literally translates as "river child," so I guess it's safe to say that Show is saying that he's a water sprite of some sort.

This definitely reminds me of some of the folklore that was included in Rainless Love in a Godless Land, where sprites taking the form of children were shown to take on other forms.

Maybe it's related? I'm not sure, but it feels like an interesting potential parallel.

And it also took me most of the episode, to realize that the dead body belongs to the man who was involved in the accident that Chu Ying's investigating. 😅

Clearly, I'm not super good at piecing fragments of information together, especially when it comes to crime and supernatural stuff? I'll try to do better, I promise! 🙈

In terms of emotional resonance, I was somewhat gobsmacked by the emotional heft of the moment when Mom brings out the beers that Yi Yong had had in his backpack, and we get that reveal, that Yi Yong had actually meant to share those beers with Dad, after his teacher had told him that he'd had a good conversation with his own father, after a few drinks.

That moment of realization is so, so poignant, as it hits Yi Yong, that he'd lost his only chance to have a heart to heart with Dad, by opting to hold the beers back, and offer his dad some other drink, because he hadn't felt ready to engage with Dad on a deeper level.

Augh. That moment of silent regret is so poignant, and is made even more poignant by Mom's remark, that Yi Yong's teacher had called Dad to confess that he'd encouraged Yi Yong to offer Dad a drink - and that Dad had actually been looking forward to it.

Double augh. 😭😭

Dad must have felt so disappointed that Yi Yong hadn't felt ready or able to offer him that beer, and have that heart-to-heart with him. 💔

I'm relieved, though, that Yi Yong still has Mom by his side, and that Mom is so unequivocally on his side.

I just love how Mom tells him that she doesn't care what his dreams are, as long as it's a legal thing, and that he doesn't give up on it.

And I also love that when Yi Yong says that he's already almost 20, she corrects him, saying that he's just 17 - because the sleeping years don't count. Aw. I love Mom. 😍

I like all the little indications that Yi Yong's a goodhearted dude, despite the fact that he looks a bit like a hooligan.

Like when that shop owner explains how Grandpa had always added value to the couplet, Yi Yong first mumbles that the shop owner looks down on him because he's bad at his studies (lol), but then, when he goes home and thinks about the hypothetical couplet that he would write for his school principal, we see that he eventually writes, "He was actually a good man." Aw. Isn't Yi Yong a good egg?

Also, isn't it sweet, how Yi Yong's so protective of Mom?

Even though he's in shock at facing Dead Body Dude, he's quick to grab onto Dead Dude's arm, and ask him not to go to Mom. That's so sweet of him, in his way. 🥰

I am also amused by how Yi Yong settles quite quickly, into conversing with Dead Dude. There's something about how adaptable he is, in that deadpan way of his, that lands as endearing, to my eyes. 😁

It's also quite endearing to me, that even though Yi Yong has no idea what Dead Dude wants from him, he'd go so far as to take Dead Dude to the place where he remembers dying, and then try to let Dead Dude close his eyes in peace.

He's so awkward yet caring, I love him. 😁

Also, isn't Yi Yong disarmingly honest?

I love the way he tells Chu Ying honestly, that he's met Dead Dude, and that Dead Dude's been mangled and looks like he's been chopped into pieces, and then gets all perplexed when Chu Ying accuses him of being the murderer. Ahahaha.

I'm also very drawn to the fact that Yi Yong's still trying to understand how it had felt for Dad, when Dad had died.

I wasn't sure where Yi Yong was going with it, when he asked Dead Dude about whether it had hurt for the owner of the body, when he'd died, but then later, when he asks Mom if she has any photos or videos from the accident, it started to become clear to me, that he'd asked that, while thinking about Dad dying in the accident. 😭

I'm sure there's a good amount of survivor's guilt at play here, since he's the only one who's made it out of the accident and survived. Dad's gone, and Grandpa's still in a coma. Poor Yi Yong. 💔

I'm quite intrigued by the findings that Chu Ying and Yi Yong come up with, by the end of the episode.

How insightful of Yi Yong, to be able to see and recognize the signs that point to the victim having been bullied at work, and how sad-funny it is, that the reason he's familiar with these signs and clues, is because he'd often been accused of being a bully, thanks to his hooligan-esque appearance. 😅

Just when they seem to be maybe getting somewhere with their investigation, though, it seems that Dead Dude gets spooked by Mom going to the attic, and literally jumps out the window.

And, since I'm preeetty sure that Yi Yong and Mom don't live in a high rise apartment building, it looks like Dead Dude's been, uh, interacting with other people?

Coz in that final shot, after he's leaped off the building to the ground, we do hear hysterical sobbing in the background.

Color me suitably curious to know more about what's going on.

Overall, this was a very, very strong opening week for this drama, in my opinion. It's grabbed me very well, even though this isn't my usual preferred genre - and I'm feeling pretty enthusiastic about watching more of this show.

That's a win on all counts, I'd say. 😁

Next episode notes will be out on: Friday, 12 May 2023!

* This show will covered on the VVIP Early Access (US$20) Tier *