Moving K-Drama Review: Is Anyone Else Disappointed?

K-Drama

Oct 2

Moving

If you are a devoted watcher of K-dramas, you have to be living under a rock if you haven’t heard about the Disney+ K-drama that’s taking the world by storm. Between the star-studded cast and incredible hype, Moving has certainly cemented itself as one of 2023’s most talked-about K-dramas. As an avid K-drama watcher (who can binge a series in as little as 24-48 hours), my curiosity will always get the better of me—especially when a newly released drama is getting this much attention.

Given the amount of praise this drama was receiving, I figured I would really enjoy this 20-episode series. But my take on this K-drama might be a bit controversial seeing how popular it is. Out of curiosity, I searched the Internet to see if there were any others who shared my sentiments, but there is hardly a shred of [even constructive] criticism to be found. So I figured I would share my two cents because I am genuinely curious: does anyone else feel disappointed?

For starters, the story felt like a bit of a bait-and-switch. For full disclosure, I hadn’t seen any of the Moving posters prior to watching. I also was not familiar with the webtoon. Maybe if I had seen the posters or read the webtoon, I wouldn’t have been so surprised. When I initially tuned into the K-drama, I had only heard chatter online mentioning a story about kids with superpowers. The first five episodes led me to believe I was watching a heartwarming, family-friendly drama focused on three high school students: Kim Beong-Seok, Jang Hui-Soo, and Lee Gang-Hoon. But the show takes a turn in episode five when the storyline switches to tell the parents’ backstories.

While this shift gives much-needed insight by helping viewers better understand how these high schoolers came to have their superpowers (and why they all ended up at the same school), the young characters completely disappear from the show even though they’ve been dominating the drama up to that point. During episode eight, my daughter, Taylor, and I started wondering if the story would ever return to the high schoolers’ storyline, but the focus remains on the parents through episode 15. While the beginning of the show had a more “heartwarming” feel to it (aside from Frank’s character intermittently “deleting” a handful of targeted adults with superpowers), the story’s violent scenes rapidly escalate in both morbidity and frequency. One minute you’re watching a sweet teenage romance blossom between the lovable Beong-Seok and feisty Hui-Soo, the next minute skulls are getting bashed in and Jang Ju-Won is carving into his stomach with a knife. The sudden 180-degree turn felt jarring to me.

You literally go from watching a high school setting where three students are awkwardly grappling with their superpowers—only to be thrust into the world of gangsters, NIS agents, and North Korean spies being gunned down or beaten to a pulp. Prior to this shift, the parents are fairly insignificant to the storyline. But no one is surprised to learn each kid inherited their superpower from a parent (or both parents in Beong-Seok’s case).

Given the difficult and dangerous lives the parents led (and the fact they all went into hiding because of their superpowers) it’s not very believable that none of them prepared their potentially endangered children. Implementing tactics such as forcing Beong-Seok to overeat to make him heavy (actor Lee Jeong-ha gained 66 pounds for the role) and filling his backpack with weights to avoid levitation are not characteristic of a mother who has a background as a former NIS agent. Lee Mi-Hyun knew her husband had skillfully learned to control his flying powers, so the safer bet would be to have her son practice until his powers were under control. As it played out, Beong-Seok’s lack of mastery over his flying capabilities left him grossly vulnerable when he had to battle against North Korean agent Jung Jun-Hwa in the gym.

In a more realistic scenario (one in which Beong-Seok’s amateur flying abilities do not suddenly transform in the short span of a 10-minute gym fighting scene), his clumsy incompetence could have easily gotten him killed. Lee Mi-Hyun was reduced to a stereotypical mother whose fears drive her to worry excessively (because apparently, that’s all moms are capable of) which left her child defenseless. Not only is she a former NIS agent with TWO superpowers—but the father of her child is the top NIS Black Agent. Are we to believe she sincerely felt Beong-Seok was “safer” if he didn’t know how to fly (given the NIS was always lurking around)?

I love a good action storyline as much as the next person and I honestly don’t mind violence—so long as it furthers the plot (ie: Squid Game, DP, and Bloodhounds). But so many episodes in Moving were full of what I can only describe as gratuitous violence. I get it—the easiest way to showcase superpowers like strength and the ability to self-heal is through battle scenes. But how many stabbings, gunshots, cracked heads, caved-in cheekbones, and broken arms and legs does it take for viewers to get the picture? Meanwhile, the hyper-sensitive hearing and telescopic vision powers only get a couple of nods. Kim Doo-Sik’s flying power felt almost secondary to his ability to use a gun. The battle scenes became so frequent, long, and drawn out that we began to start rolling our eyes and thinking, here we go again. When fight scenes begin to incite boredom and predictability in a viewer rather than fear, suspense, or shock—it might be time to reevaluate their effectiveness.

Instead, the show could’ve spent more time exploring how the parents got their superpowers. Where did it all start? Did they inherit it from their parents, too? We see how Jang Ju-Won becomes an agent (he initially works for a gang but gets recruited by the NIS when they get wind of his abilities) but we know nothing about how the NIS discovered Kim Doo-Sik. How was he able to learn to control his ability to fly? Not only was Doo-Sik rather slender (with zero weights keeping him on the ground), he was also a master when it came to flying. Other than Mi-Hyun asking him once what it feels like to fly, we know nothing about how his superpower developed into mastery. Maybe that explains Mi-Hyun’s lack of creativity when addressing Beong-Seok’s superpower! The kid was just trying to stop himself from floating and didn’t even realize his true power was flying.

[SPOILER ALERT] Do not proceed if you don’t want to know how the show ends.

Overall, I felt there was too much wasted time on fight scenes that didn’t advance the plot. Two new characters (North Korean agents Lim Jae-Seok and Kwon Yong-Deuk) are introduced in the second to the last episode, which felt like a hurried attempt to instill sympathy towards the “villains” and yet another excuse to insert more bloody fight scenes. That time could’ve been spent crafting a more meaningful ending.

The resolution of the two main NIS characters was weak. Roughly five minutes were dedicated to showing us how Min Young-Jun, the head of the NIS Black Agents, and “Principal” Jo Rae-Hyuk were dealt with. Given how scheming and horrible these two characters were portrayed, I needed a more satisfying conclusion than seeing them beaten up after the fact.

As Taylor pointed out, the show allotted quite a bit of screentime to showcase the “second chance” start at life for Kwon Yong-Deuk (a very secondary character) who was only introduced in the second to last episode. We’re shown an entire scene where Yong-Deuk fries his hands in oil and Hui-Soo affectionately refers to him as “Uncle”. Meanwhile, the reunion of Kim Doo-Sik and his family feels oddly short and insignificant. Keep in mind: Doo-Sik hadn’t seen his son, Beong-Seok, since he was a toddler. This should be one of the most emotionally heightened moments filled with close-up shots of the family dramatically embracing and certainly lots of ugly crying—right?! But all the viewers get is a rather unsatisfying side hug between Beong-Seok and his father. And the majority of the two-minute family reunion scene is shot from above so we don’t even see their facial expressions. Really?!

It’s not that I didn’t like this drama. I was just very frustrated with what felt like wasted time and opportunities to develop the main characters more. Give us less fighting scenes and show more about the kids. Tell us where the superpowers originated (and why) and how Kim Doo-Sik learned to manage his flying to the point it made him the top NIS Black Agent. For those reasons, I would say Moving was just okay.

Side Note

I would be remiss not to mention that Frank (the hit man tasked with killing all the former agents) was a Korean adoptee from Iowa. I’m not sure how I feel about that choice. K-adoptees are often frustrated with the way we’re portrayed in dramas and movies because we’re reduced to a trope with little to no acknowledgment of what our experiences really are. As far as I’m aware, this is the first time a K-adoptee is shown as the villain. Like Frank, I was also sent to a family in Iowa. That’s a separate blog post in and of itself. The irony of creating a storyline where an adoptee becomes a hitman back in Korea as a result of his traumatizing life in America makes for an easy bad guy. But screenwriters in Korea (and the U.S.) have a lot to learn when it comes to the actual effects international transracial adoption has on adoptees.

Moving is a Disney+ production but in the U.S. it’s only available on Hulu.

Released: August 9, 2023 Episodes: 20

Cast: Ryoo Seung-Ryong (Jang Ju-Won), Han Hyo-Joo (Lee Mi-Hyun), Zo In-Sung (Kim Doo-Sik), Cha Tae-Hyun (Jeon Gye-Do), Ryoo Seung-Bum (Frank), Kim Sung-Kyun (Lee Jae-Man), Ko Yoon-Jung (Jang Hui-Soo), Lee Jeong-Ha (Kim Bong-Seok), Kim Do-Hoon (Lee Gang-Hoon), Full Cast

What superpower would you want to have?

One question this K-drama prompted Taylor and I to ask each other is: If you could have one superpower what would it be?

Taylor initially thought flying sounded fun, but that being invisible might be more useful. I responded that the only reason someone needs invisibility is to spy on people without them knowing you’re there (which is kind of creepy). She said she would want to be invisible in case someone was trying to attack her. “Are you planning on being attacked a lot?” I asked.

“I suppose not. But if someone broke into the house and was trying to find me it could come in handy,” she replied.

After mulling it over a little more, she finally came to the conclusion that the superpower she would ultimately want is teleporting. I agreed because that would allow us to go to Korea (or anywhere) any time we wanted! It’s quicker than flying (by plane or even as a superpower) and it’s cheaper, too.

What did you think of Moving? What superpower would you want to have? Let me know in the comments below.

Taylor found this video (below) of Lee Jeong-Ha. If you like him as Beong-Seok you’re going to love him in this clip. If some director, producer, or screenwriter doesn’t cast a drama with Rain and Lee Jeong-Ha it’s a missed opportunity. We can already see they have great chemistry!

Would you watch a drama with Rain and Lee Jeong-Ha? Tell me if you’d tune in and let’s start an unofficial petition (to cast them together) in the comments below!