Friday 4 November 2011

Just finished: Perfect Report

 Well, don't I feel foolish for suggesting people watch this.

* spoilers *











After several entertaining episodes of journalistic investigation, this show suddenly slams on the brakes and dawdles to a conclusion. After episode seven, the pace of the show and the constant banter and jokes are replaced by flashbacks, people reflecting on their actions, a noble team spirit born from adversity, and remarkable lack of any real stories to investigate. For example, the mysterious suicide of a potential informer just turns out to be a misunderstanding. He wasn't killed by malevolent forces – he just slipped while enjoying the view from the top of a building.

No, I'm not joking.











In the void left by the absence of any investigations, we're left with one scene after another in which the characters look dignified or learn something valuable about themselves. Violins and pianos fill the soundtrack to hammer home how emotional it is, and while all this is happening, nothing actually happens.

The boss, Aoyama-san spends most of the last three episodes talking in a whisper. This is supposed to demonstrate how upset she is about the recent turn of events but it got a bit tedious towards the end.











This series had a promising beginning and while the members of the team disliked each other, it was an entertaining show. But that's the thing about drama: sad people are more interesting than happy people, and once the team became friends, the show lost its main strength.

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