Letter #118: Agents of Mystery
Good morning, Erin.
Earlier this week, I took my car to the dealership for its annual inspection and, apparently, to take care of the four separate recall notices that had been issued for it in the last several months. Because of the amount of time that would need to go into this smorgasbord of automotive repair, the nice people at Hyundai told me that I would not be able to just hang around and wait for them to finish up (as I normally would for an inspection), so they said they would drop me off at work in the morning after I brought the car in and would pick me up in the afternoon after the repairs were completed. Which I know isn’t all that special a service for them to provide, but which I still very much appreciated.
Of course, it felt a little less special when I realized they weren’t so much dropping me off as they were calling me an Uber.
Now, I’ve never used Uber, before, so I don’t know if this is a common experience or just coincidentally true of both rides I took, but…gosh, these drivers sure were chatty.
I happened to have been in a relaxed enough mood that I didn’t mind rolling with the chattiness, so I’m not complaining about how much they wanted to talk. Nor was I particularly surprised that they’d want to talk. But I was struck by where they were happy to take the conversation—as in, what kinds of things they didn’t hesitate to bring up or express opinions about.
And maybe that says more about me than it does about them, but…I was just surprised. I mean, what if it had been someone less accommodating of their ideas than I turned out to be? Were they just not worried about that? Or were they both just such good conversationalists that it was easy to assess how I was going to react, thus making it easy and safe for them to do so? (Or, similarly, am I so bad a conversationalist that I’m flummoxed by what is an entirely rudimentary skill for most other people?)
What if I ended up giving them the same irritated sighs as the people I force to listen to my elaborate (and often highly performative) thoughts about Korean television?
…speaking of: I watched Agents of Mystery, the escape room-based variety show on Netflix, and I’d like to performatively relay some elaborate thoughts about it to you.
Got your best irritated sigh ready? Great! ‘Cus here…we…go!
1. I had fun with this one. Of course, I love a good puzzle-solving variety show that has some modicum of plot slapped over it, and Agents of Mystery was that in spades. It’s not Busted, but…nothing else is. Even so, this is certainly a good time, with elaborate scenarios, tons of details, and puzzles that give the audience juuuuust enough chance to play along with the cast. Solid recommend from me. Like, assuming this is the kind of thing you enjoy.
1A. Now, if this isn’t the type of show that would normally spark your interest, I think this is a great one to give a shot to see if you might actually enjoy the genre. It’s six forty-minute episodes, so it’s not a huge time investment; and each “escape room” is veeeeeeeeeeeery plot-driven, so there’s almost more mystery solving (that it, storytelling) than puzzle solving to the show, making it a pretty short walk from regular, narrative television.
1B. That said, I’m going to need someone to explain to me why there were only six episodes—especially since each “escape room” storyline took three episodes to complete, it really feels like you only watched two episodes, which is not nearly enough. And, because everything is so plot-heavy (and on a ticking clock), the cast has to really focus on solving each new puzzle as quickly as they can, which means they don’t really get the opportunity to reveal much of their individual personalities, which is part of the fun of these kinds of shows. The whole thing leaves you wanting more—but more because you feel like you were given an incomplete product than because you just want more (...though that’s true, too).
1C. However, I think it would be unfair not to mention that it’s quite apparent that setting up the “escape rooms” for this show isn’t quick and easy: as I mentioned earlier, the settings are elaborate and very detailed—and, for the most part, constructed specifically for the show, which undoubtedly take a long time to set up. (When the second “escape room” scenario begins in Episode 4, the cast all but explicitly states that it’s been a long time since they filmed the first one.) And I’m sure the complexity of the project has some influence on the limited number of episodes.
1D. ….but, even so, they couldn’t have done just one more scenario? A nice, round three? Come on.
2. As it happens, I actually knew three of the six members of the cast:
Lee Hye-ri, the lead actress in My Roommate is a Gumiho, May I Help You?, and Two Cops (and who, as I have mentioned pretty much every time she comes up in one of these letter, notoriously reminds me of my ex-girlfriend)
Lee Yong-jin, the lead host from Transit Love—which is fun, of course, because one of his co-hosts is Yura from Girl’s Day, the group Lee Hye-ri belongs to
Karina, member of the girl group Aespa—and it’s less that I could pick her out of a lineup than that I just know there’s a member of the group named Karina because one of my favorite YouTubers started doing K-pop dance covers, one of which was Aespa’s “Drama,” and the girl who’s been in most of the dance covers with her who I have an internet-crush on is listed as doing Karina’s part in the description for the video…which I say counts as knowing Karina
3. I was torn over the conceit of the show that the cast, as agents of some secret organization that tasks them with solving X-Files-esque mysteries, would use a teleporter to take them from their underground headquarters to the site of their assignment. On the one hand, though the device was a practical trick for cleanly moving the cast from the starting location to the “escape room” without interruption, it seemed a needlessly unrealistic detail for an otherwise grounded sci-fi setting. But, on the other hand, the way the teleporter shook and caused the cast to lose their balance while standing in it clearly meant the show was just hoisting the little box they were in with a forklift and moving it to another part of the set where the escape room was located., which made me laugh.
4. There’s a sort of running gag where everyone keeps telling Karina that she’s “fearless,” which would have been a lot funnier if she were a member of Le Sserafim.
5. I really liked the opening title animation. Which, interestingly enough, really leans into the teleporter conceit. And also the multiverse, I think, though that doesn’t come up elsewhere in the show.
6. …but it does come up in the pre-show meeting that they released as promotional content on YouTube! Which is a lot of fun and probably where we get the most sense of the cast members' individual personalities because the director wanted the cast to get to know each other a little bit by playing This or That with various…well, I wouldn’t say they’re all “conspiracy theory” topics, but with various, like, baseline ideas for episodes of The X-Files, such as whether aliens built the pyramids or if there’s a hidden civilization in Antarctica or whether the multiverse exists. Highlights from this pre-show meeting include:
everyone saying hello to Karina by congratulating her on Aespa’s new song…and then immediately saying that he or she hasn’t heard it yet.
Hye-ri being thrown for a loop that the Grim Reaper isn’t an Asia-specific concept because he appears in The Sims (yes, the video game) and, as such, indicates that he is a part of Western folklore, as well.
time travel not making it out of the first round, which nearly made me quit the show because time travel is the best and I’ll brook no argument to the contrary Erin I will literally fight you.
the oldest of the women making a direct reference to Men in Black and Karina possibly not knowing what that is.
the unexpectedly strong case for sea monsters—which can f*** right off, because underwater things are the worst…except Nessie, who is and always will be the best.
Karina coming truly alive for perhaps the only time in the whole series when Area 51 becomes an option, just excitedly rattling off information about how the U.S. military has detained and interrogated aliens there and taken their technology to augment its own—and, when someone wonders whether it’s just a rumor to distract from what classified experiments they might really be doing there, emphatically saying, “THERE WAS AN INFORMANT.”
Hye-ri calling from the start of the game that sea monsters would win the tournament, only to later be the deciding vote against it in the final round because of Karina’s impassioned speech about Area 51.
7. Best subtitle in the series: “It’s a real Freaky Friday situation.”
8. The puzzles in the show are usually really well done, sometimes enough so that sussing out the solutions can go from clever to downright impressive.
9. The boys seemed especially concerned that the girls might hurt themselves if they did anything physical, whether it was carrying a backpack or climbing a ladder. I don’t know if this was basic chivalry, relative sexism, or a matter of really, really wanting Karina to like them.
10. Daryl’s 5 Stages of Hye-ri:
“Oof, she is not my type.”
“...man, she really is soooo my ex-girlfriend.”
“Y’know, if nothing else, I quite appreciate her positive attitude.”
“...okay, I am really digging her in this oversized suit.”
“B-But how is everyone going gaga over Karina when Hye-ri is right there?!”
…and that’s all I’ve got. (I know. I can’t believe it, either.)
Again, this was a good time, really enjoyed it, can’t wait for more—which I assume there will be, because why wouldn’t you? It was a good time. Very bingeable.
…and a reminder just popped up on my phone: Sweet Home 3 is now out.
Sigh.
It’ll be a little while before we get to that letter, Erin, don’t worry.
In the meantime, I hope you’re keeping cool. Or enjoying the summer heat. Whichever is more likely to make you happy.
More soon.
—Daryl
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