Letter #139: The Whirlwind

Good morning, Erin.

NETFLIX: “Daryl, would you like to watch Lost?”

DARYL: “Um, I hopped on because I wanted to finish The Whirlwind.”

NETFLIX: “Are you sure?”

DARYL: “Yes.”

NETFLIX: “How about now?”

DARYL: “Y’know, I’m tired of the algorithm assuming the only criterion I have for things is ‘there’s an Asian girl in it.’ It’s insulting. And maybe a little bit racist, honestly.”

NETFLIX: “...so start playing Lost?”

DARYL: “Well, yeah—b-but only because I haven’t seen it in a while!”

…which is to say, I’ve swapped over to Lost as my on-in-the-background show, recently. And I mention not because I thought you’d enjoy shaking your head at how easily manipulated I am but because of my running feud with subtitles. 

You see, the Korean characters, Sun and Jin, frequently speak to each other in Korean, prompting the show to put up subtitles so the audience can understand their conversations. Pretty standard stuff, right? Well, you’d think so—but take a look at this subtitling masterpiece from a scene where they have a disagreement:

Yes, that’s right: they didn’t even bother to translate her protestation. I don’t know if the subber was working off of the script and the script didn’t have a line written for her (for some reason)...or if the script said something like “But—” and she just adlibbed a couple of simple “You can’t do that!” lines, leaving the poor editor with a one-word response that was clearly no longer a one-word response (with no way to understand what she was actually saying)...but, come on. Surely they could do better than…that. 

Anyway. It made me laugh. And I hope it gave you a chuckle, as well. 

On the other end of the spectrum…The Whirlwind! Yes, what better way to mark Election Day than to discuss this gem of a political thriller that…well, that I frankly wish was more fantastical than it turned out to be. 

Just…trust me. You’ll see. 

So, if you’re ready to take a break from the bedlam around us to enjoy a little fictional bedlam…let’s talk about a battle for power at the very top of the Korean government with The Whirlwind:

1. This show was incredible. It’s unbelievably fast-paced, and each episode is stuffed with more plot that I think should be physically possible. (Genuinely, the first 20 minutes of Episode 1 had more going on than some two-hour movies I’ve seen. It was nuts.) I spent the whole 12 episodes tensed up, wide-eyed, and trying to catch my breath. So, if you’ve not seen it, and if you enjoy a good cat-and-mouse battle of wits where the stakes are cranked to 11 at every turn, ABSOLUTELY give this a shot. It will not disappoint. 

1A. At the same time, there are two undeniable flaws with the series. The first is the timing—by which I mean that the show has ZERO fluff, always moving from plot point to plot point, so it never really lets you know how much time has elapsed from one twist to the next. It gets a little disorienting, at times, as major events seem to happen over the course of a weekend rather than the 10 to 20 days it more than likely is meant to convey. As such, some of what happens seems not just implausible but unbelievable (especially when it comes to the public’s reaction to one thing or another), straining credulity if you let it. And the second thing, which is in a similar vein, is that the show eventually gets kind of ridiculous. The moves and countermoves become much more contrived, much more built on coincidences neither side could predict but clearly somehow did. I don’t think anyone is suddenly dumber than they’d been previously just so that their adversaries can outwit them in that moment, but the last third of the series absolutely had me crossing my arms and saying out loud that I thought things had gotten completely unrealistic…but I also found it so satisfying to watch that I didn’t care. I mean, the whole show is absolutely BONKERS, but what starts as “GASP OMG” kinds of unbelievable slowly drifts over into “oh f*** off you’re kidding” territory, which is clearly not the same kind of animal. I mean, I loved every second of it, so it didn’t bother me, but…there’s no getting around it. 

2. …which describes the feel of the show, but what’s it actually about? Well, without spoiling much, I’d describe it as…well, I don’t know how versed you are with the 20th Century history of American politics, but the analogy I’d make is: what would happen if Lyndon Johnson framed Bobby Kennedy for Lyndon Johnson's corruption, Bobby Kenndy struck back, and then Nancy Pelosi went to war with Bobby Kennedy for going after Lyndon Johnson for framing Bobby Kennedy. (Which is an analogy more about persona than political position, just to be clear. Structurally, the closest American equivalent to what’s going on would be the president framing the vice-president, then the speaker of the house going toe-to-toe with the vice-president because she wants him framed, too. And then we’re off to the races. At 1000 mph.)

3. We had more than a couple of folks I recognized, which was nice:

• the awesome gangster/chairman guy from Kill Boksoon as the Vice-President (essentially)

• the awesome older sister from True Beauty as the Vice-President’s Secretary

• the gangster from the first half of Bad Guys, Vile City (still haven’t finished) as the President

• Young-woo’s dad from Extraordinary Attorney Woo as the Deputy Attorney General

• the corrupt CEO jerkface from My Mister as a corrupt CEO jerkface

• the wimpy cop who wanted to arrest the lead in Connection as the President's dickhead son

• Red Oni’s butler from A Korean Odyssey as the Opposition Party Leader

• the dad from 100 Days My Prince as a prosecutor 

3A. The dad from 100 Days My Prince was also the main guy’s direct supervisor/mentor from My Mister—making this a mini-reunion with the corrupt CEO jerkface! Woo!

3B. Fun fact: the corrupt CEO jerkface has a scene in My Mister where he’s arguing with IU, and he is supposed to slap her for disobeying him. But apparently the takes where he’d mime hitting her weren’t working, and the only way they could get the slap to look okay was for him to actually slap her. IU was all for it, but the actor was like, “Uhhhhh…d-do I want to be on film slapping the nation’s little sister in the face?” Which made me laugh. 

3C. It took me a moment to recognize the older sister from True Beauty—but it should not surprise you to find out that my initial reaction in the moment before I figured out who she was “and who is this beauty?” In case you, y’know, wanted to shake your head at me, again. 

3D. Oh, and she’s totally #bestgirl. The, like, Secretary of State(?) lady was in contention (because she’s a total badass), but this wasn’t close. And I wish I could tell you the best part about her, but I don’t want to spoil it, if you haven’t seen the show. Just…trust me. She’s great. 

3E. Then there’s how I’m 70% sure the Speaker of the House (essentially)’s parking garage is the one at the apartment for the math tutor guy from Crash Course in Romance. But I could not easily confirm it, so…could not get up to that 100% mark. 

3F. …but what definitely is 100% certain is that they used the exterior for the school from B**** x Rich/hospital from Spice Up Our Love as the hospital in this series! I knew it the moment I saw two of the characters standing on the roof talking at night! I said to myself, “Wait a min—I know that railing!” 

^The Whirlwind

^B**** x Rich

Now, I know what you’re thinking: those pictures are kinda dark. Well, what if I showed you a picture of the railing from Spice Up Your Love (since I proved it was the same building as used in B**** x Rich in my Spice letter)?

See?

But, okay, how different is one rooftop railing from another, right? And, if we want to get really technical, the sections of the roof don’t match up, so how do I know it’s from the same building?

Well, that’s because we also get a shot of the front of the building—and in the daylight, no less!

^The Whirlwind

^Spice Up Our Love (which, again, we already proved is the building from B**** x Rich)

BOOM. 

3G. I know, I know—this is the kind of hard-hitting analysis you love most, but there’s so much more to talk about!

4. The Vice-President calls the First Lady “noona,” and the subtitles say he calls her “ma’am.” Which is an interesting choice, given that I don’t think he was trying to be particularly formal with her. 

5. I’ve not made my contempt for the press a secret, but…wowza, talk about being stenographers for politicians: very early on, the Speaker of the House makes a highly suspect announcement, and the press doesn’t so much as raise an eyebrow. Now, I’m sure some aspect of this has to do with the plot not having time to slow down for a reporter to go, “And, what, we should just believe you?” but…when just about every modern journalistic outlet seems content with gossipmongering as news, writing stories about people making accusations rather than putting in the effort to look into the accusations themselves, it’s hard to think it’s just a function of the plot. Though, in fairness, I did say it’s never given any particular focus…so maybe I’m just reading into things a bit. 

6. The protagonists sort of use the Vincenzo-style “devil to chase out the devils” philosophy as their playbook from the start, so no one can really claim to have clean hands—but the show does an excellent job making clear to you whose side you should be on, once the upheaval starts.

6A. But, to the show’s credit, it also questions whether this sort of Batman-style moral criminality (a vigilante may fight crime, but he is himself a criminal) is ever justifiable, no matter how good it feels to do—and, further, whether doing things the right way matters when the justice it is meant to mete out comes either too late to help the victims or too comparatively lightly to feel like justice. Is the slippery slope unavoidable? Is justice for the people or for the system? Is justice for the system ultimately more helpful to the people when society runs on the system? INtentionally or otherwise, the show does come down on a specific side of this debate, but I’d say it doesn’t say it’s the correct answer—nor does it imply that it is the final answer.

7. If this show is any indication, Korean political debates have a really nice, old-school flavor to them, where the candidates are allowed to ask each other questions and, like, debate each other, rather than having a moderator act as an arbiter of discourse. I mention this because one of the major candidates in one of the debates gives the other major candidate a damned-if-you-do/damned-if-you-don’t question that was designed to totally sink his candidacy—and he gave about the most badass “F*** your false choice; I’m going third option!” response anyone could have given. I loved it. 

8. Relatedly: for being so obviously rooted in politics, the show avoids political matters almost entirely. Topics might be broadly alluded to as structural matter (like, to frame a question in one of the debates or when trying to get support from one person or another), but almost the entire show is restricted just to intra-governmental politicking (that is, wheeling and dealing or ally-hunting). The closest we get is a hint of being opposed to torture (which I’d say is only barely a political stance). Even the main characters all being part of the Liberal Party doesn’t come into play in any message-y sense. In fact, the political divide between two of the opposing characters only matters in a practical sense, because their political pasts only influence what kinds of strategic strengths and weaknesses they have when vying for power, not any kind of, like, legislation. So, well done there. 

8A. Oh, there’s also the message that the system is corrupt at every level and across all political divides. Which I think we should all be able to get behind. 

9. Similarly, things get very…Christian, towards the end. But, much like with the political stuff, it’s more structural than anything else. (Surprising, though, nonetheless.)

10. I’ve never seen such dramatic, hurried walking down hallways—and in such high volume!

11. Heh…I just noticed how many times I wrote “THIS IS BONKERS!!!” in my notes over the course of the show. 

12. We get a pretty nifty red/blue dichotomy in one scene, with two opposing characters facing off in a powder blue and a light pink suit (respectively)—and, as a bonus, a character caught between them in a purple suit. Which made me happy. 

13. Okay, so, I mentioned at the start of this letter that I wished the show was more fantastical than it ultimately ended up being—and I say that because, for all its absurdities, the show was way, way, waaaaaaaaaaay too close to 2024 America reality for comfort.

13A. Now, there’s a lot in this show that feels like they made a list of the most sensational political stories in America from 2018 to 2022 (whether they were true or not) and threw the most exciting bits into one story. But the discomfiting part was the stuff in the show—which came out at the end of June—that seemed to almost presage what had been happening since the middle of summer. Now, I’ll leave it to you to decide which of the following is which, but…here’s a list of all the things I thought seemed like they’d been ripped from the headlines, as it were:

• presidential assassination attempts

• deliberately having opposition voters register as another party to vote for a preferred “enemy” candidate during a presidential primary 

• a party unilaterally nullifying a primary winner to replace him with someone else

• a president with a son whose involvement in dirty business overseas causes him political problems

• a major presidential candidate being accused of colluding with a foreign country

• impeachment—twice

• lawfare against political opponents

• “spontaneous” “grassroots” protests being 100% funded and organized by political parties

• members of the legal and political bureaucracy having been bankrolled through school by mega-wealthy activists who essentially control these bureaucrats, telling them to speed up or slow down processes that would affect the activists’ political and financial desires

• angry protestors planning to march to a major government building

• an angry protest being co-opted by a specific political interest to cause a riot and hurt their political enemy 

• the political interest co-opting the angry protest deliberately dismantling the security precautions that would prevent the angry protest from becoming a riot

13B. Coincidence or not, I needed a break somewhere around the halfway point in the series, when my escapism felt less escape-y than I wanted it to. 

14. One of the most stinging strategic blows a character employs is a reference to the 1995 movie The Bridges of Madison County—which had me howling with laughter at how clever it was. (If you know, you know.)

And…I think that’s it. Like, without getting into spoiler-y specifics. Because it’s all plot. I mean, yes, they do plenty of character stuff—but even that’s aaaaaaaaaaaall plot. And I do not want to ruin any of it for you, if you think you might be interested in watching this. 

…of course, if you’ve already watched it, I’ve just made myself look silly being all vague about everything. But, hey, making myself look silly in front of you is kind of all I know how to do, right? So, I don’t think either of us is surprised. 

Regardless—The Whirlwind: intense, thrilling, totally looney, and a FANTASTIC time. Definite recommend. 

Next up is…hyperventilating that it’s fully November, and I still don’t know what I’m getting my family for Christmas. I mean, I’ve been trying to think of stuff—like, I even started back in August! I'm really putting in effort this year! I know the result is the same as when I forget to think about it until right before Thanksgiving, but…

At least I know what I’m getting you.

Can you guess? If you do, you’ll get a special bonus surprise!

But, until then…stay warm—and look out for marauders. 

More soon.

—Daryl